One Piece: The powers of the Three-Eye Tribe explained

One Piece’s expansive world-building incorporates various races of people with varying powers. The Three-Eye Tribe first appeared to be an ordinary race of people with three eyes until their powers were revealed in the Final Saga.

In the world of One Piece, races, often known as Tribes, are groups of sentient beings who share different physical characteristics. Many races coexist in the world, some of which even originate on the moon or elsewhere. One such unique race is the Three-Eye Tribe, distinguished by an extra eye on their forehead. 

Charlotte Pudding was often criticized because of her third-Eye. Therefore, she always hid it under her bangs. As such, it was difficult to distinguish her from other people. The Final Saga reveals Blackbeard and Aokiji kidnapping Pudding to make her decipher the Poneglyphs from them. 

Before this, Pudding is never shown to have any special ability, making even Big Mom consider her useless. This makes fans wonder why an ordinary member of the Charlotte family would be useful to Blackbeard. The truth behind it all is in her powers as the Three-Eye Tribe.

The mythological references behind the Three-Eye Tribe

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Oda is never known to build any aspect of the story without any cause. Each element draws reference from religions, mythologies, architectures, historical facts, and so on. The people of this particular Tribe have an extra eye placed horizontally on their forehead. Apart from that, they look like any ordinary human. 

The meaning of the third eye is drawn from Hinduism and Taoism, both religions having different meanings. According to Hinduism, the third eye grants powers to those who achieve its “opening.” These powers can be clairvoyance, precognition, and visualization. These are all the abilities Big Mom expected her daughter Pudding to have, but she was disappointed when the latter showed no potential. 

The “opening” of the eye is also often called “awakening”, which figuratively refers to “enlightenment” or “spiritual awakening”. Furthermore, in Taoism, the third eye is related to a person’s memories, which is referenced by Pudding’s devil fruit, Memo Memo no Mi. 

The power that makes the Three-Eye Tribe so special

The people from the Three-Eye possess the potential to achieve a “true awakening”, drawing reference from Hindu mythology. This awakening grants them the ability to hear the “Voice of All Things,” thereby giving them the potential to decipher and read the ancient language of Poneglyph as an extension of that power. 

However, Pudding explains that hybrids such as her can only inherit the third eye, but it might be impossible to achieve the awakening. Since Pudding is the only known member of the Tribe, it is uncertain what plans Oda has in store for her. Whatever it is, she is sure to play an essential role in the future – hopefully, she will continue to be an ally to the Straw Hats. 

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