For a long time people have speculated if Joy Boy was his real name or just the title he gained as he travelled the world and brought smile to people’s faces. But if its the title, what was his real name ?
I believe the true name was revealed in the Long Ring Long Land arc.
During Long Ring Long Land, it was revealed that Davy Back fight originated on Fullalead Island, Hachinosu aka Pirate Island which is currently ruled by Blackbeard.
Recently it was also revealed that 800+ years ago the world has sunk by 200 meters, which means that most of the world is unexplored and would be inaccessible by normal means of travel unless you know the direct coordinates to such place, as Grand Line is extremely vast and empty and it is said that without Log Pose, it would mean 100% chance that you would go in circles forever as you wouldn’t know if you’re moving forward or not.
It has been my thought for a very very long time that Laugh Tale is an island inside the hollow earth, inspired by Jules Verne “Journey to the center of the Earth” (as it could be said that Fishman island is inspired by “20000 leagues under the sea” by Jules Verne).
But even if it was just a normal island that has sunk beneath the 200m, it would still be unreachable by normal means of travel especially if you don’t have coordinates, like 4 Road Poneglyphs. (though the question still remains, how exactly will they get to that point without log pose, as they could get stuck travelling in circles in the Grand Line).
And Roger, in the beginning of the series has said “My wealth and treasures? If you want it, I’ll let you have it…search for it! I left all of it at that place.”
But this also has a different translation as everything in Japanese can have multiple translations and meaning. The other translation is:
“My treasure, you want it ? I left it all DOWN THERE”
Down can be in the center of the earth, it could also be below the sea. So, do we know a pirate in One Piece who has accumulated all of his treasures down on the bottom of the ocean ? We do.
His name is Davy Jones.
A “Cursed pirate” from “Ancient times” who lives “Under the sea”.
Davy Back fight was created on PIRATE island in the honor of the Davy Jones, the first pirate. Hachinosu could’ve been his birthplace.
And one interesting fact is that legend says that Jones was a pirate who accumulated a large amount of treasure, and at some point the DEVIL (Imu) condemned him to spend the rest of his life underwater with his treasures.
As many fans, i believe that Imu is representation of the “Devil of the sea” or “Mother sea” as Imu/Umi translates to “Mother sea” from Japanese. And we know he drowned the world by 200meters, most likely as a means to defeat Devil Fruit users. Vegapunk noted that those who ate Devil Fruits are now enemies of the mother sea. So perhaps, drowning the world by 200meters was a way for him to defeat Joyboy who was a devil fruit user (maybe he’ll be the first character we’ll see drown. – my second guess is Blackbeard, he gained all the strongest devil fruits, but will die to sea, which would be quite ironic).
And also the fact that Imu is literally UMIbozu. The so called “Sea Priest” that drowns the ships in Japanese mythology. He appears in seemingly calm seas that suddenly turn disastrous and drown the ships. (Which sounds like Grand Line, also known as Pirate Graveyard).
So I believe this was his true name. The legend has endured, but the true identity of Davy Jones is non-existent. People who know of Nika, who know of Joy Boy and who know of Davy Jones don’t know that he was the one in the same person.
I would be quite surprised if Oda doesn’t include such a legendary figure/pirate in his story in more depth.
Long Ring Long Land also gave us the first clue that sea levels are rising as LRLL used to be one huge ring-shaped island that you could cross by walking, but now you can only do it when the tides are low.
Perhaps they were called “Davy Pirates” and after the collapse of Ancient kingdom, the only thing left was the “D”, the sign of their brotherhood and connection that will remain throughout the centuries.
*Theory by RoronoaLuffyZoro