Who is the mysterious man waiting for the Straw Hats in Elbaf?

Warning: Contains spoilers for chapter #1124 of One Piece.

Over a thousand chapters after the island was first mentioned, One piece Finally took the Straw Hats to Elbaf, the home of the giants. The final chapter finally brings the explosive Egghead arc to a close and eases into the Elbaf arc on an ominous note with a mysterious figure awaiting Luffy’s arrival.

Chapter #1124 of One piece Watch Luffy and the Straw Hats feast with the Giant Pirates as they head to Elbaf. At the same time, a Mysterious figure is seen on the shore of ElbafDrink while looking out to sea. The mysterious figure speaks only two beckoning words, probably directed at Luffy and the Straw Hats, who are now making their way into Elbaf.

Little of the mysterious character’s silhouette is visible, with the panel conveniently cutting away any recognizable markers that would help identify the character. However, a popular theory suggests this mysterious figure is waiting at Elbaf Could be Scopper Gaban, Roger’s left-hand man.

One piece shows that Luffy may finally meet Skipper Gabon in Elbaf

The Egghead Arc draws strong parallels to the Sabaody Arc

Although the silhouette gives no immediate clues as to who the character might be, one popular fan theory is that the upper half of the silhouette might be a hat like the one worn by the mysterious. Character seen drinking with crocus in the cover story of chapter #631. The character’s identity has haunted fans of One piece For hundreds of chapters, with Scopper Gaban is the most likely candidate.

Although the character’s hair is blonde or yellow in the digitally colored manga, this can still be dismissed as a mistake because the digitally colored manga was previously inconsistent. The mystery man has the same spiky hair as Gaban, if not a little shorter, and the lighter color can be explained by Gabon’s black hair turned gray over the yearsMuch like Rayleigh. The silhouette in the last chapter and the character in the cover story also appear to be sitting in the same position with both having a drink in hand.

Most importantly, Gabon being in Elbaf could also explain who the old friend Shanks mentioned meeting at Elbaf in chapter #1076. While the friends were previously assumed to be Dorry and Brogy, a former Roger Pirate would make more sense Dorry and Brogy have been dueling in Little Garden since before Shanks was even born.

That said, the strongest proof that the mystery man is Gaban is the strong parallels between the Egghead Ark and the Sabaodi Ark. of these Reappearance of the same characters as Sentomaru, Kizaru and KumaTo the way both arcs emphasize the evilness of the Celestial Dragons, Egghead strongly mirrors Sabaody, with both acting as a measuring stick of Luffy’s abilities after gaining a new significant powerup and title.

Except, instead of being soundly defeated like he was at Sabaodia, this time Luffy lets go of all the power of the Navy and the World Government and manages to escape with his entire crew intact. The parallels suggest that since Luffy met and was trained by Roger’s right-hand man Rayleigh after Sabaody, he could be Destined to meet Roger’s left-hand man Gaban this time. In fact, even though Luffy made it out of Egghead unscathed, his struggle against the five elders suggests that there may still be more he can learn from Gaban.

The mysterious character in Elbaf cannot be Shanks or Saul

As far as silhouettes in One piece Go, they have proven to be unreliable time and time again. As such, while Scopper Gabon fits the bill of the mysterious man in chapter #1124, it’s impossible to be completely certain. Some fans have argued that the silhouette could be Shanks and that the curved upper part of the silhouette is the collar of Shanks’ coat.

However, the main issue with this theory is that Shanks was already seen at sea on his ship in chapter #1121 and appeared quite drunk. Not much time has passed since that part of Vegapunk’s message came out, which means it’s not possible for Shanks to have sobered up and rushed back to Elbaf in that short time frame for any valid reason. Furthermore, if there really were Shanks, Oda would logically have no reason for the secrecy and would likely just have Shanks appear in full.

Another theory is that the character in chapter #1124 is Jaguar D. Saul who is speculated to be the man marked by flames. However, this also does not make much sense because of this Saul is in hiding and would not risk being seen in the open On the shore of Elbaf. As with Shanks, if the mystery figure is really Saul, Oda would have just depicted Saul as is, instead of showing him in silhouette form, which he usually reserves for a new introduction.

nevertheless, One piece is kicking off the Elbaf Arc with a bang with a mystery to keep fans on their toes until the next chapter. Regardless of who the Mystery man Awaiting Luffy and the Straw Hats ends, the Elbaf Arc is sure to be full of excitement.

One piece is available from Manga Plus and Viz Media.