Oh...with the song echoing over it. Skip the rest, animate this now. I'll give Shuri being a bit of a Bonney situation regarding her sire a pass for now, because if it's just two it's building on that parallelism mentioned above. But it does put a sour note in Candelle's story. Not necessarily because the Celestial Dragons dealing in sex slavery and rape should be off limits. But because with Candelle & Ginny both it's the hypocrisy of being able to treat it like a horrible crime but not showing a side that centers the victim.

And daww, of course the gang is ready to help Brook and that gives this group in the crew something to do as the rest of the big battle unfolds.

One thing I actually really like about Brook's tone coming out of this is why he didn't say much about any of this before. How he was in such disbelief about the whole ordeal he plain didn't want to think about it. We do see him having a bit of knowledge about the higher echelons of the world and you know? It fits into something we talked about earlier in the arc, having a different if similar niche as Jinbei. Shark Daddy knows a lot about current Marines and other pirates, underworld figures but Brook gets a little more space with having some times to this hidden aristocracy. Which is a realistic dileniation, while some rich people really want to throw that money around and be in the spotlight...the real power is often hidden in plain sight keeping a lower profile.

Overall though, I buy it. Kinda a mature take on Brook's end but it's sensible. Remember way back in East Blue when people weren't sure devil fruits actually existed? So yeah, I can get the idea Brook just wrote it off as his mind adding demonic details to such a horrific turn. There's something so appealing about the old guy having a youthful tragedy finally catch up to him. How long has he actually gone without thinking about Esperia?

Alas, that is an excellent side dish but a side dish nonetheless. Imu gets his shit rocked by a stretchy boi as he's ginning up another speech about the way history always repeats itself.

Oughhhh baby Loki 🥺 My creature, my squishy, I wish to hug him until he pops everyday. That's his mama your honor!

Entirely fair reaction to wandering in on the Eldritch Horrors, Brook. I don't blame ya.

💔💔💔 MY FUCKING HEART 💔💔💔💔

Mars witnesses this and later also ignored Lucci's pleas over Kaku. Patterns, I see them.

OH FUCK OFF YOU SHADOW BANANA 💥💥💥💥💥 Are you actually here or just watching from the shadows? I'll assume watching bc you haven't exploded into hot form

"Inconvenience" little does Imu know that in a few decades, this inconvenience is going to cause Big Problems regarding his Elbalf takeover

BROOK KNOWS HIS DAUGHTER AND KNOWS SHE WOULDN'T DO THIS, NOBODY FUCKING TOUCH ME 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

Ough augh just because I suspected it was gonna happen doesn't mean I'm not upset. Queen Candelle what did they do to you.....

Shuri's absolutely being mind controlled here, like Harald was. No way in hell she'd ever be so disrespectful to Leuven or even suggest that her life here was a waste. Imu when I catch you 💥💥💥💥💥

1000 slaves or you, doesn't matter. Leuven wouldn't bow to the Governments whims like some trained dog. And oh how they hated that.

Huh. The demon wings/horns Leuven had faded. Noted...

YOU 🫵💥 I want you IN SPECIFIC dead, welcome to the shit list. Your roommates are many.

Candelle keeping Brook away from this fuck oughhhhh I'm gonna die they're everything to me. Save me fix its, save me Girl Piece, save me Ghost AU..... 💔

Hm. He has heterochromia too.

God's Knights and their habit of spawning random children strikes again 🙄

Okay, cool. Heterochromia magic. Interesting. Does this have anything to do with the Future Sight thing I pointed out last chapter? Do people with these eyes get something special out of Observation?

..... [squints at Imu] Did Lilli or anyone else from the Void Century have the magic heterochromia? If it was Lilli, are the Manmayer & Nefertari families connected? Nefertari D Shuri theory lives trust

I just realized I gave my Buggy design heterochromia..... Manmayer Buggy theory is twitching to life and I am afraid

THAT'S HIS DAUGHTER YOUR HONOR 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHURI IS HOW BROOK GOT HIS SCAR

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS LIKELY THE LAST TIME GUNKO USED A SWORD

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS THE LAST TIME BROOK SAW HIS DAUGHTER FOR SEVERAL DECADES

Augh ough the rest of the guards came for him 🥺 They're so precious to me

Leuven 💔 I'm happy he wasn't a tyrant like I initially theorized, I loved his dynamic with Brook so much

AS IF BROOK DIDN'T ALREADY NEED SO MUCH GODDAMN THERAPY

This is making me wonder what caused Shuri's amnesia..... Extended time under the mind control effect maybe? Or when the mind control wore off she tried to fight her way back home and has to get Amnesia'd to prevent escape? Just plain Trauma™?

SOMEBODY JUST FUCKING KILL ME IT'D BE KINDER ATP I'M SITTING HERE LOOKING LIKE FRANKY 💔💔💔💔💔

The One Piece world is so full of magical bullshit it's always a bit shocking to remember that Normal People exist and have no idea about any of the magic being Real. The Grand Line is so wild, and yet back in the Blues, barely anyone even believes Devil Fruits exist. And that is worldbuilding I adore <3

ANYWAY BROOK WANTS TO PUT HIS FAITH BACK IN HIS PRINCESS, HIS DAUGHTER!!!! SOMEBODY SEDATE ME!!!! 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

HE WANTS TO SAVE HER AND HE TRUSTS HIS CREW TO HELP AUGH FUCK 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

oughhhhh I need to write Girl Piece or I fear I'll never cope with this. Can you believe I have to watch Trigun ep6 after this? Back to back emotional torture, I'm almost certain of it.

I FUCKING LOVE THE STRAWHATS AND THEIR LOYALTY AND FAITH IN EACH OTHER HAVE I EVER SAID THAT 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 OF COURSE THEY'RE GOING TO HELP, BROOK ASKED THEM TO!!!!!! 💞💞💞

Brook I'm gonna assume you're running to the ice and not running off to do something stupid, okay? <3

LUFFY'S UP EVERYONE LOCK IN LUFFY IS UP!!!!

💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞

I'm so excited to watch Imu's ass get kicked Looney Toons style <3 Insert Nika & Joy Boy in full cheerleader outfits cheering Lu on 💞

That history book on the shelf do indeed be repeating itself, but don't you see Imu?

You clearly failed to control the Giants then, considering they're free now. What makes you think history's repeat won't just lead to your defeat yet again?

Also you seem to have some feelings around children being kidnapped and I am taking note of that fact

A NEW SATISFYING PUNCH TO ADD TO THE LIST, GET THEIR ASS LUFFY!!!!! 💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

Very good chapter, as expected. I am sobbing into my cola and frantically plotting out Girl Piece so I can give Shuri a happy life 💔 My Ghost AU is also thriving under the tragedy, and I am left still wondering some things about this storyline.

What lead to Shuri's amensia? What's the heterochromia magic? How did Brook end up with the Rumbars? What happened to Esperia after Leuven's death? Etc etc, I'm very excited to learn more eventually! Which means it's a good backstory! <3

JFC you can't give a guy a tragic backstory with TWO dead moms and then show him as an adorable kidlet drawing a cute portrait of "mom".

Also I think some of his animal friends were just killed in front of him. So. Wow. Low blow, Odacchi.

Imu's always creepy af, but wow. That eerie birdlike silhouette is... extra so.

Little orphan Brook finding a new big bro and then THIS.

SO MUCH TRAUMA

Then Imu goes ~swoosh~ before Brook can spot him, and all that's left is a girl who he says is not his Shuri-hime

And of course it's quite impossible to believe anything coming out of a person who is 100% Domi Reversi'd (or otherwise under Imu's control), BUT... it is not impossible to believe that a Tenryuubito raped Shuri's mom, as the Tenryuubito kind of do that a lot.

...especially since this guy has Shuri's mismatched eyes. Oof. OOF.

But okay. The eyes:

"双極の瞳" [soukyouku no hitomi] is (my dictionary says) not the usual expression for normal heterochromia bc that's 虹彩異色症 (a lovely word!). SOOO. What's up with that? 双極 is something with two poles, or the word "bipolar"...

OKAY. But. Why did Imu want her, why do the eyes matter and what is Imu hoping someone with those eyes will "awaken"?? Imu tells St Manmayer to stop running his mouth before we can find out but this is VERY intriguing.

THIS IS HOW BROOK'S SKULL GOT ITS SCAR?!?!? SERIOUSLY??? SERIOUSLY. Wow. So much trauma. SO MUCH.

He couldn't lift a sword to the girl he helped raised. The girl he loved so much, even after she killed his benefactor. Of course he couldn't. But he probably didn't count on surviving that choice.

...yeah, that expression seems about right for that amount of trauma.

And OF COURSE he thought her appearance was just his imagination; his mind not dealing with the horrors of that day... but now... Now he knows. About Devil Fruits, about Imu's powers. And. And he can believe in her again. After a LIFETIME. After living (and dying, and coming back) with all that hurt. And after thinking he'd never see anyone from his past ever again because even those he did not see dying with his own eyes must be dead and gone by now..

But. SHURI.

SO POLITE asking his nakama to save his little girl. ;_______;

And of course every single one of them is immediately ready to use their powers to get her out of the ice block!

...wait no come back Brook I WANT MORE I WANT HIM TO GET TO SEE SHURI AGAIN IMMEDIATELY oh wait okay this is also very intense:

So the Giants lost the war 800 years ago because they rescued children? And Imu says that history will repeat.

YES LUFFY

GO LUFFY

STANDING OVATION

PUNCH HIS FACE PUNCH IT HARD PUNCH IT MORE!!

GTFO IMU YOU ASSHOLE

The crew backing up Brook here was so nice. And Brook doing the Punk Hazard running technique was fun! heh.