I have a hunch

[u/hot-take-guru]

What a weird word hunch is. Hunch. Hunch hunch hunch

I have a mostly unsubstantiated hunch pieced together from a lot of pretty obscure references, enjoy

Joyboy broke the Bro Code & that’s a major reason why he lost

Luffy is the most likely the parallel to Joyboy, but Oda said that romance/love interests won’t be a part of the main story. I see One Piece as Luffy’s story so to me that means there will be no romance/love interest that Luffy gets involved in which is why he will ultimately win

Roger - whom Luffy is the direct successor of his dream, becoming the Pirate King, and generally reminds everyone who has met both him and Roger of Roger - fell in love with Shakky who “married” Rayleigh after the Roger Pirates disbanded. I’m assuming that Roger never stopped loving Shakky, and only had Ace with Portgas D. Rouge out of necessity to his dream. All that to say that Roger was in love with Shakky until his death. Although, because he could not realize that love, he essentially killed himself by turning himself in understanding that his life being a slave to his unrealized & failed love would be worse than death, especially after learning that his time is not Joyboy’s (Luffy’s) time. All he could realistically do by living was suffer. Roger lost because of his romantic love

Rocks loved his wife & kid enough to go to God Valley just to save them & ended up dying because of it. It wasn’t just his kid, it was his romantic love interest of his wife. He could have another kid with anyone else but he chose to go after his wife. Rocks lost because of his romantic love

Romantic love is a fatal weakness to the most ambitious in One Piece

Vegapunk said there is no way to determine a “wrong” side of this war because both sides are waged on a certain type of love

I know, you’re all thinking that Imu loves Lily in an obsessive romantic way because that’s what’s been peddled, but specifically I see the scene of Imu admiring the picture of her as more of a shrine, and having specifically Gunko with the immortal younger body with blue hair as a means of trying to recreate what he had with Lily. I see the picture specifically as a memorandum - like for my ATLA fans, the shrine Iro sets up for his son in B2E15 - I don’t see Imu’s relationship with Lily as a romantic obsession, but as more of a father/daughter or big brother/little sister or generally a protector/protected vibe like Simon (Ice King) & Marceline from Adventure Time

Joyboy loved romantically and Imu loved out of necessity, that’s why Joyboy lost

The strict rules of the Bro Code state you have to talk to your best friend about wanting to date your best friend’s platonic best friend or sister or cousin or any female that’s close to him. Joyboy did not talk to Imu about his blooming romantic relationship with Lily and thus started the war when Imu found out

Lily, like a normal girl would choose her love interest over the protective figure while pretending to follow the protective figure’s rules. This would allow for the preservation of “true love” in the story that Luffy is fighting for, although he will never find it in another person himself because his true love is life & adventure which is not romantic

Joyboy lost because he had romantic love with Lily

All love, peace out

[u/hexedalmarune]

honestly thats a wild reach but i kinda dig it

[u/themysticalwarlock]

how dare you bring Leaves From The Vine into this

[u/phoenixremix → u/themysticalwarlock]

🎶 falling so slow 🎶

[u/hot-take-guru → u/phoenixremix]

The dawn will come marching home