In the history of One Piece, it's hard to find a character more hated than Fleet Admiral Akainu. Throughout the Summit War, Akainu was portrayed as a cold and essentially heartless individual who only believed in "Absolute Justice." He viciously murdered Portgas D. Ace after baiting him into a fight by punching a hole through his body and burning his organs. He then even tried killing Whitebeard with the same method on multiple occasions, only thwarted by the Yonko's overwhelming might.

With that in mind, it might be hard to believe what Akainu's real name actually is and means. While he was referred to as Akainu by many throughout the series, which means "Red Dog," his true name is actually Sakazuki. The reason his true name is so jarring is that "Sakazuki" is the Japanese word for a pact of brotherhood over sake cups, which is what Ace, Sabo, and Monkey D. Luffy did to signify their brotherly bond. Why would series creator Eiichiro Oda give that name to the character that actually kills one of the brothers?

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While it may seem like a strange choice, Akainu's real name is actually quite fitting given his connection to the brothers. Sakazuki is directly responsible for essentially ending the ASL trio for good when he killed Ace, which is practically the inverse of his name's true meaning. At the same time though, his actions are directly responsible for uniting the brothers, albeit in a very indirect way.

By killing Ace, Sakazuki is directly responsible for curing Sabo's amnesia, which was the only thing that truly kept the brothers separated for all those years. Sabo regains his lost memories after reading the article detailing Ace's death while with the Revolutionary Army. The article specifically featured both Ace and Luffy's names as well as Sakazuki's own. This turned out to be the trigger that undid the amnesia, as by having the names of his two brothers as well as the word for action/event that bonded them as brothers appear together, the amnesia was finally lifted reuniting the three in a sense.

Another thing to remember is how Sabo described getting his memories back. Throughout the series, characters have seen the "ghosts" of past friends or family or some form of the embodiment of their will. Sabo even states that he felt Ace's spirit lift the fog in his mind as a way of guaranteeing that Luffy always had at least one brother looking out for him. This is one of the series' many examples of characters inheriting the will of another character who has died. In this way, now that Sabo has inherited Ace's will, the three brothers have all been reunited again, even if it is just in spirit, thanks to Sakazuki.

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While this explains the connection Sakazuki has to the ASL trio, it doesn't necessarily do much more. Currently, it is unclear whether his very particular name has any deeper connections to the story, although it can't be ruled out either. The Straw Hat Grand Fleet also swore their loyalty to Luffy using the same ceremony as the brothers did, which could imply that Sakazuki will at some point go after the leaders of it. Bartolomeo in particular could be a target given how much he admires Luffy. He might even go after the Fleet Admiral out of some sense of misguided devotion to his idol or even become targeted because of it.

If there is any guarantee that can be made at this moment in time, it's that the current Fleet Admiral's role in the story is far from over. Much like before the time-skip, Sakazuki has remained largely in the background but obviously being set up by Oda to appear in a big way later on. With Wano coming to a climax soon, fans can only hope that "later on" is sooner rather than later.

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