Im’s Longing for Joyboy
Im places Luffy’s wanted poster on top and gazes at the huge straw hat kept in the vault.
This looks as if Im is flooded with nostalgic memories from seeing Luffy’s hat, lost in reminiscence.
Almost like visiting the grave of a deceased lover…
If so, who was the original owner of the straw hat? Most likely Joyboy.
In Emeth’s flashback, the silhouette of Joyboy appeared wearing a straw hat.
Based on height, the sitting position is about as tall as Emeth’s helmet, so standing would reach around Emeth’s horns. Compared to Luffy, it seems to be 4 to 5 times bigger.
So I believe the huge straw hat Im is keeping is Joyboy’s.
Luffy and Joyboy
In the case of Zunesha and Emeth, they heard Nika’s heartbeat — “Don-Don-Dot-Tot! Don-Don-Dot-Tot!” — and called Luffy “Joyboy.” But Im recognized Joyboy through Haki.
Since Im and Saint Saturn appear to communicate telepathically, Im and the Five Elders can probably share thoughts and all five senses through their shared abilities.
Sharing the Five Elders’ senses and feeling Joyboy’s Haki, Im mistakenly believes Joyboy was right there.
But in reality, Luffy only freed the ropes inside Emeth’s body — Joyboy himself was nowhere to be found.
Yet Saint Saturn was punished for “letting Joyboy escape”…
Could it be… Im thinks Joyboy is still alive? Executed Saint Saturn on the basis of a delusion?
This is just like Big Mom, who fell into a food frenzy and stole her son’s lifespan… Ah, a homage!
If so, the name for Big Mom’s berserk condition was “food cravings” (kuiwazurai).
So Im’s berserk condition triggered by delusion would be “lovesickness” (koiwazurai).
So I’ll hypothesize that Im is still in love with Joyboy, unable to accept Joyboy’s death — someone with a severe case of lovesickness.
And there’s a famous literary quote expressing the state of being unable to accept the death of someone you love…
“It’s too early for a gimlet.”
“It’s Too Early for a Gimlet”
“It’s too early for a gimlet.”
A line from Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled novel The Long Goodbye.
The Long Goodbye — Plot Summary: Detective Marlowe meets a drunk man named Terry Lennox one evening and, after helping him, an unusual friendship begins. Lennox is a man with a mysterious past who has a complicated relationship with his wealthy wife Sylvia. One day, Lennox flees as a suspect in his wife’s murder, asking Marlowe to drive him to Mexico. Marlowe lies to the police to cover for him, but soon learns Lennox “committed suicide” in Mexico. Later, while investigating the marital troubles of writer Roger Wade and his wife Eileen, Marlowe gradually connects the corruption and hypocrisy of the wealthy class back to Lennox’s past. And finally, the true meaning of “the long goodbye” is revealed.
Hard-boiled, detective… That brings Matsuda Yusaku to mind.
And Matsuda Yusaku is the model for Aokiji (Kuzan).
So there’s no way Oda would leave the representative hard-boiled masterpiece unreferenced.
Chapter 775: “For Lucian With Love”
“That’s right, Lucian… / The day I met you… / And the day you stopped smiling… / Both were on a pouring rainy night like this…”
Señor Pink’s flashback, suddenly triggered when Franky’s punch barrage is likened to the pouring rain.
Here’s the backstory: Pink lied that he was a banker to date Lucian, who hated pirates. They married and had a child, but while Pink was away on a pirate voyage, the child died. Lucian, wracked with grief and anger, ran out into the pouring rain — and was caught in a landslide, falling into a vegetative state, losing all emotion and speech. Pink spoke to her every day, desperate for her to smile and respond. One day he tried on the bonnet Gimlet wore — and Lucian smiled. From that day on, Pink said the bonnet was worth more than any expensive suit, and that fashion became permanent.
Could this flashback be a homage to Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye?
“I’ll stop wearing this outfit the day I forget Lucian. It’s too early to take off the bonnet.”
Probably something like that — something he said to Franky while drinking gimlets.
The line “It’s too early for a gimlet” near the end of The Long Goodbye has many interpretations, but I think Oda’s favorite is: “He’s gone. But it’s still too early to forget.”
This interpretation comes from the overall atmosphere of One Piece: Pink’s flashback, Sengoku’s line, and Hiruluk’s “definition of death.”
If you forget someone, they truly die.
“It’s Too Early to Forget Joyboy”
Even if Im had lovesickness, and the target was Joyboy, and Joyboy died with the love unrequited, and the whole world completely forgot about Joyboy…
If only the ageless Im remembered Joyboy for hundreds of years, that could mean “Joyboy lives only within Im” — in other words, “the wish to monopolize Joyboy was granted.”
Im perhaps keeps “It’s too early for a gimlet” in their heart, still chasing the phantom of Joyboy even now.