People are losing it over a wall. Seriously. If you’ve been anywhere near the One Piece fandom lately, you know exactly which one I’m talking about. The One Piece 1138 mural—a sprawling, detail-heavy piece of art that appeared during the climax of the Egghead Island arc—isn’t just "cool art" for a chapter cover or a promotional spread. It’s basically a roadmap. Eiichiro Oda, the madman himself, has a habit of hiding the ending of his thirty-year story in plain sight, and this mural feels like the ultimate "I told you so" waiting to happen.
It’s weird.
Usually, when we talk about murals in One Piece, we’re looking at the ruins of Shandora or the Poneglyphs. But Chapter 1138, titled "Sayonara, Vegapunk," pushed the boundaries of how we interpret environmental storytelling. This specific visual sequence wasn't just decorative; it was a lore dump disguised as background texture.
What's actually on the One Piece 1138 mural?
Let's get into the weeds. Most fans missed the nuances because they were too busy mourning the various versions of Vegapunk or screaming about the Gorosei. But if you look at the composition of the One Piece 1138 mural, you see a distinct repetition of shapes that mirror the Ancient Kingdom’s supposed architecture.
We’re talking about the Iron Giant, Emet. We’re talking about the connection between the Sun God Nika and the silhouettes etched into the stone. It’s not just a drawing; it’s a historical record. Honestly, it feels like Oda is mocking us at this point. He’s showing us the visual history of the Void Century while the characters are literally running for their lives in the foreground.
You’ve got these tall, spindly figures that don’t look quite human. Some theorists, like the folks over at Library of Ohara, have pointed out that these shapes correlate with the lunar frescoes we saw way back in Enel’s Great Space Operations. It’s all connected. The mural basically confirms that the technology on Egghead wasn’t "future" tech—it was a recovery of the past. It’s a funeral monument for a civilization that lost a war 800 years ago.
The Nika Connection and Why It Matters
Everyone knows Luffy is Joyboy now. That’s old news. But the One Piece 1138 mural adds a layer of grime to that shiny destiny. In the mural, the figure representing the Sun God isn't just laughing; he’s surrounded by what looks like chains or perhaps the "strings" of fate.
Is it a prophecy? Maybe.
📖 Related: Who Was the Scary Movie 2 Hand Guy? The Story Behind the Grossest Butler Ever
I think it’s a warning. The mural depicts a struggle that wasn't just about freedom, but about energy. The Mother Flame, the power source Vegapunk was obsessed with, is hinted at in the mural's central sun motif. It suggests that the Ancient Kingdom didn't just have "magic" powers—they had a Dyson-sphere-level understanding of energy. When you look at the mural in the context of Chapter 1138, it becomes clear that the World Government didn't just want to kill the scholars of Ohara or the scientists of Egghead. They wanted to bury the fact that the world used to be powered by something that didn't require their control.
Stop ignoring the background details
Look, I get it. You’re reading the manga for the fights. You want to see Luffy punch a God in the face. But if you skip the environmental storytelling in the One Piece 1138 mural, you’re missing the actual plot.
- The mural features a specific gear-like symbol that matches the crest on the Iron Giant’s chest.
- There are depictions of sea kings that look significantly more "tame" than the ones we see today.
- The placement of the stars in the mural doesn't match the current sky of the One Piece world.
That last point is the kicker. If the stars are different, it implies either a massive shift in the planet's rotation or that the mural was created on a different celestial body altogether. Remember the six moons theory? This mural is the strongest evidence we’ve had in years that the world of One Piece was once part of a much larger, multi-mooned system that was dismantled during the Void Century.
The Iron Giant's apology and the mural's hidden text
In Chapter 1138, Emet (the giant robot) starts speaking about Joyboy. The One Piece 1138 mural acts as the visual subtitles for that conversation. There’s a section of the wall that appears cracked, showing a different layer of art underneath. It’s a palimpsest.
Essentially, the mural we see is a "V2" version. The original art, partially visible through the cracks, shows a darker version of the Nika myth. It’s not all rubbery limbs and laughter. There’s a price for that kind of freedom. Oda is signaling that Luffy’s "Gear 5" might have a downside that Joyboy couldn't overcome.
Kinda scary when you think about it.
The mural also highlights the "D." initial. Not in letters, but in shapes. The crescent moon, the half-circle, the "D" is scattered throughout the mural's geometry. It reinforces the idea that the "Will of D" is actually a "Will of the Half-Moon" or perhaps a reference to a specific lunar phase that governed the Ancient Kingdom's tides.
🔗 Read more: Why the I Saw the TV Glow Ice Cream Man Is the Scariest Part of the Movie
How to spot these details yourself
If you want to verify this, don't just look at the low-res scans. Go get the official release or the volume cuts where the ink is clearer. The One Piece 1138 mural is one of those things where you need to zoom in 400% to see the cross-hatching.
First, find the panel where Franky is looking up at the ceiling. The perspective shifts. That's your "key" to the mural's layout.
Second, look at the symbols surrounding the central Sun God figure. Compare them to the symbols on the gates of Enies Lobby. They are identical. This link proves that the World Government literally built their judicial fortress on top of the ruins—or at least using the blueprints—of the people they committed genocide against. It’s a flex. A 800-year-old architectural flex.
Honestly, the level of planning Oda puts into a single background mural is exhausting. Most authors can't keep their protagonist's eye color consistent for ten chapters, and here we have a guy referencing a cover story from 2006 in a random wall texture in 2024.
Practical Steps for Lore Hunters
If you're looking to dive deeper into the implications of the One Piece 1138 mural, you need to stop treating it as a standalone piece of art and start treating it as a map.
1. Compare the mural to the Alabasta Royal Tomb. There are specific geometric patterns in the 1138 mural that repeat the patterns seen in the tomb where the Poneglyph was hidden. This suggests a shared architectural language between the Nefertari family and the builders of Egghead's core.
2. Map the "Sun Circles." Count the number of rays on the suns depicted in the mural. There are consistently sixteen rays. This is a direct reference to the "Sixteen Holy Bullets of the Celestial Dragons" (Madan no Ichi). It’s a perversion of the original Sun God symbol. The mural shows the true sun, while the World Government uses a sixteen-ray version as a symbol of their "divine" execution.
3. Watch the color spreads. Oda often uses color spreads to "color-code" the hints he drops in the black-and-white chapters. Look for any color spreads around the 1130-1140 range. Any time Luffy is wearing red and gold in a specific pattern, he's mimicking the decorative elements found on the One Piece 1138 mural.
4. Analyze the "Gear" iconography. The mural doesn't just show Nika; it shows gears. Literal mechanical gears. This bridges the gap between the "Mythical Zoan" nature of the fruit and the "Advanced Technology" of the past. The fruit might actually be a form of bio-technology, making the mural a schematic rather than a religious painting.
The Egghead arc is ending, and as the crew heads toward Elbaf, the mural in Chapter 1138 remains one of the most significant pieces of evidence we have regarding the true nature of the One Piece itself. It isn't just gold. It isn't just a funny story. It’s the missing data that connects the stars, the moons, and the rubber boy who just wants to be the freest person on the ocean.
✨ Don't miss: Lady Luck HQ Husband: What Miran Maric Really Does for a Living
Stop looking at the characters for a second. Look at the walls. The history is right there, etched in stone and waiting for someone to finally read the room.