What Was The Egghead Incident In One Piece?

If there’s one thing that the One Piece manga loves doing it’s throwing the Straw Hat crew into a hectic situation and then letting them all dip out before it gets too wild. With the Egghead Incident, Luffy and the gang found themselves on a new island, with a new outfit change, and plenty of new characters.

This mini-arc has huge ramifications on the future of the One Piece world, the pacing, and the set up for the last stretch of the manga. If you’re looking to get caught up with all the events of the Egghead Incident, we’ve got you covered.

What Leads Up To The Egghead Incident?

Just a quick refresher on what happened before the Straw Hats made it to Future Island. A fair amount of events occur very quickly, so we’ll just quickly cover them without going into too much detail.

We have:

• Luffy liberated Wano by teaming up with Eustass Kid and Trafalgar D. Water Law, all while beating two Emperors, Kaido and Big Mom.
• Crocodile, Mihawk, and Buggy team up to form the Cross Guild.
• Amazon Lily is invaded by Blackbeard as he attempts to steal Hancock’s Devil Fruit but is thwarted by Rayleigh.
• Koby is kidnapped by Blackbeard.
• Sabo leaves the Reverie with vital information and Kobra, the king of Alabasta and Vivi’s father, is captured and eventually killed by Imu.

With that quick recap out of the way, let’s get into the meat of the Incident.

Meeting Dr. Vegapunk, And Dr. Vegapunk, And…

At the doorstep of Future Island, the Straw Hat Pirates stumbled across Jewelry Bonney, a supernova, drowning in the middle of the ocean. After Jimbei rescues her, they’re attacked by a massive robotic shark, leading them to their first encounter with Dr. Vegapunk, though the meeting is not quite what they expected. They are introduced to a new character named Lilith, who reveals herself to be one aspect of Dr. Vegapunk.

The doctor has the power of the Nomi Nomi no Mi Fruit, or the Brain-Brain Fruit, letting his brain continuously expand with new knowledge. Using his impressive brain power, he was able to split his brain into six different bodies plus his original, called satellites, each one exemplifying a different personality though they split a semi-shared consciousness.

These aspects became:

Kuma, Pacifistas, And The Seraphim

Soon thereafter, Bonney is revealed to be Pacifista Kuma’s daughter, and she has come to rescue her father from whatever Vegapunk has done to him. The original Vegapunk body, known as Stella, reveals that he was all but forced to turn Kuma into an experimental Pacifista, as the World Government wanted to capitalize on the unique power he had.

The process turned Kuma into an empty vessel, leaving him with little to no emotions and turning his body into mostly mechanical components. Vegapunk reveals that the next step of the Pacifista project is the Seraphim, clones of the original Warlords of the Sea mixed with the DNA of King, one of the last survivors of a race of winged people called the Lunarians who are all but extinct.

Shaka clues in the Straw Hats that the work on the island, all the futuristic technology, comes from the study of ancient technology from the Void Century. Much of the research comes from the researchers at the doomed Ohara incident that marked Nico Robin as a child.

It turns out that much of Vegapunk’s primary research now is centered around an ancient robot with a mysterious internal engine. Vegapunk has been experimenting with various ways to recreate it, eventually creating what they call the Mother Flame. This power source would produce energy indefinitely, revolutionizing the world. Vegapunk’s dream is to recreate this power on a grand scale, eventually leading to world peace.

Things Start To Heat Up

Meanwhile, both the original Kuma and CP-0 make their way to Egghead Island, with a whole armada of Marines following shortly thereafter. Lucci, Kaku, and Stussy are looking to uncover what happened to several Cipher Pol ships that disappeared from the island. Secretly though, their true mission is to assassinate Vegapunk as the World Government has caught word that the good doctor has been researching the Void Century.

Once the attack begins, it becomes evident that a traitor exists among the satellites, but it turns out there is one in the World Government too, York from Dr. Vegapunk, and Stussy, in Cipher Pol.

Bonney discovers a bunch of memories from Kuma’s past, kept safe by Kuma’s power and Vegapunk’s loyalty to his old friend. The traumatic history of Kuma is revealed, and Bonney learns of her birth, history, and Kuma’s ultimate sacrifice to keep her safe.

The Last Hours Of Vegapunk

As this goes on, Shaka and Pythagoras are both killed as the attacks from the Marines ramp up, while an earthquake rocks the entire planet. Turns out, as part of York’s betrayal, they gave a bit of the Mother Flame to the World Government leaders, the Five Elders and Imu, who in turn used it to power Uranus, one of the three ancient weapons. The earthquake that the world felt was the aftershock of this terrifying weapon, which was used to obliterate Lulusia.

Admiral Kizaru takes to the battlefield. As Luffy and Kizaru fight, and Luffy enters Gear Five, the decayed robot Emet is awakened by the Drums of Liberation that radiate from Luffy’s body.

For the very first time in the series, Jaygarcia Saturn of the Five Elders arrives on Egghead Island, teleporting from hundreds of miles away with some sort of Magic Circle. Saturn transforms with his Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, becoming a Gyuki, a demonic entity that is a combination of a bull, a spider, and a human. Bonney is captured and is about to be executed, but the original Kuma arrives to save her.

With their plans being foiled at every step, Kizaru and Saturn initiate a Buster Call on the island, leaving the Straw Hats and Vegapunks very little time to escape.

The Giant Warrior Pirates arrive, with Dorry and Brogy leading the charge against the Marines. Several of Blackbeard’s cronies arrive as well, mysteriously copying Saturn’s form with a special Devil Fruit, and leaving without doing much else.

Vegapunk’s Final Message

Kizaru tragically gets a fatal strike against Stella, striking down his old friend with a beam of light. The weight of his actions renders Kizaru unable to fight any longer, as the tragedy of his actions are too much to bear.

With the end of Stella’s life, however, a transmission is sent across the globe. Sending a message to every transponder snail in the world, though it has tremendous build up with a ten minute countdown until the actual message begins.

Saturn anticipates the importance of the message and sends a telepathic call to the rest of the Five Elders, each one also taking on the form of a massive demon.

The Five Elders descend on the battlefield, swaying the mini war in the favor of the Marines, though they don’t seem to care about the lives of the Marines on the island. As they search for the origins of Vegapunk’s transmission it begins.

What Vegapunk Tells The World

The message goes into tons of details about the Void Century, Joy Boy, and the true plans of the World Government, revealing it to practically every person and nation in the world. The transmission reveals that an ancient kingdom and the Clan of D were led by Joy Boy who held the Nika Fruit, and he was the first pirate of the world. He rebelled against the 20 Kingdoms, the precursor to the World Government, but fell to the might of the ancient weapons.

As a consequence, however, the entirety of the world’s landmass sank by more than 200 meters, submerging most of the world except for the tallest peaks of much larger continents and islands.

The very same weapon was used to sink Lulusia, and seems to be the final plan of Imu, though why is still unknown. Vegapunk ponders to himself in the transmission about the plans of Joy Boy, why he left the ancient weapons intact, and why Gol D. Roger didn’t use the weapons when he discovered the One Piece, but is unable to come up with a cause.

His transmission is cut short though when York and the Five Elders discover that the transmitter was in the robot Emet and destroy it, though Emet begins to fight for Luffy against the Elders.

The Aftermath Of The Egghead Incident

Luffy and Emet fight against Saturn as the Sunny attempts to escape the island and is joined by Bonny as she uses her Devil Fruit to emulate Luffy’s powers, giving herself similar powers to Luffy’s Gear Five.

Emet uses one final attack, a special collection of the original Joy Boy’s conqueror’s haki that has been stored for hundreds of years. This attack forces all the Elders but Saturn back to their headquarters and knocks out all the Marines on the island. This powers down Emet, but not before the giant has a vision of its final encounter with Joy Boy.

As everyone escapes with the Giant Warrior Pirates, Lilith awakens and informs the Straw Hats that the other Punks aren’t truly dead, with their consciousness uploaded to Punk Records and safely lifted into the sky with Sky Island clouds.

Back on the island, Saturn reminisces on how he was the one who chose to preserve Emet, infuriating Imu who nullifies his immortality, causing him to age rapidly and die. Taking his place is Fergarland Garling, becoming the Wargod of Scientific Defense. Much of the technology from Egghead is claimed by the Marines, while York remains allied with the World Government.