The last few chapters of the One Piece manga teased the pending news of Dr. Vegapunka to be broadcast worldwide via video transponder snails. The tension rose to the max and stayed there a little too long before Chapter 1113, “Stalemate” finally arrived to begin the scientist’s world-shaking message. Although Chapter 1113 is only the first few seconds of Dr. Vegapunk of the world, this plot twist turns out to be worth the wait.
For hundreds of chapters, the One Piece narrative has held some terrible secrets, including the mystery of the Void Century, the establishment of the World Government, and even Noah’s Ark, which was first found near Fish-Man Island. The revelation of Dr. Vegapunka may shed some light on all this as the Final Saga moves forward as the battles for Egghead Island continue with no winners declared. In some ways, Chapter 1113 is another mere scrap, as the narrative seems to stop in time, but at least it has a bigger plot than Chapter 1112 had last week.
When Dr. Vegapunk finally starts broadcasting his video message for all to see, he mentions the fact that he is continuing the research he once started on Ohara Island, the home of Nico Robin. Vegapunk only mentions it briefly in the chapter, but it’s worth including for two reasons. First, getting Ohara’s forbidden research helps emphasize how important Vegapunk’s research is and helps keep the many threads of One Piece tied together in the span of a few chapters. Ohara’s research was behind the Buster Call that Jaguar D. Saul barely survived, so it must be absolutely essential, and now Vegapunk is here to finish what Clover and the others started in Nico Robin’s younger days.
Second, the mention of Hound and her forbidden research makes the fight more personal for Nico Robin, one of the rare survivors of Hound’s devastating Buster Call and one of the last humans alive who can read Poneglyph text. In fact, Jaygarcia Saturn comments this as he approaches Nico Robin on the chaotic battlefield, evidently as a taunt or symbolic psychological warfare. Saturn coldly describes Robin as the woman Admiral Akainu failed to kill, causing Saturn to mock Akainu as soft.
One Piece fans know and hate Admiral Akainu as a brutal, ruthless enforcer of self-righteousness, and no one would call him soft or careless. But Saturn does, showing that there is no sentimentality or camaraderie between the highest officials of the world government. It also suggests that the Five Elders, the government’s most powerful living weapons, are even more cruel than Akainu, although that may be hard to believe. It’s clearer than ever that Saturn and his four peers will stop at nothing to destroy the Straw Hats and end Vegapunk/Clover’s work. Somehow even powerful admirals now feel tame compared to the authority and terrifying power of the Five Elders.
Chapter 1113 is taking its time, actually starting with the long awaited video message from Dr. Vegapunka and on the last two pages “Stalemate” finally starts to deliver. As the Straw Hats, Jewelry Bonney and the Elder Five continue their chaotic battle, Dr. Vegapunk admits that his main idea may sound ridiculous, but apparently it’s the hard truth: that the whole world is about to sink into the sea. Chapter 1113 ends on that note, so fans will have to wait for Chapter 1114 before Dr. Vegapunk will elaborate. At this point, however, One Piece fans have enough details on their hands to create some interesting and frankly scary theories about where this reveal might lead. It also helps make some of the loose plot threads a lot more relevant all of a sudden, which is a great idea.
Assuming that Dr. Vegapunk the truth and the world will indeed disappear into the sea, everyone has an environmental apocalypse on their shoulders. It is not yet clear how and why this is happening, or even if it is happening according to anyone’s intentions. First, the idea of a world sinking into the sea makes Noah’s mysterious ark more relevant. During One Piece’s post-time-skip Fish-Man Island arc, the massive, unmanned Noah ship was simply a local feature that no one could fully explain—though Hody Jones tried to destroy Fish-Man Island with it, only for Luffy to stop him. Given the clear biblical references to a ship with a wooden ark named Noah, it is likely that Noah’s ship is meant to save certain chosen people from this ecological disaster and leave everyone else to their fate.
Another theory is that the impending sinking is actually part of an ongoing process, not something completely new. It has been theorized that the world once had continents, only for ever-rising sea levels to flood all the low-lying land, leaving only today’s small islands above the waves. If so, this mysterious “world sinking into the sea” phenomenon is about to complete its work, with the world going from proper continents to scattered islands to nothing but ocean. There is even a small chance that this gradual loss of land ties to the mystery of the ancient kingdom, which may have disappeared due to the loss of land to the ocean.
This world-diving revelation also opens the door to many more fan theories, which is a great example of One Piece storytelling giving fans a lot of fun things to think about, even with a few simple lines of dialogue. That’s how rich the world building is. Fans should also note that this is terrible news for Devil Fruit users, who are always weak in seawater and rely on dry land or ships to maintain their strength. If everything is to be flooded and submerged beneath the waves, the Devil Fruits era may end forever, robbing One Piece of its best combat system.