3- Whitebeard
Whitebeard is far less evil than the previous two mentioned, but still attempts to emulate Joy Boy. He himself does not try to take the throne of Joy Boy, but instead tries to pass it to his family, specifically Ace.
Whitebeard’s dream was always to build a family
A family, Unity, is what Whitebeard wished for, which is very similar to Joyboy in 2 ways:
- Joy Boy’s nation of all races, the Great Kingdom (unity).
- Joy Boy’s personal connections with people like Poseidon and his promise to Fishman Island that he could not keep.
The second point is where Whitebeard meets his flaw. My headcannon is that Joy Boy had to break his promise with Fishman Island for a reason; for the greater good of something, or for the balance of the world. Whitebeard was too attached to the connections he made with his family, separating him from Joy Boy. The same goes for Ace, who was intended to be made the Pirate King, or Joy Boy, by Whitebeard. He was too attached to break his promise of a family with Whitebeard.
This flaw is the reason Whitebeard couldn’t become Joy Boy, or make Ace Joy Boy.
4- Shanks
Now finally, I believe Shanks has succeeded, and is the only Yonko without a flaw (yet).
Shanks had to have known the 2 conditions mentioned earlier:
- The devil fruit.
- Near death/death to awaken.
A common theory going around is that Shanks brought the Gomu Gomu no Mi to Foosha Village to give to Ace, after Roger told him about the conditions, and that Ace was his son. Following this theory, it makes sense that Shanks happened to be there, but the Gomu Gomu had a “will of it’s own”
This lead to Luffy eating it.
At the time, Shanks seemed angry because the fruit was valuable and worth decent money, but now in this modern context we see that possibly it was because he knew how important the fruit was.
When Shanks had time to think this over, he decided to do the same as Whitebeard; pass the torch to the next generation, through sacrifice.
He realized that Ace was probably not destined to be Joy Boy, and now had to prepare Luffy to become Joy Boy instead. He inspired him to become a pirate, the freest type of person.
Now, for the second point: a near death, or actual death experience.
The Gorosei most likely didn’t realize that Luffy ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi. Every time Luffy went up against enemies, they doubted him, and downplayed him, and often didn’t know what his abilities were.
They only began to target him, and keep a greater focus on him, after this moment:
I believe that here, Shanks told them all of what he knew: that Luffy had the Nika devil fruit, that Awakening would mean the destruction of World Government, and that he needs to be taken down. This led to Luffy’s “death” in Chapter 1042/3, which was the key part of his Awakening.
In summary:
Unlike Kaido, Shanks was able to obtain the true Hito Hito no Hi: Model Nika, and simulate “death”.
Unlike Big Mom, Shanks was able to inspire Luffy to seek true freedom and equality, not false versions of it.
Unlike Whitebeard, he distanced Luffy enough so that his own attachment wouldn’t end up binding his freedom and desire for the good of all.
Shanks set Luffy up to be Joy Boy.
*Theory by LilBonz51
