 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line review your source for everything One Piece, and today we are going to be setting sail on a journey to discover as much as we possibly can about one of the most mysterious figures remaining in One Piece, someone who seems inseparably linked to every grand question mark, whether it be the void sentry, the ancient weapons, or even Laugh Tale himself. And this is of course Joy Boy. And before I start, I do want to apologize for the lack of visual imagery depicting Joy Boy in this video because it's slightly problematic to show a character who has never been seen. Although I really do like this shot of young Roger, so for the sake of progression, we're going to call this our Joy Boy. And whilst his mentions in the series to this point are few and far between, there is a pretty incredible amount of information to be gained from them. Painting a fascinating picture of this figure who may very well be the progenitor of the series as we know it. And a lot of what we know about Joy Boy can be separated into a tale of two islands, being Fishman Island and Wano Country. But before we head into that, it is time to play Joy Boy or Sad Boy. And the rules for this mini game are very simple. All you need to do is choose one side of this coin, either Joy Boy or Sad Boy. We will then flip the coin and if your choice is incorrect, then your punishment for losing will be subscribing to the Grand Line Review, which will result in regular One Piece content uploaded straight into your YouTube feed. And if you are correct, then you don't need to subscribe. Alright, so choose your side. Are you a Joy Boy or a Sad Boy? And we will flip the coin now. And bam, it's Joy Boy. Anyone who picks Sad Boy now needs to hit that beautiful red button, welcome to the Grand Fleet. And anyone who picked Joy Boy, well, you don't have to. But can you really be considered a winner if you have not subscribed to the channel? Hmm, I'm really not sure if you can. But getting into things properly now, we are going to be beginning on Fishman Island because that is our very first mention of Joy Boy in the series, quite specifically in chapter 628. So you know we're roughly 14 years into the publication of One Piece at this point and we're just now mentioning probably the most important character who has ever lived in the world. So if you ever needed a solid shot of evidence that One Piece is a slow, slow bone series, then this would be it. But this is a very intriguing incident because Robin went out of her way to track down a Ponyglyph on Fishman Island, a very special Ponyglyph, one which she cited was unlike anything she had previously read. It didn't contain a historical account, it didn't allude to the location of an ancient weapon or a certain island, no. Weirdly enough, this Ponyglyph seemed almost arbitrary because it reads as a personal apology letter from a previously unheard of figure named Joy Boy. Previously unheard of being quite important because Robin is about as clued into history as one can be without having visited Aftale, so whoever Joy Boy is, a concerted effort was made to remove him from history. The concept we're actually quite familiar with in One Piece, and something that was confirmed when Robin confronted King Neptune in chapter 649. She went directly to the King of the Fish because Robin herself was unable to make a lot of sense out of this Ponyglyph without further context, and in response to her inquiring, King Neptune said the following. Joy Boy is a person who lived on the surface during the 100 year void. This message was meant for the mermaid princess on the island at the time. It was an apology for breaking a promise made with Fishman Island. The contents of that promise are not clear, but someone will come along to fulfill the promise in Joy Boy's stead. Now earlier on in the arc, the nature of this promise whilst admittedly unclear, was revealed to have had something to do with the Noah, the incredibly huge vessel which Luffy almost destroyed before she or her she stepped in. Just before it was about to be obliterated, King Neptune had a moment to himself where he apologized to Joy Boy, which is kind of funny because Joy Boy was originally apologizing to them and it just becomes a big apology streak. But it was saved by Shira Hoshi's powers, which speaking of, this plays into Joy Boy as well because the mermaid princess that this apology Ponyglyph was addressed to was the wielder of the Poseidon power at the time, which is currently possessed by Shira Hoshi in modern times. Poseidon being one of the three ancient weapons which has the ability to communicate with mighty, mighty sea kings. And this happens to be the first parallel that we can draw between Luffy and Joy Boy. In the modern day, Shira Hoshi quite clearly represents the inherited will of the mermaid princess of the void century, whilst Luffy appears to have taken on the role of Joy Boy, even going so far as to make his own promise with Shira Hoshi. And it's certainly not the last time that Luffy would be directly comparable to Joy Boy. It's almost as if some sort of inherited will is in play here in one piece. And we're not quite done with Fishman Island, but I do need to say that from here on out, we will be discussing frequent spoilers for anime only watches or people not caught up with Act 3 of Wano, which is a shame, but there's quite a lot to go through. So there's your warning, and now let's get into it. During Kozuki Oden's flashback, we had the privilege of visiting Fishman Island in the past, where we saw not one, but two Ponyglyphs, one of which has mysteriously disappeared, and the other of which Oden identifies as the apology from Joy Boy. And he has an interesting reaction going on to state, it seemed like two stones would be quite the windfall. But one of these two is not very important. Once again, indicating the strangeness of the seemingly arbitrary stone. Presumably this was also the first time that Roger had heard about the existence of Joy Boy, unless he was mentioned on Lodestar Island in a language that he could somehow read. But in the case of Oden, this was definitely the first time that he had heard the Joy Boy name. And whilst the words Joy Boy were not literally uttered again, Roger and Oden had actually involuntarily come across more information when they were entering Fishman Island, because the two of them have the ability to hear the voice of all things, and as such, they stumbled across a conversation between Seekings which went a little something like this. The birthing is at hand. Our sovereign shall soon be born, and another in a distancey. The whales are delighted in anticipation of the day the two sovereign shall meet again. We have been waiting for so long, and it's almost here. And surely, all will go well this time. Just ten until the birth, and another fifteen to grow. And then Roger yelled at them which prompted them to stop talking. And a lot of this was completely abourish to them at first, but soon it became clear that one of these sovereigns being mentioned was Princess Shirahoshi, and the Seekings were counting down to her birth and growth. Which is interesting because you know exactly how do Seekings have the foresight to be able to peer into the future? Well, we're not quite sure at this stage, but they are very special creatures who may very well have been alive during the Void Century, and perhaps that's how they became aware of events to come. Just as Oden and Roger would be. And this is less clear, but the second sovereign being referenced by the Seekings, unless this is some sort of incredible bait and switch by Oda, is almost certainly Luffy. The Seekings were speaking of Joy Boy and the Mermaid Princess in relation to the past, and they were speaking of Luffy and Shirahoshi in relation to the future. And not only that, they treated Shirahoshi and the Mermaid Princess as the same existence, just as they treated Joy Boy and assumedly Luffy as the same existence. They were talking about two sovereigns, not four. Which adds a lot of weight to the idea of Luffy having inherited the will of Joy Boy. So this mystery man is becoming an increasingly alarmingly important figure at this rate, and his prominence would only become more apparent to both Roger and Oden, to the point where the name Joy Boy would become intrinsically linked to the final island of Laftail. And the following is Oden's journal entry regarding the matter. We had learned the entire truth of the world, what the 100 year void is, what the people of the DR, what the ancient weapons are. And in the face of that vast treasure which was very real indeed, Roger just laughed. And so did we all. We laughed until tears sprang to our eyes. And after which we saw Roger uttering the words, Oh Joy Boy, I wish I'd been born in your time. This is quite the treasure you've left behind, a tale full of laughs. Which of course went on to naming the island Laftail and more or less completely revolutionized the way that we now think of Joy Boy. There had always been some sense of grand importance within him given that he was someone who lived during the void century. However the revelation that he was the one who left the vaguely defined treasure on Laftail, and thus set the entirety of the events of One Piece Into Motion, is pretty massive to say the least. And Roger also confirms that they were the first people to set foot on the island in 800 years, meaning that theoretically it had gone completely untouched since Joy Boy. But I did mention earlier that Joy Boy is a tale of two islands Laftail not included. And the other one we have yet to explore is Wano. At some stage during his journey, Oden incidentally learned some history about his own home country. Namely that the borders of Wano were closed for a very specific purpose and that it had not always been an isolationist nation. But he would return to Wano with the enlightenment that this purpose was coming to an end and that it was integral to open the borders of Wano before the day that Joy Boy appears. Or more accurately I should give his exact statement. Until this point there was a purpose to this country being closed. But now we must open its ports before the day that Joy Boy appears. And here's where things get a bit tricky because once again the idea of Joy Boy is no longer confined solely to the past but also referenced within the future. Which may be a bit odd because theoretically he should be a bit you know dead. But then again I shouldn't say that with any degree of certainty because there is a time traveling double fruit in existence and its user just so happened to live in the same time as Joy Boy so who knows tin foil hat away with that one. But with what Oden knows he is convinced that Joy Boy or an inheritor of Joy Boy's will was going to appear on Wano in roughly 20 years after his execution. And as it just so happens one monkey D. Luffy landed on Wano 20 years after the death of Kozuki Oden. And that would be our third incredibly strong link between Luffy and Joy Boy. I suppose one thing you could maybe point out is that Luffy still arrived whilst the borders were closed but then again he is almost certainly going to be the one that allows for them to open once more so there is that. But also having briefly alluded to Toki this isn't directly linked to Joy Boy but some of Oden's famous words to our time traveler were the following. Toki, have you come searching to from 800 years in the past, searching for the day the world is overturned then jump 20 years ahead and the day you shall seek. And then his statement was interrupted by an unceremonious noise of hunger and we didn't get to hear the end although presumably Toki eventually did. And it's just very interesting that what Toki may or may not have been seeking lines up pretty directly with Joy Boy's prophesied appearance on Wano. And even beyond that because here Oden is mentioning the overturning of the very world. Like this is beyond Wano and he even declares that a great war is going to take place one terrible enough to split the seas themselves. Something that a certain monkey D. Luffy will no doubt be at the very centre of when it does occur. And that paints a fairly intriguing picture of Joy Boy. A profound figure of the void century, someone who history should not have forgotten. But there is also a tragic element here as well because no matter what he accomplished we do know that ultimately Joy Boy failed. He was unable to keep his promise with the mermaid princess and he was unable to stop the 20 kingdoms amalgamating into the world government and effectively taking over the world. All he was able to do was leave a message. An accurate account of history as well as somehow an accurate account of the future. Or at least presumably accurate I suppose we don't know yet. But that is the element to Joy Boy that is more mysterious than any other. The fact that he or those around him had the foresight to peer almost 1000 years into the future and see this impending war coming as well as Joy Boy's apparent role in it. I mean I guess these sorts of powers aren't unheard of because Shali is a fairly prolific fortune teller but even she has limits. But one thing I will also briefly touch on is the pure speculation of the straw hat located on a marriage wall. There is currently nothing at all solid to indicate that this is the case but it is a very popular idea that this hat may have belonged to Joy Boy which would indicate that he was actually a giant. The crux of this idea comes completely from the inherited straw hat though. At this stage I have very little doubt that Luffy embodies the will of Joy Boy and a straw hat would be a perfect symbol of that. You know even though the world government confiscated Joy Boy's hat well guess what Luffy found one anyway so meh. That is 100% speculation though just to reiterate. But whatever the case I am really fascinated to discover more about Joy Boy and just what the void century has to offer. But what do you guys think? Please do leave your thoughts in the comments below or even join my discord server. And if you'd like to see more videos like this then please do go and check out some of my other content or even subscribe to the channel for more glorious one piece business uploaded straight into your youtube feeds. But for now this has been the ground line review and I'll see you next time.