Why Is Luffy The Joyboy In One Piece?

Joyboy is a mysterious title, previously given to a person who lived in the void century and is said to return one day. He was heavily connected to the ancient kingdom and made an unknown promise to the fishmen 800 years ago.

Now, in the current era, our protagonist Luffy has been revealed to be Joyboy! However, the hints at Luffy being Joyboy were always present!

In this article, we’ll take a look at why Luffy is Joyboy!

Luffy is the Warrior of Liberation:

Joyboy was known as “The Warrior of Liberation” Sun God Nika. As the name suggests, Joyboy was known for liberating the people.

Luffy has also proved that he is Joyboy by bringing joy and laughter to the islands he has visited and liberated like Alabasta, Dressrosa, and now Wano.

This gives him the epithet of “The Warrior of Liberation” Sun God Nika a.k.a. Joyboy.

And of course, after dying in his fight against Kaido, Luffy awakened his true devil fruit and was revived as the Sun God.

His heartbeat started beating like the drums of liberation and this made Zunesha recognize that Joyboy had finally returned!

Luffy has continuously been a source of sunshine for the innocent, and while one could argue that he isn’t a hero, the World Government and the Celestial Gods’ ruthlessness will definitely make you think twice!

Luffy brings laughter and smiles to people, and will go to any lengths to ensure this! After all, he clashed with two Emperors for others!

Now, Let’s go over how Luffy fullfilled all the prophecies that was revealed to us regarding Joy Boy,  starting with Sea Kings Prophecy in Chapter 968, with what Roger and Oden heard from the Sea Kings during their trip to Fish-Man Island:

“The birthing is at hand, Our Sovereign Will Soon be born.

And another in a distant Sea. The whales are delighted in anticipation. 

Of the day the two sovereigns shall meet again.

We have been waiting for so long, it is almost here and surely all will go well this time, just 10 until birth and another 15 to grow.”

Now key point here is, the bit where the seakings stated “of the day the two sovereigns shall meet again” 

Now to clarify I know there are some theories that the two sovereigns were references to Shirohoshi and Vivi, and not Luffy.

However, the majority of the community’s interpretation of this conversation was that these two sovereigns were the reincarnations of two kings during the time of the void century.

One being Posieden and the other being Joy Boy!

It’s clear that they are referring to Joyboy’s meeting with Posiden, but the use of the term sovereign holds importance, we know Posiden was the Queen or Princesses of the Fish people, giving sovereignty but this also would mean that Joy Boy was a ruler of his people, which goes back to what we were saying earlier about Joy Boy inspiration possibly being from a King like Joyo Boyo.

Now another point to note is that this also indicates that some sort of reunion will happen between these two, to complete the pact they made. 

This goes back to Joy Boy’s promise!

 In his mission to unify all races and give everyone equal footing, Joyboy promised the Poseidon of his time that he would bring the fish people into the land where they will be able to see the sun and feel free to travel with no discrimination.

We know this promise wasn’t met, however, it eluded that Joy Boy eventually will fulfill his end of the bargain that’s why the sea kings kept the Ship Noah safe for 900 years. 

Joy Boy’s dream will be achieved and all the instruction along with the background to his mission was left in Laugh Tale.

This is why, on page 7 of chapter 968, Oden states there was a purpose to Wano being closed but now we must open its ports before the day that JoyBoy appears.

Oden coming from Laugh Tale knew of everything that was to come, including the future prophecy aforementioned.

But it’s important that Wano Borders has to be opened for the final prophecy of One Piece coming into existence.

Reinforcing the involvement of Wano in liberating the world in some way.

This liberation was also important for the fish people who were heavily discriminated against.

We also have to include other races like the Minks who had to hide and live on the moving Zunesha.

Their connection to Wano might have been strengthened by Joy Boys’ goals.

Joy Boy, like Luffy, was bringing people and nations together.

Regardless, coming back to the prophecy, Joy Boy & Poseidon were alluded to as contemporaries with great power in their time.

Possibly even seen as Sovereigns of that Era.

We know that Shirahoshi is the reincarnation of Poseidon from ch 650 & the Hody arc.

The understanding of Joy Boy being reincarnated follows the same logic.

This integration is also reinforced by Oden and Kaido.

As in chapter 968, In Oden’s flashback, it was clearly mentioned that Joy Boy would return to the world and shake its entire foundation. As guessed by many, that time is now and the implication is that Joy Boy has already been reborn somewhere in the world. 

This was also reiterated in chapters 958 and 972.

Later, in chapter 1014 Kaido after defeating Luffy states that he couldn’t be Joy Boy either, thinking he had killed him.

We learn from Kaido Flashback, he prophecies to his right hand man King, that Joy Boy will be the one who defeats him.

Which is fulfilled when Luffy awakens as sun god Nika where Zunisha out right calls him JOYBOY!

The final prophecy Luffy will complete is bringing the dawn to the world and moving the fish people directly under the one SUN, fulfilling the promise Joy Boys’  had made 800 years ago.

Luffy will do this, due being responsible for the destruction of Marjoe and the red line which would indirectly destroy what’s beneath it being fishman island, something that Madan Sharly predicted LUFFY would DO.

Lady Shyarly’s Prophecy:

During the Fishman island arc, the Straw Hats met Lady Shyarly, the younger half-cousin of Arlong, whom Luffy defeated to save Nami.

However, Shyarly never held this against Luffy and even gave his crew to heal Sanji who had bled too much.

After talking to Luffy, she was interested to learn more about him. She is regarded as the greatest prophet and foresaw major events like Whitebeard’s death!

Lady Shyarly made a prophecy that Luffy would be responsible for the destruction of Fishman Island. This initially led her to go into a fit, screaming for Luffy to be banished from their island. 

As mentioned above, Joyboy had made an unknown promise to the fishmen 800 years ago.

And, this unknown promise was probably to liberate the fishmen so that they could live directly beneath the radiance of the sun. 

To do this, the Fishman island would have to be destroyed. This would indirectly destroy the red line, making the whole world in ONE PIECE!

Hence, Lady Sharly’s words will turn out to be true!