Of the few members revealed to be carriers of the Will of D, they’re all shown to be fighters, smiling in the face of death and doing anything to achieve their dreams. Above all else, their dreams and ambitions are most important to them, and they are to make sure those are carried on.
However strong fighters they may have been, some have died throughout the years.
Gol D. Roger, king of all pirates, upon his death, had inspired generations of pirates to follow in his footsteps – to rise against the world government, cause change, and adventure throughout the grand line in chase of their dreams of the One Piece.
Jaguar D. Saul, former vice admiral, had died protecting Robin and inspiring her to carry on with life, and upon achieving this, he was swiftly killed.
Portgas D. Rouge, Ace’s mother and Roger’s lover, had every intention of preserving the one thing she held closest to herself – her unborn son. Only after carrying out her sole dream of protecting her son by not giving birth on time, did she finally die.
Portgas D. Ace, inheritor of the Will of D above all else, had been freed from his restraints at the war of the greatest, and was on the way to making an easy escape and retreating. However, once his mentor and father figure Whitebeard was challenged by Akainu, he had abandoned all intention of escape, and had accepted the possibility of death by fighting Akainu. Ace’s dream had originally been to make Whitebeard the Pirate King, yet, it was something that Whitebeard refused. Instead, Ace chose the next best thing as his dream – to honor Whitebeard’s name above all else, and upon fighting against the soiling of his reputation, had finally been killed.
So what do they all have in common?
All of them have achieved their final ambitions, and had accepted their deaths. Roger and Ace went out smiling. Saul went out laughing. Rouge went out with a loving gaze.
All of them had achieved what they wanted most in life, and had finally died.
Although perilous events have befallen all of the other known members of the Will of D, so far, none of have died. No matter the deadly, troubled past that Trafalgar D. Law had went through. No matter the fights to the brink exhaustion against impossible odds that Monkey D. Luffy had experienced. No matter the immense amount of pain and damage Marshall D. Teach had undergone. And no matter the decades of fighting and world changing that Monkey D. Garp and Monkey D. Dragon had undergone, none of them have died.
Put simply, none of them have died because none of them have achieved their dreams.
Blackbeard and Luffy want to become the greatest Pirate, and Dragon wants to lead a revolution to overthrow the corrupt military.
Garp and Law are more of speculation territory, but they likely fall somewhere into making the idea of justice more pure. Garp has always been a figure to fight against absolute authority, and Law had been influenced by Corazon’s own sense of justice instead of Absolute Justice, and had sought retribution in his own way by taking down doflamingo, and later Kaido.
They all still have their dreams to accomplish.
Carriers of the Will of D. will never die until their dreams are achieved and they accept their deaths. The ones to die have all achieved their dreams and accepted their deaths, while the ones still living all have their own dreams, and as a result have survived incredible odds.
I originally thought of this based on the idea of Basil Hawkins’ tarot cards, and how he specifically noted that no matter what happened, Luffy’s chance of survival would never drop to zero. As this seemed as something superhuman, my first instinct was to think of something about the Will of D. shielding him.
*Theory by liglet
