Why Are Fishmen Missing From the Elbaph Mural?
The Elbaph mural fishmen mystery begins with a simple contrast: Chapter 1138 shows a crowned aquatic figure who appears to be a mermaid, but no figure can be confidently identified as a fishman.
That absence does not prove fishmen were nonexistent during the era depicted. A mural does not need to include every race or every participant in a war.
However, if the crowned mermaid represents Poseidon and the nearby aquatic creature represents a Sea King, it would be unusual for merfolk and the forces under Poseidon’s command to enter the conflict without any recognizable fishmen beside them—especially if fishmen and merfolk already belonged to the same kingdom.
The mural cannot explain their apparent absence, but it becomes harder to dismiss when the image appears to include another aquatic race, an Ancient Weapon, and a Sea King.
Because this theory discusses revelations from the Elbaph arc, consider this your spoiler warning.
Elbaph Mural Fishmen: What Is Actually Missing?
Beyond its aquatic figures, the mural contains different races, creatures, and forces from the One Piece world.
A Sun God-like warrior appears among the figures in conflict. Around him stand giants, winged beings, animals, a massive robot, and several humanoid figures with unusual physical characteristics, while ships and destructive forces surround an enormous serpent-like creature elsewhere in the image.
The mural does not identify these figures by name or confirm whether every image represents the past, the future, a prophecy, or a symbolic combination of multiple eras. Therefore, we cannot treat it as a detailed census of every race that existed during the Void Century.
Even so, Oda gave several figures enough distinctive features for readers to connect them to known races and characters. Giants stand out through their enormous size, winged figures resemble races associated with the sky, and a large mechanical warrior recalls the ancient robot connected to Joy Boy.
One aquatic figure stands out immediately: an enormous crowned mermaid carrying a trident beside what appears to be a Sea King.
Her size, royal imagery, weapon, and connection to the giant creature strongly suggest that she represents Poseidon, the Mermaid Princess whose power allows her to command the Sea Kings.
Poseidon, Merfolk, and the Missing Fishmen
Chapter 649 establishes that Joy Boy made a promise to the Mermaid Princess who possessed Poseidon’s power during the Void Century. That same power later awakened in Shirahoshi.
Poseidon is an Ancient Weapon embodied by a mermaid rather than a constructed machine. If the crowned figure represents Poseidon, her inclusion places a mermaid associated with the Sea Kings among the forces shown in the mural.
That makes the absence of recognizable fishmen more significant. If fishmen and merfolk belonged to the same kingdom, why would Poseidon and the Sea Kings enter the conflict without any visible fishmen beside them?
Fishmen in the Elbaph Mural: What Would They Look Like?
Fishmen and merfolk share an underwater homeland, but their bodies remain visually distinct.
Merfolk usually possess humanlike upper bodies and fishlike lower bodies. That basic shape makes the crowned figure relatively easy to identify as a mermaid, even within the mural’s simplified art.
Fishmen display aquatic characteristics throughout their bodies. Depending on their ancestry, they may possess gills, fins, webbed hands, unusual skin, powerful jaws, additional limbs, or physical traits associated with sharks, rays, octopuses, and other marine species.
A clearly recognizable fishman would therefore likely combine a humanoid body with aquatic characteristics, yet no visible figure on the mural clearly matches that description.
The enormous creature beside the mermaid may represent a Sea King, but it lacks a humanoid body. Other figures possess animal-like traits, although the mural does not provide enough detail to separate possible fishmen from Minks, Zoan users, symbolic creatures, or races Oda has not identified.
Someone could eventually argue that one of those ambiguous figures represents a fishman. At present, however, none carries the same clear visual identity as the crowned mermaid.
That difference sharpens the Elbaph mural fishmen mystery: if the crowned figure depicts a mermaid, why are the fishmen so difficult to find?
The Strongest Alternative Explanations
The simplest explanation is that the mural represents a massive conflict through selected figures and symbols rather than showing every race involved.
Fishmen may have existed without participating in this particular conflict, or Oda may have excluded them because they were not necessary to communicate the scene.
The mural’s simplified style creates another possibility: one of its humanoid or animal-like figures may represent a fishman, although none displays enough aquatic characteristics to confirm that interpretation.
These explanations prevent the missing fishmen from becoming proof by themselves.
However, if the crowned figure represents Poseidon, her inclusion makes their absence more difficult to dismiss. Poseidon is one of the Ancient Weapons, and her ability to command the Sea Kings would make her one of the most consequential powers involved in any conflict.
If fishmen and merfolk already belonged to the same kingdom, we would reasonably expect fishmen to fight beside Poseidon and the Sea Kings. Yet no recognizable fishmen appear beside them.
Either the image left them out, their role differed from what we assume, or the ancestors of modern fishmen did not yet possess the appearance we recognize today.
Were the Fishmen Still Human?
The third possibility connects the mural to the larger Fishman Theory.
What if the ancestors of modern fishmen appear among the mural’s human figures?
Under this interpretation, merfolk and an unknown human clan may have lived together within the Great Kingdom. If the Mermaid Princess fought alongside that civilization as Poseidon, her power would have given its forces access to the Sea Kings.
The unknown clan would not display gills, fins, aquatic skin, or other features associated with modern fishmen because the Fishman transformation had not happened yet.
This would explain why the figure interpreted as Poseidon appears clearly while the Elbaph mural fishmen remain impossible to identify. Rather than excluding their ancestors from the conflict, the mural may depict them before they became a separate aquatic race.
The theory depends on the contrast rather than a specific hidden character.
Merfolk appear to be represented through Poseidon, while modern fishmen do not. However, the unidentified humans fighting within the same conflict leave room for another stage of their history.
I explore how that unknown clan may have escaped the Great Flood and developed into the modern fishman race in Were Fishmen Once Human Before the Great Flood?
What the Elbaph Mural Fishmen Mystery Can Prove
The mural establishes only that Oda included an ancient image containing multiple races, creatures, and powers that may connect to the history or future of the world. Everything beyond its visible details requires interpretation.
The figure’s crown, trident, immense size, mermaid body, and association with what appears to be a Sea King strongly support the Poseidon interpretation. The missing fishmen remain less certain because absence does not leave behind direct evidence.
Future chapters could identify one of the unidentified figures as a fishman. A Void Century flashback could also show that fishmen already possessed their modern bodies, disproving the human-ancestor interpretation.
Until then, the mural supports the theory without confirming it.
Its importance comes from the visual contrast. The figure interpreted as the ancient Mermaid Princess remains immediately recognizable, while no equally recognizable fishman appears beside her.
If Oda later reveals that fishmen were already part of the Great Kingdom, the mural would raise another question:
Why did he depict their merfolk allies but leave the fishmen visually absent?
Why Are Fishmen Missing From the Elbaph Mural?
The safest answer is that we do not know whether the mural intentionally excludes them. Its symbolic design and unidentified figures prevent a definitive conclusion.
My theory offers another answer.
The ancestors of fishmen may be present, but they would not appear as fishmen because they still possessed human bodies. Merfolk may have fought beside them under Poseidon, while the events that created the modern fishman race occurred later.
That interpretation explains how the mural could include Poseidon and the Sea Kings without depicting any recognizable fishmen. It also connects their absence to the unresolved Fishmen origin question: where did the fishman race come from?
The Elbaph mural fishmen mystery does not prove that fishmen were once human.
It may preserve a clue to what the ancestors of modern fishmen looked like.
Do you believe fishmen were excluded from the mural, or are their ancestors standing among its human figures?
Comment “HUMAN” if you believe the mural depicts the era before the fishman race acquired its modern appearance.
For the complete theory behind their possible transformation, read Were Fishmen Once Human Before the Great Flood?