The Throne War, the final conflict of the series, won’t happen after Laugh Tale. It has already started!
There’s this notion that the final war starts with the unveiling of the One Piece. This is mostly based on Whitebeard’s dying speech in Marineford. He says that a great war will come to the world, and that the whole world will be turned upside down after the treasure is found.
However, when you check his actual words, the war and the world turning upside down are not necessarily the same thing. While that interpretation is possible, it’s not the only one. What if they are different events? The war leads to the One Piece, and that will change the world.
I feel the story is building up towards this second interpretation. The Marineford war was the prelude to a great upheaval, as both the Elder Stars and Doflamingo confirmed.
Doflamingo is the one to lay out what would be about to happen. Several forces would battle each other for supremacy over the seas.
- The Four Emperors
- The Seven Warlords
- The Worst Generation
But he also included non-pirates in the conflict:
- The Marines
- The Revolutionary Army
And…
- The Celestial Dragons
These are the six forces that were about to clash.
Prelude to War (Already happened)
Or, to be clearer, they are already clashing! The Chapter with Doflamingo’s speech is called “Opening Speech”, because his fall was the trigger that would cause the “Throne War”.
Soon after, we had:
- The Blackbeard Pirates attacked the Revolutionaries.
- The Worst Generation (Luffy and Bege) caused chaos in Big Mom’s territory.
- The Revolutionary leaders gathered.
The current situation
But these were just minor conflicts. Apetizers for the true war. When did it really began?
In the 4th day of the Reverie!
The Throne War’s first salvo was the Revolutionaries declaring war on the World Government.
Blackbeard was the first to notice it, and he also commented on how the war would soon come to Wano.
Then we get to the next four battles of the Throne War: the Marines hunting the remaining Warlords of the Sea!
While those conflicts are still ongoing, we get the see first-hand the 6th battle of the Throne War: the Raid of Onigashima!
We readers can’t grasp the scope of this war because we are following only one group of players. We will only understand it when it’s time to see what’s going on the rest of the world.
So, to sum it up, the Throne War already encircled all six forces of the conflict:
- Revolutionaries vs Celestial Dragons
- Marines vs Warlords
- Worst Generation vs Emperors
This is what I call “Phase 1” of the war. What comes next?
The ongoing conflict
Well, the war will now be featured in EVERY arc from now on, either thundering in the background or being fought in the forefront.
In other words, THERE’S NO “FINAL WAR” ARC! It will grow and evolve until the end of the series!
At each turn, the battling forces will be transformed. Some will collapse, and its survivors will seek shelter with the remaining forces. This is already happening to the Warlords and the Emperors, in which some of their players are falling, and others will realign.
Speculating about the future
This will be like a great championship, with less forces at each phase. This is the theory, in essence, but let’s speculate a bit. I think the Throne War can be divided into three phases. Phase 1 ends with Wano.
In Phase 2, I think, the Straw Hats will ally with the Revolutionaries and challenge the Celestial Dragons. I predict two arcs in this phase:
- Mary Geoise
- Vegapunk
Meanwhile, in the background, the two remaining Emperors will clash.
Then, we reach Phase 3, the final one. This will be the final stretch of the series, with the One Piece as the goal. There, we get two more arcs:
- Elbaf
- Laugh Tale
At this point, the original forces will be so fractured and reshaped that they won’t even be the same. For instance, there won’t be “Seven Warlords of the Sea” nor “Emperors of the Sea”. There will be Blackbeard.
It’s possible that something remains to be done after Laugh Tale. One final battle to close the series, for instance. But DON’T expect it to be the fabled “Final War” with everyone ducking it out. It will, instead, revolve around the two (or maybe three) forces that will remain.
