The Man Marked by Flames, Vander Decken

I actually believe the Man Marked by Flames could be none other than the legendary Vander Decken, captain of the Flying Dutchman from hundreds of years ago.

Ever since we were introduced to Imu's flames/omen abilities in Elbaf, one thought came to mind:

What if the Man Marked by Flames was marked by Imu's flames?

And this is where I think Vander Decken's story starts to almost come together.

We know that the original Vander Decken was searching for Poseidon, which means he may have possessed some knowledge surrounding Poseidon, Joyboy, or some sort of truth.

Then, in chapter 606, we are told that Vander Decken suddenly went crazy, killed his own crew, threw them overboard, and cursed the gods.

With the introduction of domi reversi, what if Vander Decken didn't actually go crazy?

Perhaps his search for Poseidon and potential knowledge made him a threat to Imu and the WG. Imu could have then used domi reversi or some similar power on him, forcing him to kill his own crew and leaving him to curse the very "gods" who had done this to him (Imu and the CD's).

In the same chapter (606) and in the discovery of the Flying Dutchman, we are given a song about Decken containing the lyrics "Find it! The sunken treasure is mine for the taking."

Maybe this was a literal treasure? But considering that Vander Decken was also searching for Poseidon, it's possible that his journey was more than that. Maybe, somewhere along his journey, he discovered knowledge or something connected to the ancient world that he was never supposed to find.

Then we have another part of his legend:

Vander Decken supposedly incurred the wrath of god and was forced to roam the seas for eternity.

What if the "wrath of God" was literally Imu's flames/powers?

That could be how Vander Decken was left with the burn scars in the first place.

Of course, Vander Decken was said to have eventually died on fishman island. But Poseidon only appears once every few centuries, meaning that when he initially reached fishman island, he may have been too early to find the Poseidon he was searching for.

This could explain why knowledge of Poseidon and the mission to find her was passed down through the Vander Decken family for generations.

But I don't believe he ever truly died.

Perhaps, by the time he reached fishman island, he had already fallen under Imu's control through some form of covenant, or another ability we don't yet fully understand. Instead of truly dying, he could have been cursed to roam the sea for all eternity as was stated in his legend as a punishment, which i'll be honest, is suspiciously similar to Zunesha, another figure from the distant past who was punished for an unknown crime and forced to wander for centuries as well.

And if Imu or the WG had control over him, Vander Decken could have eventually been forced into serving them in some way, essentially becoming a hidden agent who has spent centuries travelling the seas.

This now brings us to the missing fishman island poneglyph:

We know that the poneglyph that was once on fishman island eventually disappeared around the time roger was executed.

Roger was able to reach laughtale and discover the truth, later beginning the great age of pirates.

The WG likely thought that this would be the perfect time to ensure that nobody else could follow roger's path to find the truth of the world.

So what if Imu/ the WG decided to hide this very poneglyph themselves? (As Shiryu hypothesised).

And i believe the person given this mission was Vander Decken.

He had already spent his life searching for Poseidon, had reached fish man island, and if he had truly been cursed to roam the seas indefinitely, he could transport and protect the poneglyph while remaining almost impossible to find.

And now is the symbolism that comes with this theory:

If Vander Decken originally set out searching for Poseidon and possessed knowledge connected to Joyboy, only to be stopped and cursed by Imu due to the threat his mission carried, then how fitting would it be for luffy, the new Joyboy, to defeat him in order to obtain the Poneglyph and finally free him from Imu's curse.

In the end, the man who potentially had knowledge of the world, being forced to roam the seas for centuries in shackles, would finally be freed by the very person carrying the will and powers of Joyboy.