Note: This article is derived from a post made by our newest editorial writer, Chao, on Tumblr on November 23, 2014 and contains spoilers for the Dressrosa arc.

For someone who entered into the One Piece story fairly late, Trafalgar Law has made quite the impression. To anyone familiar with European history, his name isn’t exactly subtle, as it is a reference to a famed historical naval battle. This allows him to stand out among his fellow rookies who are seemingly named after pirates and words associated with them. However, Eiichiro Oda was still able to surprise the readers with the reveal of Law’s name by leaving us under the assumption it was his full name. While the significance of his surname to the story was not initially apparent early on, his actual role in the story is now unfolding.

The main reference of his surname is the Battle of Trafalgar, a naval engagement that occurred west of the eponymous Cape Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. It was here where the Royal Navy defeated the combined forces of the French Navy and Spanish Armada, establishing the unchallenged supremacy of the British over the sea. The name of this cape is of Arabic origin, possibly meaning “western cape” or “cape of the cave”. The cape is located off the southwestern coast of Spain, which is the country that Oda took inspiration for the country of Dressrosa.

In the Battle of Trafalgar, twenty-seven British warships were led by Lord Horatio Nelson, a flag officer noted for his leadership and military strategy. He was known for tactics that resulted in decisive victories in various battles during the Napoleonic War. Nelson also sustained a number of injuries in his experience in warfare, particularly losing his right hand during his unsuccessful assault in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the sight of his right eye in Corsica. The former was referenced in One Piece, Chapter 769 when Donquixote Doflamingo amputated Law’s right arm with his String Saw.

Appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet, Nelson was called on to resume the blockade on the French fleet. Napoleon had been planning to force through a passage into the British Channel, leading up to the events known as the “Trafalgar Campaign”. Nelson came up with an unconventional strategy of attacking the enemy ships with a perpendicular formation. Though being a carefully calculated gamble, it led to a decisive victory on the British side and prevented Napoleon from furthering his plans to invade England. In addition, Napoleon was inexperienced with naval warfare and the more competent French naval officers had already been dismissed or executed during the early part of the French Revolution. However, this was also Lord Nelson’s last battle, as he was fatally shot by an enemy marksman. Again, this is referenced in-series when Doflamingo repeatedly shoots Law with lead bullets.

In honor of this battle, the name Trafalgar has been used for monuments and locations, such as the Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster. Nelson’s Column was built in the square in order to commemorate his service. Located in the same city is the Cavendish Square, a lesser known public square, it coincidentally shares its name with Cavendish, another character who appears in Dressrosa. Moreover, the British also named their naval vessels after said battle, such as the Trafalgar-class submarine, a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines that can navigate through thick ice. Considering how the Heart Pirates travel around with a yellow submarine, even through the icy seas created by Aokiji in Marineford, Oda may have taken some inspiration from this vessel.

However, the name has attained a negative connotation in France, due to the humiliating loss they suffered in this historical battle. After the Battle of Trafalgar, Napoleon had even given up the hope of leading another a large scale naval battle, and began focusing on expanding control over continental Europe instead. He stopped trade with the British in retaliation for the naval blockade they had imposed. The French phrase “un coup de Trafalgar” has also been used to describe an unexpected situation that will have serious repercussions and far-reaching consequences. Whatever happens in this arc, it will definitely have a long-lasting impact to the plot, particularly the downfall of Doflamingo’s influence in the underworld market, the World Government, and the world as a whole. This also includes how the loss of Kaido’s supply chain of Devil Fruits will affect their alliance in the future.

While the results of the battle did secure British supremacy over the sea, the Battle of Trafalgar did not have much influence on the outcome of the War of the Third Coalition, which may allude to a potential setback in the near future in One Piece. Known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, the Battle of Austerlitz was considered to be one of Napoleon’s greatest victories, where he crushed the Russo-Austrian army and led to the dissolution of the Roman Empire. Guess that would mean that we should be on the lookout for Austerlitz after the current arc.

In Japanese, the first two characters of Law’s surname is tora (トラ) , which is also the Japanese word for tiger. This preserves the animal theme naming of the Warlords, which includes Teach whose family name is Frankish for horse servant. The animal name is further emphasized when Luffy gives him the nickname Torao (トラ男) in the Japanese version, which can be taken as tiger man. When written in different characters, Torao can serve as an actual Japanese name.

As for his hidden name, it was revealed that D is said to be the “enemies of gods” and will “call another storm.” Basically, the first statement implies that they are viewed as demons, while the other statement notes that they would bring a violent commotion. Since we still don’t know what D stands for, I’ll just leave it as that.

Law is also the first character in the series to have a taboo name or imina (忌み名), otherwise translated as “true name”. The concept of taboo names originated from China, known as huì (諱), where it was considered disrespectful to refer to a person by his real name when the person isn’t a close acquaintance, hence the taboo. Chinese emperors would even ban the use of the characters in his name to be used by everyone but himself, which became an issue when the character in question was particularly common.

His taboo name Water is also similar to the name Walter, a name of German origins denoting “ruler of an army.” It should be noted that Wāteru (ワーテル) is an extremely obscure spelling of the name Walter in Japanese. While this may be a coincidence, this could serve as a hint to his possible role in the future.

The Latinized form of this name is Waltharius, which is also the name of an epic poem that featured the legendary king of the Visigoths, Walter of Aquitaine. In this epic poem, Waltharius was a famed and powerful warrior. In one part of the story, it featured him in a battle with Hagano where he carelessly lost his right hand to an enemy. Undaunted, he stubbed his right hand on his shield, took out a knife with his left hand, and cut off the right side of his attacker’s face which included his eye. The reference in this story may be linked to Týr, a Norse god associated with law and heroic glory. Týr also lost his right hand when a monstrous wolf called Fenrir tore it off.

Oda has also revealed that Law’s name is derived from Edward Low, a British pirate known for his cruelty. Edward Low was born in Westminster and grew up to became a thief. He eventually left his hometown and settled in Boston, where he met his wife. However, his son died as an infant, and his wife died giving birth to his daughter. Soon after, he left his daughter and began a life of piracy. However, the loss of his wife continued to haunt him. As such, he was more merciful towards women and married men during his career. During a raid, he managed to acquire a brigantine named Rebecca, coincidentally sharing the name with another character who appeared in Dressrosa. Low lost most of his crew after dealing with a man-of-war led by Peter Solgard in an event named the “Capture of the Fancy.” Low is particularly notorious for his cruel methods of torture before killing his victims, which include mutilations, disembowelment, decapitations, slaughter, and cannibalism. It was said that he became more cruel after he had lost most of his crew. We have yet to see Law do anything considered to be reprehensibly cruel, such as actual torture itself. In addition, he did have a semblance of compassion when it came to children.

His name also resembles Hudson Lowe, where all three names are spelled the same in Japanese. He was the son of an army surgeon who had serve in the British army, but was more commonly known as the Anglo-Irish soldier who served as Governor of St. Helena and Napoleon’s jailer. Lowe was described as a competent and loyal soldier, who may have quickly rose in rank had he been on Napoleon’s side. This was alluded in series by how Doflamingo was impressed by Law and had planned to groom him to become his right-hand man.

In Japanese, the combination of the taboo name Water (ワーテル) and his given name Law (ロー) forms the word Waterloo (ワーテルロー), which is based on the pronunciation of the name in the original language. Currently located in modern-day Belgium, Waterloo was a small town in the Netherlands and the location of a famed battle where Napoleon suffered his ultimate defeat. The name of this town is derived from the Dutch words water (water) and loo (forest), basically meaning “wet forest”. While the meaning of the town’s name doesn’t really have anything to do with Law, Water could serve as a reference to him being a pirate sailing the sea.

The Battle of Waterloo took place on June 18, 1815. Like the Battle of Trafalgar, it was a major battle in the Napoleonic wars. Before Napoleon returns from his exile in Elba, the various European nations formed the Seventh Coalition to defeat him, particularly the United Kingdom, Prussia, the Austrian Empire, and the Russian Empire. The Seventh Coalition had two armies to go against Napoleon’s army. The Anglo-Allied Army was led by Arthur Wellesley, more commonly known as the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian Army was led by Gebhard von Blücher. The former was even referenced in One Piece when a pirate named Wellington almost killed Law.

The town was chosen to be the battlefield because it was the final settlement before Brussels, where the Seventh Coalition was awaiting reinforcements. While the troops of the Coalition’s army were inexperienced, the ground formation in Waterloo gave them an advantage by hiding their strength. Due to Napoleon’s poor decision to delay his army and wait for the ground to dry up, his opponents had the opportunity for a preemptive strike. As a result of his defeat, Napoleon abdicated and went into exile. This battle ended a series of wars that had plagued Europe and it ushered in several decades of peace to the continent.

Even though the battle resulted in the victory of the Seventh Coalition, the term Waterloo has also been used as a term to connote “decisive defeat” due to the aforementioned event. Similar to Trafalgar, many locations have been named Waterloo in honor of the battle.

Considering how Trafalgar and Waterloo are different battles in the same war, it clearly means that there will be more to Law’s story down the line. With both battles having been won by the British side along with the nationality of Edward Low, Law’s name has a very strong connection to the United Kingdom. The reveal of his full name does bring up a new question. Who will play the role of Napoleon?

Judging by one of Napoleon’s titles as the Emperor of France and how the French Empire even had client states, it is very likely that the role of Napoleon will be one of the Four Emperors. Kaido is the most likely candidate due to his direct connections with Doflamingo and how the “D Alliance” had him as their original target. However, very little is known about Kaido at this time, but it would be a clear indication if he were to have a French theme.

On a related note, Law’s full name now contains four words, assuming that D also stands for a word. Four is a number associated with death in East Asian cultures due to the phonetic resemblance of the two words in their respective languages. Along his bounty of 440 million Berry, these further reinforce the death motif surrounding Law.

In summary, his name connotes serious repercussions, bringer of a storm, ultimate defeat, and potential connotations for the ruler of army and death. These suggest that Law may be playing a massively important role for the remainder of the series. From a writing perspective, Oda will likely not waste this name by killing him off in this arc as he has yet to fulfill whatever key role his name implies. But once he does fulfill it, Oda could do away with him, but it would also be equally likely that he would lead the next generation like Whitebeard.

[Image Credits: Toei Animation, Shueisha, and the National Maritime Museum]