In the latest chapter Law tells Luffy and Zoro that they are going to relocate to the ruins of Oden Castle on top of a nearby mountain. He says they are going to meet the ghosts of Wano country, revealing that they are going to be a surprise for Luffy.
On the top of the mountain are graves for Kozuki Oden, Momonosuke, Kin’emon, Kanjuro, and Raizo.
Law said the “7 Ghosts of Wano” but there are 8 graves…What does this mean? First we have to deduce Wano’s Chronology with as many facts as I can and then deduce the situation to explain this apparent phenomenon.
Oden’s History
–Lord Oden travelled with Roger to Raftel where he learnt the secret of the world.
–When Oden was recruited, he was a young apprentice like Shanks and Buggy implying he was a kid at the time.
–When Shanks was 14 (Oden still a kid at the time), Roger became Pirate King which was 25 years ago.
–After Roger became Pirate King, the crew disbanded almost immediately meaning Oden returned back to Wano at age 14 and if we extend it by a few more years, 17 years; Tokugawa Ienari became a shogun at the mere age of 14, so it wouldn’t be surprising for Oden to have been Shogun once he returned to Wano.
For now, we’ll just assume Oden was the same age as Shanks which would mean if Oden were alive, he’d be 39 years old too. The idea that Momonosuke is somehow 20+ years old would be somewhat inaccurate because Oden was still just a kid and far too young to have had a kid especially outside of his Country, Wano.
Wano Post Roger’s Death
–5 years after Oden had returned and become the Shogun of Wano, he’d have been aged 19. He held some ideologies that caused a riff between himself and Orochi; he must have been advocating the idea of Wano opening it’s borders and there must have been opposition from Orochi who is now Shogun. This would have been 20 years ago from the current time.
–More so to support the former bullet point, we’re told the Paradise Farm Oden of the Kozuki clan created was taken by the Orochi and his officials which indicates the instability in Wano. It means most of Wano was slowly driven into poverty and farmine since Orochi took over the farm 20 years ago.
–12 years after Oden lost his paradise farm, or rather, 8 years ago at the age of 31(as we assume Oden is the same age as Shanks), Monosuke was born, thus the reason he’s 8 years old; Lord Oden never died 20 years ago, otherwise Momonosuke couldn’t have been born, to say otherwise is completely untrue.
–Momonosuke remembering advice from his father about the world; this is the kind of sage advice a Shogun gives to his successor despite being so young and more so born in a country in civil-war or instability at the very least.
–3 years ago, Ace arrived to a Wano that had been driven into poverty for over a decade.
–Over a year ago, X Drake was added as a headliner to Kaido’s forces implying Kaido must at least have allied with the Shogun at least before X Drake was added.
–Currently or in this time-line, before the Straw Hats all headed for Fishman Island, Zou was already at war with Jack.
Based on all this, I’m more inclined to believe Kaido got involved with Wano sometime between Ace’s visit and X Drake being added as a headliner a year ago. Via some intelligence by Kaido who realised Oden was the key to finding out the secret of the World, an alliance between the Shogun and Kaido was formed, the Kozuki clan were chased out out the country and escaped to form an alliance.
In order to nip in the bud the seed of rebellion, the Shogun has created graves for the Kozuki clan to stop people hoping and firmly keep an iron-tight grip on the nation.
The reason they’re called ghosts of Wano is likely because they’re supposedly dead to the people of Wano. Even speaking the Kozuki clan name is regarded as a crime. After-all, we know Kinemon and co. are all alive as we’ve seen people interact with them.
*Theory by HPsyche
