We know the means but not the end

Since the beginning and the introduction of the main character Monkey D. Luffy we were under the understanding that his main goal was to become The Pirate King and find the One Piece. So it’s safe to assume that practically all One Piece fans were surprised to learn in episode 1088, that Luffy becoming the Pirate king was actually the means to get to an end that we don’t even know. That was definitely one of the biggest unexpected twists in One Piece. Following that reveal, if we adventure onto other characters whom we don’t know their end goal, we might be surprised to notice that most of the big names we know have unknown end goals. Among those people we have: Crocodile, Dragon, Blackbeard, Shanks, Rayleigh and the former crew members of Pirate King and Imu.

• Monkey D. Luffy :
  Known means: Becoming Pirate King and Finding the One Piece | End goal: unknown


• Crocodile :
  Known means: Cross Guild and his power | End goal: unknown
  Crocodile’s first goal, as the leader of the Baroque Works, was to take the throne of Alabasta, establish a military powerful country where we could rule and stand against the word with an Ancient Weapon at his disposal. But to what end did he really need all that power?
  After his defeat, the loss of his Shichibukai and his break out from Impel Down he has now formed Cross Guild. Basically we know that Cross Guild puts a bounty on the head of Marine officers for any individual to earn. He convinced Mihawk to join him in order to keep the Marine at bay and make them scared of chasing after them. We can understand the appeal of such a deal to Mihawk who likes quiet and peace where he wouldn’t have to run from the Marine or be constantly fighting but is that really the only reason for someone like Crocodile? What is his end goal with Cross Guild?


• Monkey D. Dragon
  Known means: Revolutionary Army | End goal: unknown
  Dragon formed the Revolutionary Army to oppose the World Government but not the Marine itself (there will be another article about the different views of these two entities). Dragon’s main goal is to overthrow the corrupt World Government and free people from its tyrannical rule. In order to do that he has and is continuing to gather recruits to his vision and preparing to act soon. To what actual end does he want the reign of the World Government and Tenryuubito to finish? What world is he trying to create after his mission?


• Marshall D. Teach aka Blackbeard :
  Means: his special body, his powers and his already achieve plans | End goal: unknown
  We all know Blackbeard has been following his plans for years but we don’t know his final goal or even the means to get to his end. He had many means to get his some of his gals: join Whitebeard’s crew to the Yami Yami no fruit, catching a big name pirate to bring to the marine to become a Shichibukai, becoming a Shichibukai to get access to Impel Down, etc. He has always had small goals achieve through specifics means but we don’t know his end game at all.


• Shanks
  Known means : His power and his crew | End goal : unknown
  Basically we don’t know anything about any of his goals nor even the action he’s actually taking. He seems to be waiting for something before taking major actions. But what?


• Rayleigh and the former crew of Pirate King :
  The question as to why Rayleigh wanted to train Luffy and help him become the Pirate King is a part unknown. Also there is the mystery of why the crew of the Pirate King didn’t take any actions after discovering all of history including the Century Void. It seems like they are all waiting for something that includes Rayleigh and Shanks. Crocus from Twin Peak, a former crew member of the Pirate King, did wonder if the Mugiawras were the pirates “they” were waiting for (see episode 63). Even Roger himself said he wished he was born at a time when he could have met Joy Boy. With the possibility that Luffy might be the reincarnation of Joy Boy we are definitely going to discover a lot of revelations in the future.


• Imu:
  Known means : Gorosei, Marine, Royal Knights, Cipher Pol, …| End goal : unknown
  All we know about this particular individual is that he/she is a top of the World Government. We know some of the means he/she has to achieve his/her goals but we practically don’t know anything about those end goals.

In some of these cases, we don’t even know the ”why” behind the “how”.