Why Will Luffy Destroy Fishman Island?
Luffy saved Fishman Island from Hody Jones, protected Shirahoshi, and challenged one of the Four Emperors for control of the kingdom, yet Madam Shyarly’s vision suggests she will one day see Luffy destroy Fishman Island.
In Chapter 610, her crystal ball shows a shadowy figure wearing a straw hat standing before Fishman Island’s destruction. The figure resembles Luffy, and Shyarly identifies him as the person who will destroy the island, creating one of the strangest contradictions in One Piece.
Why would Luffy destroy Fishman Island after risking his life to protect it?
The obvious answer is that Shyarly’s prediction warns of a future tragedy. Perhaps Luffy will accidentally destroy the island during the final war, or his battle against the World Government will cause the Red Line to collapse.
However, her vision does not reveal why the destruction occurs or whether the island’s inhabitants remain there when it falls. That missing context could completely change the prophecy’s meaning.
Fishman Island has protected generations of fishmen and merfolk beneath the ocean, but the story has repeatedly preserved their dream of reaching the surface.
What if the island was never supposed to remain their permanent home?
The answer may connect an unfulfilled promise from the Void Century, an enormous ship waiting for the “promised time,” and the Ancient Weapon Poseidon, whose power Shirahoshi inherited.
Luffy may not destroy Fishman Island because he becomes its enemy.
He may destroy it because its purpose is finally over.
Because this theory includes major revelations from the Egghead arc, consider this your spoiler warning.
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The Fishman Island Prophecy Everyone Assumed Was a Disaster
Madam Shyarly’s visions reveal future events, but they do not necessarily provide their complete context or precise timing.
That limitation becomes crucial when interpreting the Fishman Island destruction she predicts.
Her vision connects Luffy to the ruined island, but it does not show him attacking innocent residents, commanding an enemy army, or deliberately turning against the Ryugu Kingdom. The prediction also does not establish that anyone dies.
Everyone naturally interprets the vision as a disaster because Fishman Island is their home. That reaction depends on one unproven assumption:
That the population will still need Fishman Island when the prophecy comes true.
If the inhabitants have already evacuated, the same vision takes on an entirely different meaning. Destruction would no longer represent the loss of their future.
It could represent the end of their exile.
Why Would Luffy Destroy Fishman Island After Saving It?
Luffy’s relationship with Fishman Island makes the idea of a deliberate attack difficult to accept.
Hody Jones and the New Fish-Man Pirates attempted to overthrow the Ryugu Kingdom, execute King Neptune, and use generations of hatred to begin a war against humanity.
Luffy stopped them.
He protected Shirahoshi, defeated Hody, and fought to prevent Noah from crashing into the island. After the battle, Fishman Island celebrated the Straw Hats as heroes.
Chapter 651 deepened that relationship. When Big Mom threatened the kingdom, Luffy challenged her and announced that he would defeat her before claiming Fishman Island as his territory.
By doing so, Luffy accepted responsibility for protecting the island from the powerful forces exploiting its vulnerable position.
That makes Shyarly’s prophecy more meaningful. Oda made the person associated with Fishman Island’s future protection the same person destined to destroy it.
If Luffy remains consistent with everything the story has shown us, he will not destroy the kingdom to punish its inhabitants or take away their freedom.
He would only do it if the island itself stood between them and freedom.
Luffy Destroys Symbols of Captivity
Throughout One Piece, Luffy does more than defeat villains. He destroys the places, systems, and symbols they use to control others.
Arlong Park provides one of the clearest examples.
When Luffy discovers the room where Arlong forced Nami to create maps, he recognizes what it represents. By bringing Arlong Park down around them, he destroys the structure that held her captive—not her talent or future.
That distinction may foreshadow what eventually happens to Fishman Island.
The island is not evil, and its inhabitants are not Luffy’s enemies. However, a place can begin as protection and still become part of the system that confines the people living there.
Arlong Park established the pattern, while Alabasta, Dressrosa, and Wano expanded it: Luffy does not merely defeat an oppressor; he tears down the system that keeps an entire population trapped.
If Fishman Island keeps its population separated from the surface, destroying it could bring that theme to its largest scale.
Luffy would not destroy their home to leave them with nothing.
He would destroy the prison they no longer need.
Luffy is a liberator, not a destroyer.
Fishman Island’s Beautiful Contradiction
Fishman Island appears to be an underwater paradise.
It exists approximately 10,000 meters beneath the surface inside an enormous air-filled bubble. Sunlight Tree Eve provides light and air, allowing the island to support a landlike civilization at the bottom of the ocean.
Those conditions protect its inhabitants, but they also reveal something unusual.
Fishmen and merfolk can breathe underwater, yet their central civilization preserves an atmosphere capable of supporting people from the surface.
Its residents receive sunlight through the roots of a tree rather than living beneath the actual sun. Their world recreates conditions from the surface without granting them access to the surface itself.
Fishman Island gives them light without the sky.
It provides safety, but only at the bottom of the world.
Directly above them stands Marijoa, where the Celestial Dragons claim authority over everyone beneath them. The self-proclaimed gods occupy the world’s highest seat of power, while fishmen and merfolk endure prejudice, enslavement, and isolation beneath the ocean.
Fishman Island protects its people from that system without truly freeing them from it.
Was Fishman Island Ever Meant to Last?
Canon has never confirmed that Fishman Island served as the original homeland of fishmen and merfolk.
The story has not revealed who created its enormous bubble, when the first settlement appeared, or whether the location existed as a kingdom in its current form during the Void Century.
Vegapunk’s message provides the historical conditions that could explain why an underwater sanctuary became necessary.
In Chapter 1115, he reveals that the Ancient Weapons caused the global sea level to rise by approximately 200 meters during the Void Century. Water swallowed enormous continents, leaving only their highest points above the ocean.
Under this theory, survivors would have needed protection from both the rising sea and the Twenty Kingdoms waging war against Joy Boy and his allies. A sanctuary beneath the Red Line could have provided safety and distance from the destruction spreading across the surface.
I explored that evidence more deeply in my Great Kingdom–Atlantis theory, including the connections between Fishman Island’s bubble, Sunlight Tree Eve, Noah, Marijoa, and the submerged world.
Although the manga has not confirmed that survivors of the Great Kingdom moved to this location or that Fishman Island existed as a kingdom during the ancient war, my theory is that the location served as a temporary sanctuary before becoming the civilization we know today.
Its inhabitants may have planned to remain beneath the ocean only until Joy Boy won the war and made the surface safe again.
Under this interpretation, Joy Boy never returned them home.
When Fishman Island Became a Prison
The Twenty Kingdoms defeated Joy Boy and his allies, established the World Government, and erased the conflict from history. Meanwhile, the Ancient Weapons left the old world’s cities and countries beneath 200 meters of water.
A refuge created for survival may have gradually become a permanent society. Over generations, its inhabitants could have established the Ryugu Kingdom and made Fishman Island part of their identity.
That history would make the island their homeland without necessarily making it their place of origin.
The bubble kept its inhabitants alive, but the world outside prevented them from leaving. What began as protection became exile because the conditions that made the sanctuary necessary never ended.
The World Government still rules the surface, the Celestial Dragons continue enslaving fishmen and merfolk, and Marijoa remains directly above their kingdom.
Even after 800 years, Fishman Island’s inhabitants remain separated from the real sun.
Luffy could destroy Fishman Island after removing the circumstances that forced its people to live there. However, the population must first reach the surface safely.
During the Void Century, Joy Boy may have promised to make that possible.
Joy Boy’s Broken Promise to Poseidon
Chapter 649 provides the strongest evidence that Fishman Island is connected to an unfinished plan.
After reading the Poneglyph in the Sea Forest, Nico Robin asks King Neptune about Joy Boy. Neptune explains that Joy Boy made a promise to the Mermaid Princess who possessed Poseidon’s power during the Void Century.
Joy Boy failed to fulfill his side of that agreement and left an apology on the Poneglyph.
The exact promise remains unknown.
If Fishman Island began as a temporary sanctuary, Joy Boy may have promised to return its inhabitants to the surface after defeating the Twenty Kingdoms. Under this theory, his defeat prevented that return and left the population beneath the sea.
That interpretation would explain why he addressed his apology to Poseidon. Completing the promise may have required a power only the Mermaid Princess possessed.
That power has returned through Shirahoshi.
Poseidon and Noah: The Evacuation Plan
Noah has remained near Fishman Island for centuries and is connected to the “promised time.”
During the confrontation with Hody Jones, Van der Decken sends the enormous ship falling toward the island. Luffy attempts to destroy it before impact, but the Sea Kings intervene.
In Chapter 648, they stop Noah from crashing and wonder whether anyone can repair its damage before the promised time.
The scene confirms that the Sea Kings possess the strength to move Noah. Their decision to preserve the ship also suggests that its purpose remains unfinished.
Through the power she inherited as Poseidon, Shirahoshi unknowingly calls the Sea Kings. She could command them to use Noah to carry Fishman Island’s population to the surface, providing a practical evacuation plan.
Although Noah’s true purpose remains unconfirmed, its enormous size, connection to Joy Boy’s promise, and demonstrated relationship with the Sea Kings support that possibility.
If Noah carries the population away before Fishman Island falls, Shyarly’s prophecy could come true without becoming a massacre.
Queen Otohime’s Dream Survived
The World Government erased the Void Century, but the desire behind Joy Boy’s promise may have survived through Queen Otohime and Fisher Tiger.
Otohime pursued peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding between humans, fishmen, and merfolk. Her ultimate dream was to move her people from the ocean floor so they could live alongside humanity beneath the real sun.
Fisher Tiger pursued liberation through direct action. After escaping slavery, he attacked Marijoa and freed captives regardless of race.
The Sun Pirates later covered the Celestial Dragon brands carried by former slaves with their sun emblem, preventing outsiders from distinguishing those who had been enslaved from those who had not.
Otohime sought equality through reconciliation, while Tiger broke the chains placed around his people. Although their methods differed, both opposed the conditions that kept fishmen and merfolk beneath humanity.
Within this theory, the sun also represents the freedom their people had been denied.
Moving to the surface would fulfill part of that dream, but it would not guarantee liberation. The World Government and Celestial Dragons could continue the same discrimination and enslavement in a different location.
The surface itself must become safe.
That may be why the promised time requires both Poseidon and someone capable of completing Joy Boy’s unfinished mission.
The Return of Joy Boy
When Luffy awakens his Devil Fruit in Chapter 1043, Zunesha hears the Drums of Liberation and declares:
“Joyboy… has returned!!!”
The connection between Luffy and Joy Boy does not necessarily mean Luffy has literally become the person who lived during the Void Century. Instead, Zunesha’s statement connects him to Joy Boy through Nika, liberation, and the role the ancient world has awaited.
If Luffy discovers the truth of the Void Century, he may learn why Joy Boy apologized and why Fishman Island has preserved Noah.
He would not fulfill the promise because history commands him to do so. He would act because Shirahoshi and Fishman Island’s inhabitants are his friends, and he has accepted responsibility for protecting their kingdom.
Luffy also possesses what the original plan lacked after Joy Boy’s defeat: the potential to overthrow the order that makes the surface dangerous.
Poseidon can command the Sea Kings who may be needed to move the population, while Luffy may be able to create a world where they can remain above the sea.
Why Luffy Must Destroy Fishman Island
Luffy should not destroy Fishman Island to force its inhabitants to leave. That would contradict the freedom he represents.
The population must choose the surface first.
Queen Otohime spent years preparing her people for that decision. Her dream did not require them to abandon their culture or identity. She wanted them to choose where they lived without fear deciding for them.
Once the population evacuates, destroying Fishman Island could take on a different meaning.
The island would no longer be the only place where fishmen and merfolk could live safely. Its destruction could ensure that nobody forces them back to the ocean floor.
Their civilization would continue through its people rather than through the place that separated them from the surface.
Luffy would not leave them without a home.
He would help create a world where Fishman Island was no longer necessary.
Will Luffy Destroy the Red Line?
Luffy may not attack Fishman Island directly.
A common interpretation of Shyarly’s prediction argues that he will destroy part of the Red Line during the final war. Because Fishman Island sits directly beneath Marijoa, the resulting collapse could destroy the kingdom below.
Under this theory, the Red Line may be the physical target while Fishman Island becomes the result. Shyarly could still identify Luffy as its destroyer because his actions caused its fall.
Destroying that location would also carry symbolic meaning. Marijoa represents the authority of the Celestial Dragons, while Fishman Island represents the population forced to survive beneath them.
Luffy could bring down the seat of oppression above and the prison created by that oppression below.
However, the manga has not confirmed that Luffy will destroy the Red Line or that its collapse will fulfill Shyarly’s prediction. The exact method remains speculative, and the evacuation must happen first.
How Madam Shyarly’s Prediction Could Come True
After learning the truth of the Void Century, Luffy may discover Joy Boy’s promise and Fishman Island’s original purpose.
Its inhabitants could choose to complete Otohime’s dream by moving to the surface.
Shirahoshi could command the Sea Kings, allowing them to use Noah to evacuate the population before the final conflict reaches Marijoa and the Red Line.
Once everyone reaches safety, Luffy could destroy Fishman Island—or knowingly cause its destruction by bringing down the structure above it.
Madam Shyarly’s prediction would come true, but her vision may have omitted the evacuation that happened first.
What appeared to be a prophecy of death could become the final stage of liberation.
The End of an 800-Year Exile
Why will Luffy destroy Fishman Island?
Because protecting the island and freeing its people may eventually become two different things.
Fishman Island may have begun as a temporary sanctuary before Joy Boy’s defeat turned it into a permanent home. Across the following 800 years, the World Government’s oppression prevented its inhabitants from safely returning to the surface.
The original promise may finally reach completion through the people who inherited its different parts.
Otohime prepared Fishman Island to choose the surface, while Fisher Tiger and the Sun Pirates fought for liberation. Shirahoshi inherited Poseidon, and Luffy may have inherited the role connected to Joy Boy and the Drums of Liberation.
Noah may be able to carry the population away before the island falls.
Under this theory, Luffy will fulfill Joy Boy’s promise by returning Fishman Island’s inhabitants to the world their enemies denied them.
He will fulfill Queen Otohime’s dream of coexistence and complete the liberation Fisher Tiger began.
Madam Shyarly may have seen Luffy destroy Fishman Island without seeing him destroy their future.
She may have seen him setting it free.
Until then, tell me what you think.
Will Luffy destroy Fishman Island directly, or will its destruction result from the fall of Marijoa and the Red Line?
Comment “FREEDOM” if you believe Luffy will destroy Fishman Island to liberate its people.
If you enjoyed this theory, leave a like, subscribe to BareAnime, share the article, and explore my Great Kingdom–Atlantis and fishmen-origin theories for the history behind this mystery.