I have been wondering where Law and Kid have been for the past several chapters. Both invaded Kaido’s castle, but we hadn’t received any updates on their exact whereabouts for a while. This leads to what is in my opinion the most interesting scene this chapter in which we learn Law’s present location.
We finally learn this chapter that Law has been descending through Kaido’s castle to the lower levels. He’s now in the second basement where a Poneglyph is hidden, but to Law’s surprise, it’s not a red Road Poneglyph. I’m really happy to see that Law is seeking out the Road Poneglyph for himself.
Though he has served as an ally for the past 350 chapters, Law is still ultimately a rival pirate captain to Luffy. It’s easy to forget given the current story saga has lasted for nearly a decade. I have been wondering for a while whether Law’s presence in the Whale Tree would have any narrative ramifications.
One of my concerns about the story beyond Wano was that the Straw Hats would have what appears to be an insurmountable lead in the race to find One Piece. We learned on Zou that the four Road Poneglyphs are needed to reach Laugh Tale. At the same time, we also learned that following the log pose to the end of the Grand Line leads to a place where Roger first learned about the importance of the ancient writings.
I talked about this in more depth in a recent video about the mystery surrounding Lodestar Island.
In Chapter 966, Roger says he was the first to reach this place known as Lodestar Island. What this means is that the importance of the Road Poneglyphs is not commonly known.
Until they arrived on Zou, the Straw Hats themselves were completely unaware of this critical piece of information. The Emperors seem to be aware as Kaido and Big Mom both guard one of the four. A third is hidden on Zou, an island which is nearly impossible to reach and the fourth was moved from Fishman Island to an unknown location sometime in the past 25 years.
The fact that the importance of the Road Poneglyphs is not common knowledge and that they are guarded by the world’s most powerful pirates makes reaching One Piece an immensely difficult task. To complicate things further, there is only one person in the One Piece world known presently to possess the ability to decipher the Poneglyphs.
The Straw Hats already possess transcriptions of two of the four with a third in their sights on Wano. Robin is the only person in the world with the ability to read them. Recently Big Mom and Kaido’s declared intent to pursue One Piece in a sense rang hollow because, as far as we’re aware, they lack the means to decipher the Poneglyphs. By giving the Straw Hats such an overwhelming advantage, any tension in the race to find the last Road Poneglyph and reach Laugh Tale would be lacking.
I imagine Oda has already devised a solution for this issue. We know Big Mom at least has some sort of plan revolving around Pudding. But what about the other members of the Worst Generation?
Law and Kid have been framed as rivals to the Straw Hats, but so far, Oda hasn’t established them as any real threat to their ability to reach Laugh Tale. While I do believe Law will ultimately be an ally to Luffy through the final conflict of the series, I’m personally hoping he’ll be a serious rival in the last leg of the voyage leading to Laugh Tale and this chapter seems like a step in that direction. Law promised he would not betray Luffy before the alliance fulfills its intended purpose to take down Kaido – and I believe he will keep his word.
But I’m happy to see Law still has ambition of his own – that he has his own motive for discovering One Piece.
We see a flashback to a conversation between Robin and Law which likely took place on Wano shortly after their arrival as both are still in their ordinary clothes. This would have taken place around the same time Luffy, Namji, Chopper, Brook, Pedro, and Carrot were on route to Whole Cake Island.
Law told Robin that he carries the name D. in hope she could explain its meaning. Robin says that Luffy doesn’t care, but she too is very interested in learning about the will of D. We saw Law ask this same question of Sengoku at the end of Dressrosa.
Law’s motive in Dressrosa was to avenge Rocinante’s death by bringing Kaido’s wrath down on Doflamingo. He really didn’t care if he died in the process. In a sense, he recruited Luffy with a false pretense as he never really expected to live to face Kaido on Wano.
Now that he survived, he’s seeing though the commitment he made to Luffy to take down Kaido, but after learning about the Road Poneglyphs on Zou, it seems he has renewed interested in discovering One Piece for himself and learning the history of the D. Clan, which Law refers to as a cursed legacy.
What remains unclear is exactly how Law intends to decipher the Road Poneglyphs. On Zou, the idea that Robin’s ability to read the Poneglyphs may make her a target, which lends to the idea someone with nefarious purpose like Blackbeard will try to abduct her and force her to lead the way to Laugh Tale.
But what if Law abducts Robin? I don’t think it’s very likely, but it’s an interesting notion to consider. Personally, I don’t love the idea that Robin would be targeted again after the CP9 saga. It was nice to see Law say he trusts Robin enough to tell her his full name. Robin is the most level headed member of the Straw Hats so it makes sense Law would consider her the one with whom he could confide his secret.
The location of the Road Poneglyph on Wano remains a mystery. In chapter 934, Brook said he found a Poneglyph in an odd room below Orochi’s castle in the flower capital, but that it too was not of the Road Poneglyph variety. Robin assumes that the Road Poneglyph must be on Onigashima, but this chapter we find out the one in the basement of Kaido’s castle is also not the one she’s looking for. I can’t say the exact reason why, but I feel like it’s a strong possibility the Road Poneglyph is located atop Fujiyama.
It would be an incredibly difficult place for most people to reach given the steep slope of the mountain, but easily accessible for Kaido in dragon form.
*Theory by StrawHatJedi
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