THE KOGETSU CLAN AND THEIR PAST WITH THE MINKS

For my exploits today, I turned my eyes to the Samurai and the Minks and trying to figure out what Oda may be doing here. So I delved into Japanese culture and I’ve got some interesting ideas about where we are going for the future. I will seek to answer these questions;
  1. Why Kaidou and his men are hunting Kinemon, Kanjuro, Raizou and Momonosuke?
  2. Why is Momonosuke so important to everything?
  3. Why the Kogetsu Clan and the Minks are allies?
  4. Does Ryuuma play a role in the history between the Minks and the Samurai?

This is a very relevant topic to theorize about given the recent chapter, so I thought it would be fun. Did my research, and I’m back at you with another theory that’s 100% mine. Because that’s the only way I ever do them anyways.:D Oh and every time I introduce a new Japanese history term, it will be tagged with a wikipedia link so you can follow it straight away to get a little background.

THE RULING SYSTEM ON WANOKUNI

This arc imo, is Oda’s baby. There hasn’t been an arc like this with literally 3, potentially 4-5 arcs of build up since like Alabasta. And never been an arc that will be so heavily steeped in Japanese Culture and History. He’s gonna make sure his historical references and artistic depictions of Wano are ON POINT. Japan is Oda’s thing. So I expect that many things onWano will be very true to authentic Feudal Era Japan.

The main thing however is the governing system of Wano. In Japan, there were two rulers, one was the Emperor, who held a more religious based position among the masses and then there was the Shogun, who held the office of the Shogunate,which makes him a military and political leader. The Shogun had more power than the Emperor. The weird thing is theShogun was usually appointed BY the Emperor. An odd system indeed.

The families from which Shogun were usually chosen were from the Feudal Lords, also referred to as the Daimyo. Individual Clans who had great power and wealth. It was very common for these Clans to hire Samurai to work under them.

There is another special position known as a Regent, known in Japanese as a Sesshō. This position is given to someone who’s job is to assist a child emperor before his coming of age. I believe the One Piece equivalent of this is Kinemon’s title of Retainer. Which brings me to my first point.


This little Shit

1. MOMONOSUKE IS THE HEIR TO THE KOGETSU CLAN DYNASTY

Now the first thing you are saying is , but Kinemon is just a Retainer so how could his son be heir to the throne? For one thing, it is not unheard of, in fact it was common place for awhile, that members of the Imperial Family were appointed asRetainers. So Kinemon himself could be Royalty. Maybe just not directly in line for the throne.

But also, I’m going to say there is a possibility that Momonosuke might not be Kinemon’s son and something happened to his parents while he was a baby, and Kinemon was given the task of hiding Momonosuke’s identity from some enemy who was in power, due to the fact that his lineage was a direct threat to that power. And he’s lied to Momo their entire lives.

So Momo’s royal title was hidden from even him, since he was just a baby. That’s also a possibility. More importantly,Momonosuke means “Peach Emperor”, so there is that. And of course this parallels with Vivi and her plight to save her kingdom of Alabasta.But still, why does that make Momonosuke important to one of the Younkou?

2. KAIDOU IS THE CURRENT SHOGUN OF WANOKUNI

Because, as most people have guessed, Kaidou is the current Shogun of Wanokuni. And I don’t think he’s the rightful one either, as in lineage wise. Strength wise he might have earned it, but some of the Samurai don’t want him as the Shogun. The clues for this have been in the way his crew have talked about him. Particularly Sheepshead.

There are some interesting different plot points that could have occurred to bring Kaidou to power. The first one is thatKaidou, in his endless quest to find a worthy opponent, came to Wano because he had heard about the strong warriors there. But none of them proved a challenge and he defeated them all. After which they submitted to his rule out of fear. Very possible.

Another idea I had is that he and Moria may have had their epic showdown on Wano, and when the Samurai tried to drive him out afterwards, they were unable to do so. This would explain Moria robbing Ryuuma’s grave. Still it doesn’t have to, but this one is also possible. I’m sure we will learn about the specifics of this on Wano as Kinemon mentioned it when he saw Zoro’s sword, whether or not it relates to Kaidou’s position.

The third way is more based on a historical event in Japan, known as the Boshin War.

“THE BLOODLESS REVOLUTION”

 

The Boshin War was a civil war in Japan that was fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a radicalized group of nobles and samurai who believed in returning political power to the imperial court. The dispute was over the Shogunate’s handling of foreigners since Japan’s opening of its borders in a previous decade.

The parallel I’m suggesting here makes the case for a far more devious plan. Maybe the Kogetsu Clan are like the Tokugawa, who supported the opening up of Wano to outside influences and some of the other powerful clans or maybe the Imperial Family themselves (which could set them up as joint antagonist with Kaidou) didn’t agree, suggesting that opening up the country would dilute the authenticity of the original culture.They thus rallied together and enlisted the strength of a powerful pirate, namely Kaidou, to overthrow the ruling Kogetsu Clan and take control of the Shogun monarchy. And re-instituted the Imperial Style of rule. In fact, in the Boshin War, the radicals and the Emperor were supporters of a publication known as the “Order to Expel Barbarians“. The ideas were extremely anti-foreign and the ruling emperor of the time agreed with the sentiments expressed here, and actively tried to interfere with the Shogunate.I like this idea the most because it sets up a Samurai villain as well, that could be an appropriate match for a particular swordsman. Obviously I mean Brooke:rolleyes:Whatever the reasons, I think it’s very probable that this is the structure of Wano’s current political system. Now onto the next half.

THE MINKS AND THE KOGETSU CLAN

Our theory will take us back a few hundred years to the past to theorize the events that made the Minks and Samurai become allies. If there is one thing that can bring two races together, especially two warrior races like the Minks and the Samurai, it’s a common enemy. So I’ve been thinking on it and I’ve come up with what I believe is the common enemy. It all starts, with a ……

If you are not familiar with Oda’s One Shot Monsters, I would suggest going and taking a look at it, following the link I provided. The events are considered canon and I think it’s important because it’s entirely relevant as we go towards Wano.

I’ll summarize as I know some people are lazy. In the story, Monsters, we deal with a story about a town who was terrorized by a dragon which they thought was a natural disaster, but was the work of two criminals controlling the creature with something called the Dragon’s Horn. Ryuuma, a wandering Samurai who is just passing through. He’s misjudged, people think he’s low down crook, but in the end, the Swordsman they revered turned out to be a swine and Ryuuma was the true hero.

Now I don’t expect us to see Oda retread this story in One Piece with updated characters and settings. It has its place in OP lore, but to me the most important elements aren’t the story and the plot, but these key things.

  • Ryuuma himself as a character and his ideologies and honour
  • Dragons being depicted as forces of destruction
  • The “Dragon Horn”

If you notice, it is revealed that Ryuuma is the “King” swordsman character that people speak about as this legendary swordsman that’s the best in the world, but he doesn’t know that’s what people call him because he’s not in it for the fame and doesn’t stick around to receive it. So in this One Shot, Ryuuma has already established himself as a legend and the whole one shot is just giving us a glimpse into him.

I believe at some point in the samurai’s history, they were under the threat of Dragons wiping them out. Very reminiscent of the plot of the film “How to Train Your Dragon”. Basically, as a warrior people they would continuously fight Dragons to protect their homeland. But they were losing the battle. They needed to find the Dragon’s nest. But they could never do it. But even moreso, they needed to find a way to fight against the vicious beast.

Enter Ryuuma, and I’m theorizing that he is the creator of the FoxFire Style that Kinemon uses.


I’m not sure how this works, but I’m not gonna leave it up in the air either. That would be lazy of me. So let’s try to explainFoxFire style. I’m gonna theorize here and say it’s done in a similar way that Luffy generates fire with his Red Hawk. A mixture of an extremely high speed slash and haki that creates friction with the air, enough to ignite it. Also of note is how do One Piece swordsman create an air slash?The best example we have ever had is the idea that they slice the air, using their blades so quickly, they create a small momentary vacuum space where the blade has passed through, that when air closes in, it becomes compressed and takes the shape of the slash and continues along the initial direction of force. That’s getting really theoretical, but it’s the only explanation that makes any sense. That and of course, it’s MANGA DERR!!!:faceplam:Now recall that the admirals create an invisible haki barrier against Whitebeard that manifested in the air itself.

What if using haki and the blade as a conduit, just like the admirals used their hands to create a wall, you create a wall width out of the blade. Then the Foxfire style uses that width to have an influential area of the blade’s vacuum slice that is larger, which then can cause Fire to be sucked into it and extinguished? Using the same idea, but in a different manner. We are spit-balling here but bare with me.

I’m thinking this style was created by Ryuuma, to combat Dragons in particular. After Ryuuma created the FoxFire Style, he showcased its power against the Dragon attack and saved the people. Like the original Monsters One Shot, Ryuuma was thought to be a no good samurai, with no skill or worth. A clutz. But he proved them wrong, by saving the Samurai, and eventually dragons stopped attacking Wano altogether.

But he knew something was wrong. They only chased away the Dragons. They didn’t exterminate them. If they weren’t attacking Wano, where would they go?


Credit to Arcxana from DeviantArt for the amazing picture of Zou at Sunset

Yes Zou. Look at this tropical climate. My idea is that either they went out on their own and tracked down Zou or at some point a Dragon came to Wano and collapsed and died, and attached to it was a wounded Mink, who held on for his life. Then it gets revealed to the Samurai that the Dragons they chased off, were now tormenting the Minks.

Why would it go to Zou? Because as we know, Zunisha’s water rain showers bring with it tonnes of food and fish. This could be easily seen as a free meal for a flying predator. Especially one who lost it’s main food source.

Doesn’t look like it would as a Dragon’s next, but my idea stems from the those giant towers in the picture above. Why are they there? What purpose could they possibly serve? The Minks seem to live in the city and the Night Minks have their own residential district at the base of the Whale Forest. None of the Minks seem to live there at all, so what possible reason could they have for building such gigantic structures? My idea?

To shelter from the onslaught of the Dragons centuries ago. Fortresses shrouded in bush would never suffice against the flames of a dragon. So they built structures out of the silt that Zunisha brought up dumped on its back to create shelters that could withstand the heat.

While simultaneously fighting for their survival. Now the Kogetsu Clan and their samurai, led by Ryuuma, went out to defend Zou from the Dragons.

That clan and the Minks bonded and almost brought the Dragons to an end. Now this doesn’t contradict with my other theory on the Minks and the Samurai being enemies at one point in history, because that’s in the Void Century Era. I’m suggesting hundreds of years later, this happened that could have mended relations, specifically with the Kogetsu Clan.

Nekomamushi did say this chapter that the Minks and the Kogetsu Clan, (not all Samurai) are friends. Note also, as I mentioned above, the Daimyo were made up of many different clans collectively.

As for how Ryuuma died, I can’t possibly say. It’s best not to push it too far. This is an unsubstantiated theory after all.

STORY SIMILARITIES WITH SKYPEIA

This section will just highlight some strong parallels that would explain why Zunisha would have this kind of history. And it’s mainly the fact that it shares lots of similarities with Skypeia.

  • Skypeia and Zou both follow two arcs that are also very similar (Dressrosa/Alabasta)
  • They both are islands where the people live at high altitudes.
  • They both are extremely hard to reach
  • Both involve groups of people who are connected to legends from past individuals (Norland/Ryuuma)
  • They both appear to be very closed off societies at the beginning.

I feel like Ryuuma is very much like Norland, in that’s he’s historical, butnot Void Century historical and an important part of some story Oda wants to tell. All of what I said could be wrong, but it’s fun to speculate.

SUMMARY

So to summarize, the Kogetsu Clan are the main clan that oppose Kaidou and the Imperial rule on Wano. Momonosuke is the last heir to that bloodline and Kinemom, Kanjuro and Raizou are all loyal to that family and trying to protect him. They wanted to come to Zou to enlist the Mink’s help in taking down Kaidou’s rule. They also have a group of Samurai back at Wano willing to fight.

Ryuuma was instrumental in saving the Samurai from the onslaught of Dragons in their past and the creator of the Fox Fire style. He and the Kogetsu Clan saved the Minks who were indirectly affected by their defeat of the Dragons and fostered a bond between the two groups.

Hope you guys enjoyed.

*Theory by TheConqueror

One comment

  1. Awesome theory!!

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