3:38 PM
look, long story short....
As I have said multiple times, the plot introduced elements tied to the sun and the moon many times, and only now they are starting to fit together.
An old enemy almost at the start of the manga flee to the moon and has never been heard afterward outside some side panels that show him discovering an old civilization that had electricity based powers.
In the meantime, the main manga introduced something called "Dawn" of the world, alongside with terms like "awakening" and concepts like "the moon is the light of the day in the middle of the night".
You meet a mink named Pedro that is waiting for the ones who shall bring the "dawn". He dies to save Luffy and the others, and he tells Carrot to see them live for they must be the ones.
Then you find out that the mink have electricity based powers, and transforms under the full moon. Coincidentally, they are also tied to an entity that was waiting for the new "Joy Boy"
The "final boss" of the manga is probably going to be Black Beard, someone that has the powers of the Dark Dark fruit, basically think of someone that manipulates darkness like a black hole.
Last few chapters in japan you discover that <spoiler> the Gum Gum fruit Luffy has is actually not just gum but a deity fruit - the sun god Nika. Therefore, some concludes that Blackbeard simply HAS to be a god fruit too - maybe something like "Yami"
The ending is shaping to be tied to the moon.
Do you really want me to believe that Carrot wasn't planned as a character that would have joined the crew (she is traveling with them for about 200 episodes now...) and have a very relevant role in a "moon arc" ? Since her main weakness is exactly that she can't transform without the moon?
The Moon rabbit or Moon hare is a mythical figure in East Asian and indigenous American folklore, based on pareidolia interpretations that identify the dark markings on the near side of the Moon as a rabbit or hare. In East Asia, the rabbit is seen as pounding with a mortar and pestle, but the contents of the mortar differ among Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese folklore. In Chinese folklore, the rabbit is often portrayed as a companion of the Moon goddess Chang'e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her and some show the making of cakes or rice cakes; but in Japanese and Korean...
you really want me to believe that a Japanese anime / manga had not planned a RABBIT for a MOON story arc when that is one of the most prominent figures in folklore there (Even Sailor Moon name is Usagi -> rabbit in Japanese)
and then, as someone posted on reddit (albeit in a very rude and rant-filled way...)
you really want me to believe that Yamato, the one who is going to replace her is just so similar "because coincidence"?
Sorry, I don't buy into that. My logical reasoning is that people kept ranting about "oh, no, animal girl!" or "furry" if you prefer, and the guy caved in and wrote her out.
After all, you already had plenty of Chopper haters for the same exact reason
and surprise surprise he is very underused compared to other characters
Opefully Oda can make his mind on how the girl/guy identifies because it is starting to get quite annoying.
It is unclear if she identifies as male because she fells that way or because she has an identity issue that she identifies herself as Oden - a dead character she is tied to that was male.
This is causing a lot of fight in the fandom over what article to use, and Oda isn't helping at all.
