#ch 623

...and oh, my poor heart. We are truly living in the times now, with so much backstory and lore and interesting little tidbits.

First we have Harald's whole thing, with atoning for the sins of his forebearers

(I like that he's working in the literal shadows, as he seems to be appearing from and disappearing into the mist)

And more lore! On the God's Knights!

How do you work?

I beg thee Oda, tell us.

We know that:

a) God's knights serve in Mariejois

b) They know the greatest depths of the world

c) They are bound by either the Deep or Deep-Deep contract (unclear which)

Also, the focusing in on Harald through the emphasis lines makes him seem... I don't know, almost overly eager and like he's shouting all the time?

As we probably should have expected, Harald can't tell anyone of his dealings with the Knight's of God (who have their own temple? Why? "Shangara" is almost Shangri-La like, but I'll have to look it up. According to the Internet, "Shangara" is one of the 12 prominent traditional dances of Zimbabwe, but I suspect that's not where Oda went for inspiration).

And we see Fishman Island and king Neptune again! It's nice to see that Harald still has some friends outside whatever he's up to with Mariejois.

And like a good friend, Neptune is honest with Harald. He's quite right; Harald was a right horror until he met Ida.

That face when Neptune suggests bethroting Loki and future-Shirahoshi, though. Priceless.

..although he seems to warm up to the idea.

Leaving the age thing aside, Shirahoshi and Loki could be an interesting pairing from a personality perspective. She's extremely sheltered (but tries to be brave), she's kind and she lets bygones be bygones and even forgave her mother's murderer -while locked up in a tower for a decade- while he attacks his mother's murderer, is quick to anger and thinks no-one loves him, but has also been locked up for a good chunk of time (was it six years he was chained to that tree?) and might have hitherto hidden sides judging from his recent treatment of Ida, his willingness to fight alongside the Straw Hats, and the fact that Luffy trusts him. And they match in size (because even if I'd love to hear the Lola-story, the biological impossibility of that is just...no).

...oh no.

I don't have the space for another pairing to rotate in my head.

So we'll leave that be and focus on the next thing! A slave revolt at Mariejois!

Also, this chapter has a nice nod to an earlier panel in chapter 521:

First I thought this mightbe a rare example of Oda making a mistake, but after checking the relevant chapters (521, 620-624) it doesn't seem that way.

On the other hand, it might be a mistake that was brilliantly patched.

Fisher Tiger went out to sea. Fisher Tiger got captured and kept as a slave. Fisher Tiger escaped, got a bit of help, and freed slaves on Mariejois.

However, since no-one knew he had been a slave, it's possible that the story got a life of its own. Boa Hancock and sisters said 'he scaled the Red Line' (how did they know that if they'd never seen him before?) in chapter 521 and in chapter 623, Fisher Tiger himself just says he was a slave before he got free. It's thus entirely possible that he didn't escape and go back, but rather freed the others while he was escaping.

This is interesting, since it looks like Fisher Tiger is running away here until Someone(TM) (Shanks or Shamrock) removes his collar. Until the collar is removed and Fisher Tiger gets access to the armory, running away is a smart move, but now we'll get to speculate about the identity of the Mystery Person for the next five years or so, until Oda decides to reveal it.

Because guess who found their way home, all the way from the surface world?

It's Shanks time!

(At this point, Harald has been God's Steel for around nine years)

First, I wonder who's saying "I can't wait to execute them" in the first panel. It looks like the main conversation is between harald and Summers, and a third party is cutting in - and that could be Shanks, prompting his biological father to introduce him to Harald.

And.

And, and, and.

What do we think of Shanks here?

The consensus online seems to be 'He's playing a role to intercept Mariejois for Reasons'.

And yes, that would absolutely make sense. He could be there so scout out the security, or to free the slaves, or to destabilise the government.

But what if he's not playing a role?

What was it that Roger found out on Laugh Tale that made Shanks burst into tears?

What if Roger's death made him re-evaluate everything in his life and seek out his biological family, in the hopes that it would make the pain go away?

What if this is Shanks? Or if this is Shanks at 24, whatever he became later?

But how did he know he was a Figarland? Garland didn't even know about his children until the morning of the Human Hunt, because otherwise he would have taken his children from their mother prior to that. So he can't have left a note or special clothes or an amulet or anything else that usually is bestowed upon the Chosen One.

Of course, this does point to "information gathering" being his first object, but still.

What if Oda pulls off the greates twist of them all?

(Also, now we know that Shanks was in an altercation with Teach/Whitebeard around 15 years ago)

((Appraently the Figarland boys are very popular, judging from the hearts floating in the air in the background there))

Back to Elbaph we go!

Where Ida is suffering from mothers-in-flashbacks-disease and is on her way out. Which we knew and expected, but still sucks, since she's such a gem.

Actually, good point Ida, maybe listen to the worried friend there.

If you have the means, use them.

It's adorable how both her boys show her their love in their own way.

Oh, my poor heart.

What a chapter!

I have way too much to think about regarding Ida's fate and the whole blood-family-versus-found-family and how culture and expectation shapes us all, but this was such a ride! Figarland-lore, Loki-lore, Elbaph-lore in general...