One Piece's Elbaph Arc may serve as a second time-skip

As the Elbaph Arc progresses with the latest official One Piece manga release in chapter 1132, fans are incredibly curious to see where the arc progresses given what they’ve just learned. More specifically, Louis Arnot’s warning to those visiting Elbaph to “not overstay [their] welcome here” has fans curious about what danger the explorer could be warning readers of.

While the One Piece fandom has many opinions on this, one of the most predominant speculations is that time on Elbaph may pass differently than outside of it. Many are taking this speculation a step further and theorizing that, in yet another pre- and post-time-skip parallel, the Elbaph Arc could serve as a second time–skip for the series.

Oda may be trying to squeeze in a second time-skip before One Piece’s promised final war arc

One of the biggest pieces of evidence for the Elbaph Arc serving as a time-skip is the recent mirroring Oda has set up between the pre-and post-time-skip series. The captures of Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Garp are key examples, as is Luffy’s message to his crew during the time-skip and Vivi’s message to Luffy and co at the start of Elbaph. There’s also the Straw Hats being split up at the start of Elbaph and for the time skip itself.

The second major piece of evidence is the silhouette of a seemingly new character who appeared amidst Arnot’s warning in chapter 1132. While this character’s identity is still unknown, many suspect them to be Shiki the Golden Lion. In-canon, Shiki once said he had a plan he’d carry out in twenty years. While this served as set up for the Strong World movie’s events, it could be retconned as him having stayed in Elbaph to speed up the 20-year wait.

On the topic of this character’s identity, many are also suspecting that Louis Arnot himself could be the silhouetted character. This could serve as a conclusion to expansion on his pre-time-skip introduction during the Little Garden Arc and would provide a means of formally introducing the character in person, and potentially connecting him to some Straw Hats. This would also serve as a natural means of confirming Elbaph as being a time-trap island, for lack of a better term.

One Piece’s promised final war arc also serves as further evidence in the context of it being the post-time-skip parallel to the pre-time-skip Marineford Arc. The Elbaph Arc could serve as a time-skip directly into the final war by nature of world events progressing significantly during the Straw Hats’ stay on Elbaph. This could be achieved by Shanks having already faced Blackbeard and Monkey D. Dragon’s Revolutionary Army having made their moves during this time.

A final, but certainly shakier piece of evidence, has to do with Dr. Vegapunk’s Egghead Arc introduction. His character confirmed the existence of space-time theory in–series, which often has to do with an object’s mass and gravity. With Elbaph being the land of Giants, it’s possible that the massive size of the island and its inhabitants, flora, and fauna could be causing some sort of time dilation.

Final thoughts

Elbaph may directly lead into One Piece's final war, speeding up the journey in the process (Image via Toei Animation)

While certainly one of the more speculative and out-there theories regarding Louis Arnot’s words, it’s nevertheless plausible when considering all available evidence. One could even argue it as one of the more likely conclusions considering Oda’s modus operandi when it comes to writing his manga series. However, fans can at least expect to start getting more answers with chapter 1133’s official release on Monday, December 9, 2024, in Japan.