chromatic-lamina

Our cover request this time is a cute one of kid Loki drawing a picture of Ida in the Realm of the Dead, while Ida herself visits to secretly give him and his animal buddies food

Esperia still continues to fight for its independence, but people are being shot down

Brook is however taken aback, bamboozled even, from what he's seeing

In denial, he rushes to Reuven, calling for a medic and trying to bring his 'big bro' to consciousness

Also Mars is shadowy because he's not on the wheel, as a shadowy thread of Imu peers out from their head

Imu seems captivated by Brook's desperation, his memories of their meeting as reality continues to surface

It seems psychically Imu shuts the door and sipells, calling Brook's intrusion an inconvenience

Shuri points out that Reuven's dead, but instead of 'dad' or 'father' like she usually does, she calls him 'that guy'

This angers Brook, who demands to know what the God's Knight did to Shuri

He emphasises that he's watched her grow up and knows she's not capable of this

Shuri however counters, asking if he knew she was a Celestial Dragon, that 'this guy' (Reuven) wasn't her real father

Brook didn't and refutes it, but Shuri asks for proof, noting that the last 16 years were a waste and she should've been raised a celestial dragon - which she claims justifies her anger

She also claims that the 1000 slave demand was false, the true price the WG asked was to hand over Shuri

She claims Reuven's a good-for-nothing king who led their people to their doom, and thus she killed him to end the war - not caring that Brook notes that defeat leads Esperia into lawlessness

The God's Knight finally speaks up, Manmayer Groh, he says he remembers Brook now when he was a kid, and that Brook wasn't allowed near him

His eyes under his cap confirm the truth, heterochromia just like Shuri

Brook is shook from realising the truth

Groh notes how it's abnormal for them to come in person to retrieve Shuri, but the fact that she has those eyes - a rare trait - means that Imu wants her

'I didn't awaken it myself but...' so the eyes have a certain power maybe?

Groh almost elaborates but Imu tells him that he's said too much then infers that Shuri kill Brook

Brook still feels in denial, claiming to know everything about her having been there since birth

Shuri however claims he's pathetic for crying, and deserves stronger protection that Marejois provides: she doesn't need him anymore

Brook laments on memories; unable to protect Reuven, how a child he saw as an angel is now the appearance of a demon

With his own (or maybe Candelle's taught) technique, Gavotte Bond en Avant, Shuri stabs Brook in the head, Brook didn't even attempt to defend, only singing to himself the song 'Only Bones Get Left Behind'

When he wakes surrounded by his corps they say it's a miracle, and it is: he survived a stab in the head without a helmet to protect him like Jarul

Though this would explain the fuzzy memories, major blood vessels were missed but it's likely he had brain damage (and now he no longer has a brain yohoho)

Brook however asks about the king since he can't remember, the corps try to not tell him but he demands to know

An eyewitness saw Shuri board a government ship, most of the country's survivors have fled as refugees

Brook's memories show snippets, he yells in anguish, reopening his wounds

And then we return to the present

Back then Brook didn't know about devil fruits, and he felt that the devilish appearance was merely a hallucination from his grief

With the information he has now though regarding Domi Reversi, he tearfully asks the crew if he can put his faith in Shuri once more, that if she is indeed a victim he wants to save her

He asks for their combined strength, and they don't need to be asked twice

The first plan is breaking the ice; Nami considers lightning while Franky - still full of tears - considers a radical beam, Usopp is in a panic because he knows explosives won't work but wants to contribute

Brook however dashes ahead of them, likely to Gunko's direction

At the school Luffy's finished eating, and the chanclas are out so you know he means business

Echoing Zoro's comment to Goldberg, Luffy rationalizes that if Imu's Elbaf's enemy then they're his enemy too

If any other protagonist said 'I don't think I can lose' I would worry but Luffy? There's always hope for Luffy

Back to Loki vs Imu and Loki accuses Imu of foul play by kidnapping kids

Imu however is surprised Loki doesn't know: 800 years ago the giants were defeated trying to rescue their children, this is just those tactics again

With the children taken the giants will bend the knee, and thus Imu believes they've already won - that history always repeats itself

We also get a look at Zaza taking children and Brogy and Hajrudin looking to be the ones focused on dealing with it

However, Luffy has arrived

And with only a 'get off of Elbaf' smacks Imu square in the face, just like he did to Charloss

Being right is a blessing and a curse sometimes XD

Shuri was indeed not Reuven's, and a Manmayer - Groh's to be specific - from Candelle's 'bedridden illness' mentioned last chapter. The implications are nasty but the God's Knights are nasty fucks so it does track.

There's a lot of heartbreak with Brook from this flashback; his scar is from Shuri stabbing him in the head, he's likely been brain damaged all this time and his confusion turned into hate from the face value of what happened. It's fortunate that Imu doesn't recognize him, nor he remember Imu to be fair, but I wouldn't eliminate the possibility of Groh being alive just so Brook can get some payback on him later down the line.

Interestingly, this chapter Reuven didn't have the Domi Reversi appearance, so it's unclear what actually went down, but it's also something Shuri/Gunko could elaborate on if freed from Ragnir's ice. Her words do feel like the personality shift of Domi Reversi, but it probably was tied into some shock with learning that Reuven wasn't her biological father too. I feel like the WG demanding Shuri instead of 1000 slaves could be true - though I wouldn't rule out that the WG engineered the plague so they could demand this either.

It seems Shuri's eyes are important though, either because Imu has a heterochromia kink or something deep and powerful can be tapped in, maybe she can indeed see the future rather than just advanced Observation Haki? It wouldn't be too out there, Big Mom wanted the three-eyed people because they could allegedly read Poneglyphs once their eyes 'awakened', this could be a similar case.

But yeah, the flashback was short as expected and could only pick up again for Shuri's side of the story, and now we can return to the action and there is a lot. I do feel like, while the solidarity was correct from the crew, Jinbe, Nami, Franky and Usopp don't all need to be on ice breaking duty. There's probably gonna be more to it but it feels like they could do with giving the others something else, especially Usopp because it's Elbaf.

We do still need to deal with Zaza but if it is Hajrudin's role to do that I think that could work, but the giant parents and Chopper are likely gonna help too and I dunno how you fight a rain goddess, Sanji's about to see a giant god woman en route to Killingham so that we should prepare for some eye rolling in the upcoming chapters. Zoro will fight Sommers while Luffy and Loki are facing Imu, but how much Loki has in the tank remains to be seen, in fact how much Imu has in the tank remains to be seen because we know they have a time limit and Luffy's not yet using Gear Fifth.

Also there's the Biblo question with Robin we shouldn't forget about, also I find it interesting how we have Nico 'those who don't learn from history is doomed to repeat it' Robin and Nerona 'history will always repeat itself' Imu; two conflicting views and yet they've never truly crossed paths. We shouldn't neglect Lilith and Bonney, Jarul, or Gaban either, who have an empty dance card atm, feels like we could do something with them, and we can't also rule out reinforcements from the WG side...