Symbolism of the Seagull in One Piece Theory

I am sure everyone has seen the very first episode of One Piece in which the very first thing you see is the seagull!




It appears in the first few seconds of ending 14:



This is not a strange coincidence! In fact, the second episode also starts with the seagulls quaking and flying then Luffy. I believe the seagulls represent something more.

The seagull is one of the only seabirds in the world! One more mysterious thing is it seems as though many One Piece characters resemble animals like Hatchan as an octopus fishman, there are also mermaids, and fishmen. One Piece is about the oceans, yet nearly every species of marine and water animals are either based on or turned into characters like Arlong the fish, or Laboon the whale. I noticed that nearly all sea creatures are either characters, but they are never zoan fruit animals! There are many characters that have zoan fuits that grant themselves to turn into animals that can create flight, like birds like Pell who can turn into a Falcon! Some zoan fruits can grant flight, but never swimming! I find it interesting that a character has never been met that has either been a zoan fruit to be a seagull or a character that is a seagull! One Piece is a show that represents freedom! There are many pirates after the One Piece for different reasons, like they say in the start of every episode "Fame and Power". Then there are pirates like Buggy and a little Nami where they want riches. Then there is Luffy and Shanks who want freedom!

I believe Roger became a pirate for freedom too. If you think about what sparked Luffy to become a pirate, it was obviously Shanks! But it was mostly Lucky Roo's words:

Shanks would then tell his crew not to make Luffy want to be a pirate as he is young at is dangerous! Luffy's reaction to listening to the feeling of freedom gave him this expression:

Luffy became a pirate for freedom as he said it himself that the Pirate King in his eyes is the man with most freedom in the world!

Throughout One Piece, freedom can be seen:
Luffy's Childhood

Seagulls are important as they are not just sea creatures but air creatures too. This makes them unique as they have more freedom than any other animal in the world. In the One Piece world and ours, there is more ocean than land, this means land creatures do not have much room to go due to the oceans, but sea creatures only have the ocean. Then there is the seagull that can land on land, fly in the sky anywhere, and fly across the beautiful sea! The seagull has the most freedom for an animal in the sea!!

Marine Logo:

I am sure we have all seen the famous marine logo by now, but what does it consist of? The seagull!
It is ironic that the marines that confiscate true freedom has a symbol of freedom on their logo, but this is because the marines truly believe the marines truly give true freedom to the citizens by protecting the seas. An interesting thing is the seagull is holding a wrench. A wrench is used to tighten or lock things like nuts and bolts. This means the marines like to have and hold freedom very tightly persistently stopping anyone who tries to stop the marine's grasp of power! The marines also work hard and fight (the wrench symbolism) for the protection of freedom, but truly they are blocking the true freedom by making the free seagull be forced to hold a wrench!

Sengoku's Hat:

I found his hat kind of funny for such a high ranking and poweful man! But I realized that this hat represents his true view that the marines provide true freedom to the world! He wears this proudly, standing firm in his beliefs and taking out anyone that comes in his vision of true freedom. He believes true freedom is safe freedom, which Luffy and Shanks oppose!

Van Augur shoots seagulls from Jaya:

The seagulls are flying representing freedom in Jaya:

Initially like any One Piece fan, I thought showing Van Augur shooting bird simply means they are showing his sniping ability and how strong he really is. This happens fairly early in the series meaning he is a formidable opponent not to be messed with as his sniping abilities are extraordinary to shoot with such precision and distance! What is important to notice is he never shot no ordinary bird, he shot a seagull!! This represents the murder of freedom and foreshadows Blackbeard to be a far stronger opponent and his crew to be a crew that should not be reckoned with and they are a crew that will be one of the strongest in the series for sure! This also shows that Blackbeard and his crew is willing to do anything to get they want and that includes destroying other's wishes, dreams, and freedom to get what they want. By attacking an innocent seagull, it shows the evil and their willingness to go against freedom to achieve their dreams like killing Ace, betraying Whitebeard then killing him even if he saw Blackbeard as family!

Seagull The Character:

I am sure we may have seen Seagull in at least one point in the series in Edd War! He is described as having a round face and seems to be giant-like in size proportion to his crewmates. His current whereabouts are unknown though. I find this surprising that the only character named seagull is a part of the legendary Roger Pirates. The Roger Pirates's Captain is Gol D Roger, the Pirate King who gave his strawhat to Shanks who gave it to Luffy. I find it important that Seagull was in this crew. This means Gol D Roger may have became a pirate for the same reason as Shanks and Luffy (strawhat users) for freedom. Shanks did say Luffy said something similar to Roger which sparked Shanks to give his hat to Luffy! Luffy from what we heard was referring to freedom, which Roger might also have said. This means Roger having a crew member named Seagull shows that he was a freedom fighter, and this Seagull character helped Roger fight for this freedom!

Oda's Name Ideas:

This is an excerpt from this other website:

This is an interview with One Piece author Eiichiro Oda that was published in the One Piece: Blue Grand Data File volume. Unlike many interviews where author Oda is in the presence of co-workers or individuals he does/must respect, this was a one-on-one interview and where his mischievous and relaxed nature that readers have come to love through his SBS segments is in full force. The above mentioned book went on sale in Japan on August 7th, 2002. The information is accurate as of publishing, but no date was provided for the interview. To my knowledge this is the first time the interview has appeared in English anywhere so I would appreciate your cooperation in not spreading a copied and pasted version for posting on other websites. I do, however, strongly encourage anyone to use this as a resource or as a starting point to create their own translation. I have attempted to "translocalize" this as much as possible. That said, in instances where I have altered the original text I have clearly made note of any such changes below Oda's answer. I should also point out that I have made every attempt to explain or provide additional information on people, places or things that Oda mentions that may seem foreign to those unfamiliar with Japanese culture. Please direct any other questions you might have to me and I would be happy to discuss them with you. Thank you and please enjoy.

That is from an interview with One Piece author Eiichiro Oda that was published in the One Piece: Blue Grand Data File volume.

I found one of the questions highly interesting!

"Q.25 (Tashigi, Kuina, Nojiko and so on are characters with bird names but) What kind of bird do you like best?
Seagull"

The fact that Oda names many of the female characters in One Piece after birds shows his opinion on woman being free, but his favourite bird is the seagull! This could explain its significance and why it appears numerous times throughout the series and chapters! It also has a major significance to the story and foreshadows events to come like the Blackbeard Pirates ruthlessness and their importance later on.

How One Piece Should End?

I think it is only fitting to start this amazing series the same way they end it, by looking up into the sky and showing a seagull flying through the sky after everything has been resolved!! That would be perfect representing the continuation of freedom for generations ahead and nothing can destroy this freedom!

That is it for now. Hope you enjoyed reading it! Please feel free to give me reputation! I spent lots of time and hard work making this theory!! Feel free to leave your comments, compliments, and questions as a post below!

Hope you like my theory, thanks for reading. Comment and explain your perspective if you want.