Luffy & Roger's "True" Dream - The 1,000 Chapter Secret
WARNING - PLEASE READ CHAPTER 1,000 BEFORE YOU READ THIS THREAD
Chapter 1,000 of One Piece was a milestone for the series in more ways than one. As well as the series hitting the 4-digit mark in terms of chapter count, we also finally saw Luffy step up to the level where he can finally reunite with Shanks, as was promised back in Romance Dawn. But most importantly, we learn something very important about Luffy's dream. Yes, he declares he's going to become Pirate King at the end of the chapter, but through the flashback of Yamato and Ace, we learn that there's something else to Luffy's dream that we haven't been told about yet. And we also learn that whatever it is Luffy wants to do is the exact same thing that Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King himself, wanted to do as well.
Source: One Piece Chapter 1,000 (Shueisha)
Now, the similarities between Luffy, Roger and their ways of thinking have been highlighted since Sabaody, when Rayleigh tells us about a conversation he had with Shanks:
Source: One Piece Chapter 506 (Shueisha)
Now, before this chapter, we didn't really read much into that. Both of them wanted to become the Pirate King, right? Well, as it turns out, not quite. Roger was the one who first became Pirate King, but when he did, it wasn't something that people actively sought out to do - it was his execution that led to pirates chasing the One Piece and gunning to fill Roger's "throne". Essentially, Roger is the one who allowed pirates to start dreaming of becoming "Pirate King", but that wasn't his goal when he set out to sea. This leaves us with one question - what was Roger's dream?
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Oda's Censorship of their Dream
To kick things off, it's worth mentioning that I think whatever Roger's (and by extension Luffy's) dream was hasn't been mentioned in the story, at least in direct relation to either of the two of them. The moment where both declare this mystery dream has been deliberately censored by Oda:
Source: One Piece Chapter 966 (Shueisha)
Source: One Piece Chapter 585 (Shueisha)
The deliberate omission of the second half of that sentence, followed by the identical reactions from the people they declare their dreams to (Oden/Newgate for Roger, Ace/Sabo for Luffy) suggest that whatever Roger and Luffy said, aside from being ridiculous, would give something away that Oda's been spending a lot of time protecting. Although it's still almost impossible to decipher exactly what their dream is (there are a lot of possibilities), we can definitely take a guess. But first...
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What Their Dream Isn't
The first thing I want to do is highlight that whatever this dream is, it's incredibly childish in nature, based on Whitebeard asking Roger if "he's a kid", and by Ace and Oden's general bewilderment at whatever this dream is. This automatically rules out any more "noble" goals that people may suggest, like "I want to overthrow the World Government", or "I want to unite the four seas". Whatever Luffy and Roger's declaration is is incredibly simple. With that note out of the way, let's start thinking about what it could be...
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What Is Their Dream?
Firstly, it's important to note that whatever this dream is, finding One Piece is a big part of achieving it. However, based on Roger's conversation with Oden and Whitebeard, it's not so much the One Piece itself, it's the achievement of becoming the "biggest pirate crew in the world" that's important, rather than the treasure itself. We have to remember that Roger is chasing the One Piece completely blind as to what it is, indifferent to whether it actually exists or not. This panel from Luffy's first encounter with Rayleigh suggests that he feels the same:
Source: One Piece Chapter 507 (Shueisha)
Essentially, what's more important to Luffy than actually finding the One Piece is that the adventure is fun. He could get to the final island and find nothing, and he'd likely be able to brush it off with an "oh well". Now, that might sound hard to believe, but I genuinely think this is how Luffy views the "finding the treasure" aspect of his journey. To get you on my side here, we have to go all the way back to East Blue, to Luffy, Zoro and Nami's encounter with a certain man:
Source: One Piece Chapter 22 (Shueisha)
In case that panel didn't jog your memory, here's the basics of what happened:
- Luffy, Zoro and Nami meet Gaimon, a man trapped in a treasure chest.
- Gaimon has spent the past twenty years living alone, aside from the company of the island's animals, longing for a treasure he could never reach.
- Luffy goes and opens the treasure chests for him, only to reveal that they're completely empty.
- Despite his disappointment, Gaimon finds relief that he no longer has to protect the treasure, and he can focus on looking after the animals on the island.
I could sit here for hours and ramble on about the clever metaphors Oda uses, and unbox the significance of everything that happens in that chapter (and I just might), but what's really important here is Luffy's reaction to the lack of treasure:
Source: One Piece Chapter 22 (Shueisha)
What this chapter really highlights is that Luffy's "true" dream is not dependent on the discovery of treasure. If anything, it's a bonus. Sure, he leaves that island trying to find One Piece, but at the end of the day, it's more about the thrill of adventure than material acquisition.
The other important factor in determining what their dream could be is knowing what being Pirate King means to Luffy. Luckily, he tells us this in Sabaody, when he meets Rayleigh:
Source: One Piece Chapter 506 (Shueisha)
This idea of Pirates being free is something that Luffy has had instilled in him from the very beginning of the story, back in Romance Dawn:
Source: One Piece Chapter 1: Romance Dawn
Without fully re-telling the chapter here, basically this conversation takes place after Shanks refuses to let Luffy join his crew (again). Even though Shanks won't let him in, he's still got his heart set on adventure, and the idea of being free to travel from island to island, doing as he pleases, is one that's stuck with him up until the present day. This philosophy is one that he's consistently lived by throughout the story. Think about how many times his crewmates and his brothers have complained that he just goes ahead and does what he wants.
Now, to connect this to Roger. From his brief cameo in the Oden flashback, to his appearance in the Strong World chapter (not sure if that chapter is canon so I will not include it) where he declares the same thing Luffy said in Chapter 506, it seems that both men have similar approaches to both life and adventure. Both men are the living embodiment of the spirit of freedom and adventure. And I think somewhere in there, we have their "ultimate" dream.
I couldn't tell you exactly what they said, and I think Oda's deliberately making it so that we can never be certain of exactly what they said until the moment he reveals it, but if I had to take a stab at what they said, I would guess it's something along the lines of this:
"I'll be the freest man in the world"
Seems like a strange thing to say, right? That's probably why the people who have heard their dreams had the reactions they did.
I'm probably completely off here, but it's something that's definitely worth thinking about.
Anyway, what do you guys think? Let me know!