Oda Sets Up A Massive Failure For Luffy 

One Piece is currently in the Elbaf arc, and fans know that the story keeps on getting more intriguing with each passing chapter, taking exciting twists and turns. Elbaf has been superb so far, and it is most certainly going to continue down the same line. But, at the same time, Elbaf is also an indication of the fact that One Piece is now headed towards its final and most dangerous phase.

Related

One Piece: Oda Reveals How He Came Up With The Biggest Plot Twist In The Story

One Piece is filled with huge plot twists. Oda reveals how he came up with the biggest one.

This is going to be extremely exciting for the fans, but at the same time, dangerous for Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates. The threats they’ll face from here onwards will be unlike any other they’ve faced before, which means that there is a massive chance for Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates to encounter failure eventually. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s going to be the end of the road for the Straw Hat Pirates. Instead, it’ll be the end of an era and the beginning of a new phase in the One Piece world, and all of this seems to have been set up by Oda already.

Luffy’s Rise To Yonko In One Piece

• Luffy Has Become One Of The Strongest
• The Story Needs Stronger Figures

Luffy is, undoubtedly, one of the strongest characters in One Piece right now, and this shouldn’t surprise any fan, given that he’s one of the Four Emperors of the Sea. By definition, Luffy is among the four most powerful pirates in the world, and he’ll hold on to this title for a long time. With time, Luffy will only grow stronger, and that is truly scary to imagine. Having begun his journey as a no-name pirate, Luffy worked tremendously hard to get to where he is today. When he faced failure before the timeskip, it is was clear that Luffy would come back stronger than ever before.

Having trained for two years with Rayleigh, Luffy returned stronger than ever and shocked the whole world with the level of power that he possessed. Defeating one enemy after another, he eventually found his way to Yonko Kaido and beat him as well. Now, it feels as if Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates are invincible, but that might not truly be the case.

The Straw Hat Pirates are, at the moment, yet to see failure in the New World, but that could change very soon and there’s a reason why it needs to happen. It is no surprise to see authors use the strategy of having their main characters witness failure to make them stronger and that could very well be coming up for Luffy and the Straw Hats in the New World as well. As One Piece edges closer to its end, the chances of Luffy facing another defeat get bigger than ever before and while fans might not like the initial idea, it needs to happen for two reasons.

Why Luffy Will Fail One More Time

Oda Has Set Up Luffy’s Fall With The Dressrosa Arc

Oda is the author of One Piece and he can write the Final Saga as he sees fit. However, there are some plot points that Oda establishes that he must deliver on, and that’s exactly why Luffy failing absolutely does matter here. For the fans who do not remember, Luffy had his Vivre Card made in the Dressrosa arc of One Piece and for those who don’t know, Vivre Card is also known as the paper of life. This is because just looking at the Vivre Card is enough to tell the life force of a person and when it burns up fully, it means that the user has died. Luffy’s Vivre card was made in Dressrosa after the fall of Doflamingo and then distributed among the members of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. Sabo, Luffy’s brother, also took a piece of paper with him, as did Bellamy, stating that while he isn’t Luffy’s follower, he will keep a piece, just in case.

If there’s one thing that fans remember about Vivre Cards, it is that Oda used it to bring Luffy close to Ace when he was in time of need. When Ace was about to be executed, it was Luffy who stepped up and tried his best to free him. He did all of this using the Vivre Card.

Related

One Piece: Oda Just Hinted At The True Identity Of The Earth God

The Earth God is a mysterious figure in One Piece. Oda might have just hinted at his true identity.

Similarly, now, Luffy has his own Vivre Card made and it is a plot point that’s already established in One Piece. In other words, Oda will 100% use this at some point later down the line. But, for it to be used properly, Luffy needs to be in danger first. After all, it is the paper of life, and there is absolutely no way the likes of Bellamy, Sabo, and the others will come to Luffy’s aid unless it’s a big emergency. As such, based on the way Oda has set things up, Luffy will inevitably end up facing failure at some point in the story, possibly after the events of Elbaf, or maybe even after he finds the One Piece.

A Luffy Rescue Arc Could Happen

Luffy Will Be Rescued By All His Allies

Oda having Luffy distribute his Vivre Card is a big indication of the fact that all these people who are Luffy’s friends, with some of them even sailing under his flag, will eventually follow his Vivre Card to meet him. If Luffy finds himself in danger, then they will rescue him for sure. It is interesting to note that each member of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet has access to the Vivre Card, as do Sabo and Bellamy. The Straw Hats themselves have access to it as well, as the vast majority of it was kept by Sabo with Zoro. Luffy himself carried a piece of it with him in his hat.

If Luffy is ever in danger from another pirate, such as Blackbeard, or the Marines, then the Straw Hat Pirates, Sabo, Bellamy, and the Straw Hat Grand Fleet will all together come to fight for him and this will lead to a massive war which will definitely be incredibly exciting to witness. Regardless of whether fans like the idea or not, the Vivre Card will inevitably come of use and Luffy will find himself in danger. Not everything will be smooth sailing for him and he needs bumps on the road every once in a while to overcome them and grow even stronger. The only question is when Oda will bring this Vivre Card into play and how it’ll affect the world of One Piece moving forward.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus apps. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1143, is set to be March 23, 2025.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

• 

  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

• 

  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)