With over 1100 manga chapters and nearly as many anime episodes, One Piece is an epic in every sense of the term, with its global-scale narrative playing out over multiple story arcs and sagas. While each arc involves the Straw Hat Pirates visiting a new island, series creator Eiichiro Oda has always reused ideas, characters, and plot points between different sagas in creative ways.

A particularly obvious instance of this can be observed in the ongoing Egghead Arc, which mirrors aspects of both the post-time skip Punk Hazard Arc, and the pre-time skip Enies Lobby Arc. In the case of the latter arc, there are several elements tying it to the current Egghead Arc of One Piece, from revisiting old antagonists and events, to the World Government's involvement, which has yielded many parallels between these two story arcs.

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The Re-Emergence Of Cipher Pol

Following their defeat at the end of One Piece's Enies Lobby Arc, CP9 agents Rob Lucci and Kaku return as members of CP0 in the Egghead Arc, having been absent from the story for more than 15 years in real world time. Their fates were largely unknown given that Spandam, who commanded CP9, blamed them for the failure of the operation to capture Nico Robin and the eventual fall of Enies Lobby.

In their new roles, Lucci is now Spandam's superior, which is an intriguing reversal of power after the time skip in One Piece, but not too surprising given the latter's incompetence and cowardly nature. Aside from this, the main purpose of Lucci and Kaku's presence on Egghead Island is their assignment to assassinate Dr. Vegapunk, the world's foremost scientist.

By virtue of answering directly to the World Nobles, CP0 was tasked with this mission as a consequence of Vegapunk's attempt to study the Void Century, which is an act that amounts to treason in the eyes of the World Government. For this endeavor, Lucci and Kaku were accompanied by Stussy, another CP0 agent — and a clone of former Rocks Pirates member Buckingham Stussy — along with a number of low-ranking Cipher Pol agents.

Around the time these players landed on the island, Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates had already made contact with Vegapunk, who eventually revealed his plight and begged the crew to take him and his satellites away from Egghead. Even though subsequent events jeopardized Vegapunk's escape, this sequence of events mirrors the way in which Nico Robin was abducted by CP9 in One Piece's Enies Lobby Arc due to the information she held about the Void Century, as well as her ability to read the ancient script inscribed on the Poneglyphs.

Revisiting The Ohara Incident

One important event that ties Enies Lobby and Egghead together is the Ohara Incident that occurred over 22 years prior to the current arc in One Piece. This tragedy saw the destruction of the entire island of Ohara and the deaths of most of its inhabitants, due to a Buster Call. Much like what is currently taking place on Egghead, the Ohara Incident, as it has come to be known, was a direct result of the island's archaeologists attempting to study the Poneglyphs and the Void Century, which prompted the World Government's intervention.

However, while the Enies Lobby Arc unveils the truth behind Nico Robin's past and ties to the incident, the Egghead Arc has shed light on its aftermath, especially with respect to the final stand made by the scholars of Ohara. This pertains to the scholars' attempt to preserve texts from the Tree of Knowledge by hurling them into a nearby lake, in the hopes that someone would find them. In the Egghead Arc, Vegapunk reveals that he saw a group of giants from Elbaf retrieving the books only months after the tragedy of Ohara.

As a result, he was able to study their contents and continue the scholars' work, ensuring that the will of Ohara lived on. Essentially, this plot thread provides some sense of closure to the Ohara Incident, clarifying the fact that the scholars' efforts were not in vain. Moreover, Vegapunk's confirmation about the texts currently being housed on Elbaf, coupled with the information about Jaguar D. Saul's survival, also helped set up the next leg of the Straw Hat Pirates' journey in One Piece. Unfortunately, what followed would not be smooth sailing.

A Battle Against The World Government

Kaido's defeat in the Wano Country Arc of One Piece finally brought the Straw Hat Pirates' conflict against the Four Emperors to a close, triggering a reshuffling of the power balance on the seas of the New World. With Luffy and Buggy joining the ranks of the New Yonko, it became clear that new, more powerful enemies would soon make their moves and this came true sooner rather than later.

Since the Enies Lobby Arc, the only time Luffy has directly faced the World Government or the Marines, was during the Summit War of Marineford. Now, with CP0, Admiral Kizaru, a host of Vice Admirals, and even the Five Elders on Egghead Island, the Straw Hat Pirates are finally confronting the World Government in earnest. This comes after their outright declaration of war to save Robin during the Enies Lobby Arc, although they would have been hopelessly outmatched against some of the Marines' more powerful combatants at that juncture.

While it seems as if Luffy can go toe-to-toe with a Marine Admiral and emerge relatively unscathed after Awakening his Devil Fruit with Gear 5, he is still at a disadvantage against the regenerative powers of the Five Elders. Consequently, this puts the rest of his crew in an unfavorable position, should they have to battle the World Government's highest authority in the current One Piece arc.

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Throughout the Egghead Arc of One Piece, Vegapunk repeatedly teases readers and viewers about the information he learned about the Void Century, culminating in his final message, which is broadcast to the whole world at the arc's climax. In a way, this brings the Enies Lobby Arc's flashback to the Ohara Incident full circle, since the latter segment featured the first mention of the Ancient Kingdom and the truth behind the World Government's formation.

Enies Lobby also introduced the Ancient Weapons into the mix, and they have a major role to play in the Egghead Arc, particularly after the destruction of the Lulusia Kingdom. Due to the threat of Vegapunk releasing this information to the entire world in One Piece, the World Government was forced to play its hand and stage an invasion of Egghead Island, which was on a scale that was previously unheard of in the One Piece manga.

The Threat Of Another Buster Call

Finally, the last thread tying Enies Lobby and Egghead together, is the Buster Call protocol, which is the highest level of military offensive at the World Government's disposal. While the Straw Hat Pirates managed to evade the Buster Call on Enies Lobby with the help of the Going Merry, the current invasion of Egghead Island is an attack of much larger proportion than any previous one seen in One Piece.

Unlike the Buster Calls on Ohara and Enies Lobby, the invasion of Egghead Island began with a fleet of 100 battleships including 30,000 troops, nine Vice Admirals, a Marine Admiral, and one of the Five Elders. This alone made it the largest such offensive in the series, and the arrival of the remaining Five Elders escalated the conflict even further, turning it into a scene rife with danger, chaos, and destruction.

To make matters worse, the presence of a Yonko crew in the form of the Straw Hat Pirates, adds another layer of complexity to this conflict, since it has been shown that Luffy is perhaps the only person who can hold the Five Elders back, even temporarily. With so much going on all across Egghead Island, it remains to be seen how this situation will be resolved, since neither the Straw Hat Pirates nor the Five Elders can really aim for a decisive victory.

How Will The Conflict End?

Now that the Straw Hat Pirates are making their escape from Egghead, it is clear that this conflict will likely end similarly to the Enies Lobby Arc, with a last minute dash to safety. Luckily for them, the Five Elders are currently occupied with the task of finding and destroying the source of Vegapunk's broadcast.

Considering the fact that they are dealing with the smartest man in the world, the Five Elders have their work cut out for them, and it looks increasingly plausible that they will fail in their endeavor to stop him from revealing everything he knows about the Void Century. As things stand, it seems as if the Straw Hat Pirates will just about manage to escape from the island alongside Jewelry Bonney, Bartholomew Kuma, and Vegapunk's remaining satellites, with the possible addition of Stussy as well.

That being said, there may be one final twist to the Egghead Arc, which could steer events off their current course, and force a few members of this traveling party to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to stall the Five Elders. Whatever the case may be, the Egghead Arc is surely headed to an enthralling finale, with the rest of One Piece's Final Saga set to commence after it eventually wraps up.

One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

One Piece (1999)

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Fantasy

One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Studio

Toei Animation

Creator

Eiichiro Oda

Number of Episodes

1082+

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll , Netflix , Hulu

See at Hulu