12 Tweets 79 reads Jan 21, 2024
#OnePiece Theory
The mysterious identity of JoyBoy
Did you know that JoyBoy was a Caribbean and West Indian character?
He personifies the human need to dance, he smiles perpetually and he is associated with slaves.
JoyBoy may not be his real name as he may have lost his name in the slave trade that happened in the Caribbean.
Did you also know that Nika (JoyBoy) seemed to resemble the Curupira, a mythological creature present in the Tupi-Guarani myths in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil?
Now, the Curupira is only a phyical resemblance.
The real inspiration behind JoyBoy could in fact be the Papa Legba (Caribbean folklore).
Papa Legba has a Straw Hat and his main color is red.
This was brought and explained to me by @mexeriquita but the real source is carrancia.cria (tiktok).
Papa Legba is the symbol of the sun, of daylight and positivity (Sun God).
When colonists enslaved people in the transatlantic slave trade, Papa Legba came to the New World in the spiritual practices of the slaves (Nika/Slaves).
Slave owners tried to strip the identity of slaves and the deities they worshipped.
Did Papa Legba become JoyBoy?
Papa Legba is known as the trickster, warrior, and the personal messenger of destiny.
He makes the right thing from the the mess, from the chaos.
Luffy embodies the warrior of liberation because he opposes the world government and does the right thing by creating chaos.
Moreover, the Papa Legba is the first deity that is honored in the religion of Voodoo, Papa Legba always comes first.
The Papa Legba is the first to eat, and he eats a lot.
The Papa Legba is an intermediary between God and humanity. He is the deity of liberty (warrior of liberation).
We pray for him when we need a light, to see where to go, when we need clarification of which path to follow.
JoyBoy, Curupira and Papa Legba all part of Brazilian folklore.
This may explain why Oda said that Luffy would be from Brazil.
Furthermore, Brazil was known for its big importance in the extraction and commercialization of rubber.
Thousands of Indigenous Amazonians were enslaved and killed during the rubber boom.
Is JoyBoy/Nika the embodiment of the wish from slaves that worked in rubber fields?

Loading suggestions...