One Piece's latest spoilers all but confirm how Nefertari D. Lili hid the Poneglyphs

Modified Dec 30, 2024 20:03 GMT

Since the conclusion of the Wano Arc in August 2022, mangaka Eiichiro Oda’s all-time best-selling One Piece manga series has given a heavy focus to its lore and worldbuilding. The Egghead Arc, the first in the series’ final saga, specifically contributed significantly in this area, but the Elbaph Arc also seems to be taking a similar path.

One of the most obvious examples of this comes from the latest One Piece spoilers, which see Jaguar D. Saul show Nico Robin and the Straw Hats the “Owl Library.” Per spoilers, this is somewhere that normal books are enlarged so Giants can read them. While a seemingly benign plot point, this may actually tease how Nefertari D. Lili was able to so safely and securely hide the Poneglyphs at the Void Century’s end.

Elbaph’s Owl Library may explain Lili’s Poneglyph success, Oda’s perspective issues in One Piece, and more

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First, it’s worth establishing that the latest currently available spoilers as of this article’s writing don’t specify how the Owl Library enlarges its books. However, the phrasing of initial spoilers makes it seem likely that this isn’t a matter of rewriting the books, and instead physically transforms the book in some way, shape, or form. Likewise, this may explain a key plot point for One Piece in how the Poneglyphs were scattered and hidden so well.

If Elbaph’s method of size enlargement can also work for size reduction and subsequent growth, it seems likely that this is the method Lili used to hide the Poneglyphs. If she were able to shrink each down to the size of a pebble, she could easily transport all of them around the world on her own without drawing unnecessary attention. This would also allow her to do so without needing a dedicated crew to help her move them on and off a ship.

This would also explain why One Piece’s World Government seemingly doesn’t know where the Poneglyphs are despite being the only ones with Void Century knowledge. This would also explain why Lili never returned to Alabasta, instead using the remainder of her life to travel the Grand Line and the four Blue Seas, hiding the Poneglyphs across them all. Imu’s anger likewise may be explained as having suffered an inescapable defeat via Lili’s above strategy.

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Introducing such a concept may also explain some issues that have popped up over the years due to Oda’s often inconsistent portrayal of size and perspective. A major example of this is the late Kozuki Oden’s sword Enma, which seemingly shrunk in size by a significant degree from when Oden used it to when Zoro received it. While fans were fine with chalking this up to a mistake on Oda’s part, adding an in-series explanation helps justify this somewhat.

This could also help to explain the origins of Giants in the series, potentially revealing them as humans who were simply affected by this phenomenon. Likewise, this could also help explain the massive size of Elbaph’s flora and fauna, with the entire island being affected by this concept.

Final thoughts

The Elbaph Arc seems set to be one of the manga's most informative (Image via Toei Animation)

While the above is speculative, fans should have a better idea of what initial spoilers are referencing once additional leaks are made available at a later date and time. Likewise, fans can expect the Elbaph Arc to answer this question and many more upon its return with chapter 1134’s official release on Monday, December 23, 2024, in Japan.