Recently while reading the latest chapter of One Piece, chapter 914, the character Tsuru mentioned something twice to Luffy and Zoro while explaining the current state of Wano. Now, Oda has a tendency to bury important information on offhand remarks, and repeats the statement or fact several times leading up to the reveal. So when he mentions something not once,
but twice in the same chapter,
I start to listen carefully… and wonder if Wano kingdom’s isolation isn’t only a physical isolation, but one in time as well. For the sake of people’s dashes, I’ll go over all of this below the cut.
So why on earth is this something to even think about? It’s just a statement of time. Usually, I’d also chalk it up to a random fact thrown out by Oda to enrich the world and history. Authors and writers like to spew out random dates and times to create a history of their world. Except in this case, this date is tied to an actual timeline, an important one at that – the timeline of current events.
You see way back in Punk Hazard, the audience is introduced to Kin’emon and Momonosuke. Over time we are introduced to aspects of their story.
Ok so this obviously establishes intent of where they were going and how it lines up with the main storyline. We know the order of events over multiple chapters and episodes: Kin’emon and Momo made it to Dressrosa, Momo was separated and sent to Punk Hazard, Kin’emon headed there eventually as well and met up with the Straw Hats. Raizo was the only one to make it to Zou.
We also know in chapter 818 and 819 that Oden sacrificed himself in order for Momo and his retainers to escape from Kaido and his interrogation. They then leave for Zou to seek allies in the Minks.
But now we’re told the Kozuki clan was defeated and their rule overturned 20 years ago.
So what gives? Did Momo and them stay in Wano for that long until departing to Zou? Were they adrift at sea for years like Brook?
Then there’s the added complication of Momo himself. He’s described several times as being only 8 years old, including by Kin’emon.
How could Oden have been defeated, killed, and Kin’emon and them set adrift for twenty years if Momo is only 8? And we know it’s not some sort of Rogue circumstance given Momo’s mother was killed before him by Kaido.
Icing on the cake is Momo’s remark in Zou about having met Roger himself when he visited Wano Kingdom 20+ years ago.
All of this leads me to believe that Wano kingdom is separate from the rest of the world not only in location but also in time. From what I can gather, time seems to move slower there… or something to that effect. Even though only a week and a few days have gone by during the events of Whole Cake Island, the remaining Straw Hat crew on Wano managed to establish themselves in jobs and community. Zoro even managed to get himself in trouble for murders that, at minimum, happened over the course of a month.
There’s also the reveal in chapter 909 that Shusui and Ryuma’s corpse were robbed 23 years ago.
However, Hogback didn’t work for Moriah at that point.
Given the timeskip, Hogback began work on zombies 12 years ago. Did Moriah collect potential zombies as far back as 11 years prior to that? We know Moriah didn’t begin his zombie army until after his defeat by Kaido.
Thematically, Oda has lovingly crafted Wano Kingdom as a feudal era Japan. Now this time period was renowned for it’s isolationism. It kept to itself and its own ways as the rest of the world moved forward at a more global pace.
All in all I’m curious to see if this is just an odd discrepancy, I’m a moron who missed some basic detail and tin-foil hat-ed a conspiracy, or if there is actually something to the flow of time being different in Wano. Perhaps it’ll explain why everyone there is so huge, aging like elves where a 20-year-old is more like 8 in terms of both size and maturity.
Cheloneuniverse 