Monkey D. Luffy: The Fool's Journey, and One Piece's Intricate Structure
So while reading One Piece for the first time, I was struck by how the story seemed to continuously reference and often even follow the Fool's Journey in tarot (much like Tokyo Ghoul did). All I'm saying is that if any of y'all who nagged me to read it for years had told me this, I would have read it MUCH sooner!
Anyways, I want to talk about OP's structure, which is paradoxically simple on the surface and intricate when you dig into parallels and analyses. Much like our protagonist, and the story's themes. I'll divide this meta into two parts, based on the two parts of the manga: pre and post timeskip.
Pre timeskip follows the Fool's Journey perfectly. Post follows the Fool's Journey in reverse... but also has each arc zigzag to thematically mirror its matching arc in terms of chronology in the pre-timeskip part. So, the first arcs of both pre and post timeskip mirror one another., even though pre is the Fool and post is the World. I'll also talk about why I think Oda is doing this below, and what that indicates about the story Oda's trying to tell.
To start with, what is the Fool's Journey? It's the "Major Arcana" of the tarot deck, consisting of 22 cards that follow a particular order and tell a story that is supposed to represent a journey through life. The cards are numbered 0-21, and each is present in One Piece... but sometimes they overlap and sometimes the inspiration in certain arcs is more direct than others. In other words, the tarot card references are not always done in the same way--sometimes it's a thematic reference, sometimes it's a visual reference to an element of the character, sometimes it's the embodiment of a character.
I will reference this summary of the Major Arcana, but I also know a lot of random ish on tarot so I'll be drawing from that too.
Pre Timeskip: The Fool's Journey
I don't think this should be controversial. The Fool is the central character of the Fool's Journey, card 0. The Fool isn't to be condemned for his foolishness--sure, he's not wise at the start of his journey, but he's bold enough to begin. He wants to explore what it means to be alive, and to accomplish his goals.
Luffy's foolhardy faith in people is his greatest strength, and also his weakness.
The Magician - Roronoa Zora
He represents the active, masculine power of creative impulse. He is also our conscious awareness. The Magician is the force that allows us to impact the world through a concentration of individual will and power.
Zoro is pretty clearly the embodiment of this. He's fabulous with a sword, very much active to the point of it being a flaw (pushing himself to fight Mihawk before he is ready), but also very "what you see is what you get." He doesn't hide aspects of himself, which is necessary.
However, the Magician isn't complete without card 2: the High Priestess. The High Priestess is meant to parallel and balance the Magician, because the Fool needs both of these people and what they offer him to grow and continue on his journey.
If the Magician is active and upfront, the High Priestess is mysterious (much like Nami hides her deal with Arlong from the crew). The High Priestess is potential rather than passivity--she needs the Magician to activate her potential. She is creativity, planning, and emotionally in tune with the world around her. (All things Nami is.)
The Fool needs both to grow.
The Empress is best represented by Princess Vivi. Not only is she actual royalty, but she takes on an almost maternal role in the crew--which is necessary, because the Empress as a card represents maternal influence, influence that opens the Fool's eyes to the realities of the world around him while also providing for him. Through Vivi, Luffy starts to participate in the politics of the world.
The Emperor is the father figure, who represents structure and authority--hence, Vivi's dad, Nefertari Cobra, and Crocodile both represent this figure for Luffy. Oda even draws Vivi's father to look like the Emperor tarot:
Skypiea. The Fool here starts to learn about various cultures and beliefs, and adopts a spiritual understanding. The entirety of the Skypeia arc involves Luffy and crew facing a literal deity (Enel, the cruel god) as well as learning about the people of the Sky and their histories and traditions.
Here's where we get a little vague--at least, in this version (less so in the reverse post-timeskip one). Oda is allergic to romance. But while this can represent a sexual union, it doesn't necessarily have to. It can also represent the desire for human connection, particularly that knit together by the angels (as the card's appearance indicates).
Anyways, this is the first part where I was like "oh, this isn't actually the Fool's Journey." But I do think there is a reference, albeit not as direct as most of Oda's references.
A snake slithers up a stalk going up towards heaven, where the angels watch. Nola and Giant Jack, anyone? The card is also supposed to represent healing and union, which is thematically what happens between the Skypieans and Shandians.
The Chariot itself represents the Fool feeling in control... which Luffy feels, for a bit. Hence, Luffy using the Merry (the crew's literal chariot) to race in the Long Ring and Long Land Arc...
So, Strength can actually be switched with Card 11, so we'll come back to it. Oda introduces Strength in this arc via Kuzen defeating Luffy, someone they acknowledge they cannot beat because he is too strong.
Tonjit, who encourages Luffy to look inwards.
Now we enter Water 7, which is conveniently shaped like a wheel:
And upon entering, the place where their fortunes change. It's a turning point in the Fool's Journey, and it certainly is for Luffy.
So, in some decks Justice comes as card 11, and in others as card 8--it switches with Strength. While I do think Kuzan represents Strength as a glimmer, Oda actually introduces Strength as a person alongside the concept of Justice.
While Justice becomes the major theme of the arc... tied to Robin.
Or woman, in this case, because this is Robin in Enies Lobby. She wants to live, but she doesn't believe she can.
Here, the Fool is supposed to feel defeated, stuck and trapped and unable to act in a lot of ways. Robin eventually makes her own decision, while the crew could not make it for her--she decides to live, and that's when they act and rescue her.
Death sounds ominous but it really isn't; it's supposed to represent a transition to a new stage of life. Which happens, but also we get introduced to Brooks... a literal skeleton.
Here, the Fool finds balance in the wake of what has just occurred.
The Fool has combined all aspects of himself into a centered whole that glows with health and well-being.
Here, Luffy talks to Garp and begins to reconcile that part of himself. Luffy's crew reunites, including Usopp and Robin, and comes together again for their next adventure.
This was actually the arc that convinced me we were following Fool's Journey imagery because there's a common aspect to the Devil that often gets overlooked: two people, a couple, chained together.
The couple in the tarot card are not able to free themselves even though they seem like they should be able to (the chains are loose). Here we have an attempted forced wedding of Nami to Absalom--she's under a spell.
The Fool only escapes the Devil via the calamity that is the Tower. Which just so happens to be where this arc takes place.
And Oda just so happens to have to people fall from the Tower, which is what the card displays too.
After the calamity of the Tower, the Fool encounters the Star, a moment of calm, of hope, often represented in a woman... and water. So here Luffy encounters Camie the mermaid, and her friend Pappagg.
The Moon is a card of illusions. Camie is taken to a place that thrives on illusions and is shaped like, well, a moon:
The crew's experience on the island causes them to question who they are, and who they want to be.
The Sun emerges and provides clarity for the Fool. Here, it's represented by their new ship--the Thousand Sunny. Luffy's sun is that he realizes love for his crew and loved ones (like Ace) are his starting point.
Judgement is a card where the Fool has been reborn and has to rise up and embody his potential at last. Here, Luffy survives Themyscira, essentially becoming reborn, before goes into prisons and freeing people (hence the image of the dead rising--people being freed from dead on the card). Waves and mountains rise up around the freed, but the Fool presses on...
And onwards to Marineford, where we do see literal waves rising like mountains.
Luffy rescues Ace, but Ace still dies for him. Here, he reconciles with aspects of himself that he's tried to suppress--his relationships with his grandfather, with Ace, with his own weaknesses and strengths, with the people he's previously defeated and with his crew. So Luffy and his crew, now scattered across the world, take several years to regroup.
Post Timeskip: The Fool's Journey Reversed
The Fool's Journey itself is meant to represent a cycle. At the end, after the Fool has arrived at the World, he realizes the possibilities that are open to him--and that he knows less than ever. So he begins again. Hence, the Fool's Journey begins again, with each arc in the second part mirroring two.
Here, Luffy and his crew reunite, mirroring a lot of Romance Dawn's early arcs. Luffy is ready for a new adventure in a new world, which he finds in...
The Fish-Man Island Saga, which mirrors both the Arlong Park Arc (High Priestess) and the Judgement Arc. Except this time Luffy is the one prophesized to bring Judgement.
You see, the Judgment tarot is portraying the idea of "Judgment Day," a concept from the Biblical book of Revelation wherein the living and the dead are judged... and the world is destroyed and remade anew. Here, because the arc is reversed, the waves don't rise up to tower over Luffy et al like mountains; Luffy instead dives beneath them.
Reversed, the Judgement tarot also asks the Fool to look back at their life and their journey thus far, which is pretty much exactly what characters are asked to do--Nami with Arlong, the mermaid princess, and more.
Continuing on, we then dip into Punk Hazard, which mirrors elements of the Little Garden and Drum Island arcs (giants, snow, etc).
Then we hit the Dressrosa Arc, which mirrors the Alabasta Arc in that there's a focus on a royal family and dastardly rebels.
The sun reversed indicates that the subjects are stuck in a delusional state... which they kind of are, albeit forced into it.
Oda references the Sun with sunflower fields and with the theme of children. The child is Kratos as well as Rebecca, learning how to be reborn.
Now we go backwards into illusions again. Zou is an illusion, and we're told to beware the Moon, because it's reversed.
We then delved into Whole Cake Island, which mirrors Enies Lobby in that a character is taken from the Straw Hats and the others have to chase them down... and the ensuing events force them to grapple with what they mean to one another, and with their places in the world.
Reversed, the Star is about feeling overwhelmed and slightly in despair. Essentially, the entirety of Whole Cake Island.
There is a literal tower again. Even reversed, the Tower represents a crisis--but instead of falling into it, the reversed Tower is about trying to dig heels in and refuse to accept change and that what has been a pillar of support will no longer be. Which is kind of the Vinsmokes' issue, but also Big Mom's main issue.
In a character, Big Mom, forcing her children into marriages.
Reversed, however, the Devil is about throwing off chains and breaking free--which we see both Sanji and Pudding do. Also, unlike the false couple in the earlier Devil Thriller Bark Arc, Pudding does appear to develop genuine feelings for Sanji.
As a visual nod, Jinbei returns the ceremonial cup.
But in reversed form, Temperance means excess--gluttony, rather than on balance. Which is Big Mom.
Reversed, it's being afraid to make changes in life, which again applies to most characters in this arc.
Like Robin in Enias Lobby, here we have Sanji. Reversed is pretty similar to upright, though it is more focused on being stuck than on actually making a decision--yet eventually Sanji does.
So this time I think Justice and Strength show up as 8 instead of jointly as 11. We have justice addressed thematically via the Whole Cake Island Arc, but it's not fully delved into until Wano.
Luffy gets sucked into an actual whirlpool that spits him and his friends out in not only a different country, but different times... mirroring the Straw Hat's separation and Amazon Lily Arc, to an extent.
The Fool may recognize his destiny in the sequence of events that led him to this turning point.... His perspective is wider, and he sees himself within the grander scheme of a universal plan. His sense of purpose is restored.
This above description will essentially be Luffy's journey through Wano.
Tama, the opposite of Tanjit. Instead of an old man, this time it's a young girl, because we're reversed tarot carding this.
The entire Wano arc is about justice and injustice, and about what it means to be strong.
The Chariot is all about making your own fate, about having control over yourself, and reversed it's about an illusion of control. Notably, the crescent moon is a prominent feature adoring the driver of the Chariot on the card, because it symbolizes the process of becoming.
Orochi, Kaidou--both these characters maintain a veneer of control, but they're actually very much out of control.
Well, there's sort of romance here. In a twisted, one-sided way, that is. It's Orochi and Hiyori, and since it's a reversed card, it fits that it's pretty twisted and not an actual love story, but instead a desire to possess rather than love.
Notably, we have another snake reference--Orochi's name means serpent.
Kaidou, who basically plays at being a god. The Heirophant is also associated with Taurus--the bull.
Kaidou also stands in contrast with Luffy in regards to the nature of the Heirophant--which is about a character learning to identify themselves with the larger world. Kaidou, much like Orochi before him, tries to forced others to identify with him, to fit his goals, while Luffy does the opposite--he genuinely tries to learn about people and their dreams and goals.
Overlaps with Kaidou (one of the Four Emperors). Reversed, the Emperor represents abuse of power, which is extremely fitting.
This part is also where Nefertari Cobra, our previous Emperor, actually dies.
Vivi, our Empress, is missing... and that's pretty much where we are now. Reversed, it represents insecurity... which we see discussed and repudiated, with the Straw Hats declaring that they trust that Vivi has a plan.
Going forward, I expect the Final Saga to somehow mirror Impel Down and Marineford as arcs, and also to reflect the reversed High Priestess (a focus on intuition), reversed Magician (illusions), and reversed Fool that will ask Luffy the question: who do you want to be?
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