 The Man Marked by Flames was first mentioned in Chapter 1056, but could this mysterious man be someone we've already known all along? Is he the father of the main protagonist? An old timer from the Golden Age of Pirates? A former adversary? Or a completely brand new figure yet to be introduced? Well, keep watching because in this video, we're gonna discuss all the possible candidates that could turn out to be the Man Marked by Flames. And make a case for and against why each fits the bill of this mystery character. The recent chapter of One Piece gave us two key pieces of information about the Man Marked by Flames. One is that he travels in a pitch black ship, and two, he's able to create whirlpools to stop anyone who tries to get close to him, suggesting he may have a devil fruit ability. And the first thing that I wanna delve into is that whirlpool conjuring ability that hints at a powerful devil fruit. At least that's the assumption, but seeing as it's not necessarily confirmed, could we speculate on what else could be creating those whirlpools? Say, could this be the work of perhaps the strongest fishmen in history? Someone able to control the tide itself? Or a very technologically advanced weapon created by a genius making it a machine-made whirlpool? Or could it even be a pure 100% coincidental luck? Regardless of what the source of the whirlpool is, I think I speak for everyone when I say that I can't wait to see what other abilities this man possesses. And before we get into our other candidates, let's also quickly discuss how this man might have come to be marked by flames. Going by that translation alone, it would suggest that flame marks may be the sign of a physical trauma such as burn scars, may be one sustained by accident, or as the result of a battle against an opponent with a flame-related combat style. But it could also be taken to mean that the flame marks are purely aesthetic, say, like a tattoo. There are different translations for this. For example, the official Viz translation calling him the man with a burn scar, therefore strongly leaning towards the idea that the scars are from being burnt rather than being an aesthetic choice, but this may not be necessarily the case if there's some nuance being lost across translations. Either way, the first candidate and what seems to be the most popular choice based on your comments covers both these possibilities and that is Monkey D. Dragon. The marks either being burn scars or tattoos are both possibilities for Dragon. He already sports a face tattoo, which its significance is still yet to be revealed, or better yet, could his tattoos exist simply to cover burn marks? The possibility of his tattoos being the flame marks in question, in addition to the fact that Dragon is always seen cloaked, covering his entire body below his neck, makes Luffy's dad an intriguing prospect appearance-wise alone. Maybe his entire body is covered in flame marks and he is indeed our mystery man, or even if not a tattoo, could there be another cause for Dragon's entire body being covered in flame scars? Discounting a fiery accident, the easiest to speculate about would be Sakazuki. I've discussed years ago how Dragon and Sakazuki may share a deep story that is crucial to Dragon's motivations in his battle against the world government. Additional interesting details about the duos, such as the two being the same age, and Sakazuki's seemingly personal disgust towards Luffy at Marineford for being Dragon's son, seems to support this idea as well. There's also a popular idea that Dragon was once a Marine, and for the purposes of this video, let's run with this speculation that Dragon was a promising Marine in the past, whose worldview changed after discovering a dark truth about the world government, which resulted in him not only leaving the Marines, but also a confrontation with Sakazuki. We know the effect that a battle between two high-ranking, powerful, devil-fruit-wielding Marines has on not only their environment, but also their bodies. Both Kuzan and Sakazuki were left with permanent damage after their long battle, with Kuzan recently stating that Sakazuki would have scars all over his body, while acknowledging the burnt scars that Sakazuki left on him. Perhaps these two pieces of information we received in the one chapter from Kuzan, hints to what Dragon is hiding under his cloak. Flame scars, to be exact. Alternatively, maybe there's a much darker possibility where the flame marks are linked to Dragon's goal of taking down the celestial dragons. Suppose Dragon himself was once a slave who suffered under the celestial dragons. Suppose that the tattoo-like marks on his face are actually a form of branding similar to what other former slaves have on their backs. Maybe the so-called tattoos are much more sinister in nature, in fact, being evidence that he's been seared. But speculations about the flames aside, there are also other interesting pieces of information that may serve as evidence. The revolutionary ship Wind Grammar could fit into the description of an all-black ship. While the anime has already adapted the ship with a different color scheme, it's perhaps an easy detail to ignore since there have been other instances where Oda has changed the anime adaptations and when it comes to the manga, Pitch Black is a fitting description. And let's consider the ship's name, shall we? Wind Grammar? Throughout the series, Dragon has often been associated to wind or other weather-related phenomenon, giving rise to speculations of him holding a wind or otherwise weather-related devil fruit. And it just so happens that appearances of the man marked by flames coincides with whirlpools, which is a tide activity that can be created by strong winds. If we also look at other occasions where we have seen whirlpools in the story, such as in the beginning where Luffy was taken away by a whirlpool, which kicked off his adventure, and more recently with the eddy current that washed Bonnie ashore at Egghead Island, which may not be necessarily the result of whirlpools, but still point to strong and strange ocean tide activity. Dragon is directly or indirectly related to both of these characters, with Luffy being his father, and in the case of Bonnie being the close comrade of her father. This could also be one of the reasons among many why Dragon is at the top of the world government's list of criminals, because they're aware that he holds a world ponderglyve that pirates will need to get to Laugh Tale. After all, Goldie Roger himself speculated that the reason the world government prohibits the research of the ponderglyves is because they do not want anyone to reach Laugh Tale to ensure that no one finds out what is hidden on the island. So there does seem to be many hints that prop up Dragon as a very strong candidate, almost as the obvious choice. The recent storyline also seems to be tying all the threads between the pirates, the world government and revolutionary army to bring their stories together. And this could be the way that Dragon, that enigmatic figure we still know so little about, plays a much larger and unexpected role in the story. And so although it's an interesting thought to consider Dragon as the man marked by flames, there are some glaring issues or questions that come to mind. For one, Dragon is already a very well-known figure to be simply referred to by an alias. He's sure to be recognized unless he's made a really great attempt to be kept hidden and has only ever been seen heavily cloaked from a distance. There's also Robin's relationship and history with Dragon. The fact that Robin, along with Law, reacted to a mention of this man suggests she knows whom Kid and Killer were referring to, which checks out if it's Dragon because she did spend some time with him, giving her plenty of opportunities to have seen the so-called flame marks. But then simultaneously, if the mystery man is indeed Dragon, why doesn't Robin know about Dragon having the last rolled pona-glyph that the straw hats are after? I'm sure there are ways that these questions can be answered and worked around, but they are still glaring holes in this theory nonetheless. Another candidate who could have evoked a curious response from Robin is Jaguar Disol. The reason why this name seems to get thrown around is because of the recent reveal that this marine turned Robin's savior is actually alive and survived Kuzan's attack during the Ohara incident, but not without some damage and perhaps even permanent battle scars. During the recent flashback in Chapter 1066, we saw Saul covered in bandages supposedly as he was recovering from Kuzan freezing him and burnt scars can be equally relevant for ice burns as opposed to fire. Alternatively, Saul could have been burnt during the Buster Call, thawed by the fire to the point that his flesh burned and scarred. The question I have about Saul being the mystery man though is if it is indeed Saul, who is a giant, surely his large gigantic size is naturally the feature that people point out first as opposed to flame marks. Even if he's seen from a distance, the silhouette of someone his size is sure to be a feature notable and noticed. The next candidate we're gonna consider is Skopper Gabbana. Gabbana as a character highly anticipated to someday make an appearance is a name always thrown around whenever there's a question about a mystery man. In this case being no different, Gabbana is somewhat widely anticipated to be the flame marked man given he's been absent from the story so far apart from the flashbacks. And so if an old legend with more lore surrounding the one piece and the late pirate king was going to make a reappearance, now would be a pretty good time given we're in the final saga and whatnot. Gabbana's link to the Roger Pirates as someone who has actually found all four Lord Ponyglyphs and therefore would know of its locations would easily explain how he would at least have a copy of one of them. But although we're going off what very little we've seen of him, there is no indication as to why Gabbana would be known as the man marked by flames or associated with whirlpools. Unless he's gained some ability after the Roger Pirates disbanded, Gabbana did not display an ability to control whirlpools during the flashback and to introduce him with a devil fruit now would be to break a nice trend that the top three Roger Pirates are all non-devil fruit users. And similarly, although he could have sustained flame marks since we've seen him last, Gabbana has no connection to this feature whatsoever. Unless we stretch really far and say that this random character with a tattoo that somewhat looks like blue flames who somewhat bears a resemblance to a youngest Skopper Gabbana because of his glasses is indeed the former Roger Pirates member which may or may not be true. But then again, this old man made this comment in reference to Saving Ace. And would one of Roger's closest crew members really say such a thing about his former captain's son? Either way, regardless of the relevance of this old man, Gabbana is very much a speculative choice that seems to be popularized by expectations to see him become involved in the story much like how Roger's right-hand man Rayleigh has been. And for that same reason, the man marked by flames could even be tied to the mystery figure we saw Crocker share a drink with from the cover story to chapter 631. Again, for just purely speculative reasons that that was a very suspicious scene and surely important given that this is one piece. As far as we know, this cover story is the first and only scene featuring this character and there's still no follow-up about the mystery figure. Why draw attention to this individual if they're not going to make an appearance sometime? How does this connect to the man marked by flames? Well, nothing as of yet. But if there's a will, there's a way. And as easy as it would be to speculate that his hidden body could be covered in flames, this figure also having information about the role of Poneglyph is easy to imagine since he was seen drinking with the doctor of the late Goldie Rogers crew. This person even being an unnamed Roger pirate or acquaintance isn't out of the question. My personal favorite candidate for this mystery man, however, is Roxney Zabeck, which may seem like a long shot because for all intents and purposes, Rox is supposedly dead. But this is one piece. So unless we see their dead, lifeless body on a page, there's a chance that they can return to the story. And hey, Zabeck's alleged death is only according to the world government, an organization who's responsible for coverups in the past. So who's to say that this is reliable information? This also goes back to a comment that was mentioned years ago during an anime and manga convention when Oda teased the upcoming appearance of a lurking legend in the story. This little comment has sparked lots of debates and discussion as to whom he could be referring to. And a part of me has always wondered whether he was referring to Zabeck and the possibility of the former Rox captain even being alive. And if you would humor me for a moment and suppose that Zabeck is indeed alive, there are some factors that could make him a respectable candidate to being the flame marked man in question. We know Zabeck was researching taboos, which is what made him a target for the world government in the first place. And as we've already established, studying polyglyphs is forbidden. In other words, a taboo according to the world government. So it's a logical assumption that Zabeck could have possession of a rolled polyglyph. Since he was also considered one of Roger's biggest rivals, but unlike Garp who's a Marine and Whitebeard who did not seek the one piece, we could speculate that Rox might have been the person closest to finding the one piece before Roger claimed it. Thereby again explaining his possession of a rolled polyglyph. Zabeck being this mystery figure could also explain the epithet of a man marked by flames not only because of the fact that as an individual involved in the legendary God Valley incident, Zabeck having an injury such as burn marks wouldn't be hard to imagine, but also because he's an individual not many in the current generation are aware about. A figure of the past who the world government has actively tried to bury and so he wouldn't be recognizable to anyone now apart from this feature. But another idea is that this mystery man is a figure that we've yet to be introduced to entirely. A completely fresh character who has a major role to play in this final saga. And it's not out of the question. There may even be some red herrings thrown in there such as the man marked by flames actually being a woman or even the speculation of this figure having a devil fruit being overturned with the individual actually being a fisherman with great fisherman karate skills to be able to completely change ocean tides and create a whirlpool. As is always the case with one piece, the possibilities are nigh on endless. But one thing's for certain, whoever this figure is will have a huge impact on the future of the story. The recent events clearly demonstrate that we are facing battles right front and center in the scramble to find the road poneglyphs. And although the straw hats are currently in the lead in terms of who has the most copies of road poneglyphs, if they aren't the first to find this figure, then there are others who could easily become a threat to finding the one piece first. Most notably, Blackbeard, who along with Shanks is probably on par or just behind Luffy in terms of road poneglyph possessions. And there is definitely a battle brewing here. Depending on who this elusive flame marked character is, we'll also have implications for where the story goes next. Whether we dive into the world of the Revolutionary Army or find out more lore and history about God Valley or the life and times of Goldie Roger, or whether we're taken on a completely new and unexpected plotline with a fresh new character never to be seen before. So why don't you let me know your thoughts about the man marked by flames? Who is it? Why is it? How is it? Let me know by commenting your thoughts below. Please do subscribe for more One Piece discussions. Thank you for listening to yet another one of my ramblings. This is Joygirl and I'll see you again soon.