In Chapter 1018, Who’s-Who tells Jinbe about a story he heard from a guard during his imprisonment. According to the guard,
“slaves in ancient times believed in a legendary warrior that would eventually come and save them. They called him ‘Sun God’ Nika!”
According to Google, Nika is a female name in Persian, language meaning "very good" and "pure crystal water", it derives from "Nik" meaning "Good", "True" and "Chosen". Could also be derived from the Greek Goddess Nike, who was the goddess of victory. I’m sure more information will come from the name’s etiology, but I wanted to shine a spotlight on the next thing Who’s-Who says.
“It was said he would bring laughter to their lips and free them from their suffering.”
What’s interesting about this, is that it sounds almost exactly like an excerpt from the Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were [Credit to megashowdragon on Tumblr] which talks about creatures, places, and people.
“Joyboy” is the West Indian character who personifies the human need to dance, sing, and be jubilate. He is a relation of the Lord of the Dancers who inspires festivals in colder countries, and it seems likely that he travelled to the Caribbean with an early shipment of slaves from West Africa. Joyboy smiles perpetually at all the foibles and problems of mankind and cures human troubles by tapping out an irresistible rhythm on his drum. Whoever hears the music of Joyboy is compelled to dance and sing along until he or she has shaken the black cloak of despair from the shoulders. Some jazz players claim to have captured Joyboy rhythms, but their efforts are a pale imitation of the dance frenzy which can keep humans dancing until they drop.
There’s definitely a connection here. Especially since Kaido’s huge revelation in Chapter 1017 when he says, “It seems like you too… couldn’t become the ‘Joy Boy’.” – which heavily seems to confirm the theory that Joy Boy is a title and not a specific person. Could this “Son God Nika” be another bearer of the Joy Boy name?
Another interesting tidbit is that, while being unnecessarily racist by pointing out there should obviously be a connection between the supposed “Sun God Nika” and the “Sun” pirates – especially since “the history of Fishmen [is] a history of slavery”, it feels like something that we shouldn’t just glaze over. Especially since we know that the Void Century Joy Boy had a deep connection to the Fishmen people. It just feels too much of a coincidence that this “Sun God Nika” was a legendary warrior to “ancient slaves” and the historical Joyboy was said to have “travelled to the Caribbean with an early shipment of slaves”. The use of the world “ancient” is also something that has me side eying. If you’ve read any of my other theories, then you know I believe that Joy Boy was a part of the Ancient Kingdom and was a huge part of recording their history on the ponyglyphs after their defeat by the 20 Kingdoms. So, how “ancient” are we talking? Because, if it’s as ancient as the Ancient Kingdom, perhaps Joy Boy and Sun God Nika are the same person.
Finally, another huge piece of information revealed in this chapter is that CP0's presence on the island has more to do with Who's-Who presence than the trade deal (like we were previously led to believe).
The CP0 member previously seen discussing the trading terms with the shogun, Kurozumi Orochi back in Chapter 929 (the member with the cylinder mouth) specifically says, “The victor of this is of no consequence to us. We just need to confirm his death…”
The red and white hat guy follows up this statement, saying that “even if it is him, any confidential information he has should be dated by now anyway. His survival wouldn’t harm the government.”
However, cylinder mouth says that “allowing a rogue escapee to live… would set a bad example.”
They’re claiming that whatever “confidential information” Who’s-Who may or may not have from his time in CP9 has nothing to do with them wanting him dead and that it’s all because they want to ‘save face’, but I hardly believe that. Especially when he’s dropped two very importantpieces of information in the last few chapters.
For starters, we know from chapter 1017 that Whos-Who used to belong to CP9 and that he found himself in prison (an experience he summarizes as “having it rough”) after he “failed to guard a devil fruit that was being transported on a government ship” 12 years ago. A devil fruit, that we later learn was the Gomu Gomu no Mi.
In Chapter 1018, He also reveals that the guard who taunted him with the story of Sun God Nika, “vanished a few days later without a trace”. He realized that, perhaps, “the story wasn’t meant to be shared” and that him hearing it “put [him] in danger too”. Ultimately, it was this that gave him the motivation to escape his prison.
Sure, you could argue that the government once having the Gomu Gomu no Mi is “outdated” information and holds more importance on storytelling then actually in the OP universe, but if Who’s-Who is correct regarding the judge’s disappearance, there’s no way that’s unimportant. In fact, covering up the story of Sun God Nika – even if it is just a story – seems EXACTLY like something the World Government would do.
So, can you really expect me to believe that the Government’s sudden interest in Who’s-Who is completely unrelated?
People shit on Viz's translations as if unofficial ones aren't prone to fuckups just as often and as painfully lmao. WHAT IS THIS
(My own amateur translation, which imo is a better mix of word accuracy and also sounding like natural convo/dialogue spoken by a person instead of the above translation)
Who's Who: You're very fast on land, Jinbe! Even though you're a fishman.
Jinbe: How shocking...Looks like obsessing over the differences in human and fishman... is still popular/common/in style!
I get that Jinbe is a character who speaks less informally and casually than others like Luffy but I legit cringed at this panel
