One Piece: Why Gunko, Shamrock, and Shanks Are NOT Celestial Dragons

In the Egghead Island Arc, we learn of a little interesting detail and it is that Bartholomew Kuma is not Jewelry Bonney’s biological father.

Instead, Bonney was the offspring of a Celestial Dragon and another, the Elder Jaygarcia Saturn, experimented on her and her mother Ginny, which resulted in Bonney acquiring Devil Fruit powers from the experimental extact.

However, this was something already established as early back as Amazon Lily, where we learn that Boa Hancock and her sisters were enslaved by Celestials

But if you put both elements together, you will see that the Celestial Dragons, likely under Jaygarcia Saturn and the Five Elders’ supervision, had formed their own secret army of Devil Fruit users.

Not just slaves taken from anywhere but possibly even illegitimate, hidden children, whose only purpose is to serve the Creators.

Celestial Dragon Army Children

Gunko’s name could actually be the final piece of this subtle puzzle, which we theorized in our Chapter 1137 video.

This may sound familiar to some Hunter x Hunter fans because this is a similar system to the Carnival Orphans of Kakin, royal bastards who are hidden away and either discarded for human trafficking or protected as members of the Kakin Mafia.

Gunko’s first words in the story describe her whole character, the offer of becoming a Celestial Dragon and ascend to the “true” upper world.

Her direct offer to Loki to become a Celestial Dragon suggests that Gunko herself was given such a chance and that this is the most important thing to her.

Which is why in Chapter 1142, her greatest fear is Sun God Nika as Nika will destroy her privilege and her only sense of being.

But what if Gunko was the norm: regular slaves or spawn of Celestial Dragons that were fed Devil Fruits instead of living privileged lives like the regular Celestial Dragon offspring?

Shanks and Shamrock

If we look at the little details, it is likely that Shanks and Shamrock were also illegitimate children.

As an infant, Shanks was found in a treasure chest in God Valley 38 years ago.

It seemed he was discarded in the midst of the chaos or found himself lost because he was not as supervised as the legitimate children.

This more likely sets Shanks as the bastard instead of Shamrock but notice that Shamrock, a captain of the God’s Knights, does not have the Saint prefix, the same as her subordinate Gunko.

Gunko would be more understandable to not have a “Saint” suffix as her name does mean “army child” and she is merely a subordinate to the son of Elder and former Supreme Commander Garling but it is surprising to fans that Shamrock, the legal son of Garling, does not have the title.

Most of the Celestial Dragons that we see have done no major contributions for the World Government other than be its upper class and descendants of the First Twenty.

Later, we do see our first actual Saints among the God’s Knights since Garling’s introduction in the form of Saints Rimoshifu Killingham and Shepherd Sommers in Chapter 1140: “Scopper Gaban”.

Interestingly, they address a Captain like Shamrock as if he was their equal, going by first-name basis for both Gunko and Shamrock, which shows how casual Sommers in particular is but also leads to question the status Shamrock and Gunko really have among the Celestial Dragons.

What About the Revolutionary Army Commanders?

Koala’s origin as a slave of the World Nobles freed by Fisher Tiger, on top of her possessing goggles like the Four Commanders and the God’s Knight Gunko feel way too intentional for Oda.

Gunko looks just like Koala, who was an ex-slave, so some would assume they would have similar origins, which is getting more and more likely as the chapters go on.

This could imply that Koala was also an illegitimate offspring of a Celestial Dragon with a slave or could potentially possess her own Devil Fruit, as we have not seen her swim yet.

Celestial Dragons can do as they please with their slaves and obviously, nothing was off the table.

However, the goggle motif common among the Revolutionary Army presents another entirely different idea: what if Gunko was never from Mary Geoise?

Perhaps Gunko was a former rebel who had chosen to defect but rather than submit to the ordinary authority of the Marines, as part of the army of the world’s most wanted criminal, Monkey D. Dragon, Gunko would have been taken under the wing of God’s Knights to be reeducated as an agent of Celestial Dragon justice.

Then again, it could also be that she has some direct relations with the World Nobles themselves due to how familiar the actual Saints acted around her.

Bonney and Gunko Parallel

Ginny was the eighth wife of a Celestial Dragon, which did make her child Jewelry Bonney legitimate, except even legitimate children were not exempted.

Of course since Bonney was thrown away Mary Geoise with Ginny after being experimented on, Bonney does not carry any title.

It would be nice to see Bonney and Gunko interact due to their potential similarities, assuming Gunko was born within Mary Geoise like Bonney was.

Yet we could see a parallel between Bonney and Gunko as Bonney’s hope is in Nika, an arc that ends with her even assuming the form of Nika in Chapter 1118: “The Most Free” while the opposite is true for Gunko as Nika represents the loss of her cherished position as a Celestial Dragon, an army child.

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