 Which mystery in One Piece intrigues you the most? Is it what happened during the Void Century? Who comprises the Ancient Kingdom? The true meaning of the Will of D? Or is it the One Piece itself? Even as we enter the final saga, the end game of our much beloved series, One Piece is still filled with so many unanswered questions. But out of all these various mysteries, the rich lore, and head-scratch inducing questions, the one that I am very surprised about is the fact that we still have no idea who Vega Punk is. Hello Manaka Matachi, this is Joygirl, and by now we know that Oda is truly a master when it comes to seeding mysteries for the long game. We only have to remember the real nature of Luffy's Devil Fruit, a seemingly insignificant fruit that we were introduced to all the way back in Chapter 1, then finally being revealed to be something completely different over 1000 chapters later in the most recent 1-0 arc. So the fact that Vega Punk, a character who was first mentioned back in Chapter 433, still has yet to make an appearance? Well I suppose this is just standard in terms of One Piece. And yet, even as I say that, I can't help but think that it's pretty crazy that we still haven't seen Vega Punk in the story, excluding the shadow of his arms at least. Since the first mention of him, there have been so many times his name has been dropped throughout the series, each time being linked to some ingenious invention or intriguing technology. And with every new piece of information that we get, Vega Punk only gets more and more interesting. And if you're a fan of all things interesting when it comes to One Piece, then I highly recommend that you subscribe to this channel for more riveting One Piece discussions. One of the latest reveals about Vega Punk being his association with Vinsmoke Judge later expanded on to be his participation in Mads, a group of scientists also comprising of Queen and Judge was quite the head turner, particularly because of what this could then suggest in terms of Vega Punk's morals, which has always been an interesting point of discussion. From what we had known of Vega Punk so far, everything suggested that he was a good guy, or at least a semi-good guy. In his hometown, Baltimore, he still remembered fondly as a great man who tried to help his country's inhabitants with his inventions. And though he's now working with or for the world government, it was suggested that this was by force when Mads was absorbed by the world government. And when it came to his ethics, he certainly seemed to be on the lesser side of evil, given that he opposed his subordinate Caesar Clown's experimentation on children to try and achieve dragonification. And so when it came to him modifying Kuma, the world government affiliated scientist still granted the former Shichibukai Slash Revolutionary Army member his last wish of being able to protect the Thousand Sunny for the Straw Huts until their return. This suggesting that either A, Vega Punk isn't just a heartless world government serving machine, or B, Vega Punk at least has some sort of relationship with Kuma or possibly dragon or the Revolutionary Army. But the fact that Vega Punk was a part of Mads alongside the likes of Judge and Queen was surprising, given that these two definitely more fit the bill of evil and heartless monsters who stop at nothing when it comes to achieving their genius, albeit crazed ideas. And with these sort of reveals dropping about Vega Punk in his absence, and with all the different inventions we know him to be responsible for, you would think that he would have appeared by now. In fact, my guess was that Vega Punk would show up at Wano, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who suspected this, especially when it was suggested during the Wano arc that some world government or marine figures would make an appearance. Vega Punk was near the top of my list of individuals who I thought would make perfect sense to tie into the story at that point. With Momonosuke's artificial devil fruit, which we were introduced to all the way back in Punk Hazard being modelled after Kaido's devil fruit, and then even the CP0 making references to this during the Onigashima raid, commenting that thank goodness that Vega Punk's attempt was only a failure, but then that being a case of dramatic irony based on what we know so far about Momonosuke having that artificial devil fruit, and also as far as we can see it's not really a failure, or is it a case of reverse dramatic irony because they know something we don't about why it's actually a failure. But even aside from Kaido and Momonosuke's devil fruit, we also saw the numbers at Wano, which is sure to be one of Vega Punk's creations, and given that Wano is home to a vast amount of minerals and riches, as well as Frankie's history and connection to Voldemort, having been sent to Karakuri Island during the time skip, Vega Punk showing up to help Frankie develop new tech before the straw hats entered the final saga would have been pretty cool. But of course those were just my justifications and wishes and at the end of the day what do I know? That being said, even though we didn't see Vega Punk show up at Wano, I still do think we are pretty close to being introduced to him very soon, or relatively soon. We are now in the final saga where the inevitable clash between the marines and the world government against the straw hats will have to happen, therefore bringing the SSG into the fold. And as Luffy and the crew have all gotten power ups, we do need a new threat, and it seems Vega Punk's newest invention may be that force to boost the might of the marines. And even more recently, developments in the last couple of chapters strongly suggest that the story is going to pivot to focus on the revolutionary army, with Chapter 1058 even showing us the turned cyborg Kuma. And Kuma's dialogue in this chapter again raises a very intriguing question about Vega Punk, more specifically about whether Vega Punk is somehow related to the revolutionary army, and this could be interpreted in a number of ways. Kuma was called a slave when we last saw him, not reacting at all despite the Celestial Dragon's torments and abuse, so Kuma now does certainly fit this last image of him, but the question now is whether Kuma has been modified to serve only Celestial Dragons, or whether he's been made to serve everyone, or whether he's been modified to also specifically aid the revolutionary army. Because again, Vega Punk seemed to be pretty sympathetic to Kuma when it came to helping the son of the head of the revolutionaries. And so I think we would have to ask why. Also, staying on this thought train concerning Vega Punk and Kuma and his new state, I also wonder whether Vega Punk is somehow connected to jewelry Bonnie. Oda has suggested that this supernova has some sort of relationship to Kuma, expressing rage and sadness at seeing his enslaved state at marriage war, and given that we know of her devil fruitability, being able to manipulate her age as well as the age of others, is it possible this will completely change how we understand the genius scientist? Is he even older than we realize? Having been part of Mads all those years ago, and even possibly or likely being the creator of the numbers and given their age, or is he even a lot younger than we realize? Now in order to get all of these answers that we want, we're obviously going to have to be introduced to him. And this, this is where things get really interesting. Because now that we are this far into the series, and with still only a shadow and a number of mentions to speak for this brilliant scientist, I'm left wondering whether Vega Punk will be a completely new character, or a character that we've actually been introduced to before. And the reason why I propose this is because again, how far we've come into the series. If Vega Punk is to have proper character development and characterization, I seriously wonder whether Oda will have enough time to explore all of this. Especially because as of late, it seems like the mangaka is really hurtling towards that finished line. And if the reason why we still haven't been introduced to Vega Punk is because Oda wants to make a surprising reveal, what would rank higher on the shock factor? Showing us a character that we've never seen before, or showing us a character that we have seen before, but introducing them as Vega Punk, completely flipping our understanding of that character on its head. It's sort of similar to the reveal of Luffy's Devil Fruit. This was perhaps the single greatest shock, finding out that Luffy's Gomu Gomu No Mi is a completely different fruit, or even the name of the final island, Laugh Tail. These sorts of twists land a lot harder because they completely recontextualize things. So when it comes to Vega Punk's character, I think it would be a greater surprise if we found out that Vega Punk is actually a character we already know. But if that is the case, who would be a good candidate? Who could be a shocking reveal, and yet also make sense retrospectively, simultaneously? In my opinion, I think it's Borsalino, or a.k.a Kizuru. The main reason for this is because of Oda's drawing of the admirals and Garf and Sengoku as kids in an SBS. I've always found this image very interesting because while everyone else seemed to be pretty fitting of their current portrayal, or at least served as some intriguing backstory for who they are as individuals now, the young Kizuru struck me as very odd because it was the greatest contrast to what we now see. Kizuru as a child is shown studying, and also shown to be very focused, as opposed to his now very chill, almost absent-minded nature. And we know that there is a relationship between Kizuru and Vega Punk already, what with the scientist having modelled the pacifistas off of Kizuru's light-based devil fruit. But what if Kizuru and Vega Punk referred to the one and same man? And what if it was Kizuru using his own devil fruit as an inspiration for his inventions? Not to mention that Sentomaru was known to be Vega Punk's bodyguard, and we know that Kizuru and Sentomaru have a pretty close relationship, and if this is true, and Kizuru is Vega Punk, then this could have some even greater further implications and raise questions like, is Kizuru slash Vega Punk also a part of Sword? I mean, there have long been speculations about which of the higher-ranking marines may also be a part of this inside group, and although the more morally astute Aokiji may seem like the more obvious choice, Kizuru could be a very shocking candidate. And now you could make a counterargument that all of this doesn't fit with the portrayal of Kizuru in the series so far? I mean, he's never shown hesitation when it comes to being ruthless or following orders. But the counterargument could be that all of this was a front, so that he wouldn't be made out if Vega Punk's true identity, something that has to be kept hidden. Also, as much as Kizuru wasn't shown as being as sympathetic like Aokiji or Fujitora, he's also never been so committed to the cause of the world government and justice like Akainu is. And in that sense, it also makes sense why he has that brand of unclear justice, because that's actually also quite an apt explanation of Vega Punk's moral standing. Now of course, all of these are just speculations, and Kizuru may just be the way he is, just cause. But I do think this is still a very valid question to wonder about. Is Vega Punk really a character that we've never seen before? And if so, then how is he going to play a part in the massive Revolutionary Army plotline that seems to be brewing right now? And if he is a character that we have seen before, then who do you think he or she is? And with the amount of times that Vega Punk was alluded to in the latest arc with Kaido, with Momonosuke, even with Orochi, maybe Vega Punk will be somehow connected or related to Wano. Either way, I'm really excited to find out who Vega Punk is, and again I do think that that moment that reveal is soon upon us. Especially because a lot of the things that I mentioned about his involvement in so many other plotlines, like Momonosuke's Devil Fruit, and like Kaido, I do think it will be explained at some point in the series. Otherwise, why would Odo have teased all of this? And so I can only imagine that that means that's going to happen sometime soon, or relatively soon. But anyways, let me know your thoughts on these questions by leaving a comment below. 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