There seems to be something very intentional going on with Luffy and Zoro’s designs in Wano.
The Luffytaro outfit has these patches with a symbol similar to what we have seen before. The Alabasta flag has a central circle surrounded by eight orbs. Oda has always been intentional in his symbolism, and I think he’s been hinting at the nature of the One Piece World for some time.
For example, if we look at the World Government flag, it seems to imply that there are four areas of the world all ruled under centralized control: East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, South Blue. The lines connecting them could easily represent the Redline and Grand Line. All of which are controlled by the Marine HQ at the center.
If we look at the Alabasta flag, it has one circle surrounded by eight orbs. I think this could be a callback to Ohara and the model of the One Piece planet, which appears to have at least 6 moons.
We know from Enel’s cover story that at least one of the moons was inhabited. For arguments sake, let’s say they all were. We also know that Alabasta was a great kingdom in the ancient past, so great, that they refused to join the Celestial Dragons in their new world order.
What if at the height of Alabasta’s power they ruled the world and the surrounding moons? And even if it’s not that deep, what if Alabasta simply controlled the world and the eight other great kingdoms at the time? They had Pluton after all.
The point I’m getting at with Luffy’s patches on his robe is that they could symbolize an even more ancient flag, one of a unified world. The ten orbs surrounding the big one could symbolize the ten races of people that inhabit the world:
- human
- mink
- fishman
- giant (including Oars’ race)
- dwarf
- all 3 skypian races
- king’s race
- the dragons (unconfirmed race)
If all these races were united in a time of peace, I would think their flag would look like Luffy’s patches.
Now for Zoro, I think this might be the Shimotsuki family crest.
Shimotsuki means “frost moon” or “November”. The dark sun-like image could represent a frozen moon reflecting light. Kind of a reach, I know, but if we are provided more info about Zoro’s family and past in later Wano acts, the connection might become more obvious.
*Theory by so_chill
