One Piece: Gunko’s Hidden Identity, Explained

One Piece is currently in the Elbaf arc, where Oda is focusing on a ton of exciting battles and setting the stage for the grand finale of the series, which will most likely end in the Great War. To that end, Oda is ensuring that Luffy’s enemies, the World Government are best prepared for the war, and right now, some of their strongest members, the Holy Knights, are directly in action against the Straw Hat Pirates in Elbaf.

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One particular member of the Holy Knights that fans know is extremely important is Gunko. It just so happens, that Gunko is also shrouded in mystery, which makes her entire character quite special indeed. That said, Oda might already have teased Gunko’s Hidden identity.

Gunko — One Of The Holy Knights Of The World Government

• Gunko And Shamrock Came To Elbaf
• Gunko Took Down 4 Straw Hats

The first time fans saw Gunko was in the Elbaf arc, right when the Straw Hat Pirates started their banquet with the Giants. In Aurust Castle, lightning struck and two hooded individuals were revealed to be present. Later down the line, it was revealed that they were none other than Shamrock Figarland, Shanks’s twin brother, and Gunko, a very mysterious bandaged woman.

It wasn’t hard for the fans to figure out that Gunko was actually a Holy Knight, just like Shamrock himself. Oda also went on to demonstrate Gunko’s powers and fans were told that she’s indeed very powerful, so much so that Shamrock had faith that she would go on to beat Loki even if he was unchained.

More recently, in One Piece chapter 1146, fans saw Gunko attack the Straw Hat Pirates and effortlessly overpower them. Gunko successfully managed to kidnap Collun from half the Straw Hat crew, which is embarrassing for them. More than that, fans saw a glimpse of Gunko’s powers, and the most shocking of them all was her regeneration. This raises the question as to who Gunko is really and why she possesses these powers?

Who Is Gunko Truly?

Gunko Is Likely Not Of Celestial Dragon Lineage

When it comes to the Holy Knights, fans are explicitly told that they’re even higher than the Celestial Dragons in the world of One Piece. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Holy Knights have to be born as Celestial Dragons. The Celestial Dragons are, for those who don’t know, the descendants of the Founding 20. The Holy Knights are generally considered to be even higher than the normal Celestial Dragons in terms of power and authority.

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However, people can be made Celestial Dragons, as was the case with York, and at the same time, they can also be made into Holy Knights, as was the case with Loki, an offer he obviously rejected. All that is to say that Gunko is most likely not a natural-born Celestial Dragon, which is implied by the fact that she doesn’t have a family name attached to her. By all means, Gunko is special. But, her specialty isn’t actually just her name. Gunko is special in more than one way, far more than any other member of the Holy Knights that fans have seen in Elbaf.

Gunko’s Connection To Imu

Gunko Might Be Under Imu’s Control

There are many odd things about the character of Gunko and the most apparent of them all is in her character design. Gunko has rather strange eyes. It’s almost as if she has two different eyes, and while that could simply be heterochromia, it could also be down to something else entirely, almost as if Gunko is being controlled.

Secondly, fans need to look at Gunko’s ability. She has the power of the Aro Aro no Mi, which is the very same ability Imu used to kill Cobra and injure Sabo. It is clear that Gunko is the one who has the Devil Fruit, as confirmed by Oda, but the fact that Imu can also use this Devil Fruit is rather strange.

The complexity of the Gunko character doesn’t end here. Gunko is the only one who has been sent using the Abyss so far. Even though Shamrock was considered the stronger of the two, Gunko was the only one who summoned the Abyss, and it might be an ability unique to her.

Furthermore, Gunko also has regeneration, just like the Five Elders. The strange thing is that Garling, who was the Supreme Commander of the Holy Knights, clearly aged. Either Gunko and the Holy Knights recently received these powers, or Regeneration and Immortality are two different powers that Imu can grant to others.

Regardless, what can clearly be inferred from all this is the fact that Gunko is connected to Imu in one way or another. There are two big possibilities here. The first one is that Gunko is being controlled by Imu to act on their behalf in the outside world. The second is that Gunko is a direct subordinate of Imu, closer than any Holy Knight, and possibly even a member of the Nerona Family, which could be why the name was hidden.

One Piece chapter 1146 will be out very soon, later this week. As usual, One Piece is going to drop on the upcoming Sunday. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12AM JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on April 20. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1146 is April 20, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)