In chapter 1056 we saw that Law gave Kid a copy of Kaido’s Road Poneglyph. As Killer examines it he comments that if they want to be real contenders in the race for the One Piece then they’re going to ‘have to get serious about this task’.
From the way Killer says ‘this task’ & how Kid reacts to it by mentioning this ‘man marked by flames,’ it seems that this is something that they’ve been working toward for a long time. Perhaps even since the beginning of their journey. But who could this ‘man marked by flames’ be?
The first clue we get to work with is the fact that whoever this mystery person is, they almost certainly have intel on the One Piece or the Poneglyphs. It is still unclear whether or not Killer himself can read the Poneglyphs.
So if this ‘man marked by flames’ is someone who has knowledge of the One Piece or the Poneglyphs then that helps to narrow down the possibilities. The second potential hints we get are the reactions of Law & Robin.
These reactions from Law & Robin may be getting highlighted here because they are both from countries that were burned by the World Government or member nations. This leads us to the first 2 possibilities.
- The first is that it may be another survivor of the Ohara incident. It is entirely possible that someone else survived the massacre. If this were the case, perhaps it was someone on the escaping ship & they survived in a similar way to Sabo.
- The 2nd possibility is that it is a survivor from Flevance, which was also destroyed by the World Government. However, it would have to be someone specific, because the people of Flevance were not scholars. In this case, it would be Law’s father! A member of the D clan!
Out of those two possibilities, I think that the Ohara one is considerably more likely. It would be quite convoluted for Law’s father to have somehow survived not only the massacre but also the quarantine & white lead disease itself.
So what are the other possibilities?
If it is someone who has intel on the One Piece or the Poneglyphs then that highlights 3 pirates crews. The Roger Pirates, the Rocks Pirates & the Whitebeard pirates. All of these 3 groups from the old era could have such intel.
In this case, one of the interesting possibilities would include a potential parallel between Kid’s past & Luffy’s past. There are already potentially quite a few of parallels between them, such as coming from the slums. Perhaps both of them have met one of the Roger Pirates.
It would be interesting if while Luffy has met ‘Silver’ Rayleigh, Kid has met ‘Copper’ Gaban. Gaban would certainly fit the bill of someone who has intel on the One Piece & Poneglyphs but, as far as we know, there’s no flame mark on him.
So what if the parallel is from a slightly different angle & while Luffy has met one of the Roger pirates, Kid has met one of the Rocks pirates? This would potentially make more sense, as, through God Valley, one of them may have been scarred by fire.
However if this is the case then most of the known members of Rocks are seemingly dead.
Rocks is presumably dead. Kaido & Big Mom just recently died, supposedly. Whitebeard died at Marineford & we’ve seen John, Silver Axe & Ou Choku as zombies. That only leaves Shiki!
Shiki would be a fitting person to know about the One Piece and the Poneglyphs & on top of this it would play in to the theories that Shiki is Killer’s father. However, if this was the case, Kid probably wouldn’t say they have no leads.
If Shiki is involved, regardless of whether or not he is Killer’s father. Then it seems more fitting that he would potentially be the one who told Kid & Killer about this ‘man marked by flames’, rather than Shiki being that man himself.
The 3rd possibility along this track of thinking is that it could be one of the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates. It could be someone like Commander Curiel. He was burned by Akainu in Marineford & may be one of the 3 eye tribe. This is a very interesting possibility as it would potentially track with all of the necessary details. The 3-eye tribe also doesn’t have much of a spotlight since Pudding & this would be a great way to make them relevant again
We’ve already got a fair few decent candidates but there are potentially more. Another possibility is that this person is ‘marked by flames’ because they were branded by the Celestials Dragons.
In this case the possibilities could be quite numerous but one of the most interesting ones is that this could be another surviving Lunarian. It seems highly likely that other Lunarians have survived but are being kept as slaves or experimented on, like King.
Back in Saboady we saw a price list for slaves & the section titled ‘other exotic creatures’ had a pattern very similar to that of King’s tattoo. This could have been an early foreshadowing of another survivor who was once a slave. Similarly to the possibility of Curiel being one of the 3-eye tribe, this would be an interesting way to bring forward the significance of one of the races that Oda has highlighted as rare & with special powers. This person could have the answers that Kid has been searching for.
The Celestial brand is not the only brand though. It could also be that this ‘mark’ is the mark of the sun. The symbol of the Sun Pirates, was used to cover the slave mark of the Celestials. If this is the case then the person in question would be a member of the Fishman tribe. It may seem that they wouldn’t have much intel to give but there is something very important they could know. The location of the 4th Road Poneglyph that was once on FMI but is no longer.
This Poneglyph went missing from FMI in the time between Roger’s last visit & the arrival of the Straw Hats. When Robin reached the same location, it was no longer there. It could be that this is the info Kid will get from the ‘man marked by flame’
Before I reach the conclusion & weigh up all of the options, there are two more possibilities to consider. A popular candidate among fans is none other than Aokiji! Aokiji was scarred by Akainu during their fight at Punk Hazard & which would fit the ‘marked by flames’ criteria. Also given his position as a former admiral & current position with Blackbeard, Aokiji is someone who has access to Poneglyph & One Piece intel.
The last possibility to consider & one that I personally think is among the most likely is that this person is a survivor of a different event involving Punk Hazard. This idea was raised by a Twitter user who suggested that this person could be Vegapunk himself!
If you remember back to Punk Hazard, we learned that 4 years ago there was an explosion caused by Ceaser that made the island uninhabitable. Vegapunk was presumably caught in this explosion but we know that he survives to this day. So Vegapunk could have been ‘marked by flames’.
So let’s bring things to a conclusion by going back over all of these possibilities & deciding which are most likely. Personally, I believe that the top 4 candidates who would make sense & drive the story forward are Shiki, a former Sun Pirate, Aokiji, or Vegapunk.
