The one dream two Pirate Kings shared
The dream of Luffy, the protagonist of One Piece, actually isn't to become the Pirate King.
To be precise, there's a bigger goal hidden behind it, something he wants to achieve after becoming the Pirate King.
And it matches the dream of the previous Pirate King, Roger.
So what is this dream, the one that left some people dumbfounded and others in tears?
A free world where everyone becomes a pirate.
That dream, which is absurd yet brings tears and laughter at the same time, is, I think, for everyone to become a pirate.
In the world of One Piece, a pirate isn't the plunderer we know. It refers to "anyone who sails the seas without the government's permission."
In the world of One Piece, where it turns out everything is controlled by the World Government, pirates symbolize romance and freedom.
Of course, plenty of them are villains who oppress and extort others.
But many pirates, Luffy chief among them, are simply people who want to be free and chase their dreams.
What Luffy wants is for other people to become as free as he is.
As proof, Luffy defines the Pirate King as "the freest person on the sea."
The Pirate King's dream was half fulfilled before he died.
Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King who shared Luffy's dream, gained wealth, fame and power, but he never achieved his dream.
This points to the fact that becoming the Pirate King doesn't necessarily mean achieving their dream.
But at the very, very end of his life, Roger achieved half of that dream.
He opened the Great Pirate Era.
Not everyone became a pirate, but he left behind a story that would make people dream of being one at least once, and his story came to an end.
And so the dream was passed on to the next generation.
Freeing himself and everyone around him
How Luffy will become the Pirate King and turn everyone into pirates hasn't been drawn yet.
But Luffy will achieve the dream that even Roger couldn't.
According to recent revelations, Devil Fruits are someone's wishes made concrete, and the Gum-Gum Fruit's true name, "Nika," is a being who liberates everyone.
Awakening the fruit lets its power apply not only to the user but to their surroundings as well.
Luffy, with the freest body and mind of all, will achieve his dream with that power.
What happens after everyone is freed?
Many people suspect that the Skypiea arc is a summary of the whole One Piece story.
After the fight with Enel, who called himself a god and tried to rule everything, Luffy frees everyone and throws a feast.
Imu and the Celestial Dragons, who are currently expected to be the final bosses, also call themselves gods and rule the world, so like Enel they'll collide head-on with Luffy's free spirit, and in the end they'll be defeated and everyone will be freed.
And as a result, I expect Luffy's dream, a world where everyone becomes a pirate, will unfold.
So what happens after that?
Montblanc Cricket, the other protagonist of the Skypiea arc, confirms that the City of Gold really existed and meets the ending of his own dream.
As a character who symbolizes "romance," one of One Piece's major themes, he tells us that at the end of a dream lies a new adventure.
I expect that after everything is over, Luffy too will set off once more, either as the Straw Hat Pirates or each under their own flag, on an adventure in search of a new romance, and that's how One Piece will come to a close.
