Spoiler Alert !!!Major spoilers for One Piece’s Elbaph Arc!

One Piece has paid off the anticipation for its most dangerous and accomplished figure in its history. The latest chapters reveal just how much of a threat Rocks D. Xebec is, including that he directly met Imu and lived to tell the tale.

There was one curious detail in the flashback that deserves attention. Rocks didn’t just visit the Empty Throne; he also got to see the Room of Flowers, and a certain God’s Knight was present, serving directly under Imu.

It was Gunko, whose connection to Imu is growing in each chapter of One Piece that passes. What’s curious about this is that we might have seen her when we first saw Imu in the Room of Flowers around 100 chapters earlier. Was this deliberate foreshadowing by Eiichiro Oda?

Eiichiro Oda Has Hidden Gunko in Plain Sight All These Years

One Piece fans might believe that the first time we ever saw Gunko was in Chapter 1134, as she and Figarland Shamrock arrive in Elbaph. She seemed like a typical Celestial Dragon with her arrogant attitude, but the more we find out about her, the more complex her story is.

While we don’t know a lot about Gunko’s past, it doesn’t seem like she does either. She had flashbacks of her father and then of meeting Brook as a child, before he became a pirate, who also vaguely recognized her. She looks conflicted when attacking him, despite her otherwise violent behavior.

Oda seems to be hinting that she isn’t a typical Celestial Dragon, and the musician might play a part in redeeming her. Imu also possesses and uses her body, and the visual representation of Gunko’s Aro Aro no Mi is very close to the monarch’s appearance.

Related: One Piece Chapter 1155 Spoilers: We Finally Know Why No One Knew Rocks D. Xebec

Everything suggests a special connection between the two. As previously mentioned, Gunko was there when Rocks met Imu 56 years ago, but that wasn’t the first time either. When we first saw the Room of Flowers in Chapter 908 in the manga and Episode 889 in the anime, there was a servant present. Is this not a direct parallel?

While we couldn’t have heard the servant’s voice in the manga, the anime gave her a feminine yet strong voice. Gunko matches that description, even if we haven’t heard her yet.

If One Piece confirms this parallel, she was introduced more than 5 years ago. There’s something significant and different about Gunko, and Eiichiro Oda proves it with his masterful foreshadowing.

Gunko’s Foreshadowing Proves How Layered One Piece’s Story Is

Gunko from One Piece. [Credit: Shueisha]

Once you start One Piece, you discover just how many details are hidden within the 1000+ episodes and chapters. Blink and you miss it. If it wasn’t for this Reddit user’s observation, we might not have noticed this tiny detail either.

Related: One Piece Chapter 1155 Spoilers: Eiichiro Oda Is Going From Being the God of Foreshadowing to the God of Flashbacks

The layers of One Piece‘s storyline are nothing short of incredible, and it’s all owed to Eiichiro Oda’s writing. While he isn’t the perfect mangaka in all aspects, his foreshadowing is unmatched in the industry. If the servant was Gunko all this time, it would drive this point home even further.

There is definitely something wrong with Gunko. Imu must have erased her memories, as they seem to be coming back to her in flashes. The monarch must have kept her to serve their every whim and to possess their body so that they don’t have to go to the outside world. Otherwise, what were Gunko’s flashbacks about?

What do you think of Rocks’ flashback and Gunko’s role in the storyline? Will Brook free her of their control, or is she just another Celestial Dragon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

One Piece can currently be streamed on Crunchyroll and read on VIZ Media.
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