Hello Readers,
Looking at this fic, I think there are quite a few things that confuse people. I try to explain the things about each chapter with end of chapter notes but there are much larger things in the story that I think confuse people. And these things haven't really been brought up in any of the chapters so they haven't been addressed. This guide will help explain some of the larger issues with the fic, things that have to do with the entire story, not just a particular chapter. Be warned that it does have some spoilers but these spoilers do explain many things that I'm sure you're all wondering about. I hope it better makes readers understand the fic and helps them appreciate and enjoy it more.
About Monkey D Dragon
There some things that I wanted to mention about Dragon just to clear up a few things.
This is NOT a Dragon bashing fic: In this fic, Dragon is the main antagonist but this fic is NOT a Dragon bashing fic. It is not meant to bash Dragon, but to portray him as an epic super villain bent on world domination. Dragon is one of my favorite One Piece characters and I definitely wouldn't bash him. He is instead portrayed as an unstoppable god like villain that has no equal. I don't think Oda is going to make Dragon a bad guy but in One Piece Final Holy War I think he'll make an excellent Final Villain. It is not my intention to bash him or portray him in a negative light.
The final villain: Many One Piece fans are wondering who would be the final villain. So far there are two main candidates, Akainu and Blackbeard. Akainu pretty much represents the main villain of the world government and Blackbeard the main villain of the pirates. But I don't think either are the final villain. To me the final villain needs to be someone mysterious, cool, overwhelming powerful, has huge ambitions and must be an ancient enemy. Blackbead has the overwhelming power part down but he doesn't seem cool to me. I mean the guy's grotesque and ugly. Akainu is both strong and cool but someone who has a huge ambition doesn't take orders from anyone and Akainu takes orders from the Gorosei. Also neither Blackbeard nor Akainu seem very mysterious to me. Now Dragon is mysterious since we know little about him, certainly he's hinted as one of the most powerful characters in One Piece, he's cool with the cloak and those tattoos and he has ambition, to overthrow the world government. Finally he is a descendant of the ancient kingdom. He certainly qualifies as the main antagonist or final villain.
The return of D and the Ancient Kingdom: Dragon being a descendant of Darcia, the king of Imperion insures that the D and the Ancient Kingdom get involved in the storyline. The Kingdom itself was destroyed about a thousand years ago but Dragon with the revolutionary army has pretty much resurrected the kingdom. To further do that he resurrected their strongest warriors the ancient order of the Knights of D. And now that he has successfully conquered Mariejois, he has succeeded with overthrowing the World Government. Resurrecting Imperion is still pending.
Dragon's intelligence: In addition to Dragon being the strongest being in the world, he is also one of the most intelligent ones. He knows more about void century and true history than anyone. He is a world class manipulator able to manipulate events on a global scale. An example of this is how he manipulated the War of the Best through Blackbeard. Another example is how he placed Blackbeard and Drake in strategically good positions to gain control over the emperors' respective territories. Another is how he was able to keep the Knights along with the true nature of the revolutionary army secret from even members of the army itself.
Dragon's mind: Dragon is also capable of manipulating people's past and emotions to his own advantage. For example, despite the cruelty and ruthlessness of the world government, he was cable of convincing many people to be even more ruthless and cruel than the world government to further his own ambitions. Another example is how he convinced Luffy to join him despite his dream of becoming Pirate King, something that he wanted ever since he was a child and devoted his entire life towards.
The three main factions of One Piece: So far the three main groups of One Piece are the marines, the pirates and the revolutionaries. The Marines are led by Akainu and consists of the admirals and vice admirals. The Pirates are led by Blackbeard and consists of the Seven Warlords and Four Emperors. The Revolutionary Army is led by Dragon and consists of the Knights and the commanders. Pretty much Akainu, Blackbeard and Dragon are the top guys of One Piece. You can imagine what would happen if three of them were together in the same room.
One Piece Final Holy War Following Trends of Typical Mangas
This fic pretty much follows the same trends that most mangas follow. Personally as typical as it is, it never gets old and I enjoy hence why I'm writing the fic as it is.
The trends of manga: Generally most shounen mangas follow a certain trend, the initial phase, the group then the war led by an ancient enemy.
The Initial Phase: The initial phase generally has the main protagonist fight various strong guys to become stronger. Naruto had to fight Zabuza, Neji, Garaa etc. Ichigo had to fight Renji, Kenpachi, Byakuya etc. In One Piece Luffy had to fight Crocodile, Lucci, Moriah etc.
The Group: Generally the main protagonist has to fight a very powerful group. Naruto had to fight the Akatsuki, Ichigo had to fight the Espada and in One Piece, Luffy had to fight the Seven Warlords and perhaps the Four Emperors.
The Resurrection of an Ancient Enemy: Most mangas tend to have the final villain as an ancient superpowerful villain. Take Naruto for example, Madara is a descendant of the ancient Six Path Sage. For Bleach, Juhabach is an ancient quincy that Yammamoto failed to kill. With One Piece Final Holy War, Dragon is a descendant of the Royal Family of the Ancient Kingdom. Dragon being the main villain represents the resurrection of the Ancient Kingdom Imperion and powerful Knights of D.
The War: Also most mangas in addition to having the final villain as an ancient enemy also has him start a huge war. In Naruto, Madara started the Forth Shinobi War. In Bleach, Juhabach started the One Thousand Year Blood War. In One Piece, Whitebeard hinted about a war that could engulf the entire world. This war is the Final Holy War which was started by the descendant of the ancient kingdom Dragon.
The Group Led by the Ancient Enemy: The final villain\ancient enemy tends to have a group of powerful warriors by his side. In Naruto, Madara had the descendants of the Six Path Sage, the two powerful Uchihas whom are Sasuke and Tobi along with various resurrected shinobi. With Bleach, Juhabach has the Stern Ritter and in One Piece Final Holy War, Dragon has the Knights of D.
The return of an old enemy: Most mangas tend to have an old foe return from one reason or the other. In Naruto, Orochimaru returned in the form of Kabuto, with Bleach Aizen is supposed to return and in One Piece Final Holy War, Blackbeard is obviously going to appear.
The dormant power: The main protagonist has a great power dormant usually exclusive only to the protagonist within him that he needs to awaken to overcome the powerful enemies he'll face. Naruto had to master the Kyuubi's power, Ichigo had to master his hollow powers and in One Piece final Holy War, Luffy has to master the power of D (though the power of D is not exclusive to Luffy).
The Rival: The protagonist is supposed to have a rival and in One Piece Luffy doesn't seem to have one. Smoker can be considered one but the age difference doesn't make it look good. Also the rival usually supposed to be slightly older and stronger than the protagonist and Coby is about his age or younger and he is certainly weaker than Luffy so he's out. Also usually the rival is supposed to contrast the main protagonists both in looks and personality and Ren fits all this. Luffy has rough jet black hair while Ren has long flowing blonde hair. Luffy is headstrong and impulsive while Ren is calm and cool. And Ren is only a few years older than Luffy so it works. Furthermore the rivalry isn't supposed to be a petty bickering rivalry like Zoro's and Sanji's but a real serious one. Right now Luffy and Ren aren't enemies but when Luffy does realize his father's true nature and he turns against him, that's when the real battle between Luffy and Ren would take place.
Forces opposing the revolutionary army
The revolutionary army currently rules the world. However there are various factions that oppose him which are explained below.
Straw Hats: They are the most frequently appearing ones. They are not the strongest, but since this is a One Piece fic, they are the main characters so they are the ones who will have the most screen time.
Whitebeard Pirates: The remaining members of the Whitebeard pirates are alive and would naturally pose a threat to the revolutionary army considering that Blackbeard, the one who killed Whitebeard is one of them. Also many of them are quite strong.
Red Haired Pirates: Blackbeard who is a Knight killed Shanks so obviously the Red Haired Pirates would want revenge. They like the Whitebeard Pirates are a powerful crew.
Marines: The world government had been overthrown during the invasion and most of the high ranking marines are dead. However not all of them of dead. Pretty much all the known good ones are still alive as they weren't present during the invasion. Smoker, Tashigi, Coby, Helmppo are still alive. Also former marines such as Aokiji, Garp and Sengoku are alive. Furthermore there were plenty of low ranking marines who were not at Mariejois at the time so they were not killed. Provided they didn't deliberately picked fights with the revolutionary army, then there still alive.
Other forces: Pretty much all the people the Straw Hats met are going to be on their side though they may not do anything. If they try anything then they'll be killed but their hearts are on the side of the Straw Hats. Vivi, Shirahoshi and many other people are very close to the Straw Hats and would side with them over the revolutionary army. Also the Straw Hats would meet more people that they would become friends with such as Pellinopee that would side with them over the army. Pretty much everyone that the Straw Hats met and will meet would end up opposing the army, not necessarily doing anything big but in their hearts opposing the revolutionary army.
Current Military Level of the Revolutionary Army
The revolutionary army has many powerful warriors with the strongest being the Knights. However the strength of the army increased greatly after the invasion. In fact their strength has increased so much that they are even more powerful than the world government was originally. The increase is explained below.
Resources of the world government confiscated: After the invasion, the revolutionary army stripped Mariejois along with Marine Headquarters and G1 of all its valuables. That means that all the money, maps, weapons etc that they had now belong to the revolutionary army.
Complete domination of the world: The world was once ruled by the world government and the emperors. However the world government has been overthrown and the emperors except Blackbeard killed. So not only do they now rule the world, they also gain control of all the territories that originally belonged to the emperors. They essentially now have undisputed rule over the world. In fact their rule of the world is even greater than the world government's because the marines never made any real aggressive moves against the emperors while the revolutionary army killed them and annexed their lands.
Increase in naval power: The revolutionary army also took possession of all the ships that were at G1, Marine Headquarters and Mariejois. All of them, including the warships and the giant Buster Call ones. As a result in addition to having their own fleet, their navy has been bolstered considerably because of the marine warships that were added.
Pacifistas: Alot of the Pacifistas were destroyed by the Knights since they were on guard during the invasion. However not all of them were activated so the revolutionary army was able to confiscate all the none active ones which is a fairly large number thus making them even stronger.
Slaves: The revolutionary army has slaves doing a lot of work for them building bases, ships and weapons. They were previously doing this very discreetly to avoid the good revolutionaries like Ivankov and Robin from finding out. But now that the army was purged of those who wouldn't follow Dragon, the revolutionary army is now openly engaging in slavery thus making them far stronger. The world government while they did engage in slavery never really used them for forced labor or on as large a scale as the revolutionary army is doing so they never really got to fully exploit them.
Decrease in revolutionary forces: Despite the revolutionary army getting much stronger in terms of materialistic things and the addition of slaves labor they have been weakened quite a bit though in Dragon's mind, it was justified. In the cleansing all the revolutionaries who would oppose him were killed including Ivankov. So the army lost quite a bit of men including several powerful commanders .However some like Trafalgar Law survived.
Controversy of the Revolutionary Army
What the revolutionary army is doing is very controversial. While it does have good results in making the world a better place, their methods are very extreme and questionable. The controversies are explained below.
Dragon did do what he said he was going to do: Dragon once mentioned during his time in Goa Kingdom and conversation with Sabo that he hated the world government and wanted to change the world. Despite his extremely ruthless and cruel methods, he did just that. He ended slavery of civilians (not pirates since they are bad guys), ended mass murdering Buster Calls and stopped giant fires from killing people innocent people. Dragon is only ruthless to those who are his enemies and those who would oppose him. Revolutionaries like Ivankov would oppose him so they were killed. Likewise pirates would also oppose him so he makes them slaves which would make them more useful to the army. He wouldn't engage in mass murders like the Buster Call or giant fires unless the people are his enemies. Doing things like that would only encourage people to rebel and thus make him loose his rule of the world.
Pirates: Pirates would always oppose him, so naturally they are his enemies. So he takes them as slaves. Despite slavery being a worldwide taboo, people hate pirates. So they wouldn't object to Dragon taking them as slaves. In fact they would approve because he is cleansing the world of pirates and thus making the civilians safer and happier. The revolutionary army is removing pirates from the seas much faster and more efficiently than the world government did. So the people of the world are more accepting of his rule which reduces the chances of people rebelling against him. The civilians are safer and happier and the only ones really suffering are pirates and no one really cares about them.
Hypocrisy of the revolutionary army: The revolutionary army is very hypocritical. They say that they oppose of slavery and the ruthlessness of the world government yet they are no better, in fact even worse. Just like the world government claim to do everything for the greater good, so too does the revolutionary army. The revolutionary army truly believes that their actions are for the best. They truly believe that by being as ruthless and destructive as they are, there making the world a better place. And to some extent they are right. There is no slavery anymore (except for pirates) and pretty much the age of pirates is over and the world is a much safer place now. Dragon and the revolutionary army are very hypocritical but to some extent they are justified since they actually achieve good results in making the world a safer place under his rule.
The Great War everyone is talking about
There is supposed to be a great war that is supposed to engulf the world. In fact it is supposed to be far greater than the War of the Best. That war is the Final Holy War and is happening now and why it is happening is explained below.
The Great War that Whitebeard was talking about: Whitebeard did say before his death that a great war would engulf the world. The Red Haired Pirates and their allies, the Whitebeard pirates and their allies, the remaining Marines and the Straw Hats are now pretty much at war with the revolutionary army. And since the Straw Hats made so many friends along the journey, they too would get involved. As you can see pretty much the entire world is now at war against the revolutionary army mostly because of the Straw Hats, hence the great war that Whitebeard was talking about.
Whitebeard's final words, Uranus, One Piece and the Great War: Whitebeard also said that when the person finds the One Piece a great war would start. I'm sure everyone has already figured it out but in this fic, Uranus is located on Raftel. Uranus and One Piece are not the same, they are too different things but they are both on Raftel. So to find Uranus is to find One Piece. Since Dragon was the final opponent Roger had to face before truly becoming Pirate King and the fact that he battled Roger specifically over control of Uranus, Dragon obviously knows where Uranus is. Furthermore Dragon has the weather weather fruit so the dangerous weather of the New World is no problem for him. He is also the strongest being in the world so no one can stop him from taking Uranus and One Piece. He pretty much already found One Piece and Whitebeard said that when One Piece is found, a great war would happen. That war is happening, it is the Final Holy War.
Issues with the Storyline
There are various issues with this fic and below I give reasons why I do certain things with this fic.
Issues being resolved: I'm pretty sure when the big war that everyone is hyping about starts that Oda will finally tie loose ends and many mysterious would be revealed. I'm planning on doing the same. Since the war is happening, then I'll explain many things giving my own explanations. I already revealed quite a few things, the identity of Luffy's mother, a bit about the ancient kingdom and the true history, the truth about Kuma and many more. I'll try to reveal as many mysterious as possible. So expect the mystery of Joy Boy, Buggy's letter from the world government, what Lucci and CP9 (yes they are going to appear) are doing and much more.
Places appearing: Likewise places that Oda is probably going to introduce at some point, I'm also planning to introduce in One Piece Final Holy War. So expect Elbaf the country of the giants, All Blue the sea the Sanji wants to find, Wano Country the land of the samurai, of course Raftel itself and many more interesting places of my own original design.
We'll find out about past characters: Since this is the Great War, we're naturally supposed to know what happens to all the characters. So I'll try reveal what happens to most of them. They might not appear but we'll at least know what has happened to them. We know that Moriah is dead and we know what Drake has been doing. So we'll find out about what's been happening to most of the characters.
Characters background would allow issues to be resolved: Many characters due to their backgrounds would allow various issues to be settled. For example, since Sanbi is a fishman it would allow human-fishman relations to finally come to a close. Juri being a survivor of Ohara like Robin would allow the issue of Ohara to be resolved. Monroe being the strongest rokushiki user in history would allow the origin of the rokushiki to be revealed. Many characters new and old would allow various loose ends to be tied.
Clashes with Oda's One Piece: With all this going on, there is undoubtedly going to be some clashes with Oda's One Piece. In fact, several already showed up. In One Piece Doflamingo is the underground criminal Joker while Trafalgar Law is a Shichbukai. In Final Holy War, Doflamingo is actually a revolutionary commander and Law is an ex revolutionary commander. So you can see that there are clashes happening and a lot more would happen. When Oda reveals the truth about Kuma I'm sure it's going to be very different from the one in this fic. Oda's true history I'm sure is going to be different from my own. Another clash would be Wano Country which is hinted to be very close. It's going to clash with my Wano Country storyline. In fact Oda's Dragon is actually different from Final Holy War's Dragon. You're going to have to be open minded and read this fic expecting these clashes and will have to accept them or else you wouldn't enjoy the fic.
Changes to the Void Century: The void century was supposed to have taken place about 800 years ago. In this fic, it is about a thousand years ago, hence this being the Thousand Year Holy War. The void century was the period where Imperion and D ruled the world, the war between Imperion and the Ancient Allaince and the terrible genocide of the D. The world government band research on the poneglpyhs and the void century to prevent the knowledge of Imperion and the D to become public knowledge. People might rebel if it became known. Furthermore it might encourage the Ds around the world to take up arms. And the Ds are very powerful as One Piece has shown.
Hancock: So far Vivi and Shirahoshi have had a few moments with Luffy during the invasion. But so far Hancock hasn't had any, in fact she hasn't even appeared at all so far such that some of you are thinking that she wouldn't appear. Trust me, she'll appear. She's a part of Luffy's harem so she'll appear. You'll have to wait but I guarantee you, she'll appear.
Side Notes of One Piece Final Holy War
Just side notes that I think are worth bringing to everyone's attention.
The "Final" part in One Piece Final Holy War: The war that is going on is going to be the biggest war since the war between the Ancient Kingdom and the Ancient Alliance. There pretty much wouldn't ever be a war as great as this one. Even the war between the Whitebeard Pirates and the world government wasn't as long or as large scale as this one. Pretty much the entire world is going to get involved as explained earlier. The entire world will be uniting against a common foe, Dragon and the revolutionary army. The fact that everyone chose to put aside their differences and fight together would result in their being peace afterwards meaning there wouldn't be another war, this will be the final war. After that all that there would be is peace and freedom.
The "Holy War" part in One Piece Final Holy War: Mariejois is referred to as the Holy City and the Tenryuubito are referred to as Saints. Since the revolutionary army has attacked them directly, this has sparked a Holy War. The World Government pretty much descended from the Ancient Alliance since the Tenryuubito are descendants of the founders while the Revolutionary Army descended from the Ancient Kingdom since the Knights are descendants of the royal family. Furthermore the one who has triggered the war is the oldest and most powerful enemies of the Saints and the Holy City. Pretty much if anyone ever declares war on a Saint and/or a Holy City, the war is pretty much a holy war and here the strongest enemies are the ones who sparked the war. Hence this being a Holy War.
Luffy on the side of the villain: Personally I enjoy reading fics where the main character is no longer in the same side as everyone else. There's a lot of them in Naruto, most being the typical Naruto gets banished after he beats Sasuke fic. There's very little One Piece ones out there and so I decided to write my own. And while I was writing One Piece Shippuden, I got inspiration to do this one and I'm enjoying writing it more than One Piece Shippuden. So I'll continue with One Piece Final Holy War.
Moves and attacks of the Straw Hats: I recommend that when you're reading the battle scenes you have a page on One Piece Wiki with the attacks of each of the Straw Hats to better understand the fights scenes. Not compulsory but you'll understand the battle scenes. The end of chapter notes however are must read for you to understand but One Piece wiki is just recommended for understanding the battle scenes better. Whether you understand the attacks or not, the end result will still be the same.
Not too much romance: This fic even though is a LuffyxHarem fic wouldn't have too much romance in it. It is an action fic, not a romance one. For one thing, Luffy is on the side of the main antagonist so he can't get involved with the girls too much. Also because there is a big war going on, there wouldn't be much time for romance. However the girls will talk about their feelings for Luffy etc and that's probably the most you'll get until the very end of the fic when he gets together with all of them.
ZoroxRobin not happening though ZoroxTashigi will happen: I know ZoroxRobin is probably the second most popular pairing after LuffyxNami but unfortunately this pairing wouldn't happen. This is a LuffyxHarem fic and Robin's going to be in the harem. So ZoroxRobin wouldn't happen, the closest would be that Robin showing concern for Zoro at times, as a nakama, not a love interest. However I'll pair Zoro with Tashigi since I do like ZoroxTashigi.
Concluding notes
I would like to say that even though this guide so to speak does reveal a lot, it doesn't really contain much spoilers. It hints that All Blue is going to appear but it doesn't say what All Blue is nor how the encounter with it would be like. This fic does hint that Elbaf is going to appear but it doesn't say what the Straw Hats are going to do on Elbaf. This chapter doesn't reveal how each encounter with the Knights is going to turn out. It reveals that mysterious such as Joy Boy is going to be revealed but it doesn't actually explain who Joy Boy is, nor his role in Fishman Island or the void century. This chapter merely explains things that I'm sure have been bothering readers, it doesn't reveal too much on exactly what is going to happen in future chapters.
Finally I want to say that this is going to be an extremely long and ambitious fic. As you can see, despite this fic being more than 100 000 words, the Straw Hats have yet to meet any of the Knights. With there being plenty of things to resolve, this fic is going to be very long but very entertaining. The Straw Hats have a really uphill battle facing the Knights and the army. They are going to be physically and mentally pushed to their limits since the army is the strongest force they have ever faced, the Knights are the strongest enemies they ever fought and they'll have to fight their own beloved captain Luffy. The Straw Hats really have it tough and this fic is sure to keep you all entertained.