One Piece's Elbaf Arc keeps proving that no one can beat Oda at his game

Modified Oct 17, 2024 10:01 GMT

With the release of the latest One Piece spoilers earlier today, fans received some key information on the Alabasta crew’s current location and situation. Fans most notably learned the true identity of the Sun God, allegedly revealed to be Road, the navigator for Hajrudin’s New Giant Warrior Pirates, in the upcoming issue.

Fans also seemingly learn Road’s motivation for capturing Luffy and co, revealed to be his disagreement with Hajrudin allying their crew with the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. While it’s unclear how he plans to move forward in this motivation after capturing the Straw Hats, it is clear that the two are related in some way, shape, or form.

However, the most notable aspect of Road’s reintroduction in the One Piece manga’s Elbaf Arc stems from highlighting mangaka Eiichiro Oda’s masterstroke yet again. In fact, it proves that no one can beat Oda at his game of long-term setup and payoff for characters who may have previously been seen as unimportant.

Road’s reintroduction in One Piece highlights Oda’s skills as a writer yet again

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The most notable aspect of Road’s reintroduction in the One Piece manga in terms of highlighting Oda’s skill stems from the character’s debut. Chapter 898 saw the character first appear in the Straw Hat Grand Fleet cover story, which essentially gave focus to each crew in the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. This included everything from introducing crew members to showing what the crews were up to and building future plotlines.

While Road’s appearance in the cover story seemed to be purely the former, it’s clear in hindsight that Oda was setting up later developments. This stems from chapter 898’s title, I Will Return, which can be seen right above the cover story introducing Road. Likewise, his being introduced during the Straw Hat Grand Fleet cover story foreshadowed the motivation for his grudge against Luffy and co.

One Piece’s latest spoilers also highlight another masterstroke moment from Oda with respect to Road’s reintroduction. Per the latest chapter 1129 leaks, the upcoming issue will end with Nami and Zeus launching a massive attack on Road as Luffy breaks down the cage’s walls. In other words, the upcoming issue is set to end with a navigator versus navigator battle, which Oda had seemingly planned from the start.

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The reason for Oda seemingly planning this from the start is that, in Road’s initial introduction, he’s clearly described as the “navigator” of Hajrudin’s crew. His character design further reinforces this, seeing him holding a map in one hand while he’s on the crew’s ship, the Naglfar. While certainly a more subtle setup, it’s nevertheless clear that Oda gave Road this role in his crew for a specific reason and purpose.

It can likewise be assumed that Oda has a major plan for what Hajrudin wants to accomplish by capturing a portion of One Piece’s central crew. Given the above foreshadowing, it’s likely that Road will be motivated by something Luffy said or did to Hajrudin at one point. Such a storyline could also explain the lengths Road is going to in order to ensure the Straw Hats’ captivity and helplessness.

In summation

The Elbaf Arc continues to prove Oda's brilliance as a writer (Image via Toei Animation)

In any case, it’s clear that Oda deliberately planned Road’s role in the story from the moment he was introduced in chapter 898’s cover story. Likewise, fans can rightfully presume that Oda has the rest of his involvement in the Elbaf Arc planned out, including his presumed eventual defeat at Luffy and co’s hands. Thankfully, with no break week following chapter 1129’s release, fans can expect answers sooner rather than later.