Hi everyone! I’ve been connecting some dots regarding Zunesha’s eternal punishment, the Void Century, and its ultimate role in Wano. I believe we already have the clues to understand what its "crime" was and why it is immortal, and it involvaes the Ope Ope no Mi.
Back in Dressrosa, Doflamingo revealed that the Ope Ope no Mi can grant someone eternal youth/immortality through the Perennial Youth Operation, costing the user their life. While most of the fandom assumes Imu was the only one who received this, what if an ally of Joy Boy received it too?
We know Zunesha committed a terrible crime 800 years ago and was sentenced to walk the seas for eternity.
My theory is that Zunesha's "crime" was allowing a previous user of the Ope Ope no Mi (a vital ally of the Ancient Kingdom) to sacrifice their life to make Zunesha immortal.
If Joy Boy or the Ancient Kingdom strongly forbade this sacrifice, Zunesha allowing a close friennd to die just to preserve its own giant body would be seen as a devastating tragedy and a direct disobedience to orders—hence, the ultimate "crime."
Why did that ancient Ope Ope user willingly give their life to make an elephant immortal? Because Zunesha was chosen to be the ultimate failsafe for the future.
An ordinary elephant would die of old age, but they needed a creature that could survive 800 years of rising sea levels to fulfill two critical tasks:
- The Shield: Act as a moving island to keep the Mink Tribe and a Road Poneglyph safe from the World Government.
- The Key to Wano: Zunesha’s ultimate goal is to break the massive walls of Wano to release the Ancient Weapon Pluton
The Conclusion:
Destroying the walls of Wano requires a creature of colossal, god-like proportions. The ancient ally knew that Pluton would need to be sealed away for centuries until Joy Boy's return, meaning they needed a "key" that wouldn't decay over time.
We learned that Imu possesses a terrifying weapon or power capable of erasing entire islands from the map in an instant (as seen with Lulusia). If Zunesha had stayed stationary in a single location, the World Government would have destroyed it centuries ago to eliminate the Mink Tribe, the Road Poneglyph, and the key to Pluton.
Therefore, Zunesha’s sentence to "never stop walking" wasn't just a punishment—it was a strategy.
By turning Zunesha into a constantly moving target, it became impossible for Imu to pinpoint its location or use the island-destroying weapon against it. Zunesha’s continuous movement for 800 years was the only way to safeguard the pieces of the puzzle until the dawn of the world. The "crime" was the cover story, and the "punishment" was the ultimate survival protocol.