Laugh Tale

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Hierarchy

Blue Planet > Blue Sea > Grand Line > New World

Japanese Name

ラフテル

Romanized Name

Rafuteru

English Name

Laugh Tale (VIZ, Funimation);Raftel (formerly VIZ, Funimation);Laughtale (Odex)

First Appearance

Chapter 967; Episode 968

Region

New World

Introduction

Laugh Tale is the island at the end of the New World which supposedly holds the treasure One Piece. It was named by Gol D. Roger after he and his crew arrived on the island and discovered the treasure left there by Joy Boy. There are four Poneglyphs known as Road Poneglyphs that, when read together, lead to four locations which, if aligned, will lead to Laugh Tale's location.

Layout And Locations

Little has been seen of the island, but its shore appears to be composed of steep cliffs with large amounts of wilderness, though there are some objects that appear to be shaped like buildings or fortifications.

Poneglyphs

It is said that upon reaching Laugh Tale, if one has taken with them along their journey the passages of the poneglyphs, then the Rio Poneglyph will finally be revealed. Furthermore, the Road Poneglyphs, a set of four special red poneglyphs, each reveal a point on a map of the world once read. When all four points are deciphered, it becomes possible to discern the place at the center of these points where they all intersect, and the true path to Laugh Tale will be made known. Roger speculated that the World Government prohibits the research of the poneglyphs because they purposely do not want anyone to reach Laugh Tale so that no one will find what is hidden there.

History

Past

Sometime during the Void Century, Joy Boy left behind some sort of great treasure on an island located at the very end of the Grand Line. Roger started suspecting about the existence of a final island after reaching a dead end at Lodestar Island, thirty-nine years ago. There, Roger's Log Pose would start behaving strangely, with the needle going haywire and never recording a destination. This, as well as countless stories and denials provided by the World Government, would fuel Roger's beliefs that this supposed place existed and held something of immense value. Having temporarily recruited Kouzuki Oden from the Whitebeard Pirates due to his ability to read the Poneglyphs, Roger initiated his final voyage through the Grand Line with the intent of getting to its true end. The Roger Pirates were eventually able to uncover the enigma behind the Road Poneglyphs, having located them all in this new quest, and reached the mysterious final island 25 years before the current timeline. As they stumbled upon Joy Boy's treasure, Roger and his crew burst into laughter. They learned the truth about what happened during the Void Century, the true nature of the Ancient Weapons, and the meaning of the initial D. The nature of the treasure, coupled with what they had managed to learn about Joy Boy and the past, were considered a "funny story" by Roger, inspiring him to dub the final island "Laugh Tale". Roger and his crew are the only other people known to have reached this island. During his stay on the island, an unknown member of the Roger Pirates created an Eternal Pose that is aimed at Laugh Tale just in case he or another crew member wanted to return for any reason. But Roger found out and threw the Eternal Pose away into the sea, which was then swallowed by a Sea King. Roger offered Whitebeard the information on how to get to Laugh Tale, but Whitebeard declined because of his own dreams of achieving a family instead of reaching the One Piece.

Translation And Dub Issues

Before the release of One Piece: Stampede, the name of the island was commonly known as "Raftel" in both official and unofficial translations. In the movie, however, the name is spelled as "Laugh Tale" on an Eternal Pose. The Funimation dub opted to start using Laugh Tale, though the subbed version did not. The manga later confirmed the spelling of Laugh Tale as well as the origin of its name in Chapter 967. According to Takuma Naito, an editor of One Piece, the editors in charge of the series had been told of this spelling and its meaning a long time ago.

Trivia

• Based on the points of the four Road Poneglyphs points, the four marks form an "X" when they intersect, indicating the location of Laugh Tale and the One Piece. In a traditional treasure map, the location of treasure is generally marked with an "X", whereas the above image appears as an "X made by Xs", hinting the importance of the location.
• Coincidentally, the final line of the famous pirate song Binks' Sake contains the phrase "funny tale" (笑い話, waraibanashi?, or literally "laugh tale"). Roger also quoted this exact line before naming the island. However, the song has existed long before the naming of the island.

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