I’ve tracked down what the Sun God “Nika” actually means. I posted about it briefly on Twitter, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized this is a major discovery.
Thinking through my own tweet more carefully also revealed the real-world model for “that island.”
A Clue from Black Panther
The languages in which “nika” can be translated as “marriage” are:
- Uyghur
- Tatar
- Turkmen
- Odia
- Kinyarwanda
Only the last one — Kinyarwanda — had no connection to the other articles I’d written on this blog, so I borrowed a little help from “the power of Marvel” to give it meaning.
Kinyarwanda is the language of the Republic of Rwanda in East Africa.
As I mentioned on Twitter, Rwanda is the real-world model for “Wakanda,” the fictional nation in Black Panther.
Wakanda is described as “an ultra-advanced civilization with the most cutting-edge technology in the world — but disguised so the world doesn’t realize it.”
A people with exactly the same kind of setup appears in One Piece as well.
Black Panther — Available on Amazon Prime Video
The Torino Kingdom
The Torino Kingdom — where Chopper landed after being launched by Bartholomew Kuma.
In a previous article, I wrote that “the Torino Kingdom is based on Yggdrasil from Norse mythology,” but the appearance of the Sun God Nika has changed things.
Oda sensei is a huge comic book fan — it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t know Black Panther. It’s very plausible he incorporated the same kind of setting.
So the real-world model for the Torino Kingdom is the Republic of Rwanda — the same inspiration as Wakanda from Black Panther.
There must be something about that country that keeps drawing manga artists in. I’ll research it properly and write a dedicated article.
NIKA = Marriage Is No Coincidence
When I ran the letters “NIKA” through Google Translate across all languages, here’s what came up:
Uyghur, Tatar, Turkmen, Odia, Kinyarwanda.
In these five languages, the word means “marriage.”
If you’ve been following this blog, this might click into place.
- Uyghur is the language of the Uyghur people → Punk Hazard = Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
- Tatar has roots in Mongol → Long Ring Long Land = Mongolia
- Turkmen is from Turkey/Iran → Zou = Iran · Baltigo = Turkey
- Odia is an Indian language → Goa Kingdom = India
- Kinyarwanda is from Rwanda → Torino Kingdom = Rwanda (coming soon!)
Four of the five country articles were already written. That’s strong evidence that the real-world models are correct.
And “NIKA = marriage” is, I believe, one of the great overarching themes of One Piece.
Sanji’s Ruined Wedding
Sanji and Pudding held a fake wedding ceremony on top of a wedding cake — an unusual setting, to say the least.
Real wedding cakes sometimes have sugar figurines of the bride and groom on top, but in One Piece, this feels like it has to be foreshadowing something.
Sanji and Luffy Are Opposites
Luffy punches; Sanji kicks. Luffy wants to eat; Sanji wants to feed others. Luffy has Zoro as his right-hand man; Sanji is always at odds with Zoro. Luffy was sent to an island full of women; Sanji was sent to an island full of okama. Whole Cake Island began with Luffy’s kiss and ended with Sanji’s kiss.
And there’s more…
Luffy and Sanji are always drawn as polar opposites. Where Sanji gets a tragic outcome, Luffy gets a happy ending.
So doesn’t it follow that, in contrast to “Sanji whose wedding was ruined,” we should eventually see “Luffy pull off the greatest, happiest wedding of all”?
The venue would be the same kind of pyramid-shaped peak.
In other words, Shandora is a wedding venue.
And a wedding is always accompanied by the sound of church bells ringing in celebration.
I can’t help thinking that everyone’s “thank you” will one day change to “congratulations.”
The Beautiful Maiden Taken by the Sun God
In Shandora, the “sacrifice ritual” is spoken of as “a fortunate thing — to be taken by the Sun God.”
“Thank you… for raising me… Mama.”
That’s the line a bride says to her mother in the wedding prep room.
Perhaps originally, they weren’t worshipping the snake god “Kashigami” at all, but the true Sun God “Nika.” And somewhere along the way in history, that tradition was deeply distorted.
It seems very likely the tradition was overwritten somewhere around the time the Shandians were destroyed by the World Government.
Luffy’s Future Wife Is From the Moon People
There’s a theory that races with wings on their backs are descended from the “Moon People.”
Even the name of Kalgara’s daughter — “Mousse” — feels deliberately crafted to evoke “MOON.” And having that character say the line “to be taken by the Sun God” makes me think:
If the Sun God Nika — the awakened Luffy — were to marry a “Moon Goddess,” meaning a princess of the Moon Kingdom, that would have a beautiful sense of balance and duality to it.
Thank you so much for reading all the way through this freewheeling theory. I’ll tweet when I post new articles — feel free to follow me on Twitter!