One Piece foreshadowing is unmatched by any series (spoilers)

[Rosebud]

Some of my favorites:

Rayleigh was first shown in chapter 19, but only introduced in chapter 506

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Laboon was waiting for some random pirates to return in chapter 102 (feels), and in 459 we learned that it was Brook's crew

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Sanji reveals he was born in North Blue in Skypiea arc, and called himself Mr. Prince in Alabasta

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Also:
- Fishman Island was first mentioned in chapter 68
- Arlong had the Sun Pirates tattoo
- Roger message in Skypiea
- Big Mom was mentioned by Lola in Thriller Bark
- Whitebeard saying that Teach is not the man Roger's waiting for (he's after Xebec's will, not Roger)
- And now we know that Garp is a Hero because he defeated Xebec with Roger

Usopp lies that came to be true:
- Pirates attacking his village
- Giant goldfish
- Cerberus
- 8 thousand followers
- Country of Dwarf
- "A beautiful swordswoman has come with meat" (my favorite)

Which one is your favorite? I'm sure I'm forgetting many.

 

[VariantX]

OP slowly building up haki as a huge thing from the beginning of the series until finally going full steam on it at sabondy

 

[Ogodei]

The Beautiful Swordsman has Come With Meat one is why I wanted them to take the Kyros Statue for themselves. Luffy's always said that he wanted a bronze statue.

 

[Raxus]

Conquers Haki was hinted on super early on with Shanks.
Water 7 arc basically introduces the other Haki.
Legendary swords amd other ongoing themes and islands like Wano was hinted at for ages.
During Roger's execution tons of notable characters blend into the crowd (iirc).

One piece drops lore like crazy. Even now they are several huge plot points only hinted at for the end game.

 

[BarcaTheGreat]

OP slowly building up haki as a huge thing from the beginning of the series until finally going full steam on it at sabondy

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I always thought it was rushed to existence during the skypeia (sp?) arc? When the "kami" kept using power we found out soon enough that it's haki. Mind you only saw Anime not manga

 

[Wrapped in Black]

Don't forget Luffy meeting Blackbeard at Mock Town before either of them even knew who the other was.

Also Dragon's appearance at Loguetown.

And my personal favorite has to be Shanks using what appears to be Haoshoku haki when he saves Luffy from the sea king, at the very beginning of the series. Crazy.

 

[y2kyle89]

Akainu showing up in Robin's flashback is a good one that hasn't been mentioned yet.

- "A beautiful swordswoman has come with meat" (my favorite)

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I've kind of fallen off One Piece how'd this one get fulfilled?

 

[Mosaica]

I can't tell if Oda had an utterly massive plan straight from the beginning, or if the man just checks his notes Very Carefully.

My favorite foreshadowing was definitely Brook. Bink's Sake makes me cry.

 

[Deleted member 176]

Don't forget Luffy meeting Blackbeard at Mock Town before either of them even knew who the other was.

Also Dragon's appearance at Loguetown.

And my personal favorite has to be Shanks using what appears to be Haoshoku haki when he saves Luffy from the sea king, at the very beginning of the series. Crazy.

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other Blackbeard stuff-
luffy and zoro mention how teach's body is weird and may be more than just a single person

sanji mentions people on winter islands don't sleep in Drum Island, young Blackbeard shown covered in snow in sbs, we find out Blackbeard doesn't in wano

 

[AnansiThePersona]

The quote from Doctor Hiluluk to Chopper foreshadowing all the different types of Haki is genius:

Chopper: "Doctor, What's a pirate?"

Dr. Hiluluk: "A pirate? Pirates are great men of the sea. They have a body hard like stone, the eyes of an eagle, and a voice that tears the sky asunder!"

 

[MajesticSoup]

Controversial opinion.
Oda didnt get the idea of haki until much later. Shanks just gave the sea king the trademark 'shonen stare' and oda just retrofitted it in.

 

[Deleted member 11008]

I was reading Tvtrope and I catched than in the Alabasta arc when Luffy punchs Cocodrile for first time he say something interesting.


Around 1:06

 

[nDesh]

Shingeki no Kyojin.

 

[WaveBird]

Controversial opinion.
Oda didnt get the idea of haki until much later. Shanks just gave the sea king the trademark 'shonen stare' and oda just retrofitted it in.

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Agreed. One Piece is my favorite series but I think what makes Oda a great writer is the fact that he leaves himself those little details that he can expand upon later. And not just the Shonen Stare / Haki argument. You can have unnamed characters, tattoos, locations, etc... and I'm still equally impressed.

On that note, I still think Haki was a little shoehorned in and if it was fully fleshed out earlier it would have been different.

 

[Principate]

I can't tell if Oda had an utterly massive plan straight from the beginning, or if the man just checks his notes Very Carefully.

My favorite foreshadowing was definitely Brook. Bink's Sake makes me cry.

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It's a mix of both I mean the supernova were requested by his editors so you can fairly easily surmise anything involving wasn't part of the original master plan but the man makes detailed books about arcs he's going to be writing in the future. So basically he has a massive detailed plan it seems of the core points and makes alterations and additions as he goes along. Obvious the plan for the next two or 3 arcs seem to be more detailed than those further along.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Luffy mentions super early on while with Coby the exact number of people he wants (and eventually gets) in his crew. He wants one of them to be a musician (Eventually Brook).

 

[VariantX]

I always thought it was rushed to existence during the skypeia (sp?) arc? When the "kami" kept using power we found out soon enough that it's haki. Mind you only saw Anime not manga

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When I say full steam I mean that they got straight up bodied at sabondy because they ran into an enemy that they absolutely needed haki to even fight back. Kizaru by himself would have bodied everyone if rayleigh wasn't there.

 

[Dever]

Shanks using Haki in the literal first chapter is so fucking crazy lol

It's entirely possible though at the time that was just an intimidating stare, not that uncommon in manga... But I would think Oda knew from the beginning that the power levels in OP would reach insane levels by the end, so maybe he had Haki in mind from the beginning.

 

[JonesiiiFromtheMoon]

Shingeki no Kyojin.

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No lie

 

[AnansiThePersona]

When I say full steam I mean that they got straight up bodied at sabondy because they ran into an enemy that they absolutely needed haki to even fight back. Kizaru by himself would have bodied everyone if rayleigh wasn't there.

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That was a funny moment in hindsight. They see the Pacifistas and Kizaru show up and the Straw Hats are like:

 

[Raxus]

Fun fact: for a series all about pirates. Oda has yet to create a character with an eye patch saying he is saving it for a special character.

 

[whatsinaname]

Controversial opinion.
Oda didnt get the idea of haki until much later. Shanks just gave the sea king the trademark 'shonen stare' and oda just retrofitted it in.

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Yeah. Personally, I don't think Oda is like Tolkien who had everything mapped out right at the start. But he is very very good at giving that impression of a fully developed world/story line. And at the end, for the readers, they do produce the same effect.

 

[Rosebud]

I've kind of fallen off One Piece how'd this one get fulfilled?

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Rebecca in Dressrosa

 

[Principate]

Shingeki no Kyojin.

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I wouldn't say SnK matched it in terms of foreshadowing. SnK is more a case of the author having the ending in mind from the start and by and large trying to work toward it but the story itself isn't as complex in terms of cogs, is monthly and the story isn't as long as much easier to pull of a consistent story. It's very good though we'll see if it landing it's building to is as great as it seems to be.

 

[Deleted member 6730]

Controversial opinion.
Oda didnt get the idea of haki until much later. Shanks just gave the sea king the trademark 'shonen stare' and oda just retrofitted it in.

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1. That's not true
2. If it was, then so what?

 

[808s & Villainy]

The quote from Doctor Hiluluk to Chopper foreshadowing all the different types of Haki is genius:

Chopper: "Doctor, What's a pirate?"

Dr. Hiluluk: "A pirate? Pirates are great men of the sea. They have a body hard like stone, the eyes of an eagle, and a voice that tears the sky asunder!"

Click to shrink...

Oh shit

 

[silva1991]

Luffy mentions super early on while with Coby the exact number of people he wants (and eventually gets) in his crew. He wants one of them to be a musician (Eventually Brook).

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How many did he say?

 

[Dary]

Yeah. Personally, I don't think Oda is like Tolkien who had everything mapped out right at the start. But he is very very good at giving that impression of a fully developed world/story line. And at the end, for the readers, they do produce the same effect.

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Tokien didn't have everything mapped out from the start. Hell, he did a George Lucas and re-released the Hobbit with edits, so it tied into LotR better!

I don't think Oda plans everything out in detail either. You can't, as a writer, because things change in the telling. Oda, for example, originally intended One Piece to last about five years...

 

[whatsinaname]

It is also gonna be amazing if he ties up Zoro's master into the current arc.

 

[crimzonflame]

Controversial opinion.
Oda didnt get the idea of haki until much later. Shanks just gave the sea king the trademark 'shonen stare' and oda just retrofitted it in.

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Gonna have to agree.

 

[Ogodei]

It is also gonna be amazing if he ties up Zoro's master into the current arc.

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It's pretty clear that he's descended from some isolated community of Wano emigrants. The question's just how.

 

[Lotus]

Recent favorite:

In fact, Zou and Wano

 

[Principate]

Yeah. Personally, I don't think Oda is like Tolkien who had everything mapped out right at the start. But he is very very good at giving that impression of a fully developed world/story line. And at the end, for the readers, they do produce the same effect.

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The Lotr is a single book. The publishers cut it up for profit. Within that context of course tolkien planned it all from the start but what your referring to here is completely different.

 

[Big One]

Oda either plans everything out or he pays attention to the minute details nobody else does and expands on them. Either way its impressive work.

 

[Ogodei]

The Lotr is a single book. The publishers cut it up for profit. Within that context of course tolkien planned it all from the start but what your referring to here is completely different.

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More that Tolkien built the world and its history before he built the story in it. But even he adapted on the fly, since The Hobbit being a part of Middle Earth was a decision made only after LotR started drafting.

 

[Lord Azrael]

Most of these examples aren't of intentional foreshadowing, or even foreshadowing at all. Oda doesn't necessarily have everything planned out ahead of time, he's just really skilled at tying things back in a natural manner after the fact. Still impressive, mind you, but not at the 4D chess level everyone loves to ascribe to him. The only one I'd really give you there OP is the Brook one, because it's the only one that would feel like a loose end if it wasn't addressed later and so therefore was likely planned. But how does something like Garp being known as a hero foreshadow him having beaten the Rocks? What?

Controversial opinion.
Oda didnt get the idea of haki until much later. Shanks just gave the sea king the trademark 'shonen stare' and oda just retrofitted it in.

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I honestly don't think this should be controversial at all, because it's one of the most clear cut cases of retrofitting I've ever seen. Suddenly every character and their mom can use haki, when elites in the first half of the series inexplicably couldn't (and all suddenly learn it around the same time in a two year window). None of the visual indicators, none of the techniques, none of that was there in the first half of the story, or at least not nearly to the same extent. Shanks just intimidated the sea king with an angry stare, a very simple and sufficient explanation, but everyone jumps to "OMG CONQUEROR'S HAKI OMG GENIUS"

 

[Platy]

Harry Potter and Sandman are also pretty amaing with the foreshadowing. Everything is important


Also, I wonder how many of those were planed as foreshadowing at the first appearance and how many were just "lets get something from back them and expand"

 

[Deleted member 6730]

Yeah. Personally, I don't think Oda is like Tolkien who had everything mapped out right at the start. But he is very very good at giving that impression of a fully developed world/story line. And at the end, for the readers, they do produce the same effect.

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No writer maps everything out, not even Tolkien.

Either way, whether or not Shank's stare is a "retcon" doesn't matter because it ends up working well in the story either way.

 

[sir_crocodile]

My belief is that Oda had the major plot points all planned out 20 years ago, but every now and then he'll come up with an idea that doesn't clash with them and add it in, and dude has so many ideas it's lasted four times longer than he thought it would and we're probably still 5 years away from the end lol

My personal favourite was from my fave arc, Skypeia:

Chapter 292 (2003)

Chapter 713 (2013, just under 10 years later):

Another interesting point is that all of norlands true adventures are turned into lies, while all of Ussop's lies are turning into the truth.

 

[Big One]

I honestly don't think this should be controversial at all, because it's one of the most clear cut cases of retrofitting I've ever seen. Suddenly every character and their mom can use haki, when elites in the first half of the series inexplicably couldn't (and all suddenly learn it around the same time in a two year window). None of the visual indicators, not of the techniques, none of that was there in the first half of the story, or at least not nearly to the same extent. Shanks just intimidated the sea king with an angry stare, a very simple and sufficient explanation, but everyone jumps to "OMG CONQUEROR'S HAKI OMG GENIUS"

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I think Shanks stare was retrofitted for it yeah, but its disengenuious to suggest Oda didnt have haki planned when it was mentioned by Blackbeard all the way back at Mock Town. Then directly afterward we got introduced to the mantra concept in Skypeia, then after that we got introduced to the stuff CP9 was doing which is likely something that'll get integrated into the concept as well. Oda was trying to figure out how to do a power system outside of Devil Fruits and Haki was it. Which all it really means is "Spirit" or "Willpower" anyway, aka the stronger your ambition is the stronger your haki will be.

 

[Lotus]

I honestly don't think this should be controversial at all, because it's one of the most clear cut cases of retrofitting I've ever seen. Suddenly every character and their mom can use haki, when elites in the first half of the series inexplicably couldn't (and all suddenly learn it around the same time in a two year window). None of the visual indicators, not of the techniques, none of that was there in the first half of the story, or at least not nearly to the same extent. Shanks just intimidated the sea king with an angry stare, a very simple and sufficient explanation, but everyone jumps to "OMG CONQUEROR'S HAKI OMG GENIUS"

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I'm going to assume you mean Armanent Haki/CoA, because that's definitely not true for the other two. And even then, CoA was used in the first half, the only real retcon/retrofitting is them using Hardening.

 

[Principate]

Harry Potter and Sandman are also pretty amaing with the foreshadowing. Everything is important


Also, I wonder how many of those were planed as foreshadowing at the first appearance and how many were just "lets get something from back them and expand"

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Everything major to do with the WB war arc was meticulously planned it's clear from the way it was written and Oda's own statements. Ace was always supposed to die the second he was introduced. Ace not actually being Luffy's brother and being the pirate king's son was foreshadowed by his last name. WB going to war against the WG was foreshadowed by buggy stating not to mess with Ace because the lengths WB would go for his crew members. Black beard introduction in Jaya links both into his role a major antagonist but also his relationship with WB both sharing part of real life BB (BB is the one or rather crew who actually kills WB and then steals his fruit). It goes on and on.

If you want to examine the multi-arc foreshadowing Oda is great at the build up the WB war arc is amongst the best your going to get. It's chock full of it.

 

[whatsinaname]

The Lotr is a single book. The publishers cut it up for profit. Within that context of course tolkien planned it all from the start but what your referring to here is completely different.

Click to shrink...

More that Tolkien built the world and its history before he built the story in it. But even he adapted on the fly, since The Hobbit being a part of Middle Earth was a decision made only after LotR started drafting.

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Yeah, I kinda meant more about creating the language first and mapping out the 3 ages and mythology and lineages and major events.

 

[Lord Azrael]

I think Shanks stare was retrofitted for it yeah, but its disengenuious to suggest Oda didnt have haki planned when it was mentioned by Blackbeard all the way back at Mock Town. Then directly afterward we got introduced to the mantra concept in Skypeia, then after that we got introduced to the stuff CP9 was doing which is likely something that'll get integrated into the concept as well. Oda was trying to figure out how to do a power system outside of Devil Fruits and Haki was it. Which all it really means is "Spirit" or "Willpower" anyway, aka the stronger your ambition is the stronger your haki will be.

Click to shrink...

I'm going to assume you mean Armanent Haki/CoA, because that's definitely not true for the other two. And even then, CoA was used in the first half, the only real retcon/retrofitting is them using Hardening.

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I'm not saying that the whole thing was suddenly introduced out of nowhere all at once, but it certainly was not planned at the beginning, and stuff like armament definitely not until shortly before the timeskip.

Mantra I agree was conceptualized as haki from the beginning, because you don't just introduce this magic power that's centralized to one island and then never touch on it again. Conqueror's haki was certainly a thing at least as early as Shanks visiting Whitebeard, but possibly Jaya depending on the Japanese phrasing yeah.

But armament? And especially all of its variations? Seemingly not until the leadup to Marineford, because how else do you explain elites like CP9 not knowing it, and instead using something like tekkai which is clearly redundant?

 

[Nakenorm]

I might have to try and reread the series at some point, because most callbacks just fly right past me. Crazy how long this series has been going on for.

 

[Uncivilized Elk]

Controversial opinion.
Oda didnt get the idea of haki until much later. Shanks just gave the sea king the trademark 'shonen stare' and oda just retrofitted it in.

Click to shrink...

I'm of this opinion as well, because if haki was a thing back then, there's no way Shanks would have lost an arm to the sea king.

Edit: Crap, I should have skimmed the whole thread before replying. I'm just retreading. My bad.

 

[Rebel1]

Some of my favorites:

Rayleigh was first shown in chapter 19, but only introduced in chapter 506



Laboon was waiting for some random pirates to return in chapter 102 (feels), and in 459 we learned that it was Brook's crew



Sanji reveals he was born in North Blue in Skypiea arc, and called himself Mr. Prince in Alabasta



Also:
- Fishman Island was first mentioned in chapter 68
- Arlong had the Sun Pirates tattoo
- Roger message in Skypiea
- Big Mom was mentioned by Lola in Thriller Bark
- Whitebeard saying that Teach is not the man Roger's waiting for (he's after Xebec's will, not Roger)
- And now we know that Garp is a Hero because he defeated Xebec with Roger

Usopp lies that came to be true:
- Pirates attacking his village
- Giant goldfish
- Cerberus
- 8 thousand followers
- Country of Dwarf
- "A beautiful swordswoman has come with meat" (my favorite)

Which one is your favorite? I'm sure I'm forgetting many.

Click to shrink...

 

[silva1991]

Recent favorite:

In fact, Zou and Wano

Click to shrink...

Damn, this is really a good one.

 

[RochHoch]

Rayleigh's early appearance is still my favorite. IIRC when Oda was looking over the script for the episode of the anime that had Buggy's flashback, he had to correct the anime staff because they refereed to Rayleigh as the Captain instead of the Vice Captain. It's crazy how long he sat on that detail.

 

[NESpowerhouse]

I'm noticing a little bit of a resurgence in interest in One Piece recently. As someone who's a bit behind in the manga, I'm kinda curious as to why that is.