One Piece: Elbaf Arc's villain may not be what fans expected

Modified Oct 16, 2024 09:00 GMT

One Piece could be setting up a surprising villain at Elbaf (Image via Toei Animation).

One Piece is already starting the Elbaf arc and while there is not a lot of information regarding the new villain, there is a very good chance that is going to be Loki. Tracing back to the recent chapters, it is clear that the people of Elbaf have a degree of anti-Straw Hat sentiment because of them being humans. Along with that, some lies have also been established thus far, such as the false Sun God.

The idea of an enemy who is deceiving others would fit with the themes of misinformation and rewriting history in One Piece, and it is worth noting that Loki is the god of deception according to Norse mythology. Therefore, while the general assumption at first was that this character was going to be an ally to the Straw Hat, there is a very good chance that he is going to serve as an antagonist.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a whole.

One Piece could be setting up Loki as the main villain of the Elbaf arc

Elbaf as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation).

It has to be prefaced by saying that the Elbaf arc has only a few chapters so readers have little information to deal with. In that regard, there are many different directions this storyline could take but there is enough evidence so far to suggest that Loki could be the main villain.

This arc has already established a false Sun God and depicted the Straw Hat as bad people, which means that lies and misinformation could be a major theme to explore here. Loki, based on his origin in Norse mythology which Elbaf takes a lot of inspiration from, is known as the god of deception and trickery, so it wouldn't be out of the question to suggest that he is manipulating the Giants.

To go one step further, the World Government probably knows that the Giants of Elbaf worship Nika, the true Sun God, and perhaps are lying to them to create division and keep them at bay so they won't be an enemy to deal with. Therefore, it could be interpreted that Loki is a World Government asset who is manipulating the people of this island.

What could this mean for the arc?

The Giants as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation).

If Loki proves to be the main villain of this current One Piece arc and he is proven to be a part of the World Government, then this storyline could be setting up an impending conflict against the Straw Hat. If the World Government wants to keep the Giants at bay, this arc could have Luffy winning them over and having them as allies for the final arc.

It has been theorized time and time again that the Straw Hat is going to have one big final battle against the World Government, similar to the style of the Marineford arc and grander in scale. In that regard, Luffy could likely convince the Giants to aid him in that final battle, especially considering his role as the real Nika.

Final thoughts

There is a very good chance that Loki could be the main villain of this One Piece arc given the context and circumstances of the storyline thus far. However, it is also worth pointing out that this is a fan theory and is speculative in nature.

Related articles

Edited by Sreerupa Das