Over the years, Eiichiro Oda has created many iconic arcs for his One Piece that have earned a special place in the hearts of fans. From the Water 7 Arc to Egghead Island Arc, everyone has their choice. However, there’s one saga that is uniformly regarded as the greatest of them all.
The Marineford Arc is considered to be the pinnacle of the Shonen series that takes its viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions. It showcased the formidable Whitebeard Pirates declaring an all-out war against the Marines to rescue Portgas D. Ace from meeting his grim fate. The arc featured many secrets, including Ace being the son of the King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger.
However, there was one more secret that Oda-Sensei hid in plain sight that many ardent fans failed to notice. The secret revolved around Sakazuki and The Leader of the Revolutionary Army having an interconnected past, which made him so obsessed with killing Luffy after he was traumatized by Ace’s death.
Eiichiro Oda Foreshadows Akainu and Dragon’s Linked History
There’s no denying that the charisma of the Marineford Arc was strong enough to convince anime viewers to become fans of Eiichiro Oda and his magnum opus. The saga is a perfect combination of that that featured an impromptu family reunion, the epic war between a Yonko and Marines, and the sadness of death that was followed by Ace’s murder at the hands of the Vice Admiral.
Almost every fan of the series was wowed away because it gave them a first-hand experience of the earth-shattering strength that an Emperor of the Sea possessed. As a result, everyone fails to notice how Oda-Sensei hinted Akainu has a grudge against Monkey D. Dragon. This was evident because of the way he addressed the Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Recently, a popular content creator, GrandLineReview, uploaded a video on his YouTube channel, where he talked about 21 things that fans failed to notice during the Paramount War. The creator states how “Sakazuki never loses his memories,” and he is one of those characters who know how to hold quite “the grudge.”
To reinforce their idea, he stated how the Vice Admiral never referred to “Luffy as Luffy” and always called him “son of Dragon,” which strongly hints at how the two have a history that is yet to be told by Eiichiro Oda. Another reason the creator believed so was because he did not call Ace something like “Son of Roger.” Hence, he is quite convinced that there’s something “uniquely enraging about Dragon, which is bad news for Luffy.”
This grudge can be another reason why, even after Ace’s execution, he made it his personal agenda to kill Luffy as well. The fans were surprised because, amidst all the chaos, they failed to notice this detail, which was merely hiding in plain sight.
One Piece Fans React To Marineford War’s Greatness
GrandLineReview’s perspective was something that brought something unique to the table for the OP community because everyone was in a state of shock after they believed that their favorite character had avoided meeting his grim fate. However, once the creator pointed out this subtle detail, everyone was surprised and found one more reason to call the Marineford War Arc their favorite saga in the entire series.
The observation was met with overwhelmingly positive opinions from the fans, where some gave their opinion about Sakazuki and Dragon, while some sang praises of the arc. They commented,
@Milan0T0Z commented, “When you mention that “Son of Dragon” statement from Sakazuki, it hit me. The friend he lost WAS Dragon!!!!”
@worduser899 commented, “Sabaody and Marineford is the undeniable peak of One Piece.”
@jeremygaal5127 commented, “Marineford is my #1 favorite arc in One Piece in everything, from the relationships and dynamics with the characters to the connections with the past, present and future moments of the series!”
@alphabret6844 commented, “The link between dragon and Akainu is pretty obvious. Dragon is an ex marine who quit because of thier injustice amd started (or joined) the revolutionary army. Meanwhile Akainu goes on to execute children on Ohara in name of justice. Even if no personal connection is revealed here, Akainu sees in dragon an ex marine who became a greater enemy than pirates and dragon sees akainu as the worst of what made him quit the marines There was the thoery (i think i saw it with morj) that dragon has the wind logia and since all admirals (except fujitoro) are logias that perhaps dragon was in the running for the admiral position, so they might have been rivals as well”
@truthmatters7573 commented, “Oda never ceases to impress with how carefully he crafted every detail of this story ! Thanks for highlighting these neglected details :)”
Nevertheless, this connection between the two has got the fandom wondering when Luffy and the murderer of his brother would cross paths again; more importantly, they are curious to know about the event that connects the two in the first place.
One Piece can be streamed on Crunchyroll, and the manga can be read on VIZ Media.
