Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece chapters #1154-#1155.FewOne Piecemovie villains have left as big a mark as Shiki fromOne Piece Film: Strong World. Shiki’s incredible power and charisma made him a great character to watch from start to finish, and the fact that he’s a canon character—even ifStrong Worldisn’t canon—added even more appeal to him and his story.
Shiki is an all-time standoutOne Piecevillain, and he’s been surprisingly underutilized in canon. While the prologue toStrong Worldshould be canon, Shiki has yet to appear in the main story outside of a few flashbacks, and to many people, that misses a perfect opportunity to present a more canon version of an iconic character. That being said,recent developments inOne Piecesuggest that Shiki is on the verge of making his debut in canon, and overall, that would be great to see.
How One Piece’s Latest Chapters Set Up Shiki’s Canon Debut
Why One Piece Chapters 1154-1155 Were So Big For Shiki
One Piece’s Elbaph arc has surprisingly done a lot to set up Shiki’s return. For starters, many of the animals on Elbaph resemble the animals Shiki created inStrong World, and whileEiichiro Oda’s comments about Elbaph’s wildlifemake it clear that he was just too lazy to come up with new designs, that still did a lot to remind people of Shiki’s character.
What’s worked even better, however, have been the most recent chapters of Loki’s flashback arc. Loki’s flashback arc has taken a wild shift to delve into the history ofRocks D. Xebecand the Rocks Pirates, and Shiki was established as one of the founding members of the group. All of that attention being drawn to Shiki has to mean something, soall of the focus on Shiki in recent chapters suggests thatOne Pieceis setting up his long-awaited appearance.
Why It’s So Important For Shiki To Appear In One Piece’s Canon
Why One Piece Can’t Ignore Shiki Forever
There’s been plenty of buildup to Shiki’s canon debut, and it’s easy to see why so many fans want that to happen.One Piece Film: Strong Worldremains a fan-favoriteOne Piecefilm, thanks in large part to how fun a villain Shiki is, so if Shiki can finally take on a significant role in canon, then that would be the best way forOne Pieceto acknowledge the film, even if it’s only indirectly.
More than that, of course, is what it would mean forOne Piece’s final saga. The final saga is doing wonders to bring every facet of the series together for a finale of epic proportions, no matter how obscure, so if a villain like Shiki could finally make an appearance, then it could do a lot to sell the full scale of the final saga. That’s something everyone could get excited about, and hopefully,One Piecewill find a way to deliver on it all.
