I see a lot of people worrying about the premise of fate, prophecy and Luffy being "the chosen one" all along after what happened in chapter 1043.
While I understand the worry - I too enjoy the fact that Luffy is just a regular kid and not some destined messiah - I think some ppl might be forgetting or simply misunderstanding how fate works in One Piece.
Fate is extremely significant in the story and is a concept Oda has been constructing and clarifying over the years. In One Piece a person’s fate or destiny isn’t something set to stone or that is created when they are born. Instead, a person’s destiny is something that becomes possible through the actions someone makes as they live.
A very obvious implication of this happens in Impel Down. Bon Clay constantly mentions Iwa-chan as a “miracle worker”, and he expects Iwa to make a miracle for Luffy and save him. Yet “Miracles only occur to those with the determination to never stop trying!” and that is the reason Luffy survived! This is exactly how prophecy works in One Piece, not to a born chosen one but to those that, through actions, determination, persistence, rise to unimaginable heights, making others see them as “saviours or godly”.
Luffy of course isn’t the only character in the story that can “create miracles”. Zoro is a good example too. In Dressrosa, Zoro turns says “I’m going to stop the birdcage” and Kin’emon looks at him like he’s insane. Of course you can’t stop the birdcage?! But in the end of the day Zoro did stop the birdcage. It was his actions that spurred an entire country to push back the birdcage and ultimately stop it and delay it enough for Luffy to win against Mingo.
Luffy will be the Pirate King. Zoro will be the world’s greatest swordsman. We know this. Chapter 5 is called “The Pirate King and the (world’s) greatest swordsman”. It’s their fate. But they will achieve this not because they were destined to or born to, but because they trained, fought, fell and got back up, again and again. This is how fate works in One Piece. It doesn’t happen to someone that has never done anything to achieve their goals, but to those with the determination and motivation to thrive.
While I don’t know much about Joy Boy or the Sun God Nika I do have the feeling that what is happening is something along these lines. If “Joy Boy” is a tittle, Luffy earned it through his actions. If “Joy Boy” is incarnating in Luffy, or his Will is being Inherited by Luffy, it’s because his spirit found in Luffy what he was looking for in order to bring the dawn to the world.
(masterpost)
