One of Zoro's greatest opponents might become a Straw Hat ally, and latest One Piece spoilers reveal why

One Piece is known for its trend to make characters relevant to the plot even long after their introduction. This recurring trait of the franchise was emphasized in One Piece chapter 1121, which left fans delighted by bringing back Alber “King”, the former right-hand man of Kaido. During the Wano Arc, King used his inborn Lunarian powers to fight against Roronoa Zoro.

Cornered by King, as well as tested by his own sword, Zoro eventually tapped into his dormant potential to unleash his true Haki powers. He then struck King with an attack imbued in the advanced versions of Armament and Conqueror’s Haki, defeating him. A week later, King ran across Navy Admiral Ryokugyu, who easily overpowered him as he was still injured and debilitated.

Nevertheless, fans assumed that King would still play a role in One Piece, due to the ties between his Lunarian lineage and the main plot. With One Piece chapter 1121 confirming that King is alive, it’s interesting to explore what the latter's future actions might be.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1121.

One Piece might have teased King’s future heel-face turn in chapter 1121

The history of the sole surviving Lunarian

Kaido and King (Image via Toei Animation)

King, originally named Alber, was born 47 years before the present One Piece narration. As a Lunarian, he inherited the race’s unique bodily features, which included black feathery wings, white hair, dark skin, and the innate ability to ignite themselves, generating massive flames.

Switching on and off the flame on their back, Lunarians could maximize their durability to withstand insanely powerful attacks without suffering any injury, or partially lower it to gain a sudden, substantial speed boost. These abilities earned the Lunarians a reputation for being gods who could survive anything.

Interested in those god-like powers, the World Government captured Alber, who at the time was just a child, and held him captive to test his Lunarian abilities. Upon seeing what Alber could do, Kaido was impressed, to the point where he decided to recruit the former as his right-hand man.

King vs Sanji (Image via Toei Animation)

In recognition of Alber's formidable combat prowess, Kaido named him "King". In the years to come, Kaido would rise to become one of the Four Emperors, and King would stand by him as his strongest and most loyal subordinate.

During the Wano Arc, King single-handedly repelled the ship of the Big Mom Pirates, with Smoothie, Perospero, and even Big Mom unable to counterattack him. He then overpowered a Raid Suit-wielding Sanji, and teamed up with his crewmate Queen to fight Marco. Together, King and Queen forced Marco to consume most of his energies, while remaining relatively unscathed themselves.

King then began to fight against Roronoa Zoro, the second-strongest member of the Straw Hat Pirates. The two right-hand men gave rise to a heated struggle, fighting fiercely to respect the honor of their respective captains. Exploiting his Lunarian powers, King was able to endure all of Zoro’s attacks, even though they packed enough power to inflict serious injuries even on Kaido’s tough body.

To overcome King’s unreal durability, Zoro had to understand the former's Lunarian abilities, as well as improve his own destructive powers. Upon gaining awareness of the enormous potential that lay dormant within him, Zoro learned to amp his attacks with the all-powerful Conqueror’s Haki, which he added to Armament Haki to create a new Haki-based mode.

This huge power boost increased Zoro’s strength on a whole different level, enabling him to outclass King. The Lunarian performed his best attack, unleashing a massive dragon-shaped fire blast, but Zoro overpowered it with his own technique.

With the surroundings being enveloped in black lightning Haki that reverberated all around, Zoro struck King, taking him down for good, while also cutting off one of his wings and breaking his Armament Haki-imbued sword.

The final clash between King and Zoro (Image via Toei Animation)

In the days to come, King, along with Queen and some minor members of the Beasts Pirates, ran into Marine Admiral Ryokugyu, who had come to Wano. Unfortunately for them, King and Queen were significantly weakened from the injuries that they sustained in the previous battles, from which they were yet to recover.

King was completely covered in bandages, debilitated to the point where he could barely move. He didn’t have enough energy to even activate his Lunarian abilities or Zoan Devil Fruit transformation, let alone use those powers at their peak. Although not as bad as King, Queen was also evidently weakened. In those conditions, they stood no chance against the Admiral.

Ryokugyu used his Wood-Wood Fruit to impale Queen, draining all the liquids from his body. After a short confrontation, the Admiral also captured King, whom he left restrained in his Devil Fruit-created vines. Since then, King hasn’t been seen in the series, until his sudden reappearance in One Piece chapter 1121.

What's King up to now?

King and Queen before fighting Ryokugyu (Image via Toei Animation)

One Piece chapter 1121 showed King reacting to Vegapunk’s message. King doesn’t say a word, listening to the scientist’s speech in silence, and thinking about the moment when he was told that the World Government offers 100 million Berries for mere information on a surviving Lunarian.

King is covered in bandages, just as he was before his brief struggle with Admiral Ryokugyu. Most likely, he is still recovering from the injuries that Zoro inflicted on him. The chapter neither reveals King’s current location nor hints at it, as the former is shown in a panel with a generic black background.

King appears to be in a dark room, but nothing more than that can be inferred. In any case, it is great to see him, given how much his character stands out in terms of design, powers, backgrounds, and ties with the lore of One Piece.

The Lunarian race disappeared in circumstances that remain undisclosed, although there is little doubt that the World Government is responsible for their near-complete annihilation. It would be compelling to see a flashback of those events from King's perspective.

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King believes in Joy Boy, to the point where he claims to be waiting for his return. Whether the same faith was shared with the entire Lunarian race or not, it’s an intriguing plot point that could lay the foundations for King’s future heel-face turn.

It’s probably no coincidence that One Piece author Eiichiro Oda made King listen to Vegapunk’s message, which exposed the conflict between Joy Boy and the World Government, as well as the ominous schemes of this establishment.

King’s loyalty to Kaido has always been absolute, to the point where he disdainfully rejected Big Mom’s offer to join her crew. Even in his final moment before being defeated by Zoro, King thought of Kaido. The Yonko reciprocated the feeling, as, before succumbing to Luffy, he thought of King. However, with Kaido now presumed dead, King has to find a new purpose in life.

One Piece chapter 1121 reiterated the narrative connection between the races that the World Government slaughtered, i.e., Lunarians, Buccaneers, and Three-Eyed, and the war that began during the Void Century and continues to this day. Vegapunk’s speech seems to imply that these three races were wiped out because they were on Joy Boy’s side.

King is waiting for Joy Boy (Image via Shueisha)

While these tribes were annihilated, their descendants are still around. The final conflict against Imu-sama, the Five Elders, and their subordinates is a foregone conclusion, and everyone who believes in Joy Boy will probably link up against them, joining forces with the Straw Hats and their allies.

One Piece recently focused on Bonney’s search for Nika, and, as a Joy Boy believer, King has the same faith in the “Sun God”. In fact, King has spent his entire life waiting for Joy Boy’s return. Funnily enough, the second coming of Joy Boy is none other than Luffy, the captain of the person who defeated him in Wano.

King has acted as a villain for most of his life, but that’s because he was following Kaido, whom he believed to be Joy Boy. He also never had a chance to live a normal life, being hunted by the World Government. This forced him to hide his identity and be wary of people.

King could help the Straw Hats in the final war

King's Zoan Devil Fruit powers (Image via Toei Animation)

One Piece features an incredible amount of antagonists that turned into heroes or at least allies of the Straw Hat Pirates. The list includes Hatchan, Bon Clay, Galdino, Boa Hancock, Bellamy, and more. Although only temporarily, even the likes of Buggy, Crocodile, and Daz Bonez became aides to Luffy. As for Franky and Nico Robin, they joined the Straw Hats, becoming full-fledged members of the crew.

Thus, King becoming an ally would be all but impossible. With his fighting skills as the second strongest member of the Beasts Pirates, a Yonko crew, he would be quite helpful. King was named after the highest-ranking face card of the playing cards deck. Given the Beasts Pirates’ card-based naming scheme, this reflects King’s paramount status, second only to Kaido's.

King with his mask on (Image via Toei Animation)

In Wano, King was able to go toe-to-toe with Zoro, who had just proved his strength by fighting valiantly against Kaido and Big Mom. Although this was also partly due to Zoro having trouble with his own sword Enma, King had the upper hand over the swordsman. He only lost the battle when Zoro unleashed his Advanced Conqueror’s Haki, a power that very few One Piece characters can measure with.

Most fighters don’t possess that ultimate ability, and would be in trouble against King and his highly-destructive flames. He can freely generate and manipulate them to perform destructive attacks at every range, an ability that granted him the moniker of “Wildfire” as his flames are akin to magma. As such, King’s flames should be stronger than those of the Flame-Flame Fruit.

King fighting unmasked (Image via Toei Animation)

The power of the huge magma dragon that King used at the end was never seen, as Zoro crushed it with his own technique, but there’s no doubt that it was a fearsome attack. King can also use his Ancient Zoan powers to unleash strikes strong enough to destroy entire chunks of Onigashima, as well as fly at high speed, which he can even increase by temporarily turning off his flame.

Factoring in his speed, mobility, powerful attacks, and, above all, exceptional durability, King is a force to be reckoned with. Unsurprisingly, his Lunarian powers remained valuable even after his defeat, as they were used to strengthen the Seraphim cyborgs. King’s DNA made the Seraphim so tough that Luffy, now a Yonko-level fighter, likened their durability to that of Kaido.

This emphasizes the high effectiveness of the powers of the Lunarian race. It would be great to see King using them to fight a high-ranking World Government member in the final war, this time without being nerfed as he was against Admiral Ryokugyu.