The Vegapunk traitor may have been setting things up for the last three months, but everything about their plan seems like it’s doomed to fail.
The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1078, “Escape Limit,” by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul, and Vanessa Satone, available in English from Viz Media.
In One Piece Chapter 1078, “Escape Limit,” York the Greedy was revealed as the traitor among the Vegapunks. She planned to sell out Dr. Vegapunk to the Five Elders and have him assassinated. She apparently did this with the hopes of becoming a Celestial Dragon. However, her plan is doomed to fail, and it doesn’t even have anything to do with the Straw Hat Pirates.
Vegapunk York’s plan has all sorts of flaws from top to bottom. Even if the Straw Hats weren’t on Egghead and ready to stop her, there are all sorts of things that could go wrong. For one-seventh of the smartest man in the world, it doesn’t seem like she’s put a lot of forethought into her master plan.
What’s Wrong With Vegapunk York’s Plan?
One big problem with York’s plan is that she sent her tips anonymously. Unless some details were left out of Chapter 1078, the World Government shouldn’t even know that it was a Vegapunk selling out her kin. This would explain why CP0’s mission was to eliminate all seven Vegapunks. Since York is meant to be killed on sight, so she won’t even have the chance to reveal who she is.
Even if York were to reveal her identity, she’d likely be killed off anyway. The World Government probably doesn’t want to leave any loose ends in terms of people who know the truth about the Void Century. Since York’s mind is linked to the other Vegapunks who have been researching the matter thoroughly that makes her just as much of a liability as they are.
Making York a Celestial Dragon and hiding her in Marijoa doesn’t work either. The World Nobles consider themselves divine beings beyond normal humans. They hate the idea of mingling with commoners and see them as mere playthings. The idea of accepting even the world’s smartest scientist as one of them would probably come off as nothing short of ludicrous.
The Five Elders seem to be the only exception to this rule, so maybe York’s plan to negotiate with them could work in terms of appealing to their humanity. Regardless, as far as most Celestial Dragons are concerned, it’s impossible to ascend to their state of being. York would end up rejected no matter what.
If York is ultimately rejected, the Straw Hats might have to decide whether to grant her asylum. Of course, they’d still have to take her aboard the Thousand Sunny as a prisoner rather than a guest like the other Vegapunks. It could be an awkward arrangement between her large size and the ship’s lack of a brig, but maybe they could bind her to the mast or something.
Whatever comes next, York should expect her plan to fail. Whether it’s because of the semi-righteous Straw Hats, the misinformed World Government, or the snobby Celestial Dragons, everyone will be working against her. She had better have a good plan B for when everything inevitably goes wrong.
