In Enel’s cover story we are introduced to Professor Tsukimi and his automata Spacey, Macro, Galaxy and Cosmo. We are told that Tsukimi created the automata – or at least created Spacey – on Karakuri Island, literally “the island of mechanisms”.
When we visit Karakuri Island in Franky’s timeskip segment (chapters 592 and 596), we learn that the island is Vegapunk’s birthplace. We also learn it’s a winter island that can only be reached with a large icebreaker; it’s always snowing and the people are always suffering from the cold.
Because of this, when Vegapunk was young he tried to build a geothermal system for heating the entire island, but couldn’t complete it due to lack of funds and resources.
However, the place where Tsukimi lived with his automata – and died – doesn’t look that cold.
Tsukimi is sitting outside, wearing sandals, and there’s bamboo growing nearby.
When he dies, cherry blossoms are drifting through the air. It’s a very different environment from the harsh everlasting winter of the island Franky was on.
When Oda decided to make Franky’s island the same as Tsukimi’s, did he overlook the fact that he’d depicted two very different types of environment? Is it a mistake that fell through the cracks? I think it’s unlikely because Oda has always crafted the One Piece world with an incredible level of detail. I believe it’s possible those automata were indeed created in a laboratory on Karakuri island, like we are told by the cover story, but the place where Tsukimi was admiring the moon with them is a different one. And I believe that place could be Wano.
WHY WANO?
First of all, because of the visual clues: the engawa (Japanese veranda), the bamboo, the cherry blossoms and the ukiyoe-sque clouds in Tsukimi’s cover story all belong to the Japanese Edo-period imagery Wano is based on. There’s no trace of any of those elements in the Karakuri Island of Franky’s timeskip chapters, while they can all be found in Wano. Also, the activity of “moon viewing”, from which Tsukimi gets his name, is typical of Japanese culture.
Second, because the name karakuri is associated to an element of Edo Japan that has oddly not popped up in Wano yet: karakuri puppets.
They were one of the main forms of entertainment of that period, and accompanied ceremonies and festivals. Not seeing any reference to them in Wano, that has borrowed basically everything from Edo Japan, would feel a bit like a missed opportunity. So I think they might be introduced in the story in the form of automata like Tsukimi’s.
