(chapters 1186 and 1187)

Now, this is probably nothing, but I've seen people pointing out how weird it is for Luffy to be barefoot in that big panel of him vs Imu at the end, but I notice he's been barefoot for this whole chapter, actually. I would've said this was just an oversight, but every time we see his feet in this chapter he's specifically not wearing his sandals. And it just feels odd when last chapter there was a panel highlighting the fact that he tossed his boots for his sandals as he's getting ready to fight

.

Interesting that only one of the flames seems to speak in a different font, I wonder what that's about. Also, they speak! And to each other, which means they seem to be separate entities and at least somewhat conscious

(chapters 1179 and 831)

I already thought this before when Imu first arrived in Elbaf, but his power sometimes looks a lot like Big Mom's. Those singing trees and houses looked like the trees from the Seducing Woods in Whole Cake Island, and now Imu's little black flame balls also look and act a lot like her homies

(chapters 1150 and 835)

In fact, the way Big Mom makes her homies feels a little like how Domi Reversi works, in that they both take a portion of someone's lifespan as an exchange. So if Big Mom takes that lifespan as a "soul" and puts it in other things that develop a life and consciousness of their own, I wonder if those little black flames could also be the portion of lifespan that Imu took from people when he used Domi Reversi

These are all purely speculation, obviously, but the spooky trees and houses also remind me of Thriller Bark, where Moria could take people's shadows (that retain some of their personalities, so somewhat similar to a part of their souls) and use them to revive his zombies. All of this to say that this talk of shadows and souls makes me look at those sentient little flames and question where their sentience comes from

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Imu's attack is called 怨魔剣 with the furigana スティグマ (sutiguma). 魔剣 (maken) means magic/demon sword and 怨み (urami) means resentment, grudge, malice or bitterness. Stigma, or スティグマ (sutiguma), is most likely about the Catholic belief of wounds that appear on certain people that correspond to the crucifixion wounds on Jesus Christ, ie on the hands and feet (from the nails), on the side of the chest (from the lance), on the head (from the crown of thorns), and on the back (from carrying the cross)

[Hilarious to me that Loki is Jesus in this scenario, he even gets pierced by a sword/lance on the side of his chest and everything]

Also, I think it's interesting that on Imu's side the black flame takes the form of what appears to be a suzu bell, which are round bells used in Shinto shrines and ceremonies that you ring in order to wake deities and repel evil. It's pretty ironic, since he's basically The Evil/Devil Guy and ringing his bell seems to call forth his black flame sword like a homing missile. In fact, the whole attack name is ironic, since the name of a holy wound is being used by a guy who looks like a demon and who has eaten the Devil Fruit

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It's very funny that Sommers is quite literally in the middle of kidnapping children as hostages to control the giants, and he thinks that after they do that both the giants and the Straw Hats would just... finish their party? It's silly because that's a very stupid thing for him to say, but it also really highlights how little he thinks of people's lives and relationships. It reminds me of Gunko telling the Straw Hats that the children's lives mean nothing to her and she doesn't understand the concept of a hostage, and her also being confused about why Ronja wouldn't be happy that the giants chose her over the school and library (made even more painful now with the added bonus of her backstory)

(chapters 1146 and 1149)

It serves as a reminder that the Celestial Dragons don't think of anyone that isn't them as people, but it also makes me wonder how much of this is being influenced by their contract with Imu. Gunko is still a special case and a mystery, but Sommers and the other God's Knights have at least a Depths Covenant, and it was shown that Imu could influence and control Harald almost like he was Domi Reversi'd. It felt like he had no inhibitions, compassion or regard for other people, which we know is not his usual personality. He behaved like the God's Knights do, and we haven't ever seen them when they're not potentially under the influence of the Covenants. Just something to keep in mind

[I hope this isn't the case, though. I hope their lack of compassion or empathy is due to their upbringing and existence within a society that values purity of blood and social stratification over everything else, because that already makes a lot of sense. And we have seen that some Celestial Dragons struggle to be different from how they were raised, especially when exposed to different people and cultures, showing that it's not so much that they're intrinsically evil, just that that's what happens when you live in isolation and are raised to believe that everyone different from you is inferior and unworthy. It's much more interesting to explore that than if the root of all evil just ends up being Imu]

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When Sanji is listing out the problems they're facing, he uses the term 現況 (genkyou), which means present condition. When he correctly calls out Killingham for being the root of the problem, he uses the word 元凶 (genkyou), which means main cause/culprit, source or ringleader, and is also the title of this chapter

As a lot of us speculated at the time, Gaban really did have more to say to Sanji that got drowned out by Loki's loud yelling. Gaban said that Sanji has 素質 (soshitsu), which means makings (of), aptitude, talent, nature or qualities. It's not exactly the word that was used to talk about the "qualities of a king" when people first talked about it when Luffy used it on Amazon Lily and Marineford, which was 資質 (shishitsu), meaning nature, disposition, talent, qualities or temperament, but the meaning seems pretty similar to me. Gaban also said

ただしお前はなぜか自虐の危うさを抱えてる But, for whatever reason, you are burdened with concerning/dangerous self-torment

The term 自虐 (jigyaku) means to inflict pain on your own body and mind, to torment yourself. And this is where I think a second reading of the chapter title comes in. Because I don't think it's a coincidence that a chapter titled "root of the problem" that ends with Sanji being told he has a tendency to torment himself just happens to coincidentally have a cover art featuring Reiju protecting Sanji from his siblings and father. Specifically a Sanji who is the only duckling among his family of swans, a role reversal of a classic tale about being mocked and abused for being different than the people around you

(chapter 597)

As Rayleigh explained to Luffy, the only way for someone's Conqueror's Haki to become stronger is if that person also experiences personal growth and becomes stronger. He uses the term 成長 (seichou), which means growth or development in the sense of, like, maturing, both physically and mentally

(chapters 52 and 58)

Sanji's problem has always been his abysmally low self-worth, ever since his introductory arc. It could seem at first glance that his willingness to put his life on the line to defend what he thought was the most important thing to Zeff was the same as Zoro and Luffy's resolve to risk their lives in pursuit of what they want, but it's not really the same, is it? Luffy and Zoro accept that dying is a possibility, but they're not looking for it and have no intentions to just give in to it if it comes. On the other hand, Sanji seemed like he really would have just stood there and let himself be killed because he believed that was the best outcome. He had no qualms about giving up on his ambitions and his life because he sees them as less important, which is why he had such a hard time understanding Zoro's choice

(chapter 65)

Zeff says that Luffy has no ためらい (tamerai), which means faltering or hesitation, and then asks Sanji

生きるための装備か…死を恐れぬ"信念"か… An equipment for survival... or a "conviction" that doesn't fear death...?

[As I've said before, some of the earlier translations... took a lot of creative liberties, so to speak]

The word that Sanji gets caught on is 信念 (shinnen), which means belief, faith or conviction. There is no hesitation in Luffy, there is no part of him that doesn't fully believe he will achieve his goals. It's not so much arrogance as it is... ruthlessness. Luffy sees his ambition in front of him and he will strive towards it or die trying. Meanwhile, Sanji is always the first to give up on himself for other people. He tried to give up his dream, his life, his freedom, his place with the Straw Hats, his happiness. And while it does speak a lot about his compassion, it also speaks to his lack of confidence in himself

(chapter 841)

Sanji is a failure, a black mark, a secret shame. He is the ugly duckling surrounded by stronger, better, beloved swans. And even if he can now stand tall in front of them and emphatically denounce their ideals, it doesn't change the fact that he is nothing like his father and brothers, the ones who are actually proud of being royalty. So I wonder if he (unconsciouly, maybe) believes that if he accepts the idea of being a "king", that he'll end up being just like them after all

(chapter 1031)

His struggle in Wano was choosing between being the version of him that is "himself", even if he thinks of it as 頼りねェ生身のおれ (tayorinee namami no ore), or "the unreliable, flesh and blood me", and the cruel, indifferent warrior of science version of him. Even when he ultimately chose to stay as he was, he still didn't trust himself enough and had to ask Zoro to kill him if he ever changed

So in order to really unlock his potential, Sanji is probably going to have to let go of his tendency towards self sacrifice and actually have confidence in himself and his dreams

It's nice but kind of sad to know who taught Brook to use the polite speech he still uses to this day. Candelle says that when asking a favor he should use 敬語 (keigo), which is the Japanese honorific speech, and in the end he uses it exclusively

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Brook called Candelle 国の太陽 (kuni no taiyou), which literally translates to "country's Sun", which is a very specific way of calling her, especially with all the other references to Luffy and Nika so far. I wonder if that's why her name, キャンデル (kyanderu), sounds like candle, or キャンドル (kyandoru)

If she's being associated with the Sun, then it would also make sense for her to be associated with freedom and hope, but instead Brook immediately remembers an encounter with the Celestial Dragons, which seems a bit odd. Also he said that the ship specifically washed ashore, like what would happen in a shipwreck, and it reminded me of the Celestial Dragon incident that happened on Fishman Island. That ship was also wrecked, and the Celestial Dragon in it almost died because he lacked the backing afforded to him by the Marines

(chapters 624 and 625)

I assume it wasn't the case here because Fishman Island is far enough away from the surface to allow the possibility of a cover up and Esperia isn't, but mostly because they wouldn't have the ingrained animosity that the Fishmen have against humans in general and the Celestial Dragons in particular. It's also interesting that Brook says they had never encountered that kind of authority before. Does he mean that Esperia wasn't a member nation before they came? Did they not have to send tribute before? Was that the first time they were "discovered" by the World Government? How ironic that a wrecked ship washes up, probably needing help and repairs, and then that nation is rewarded with subjugation and control

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It's extremely suspicious that the commander of a battle convoy would be bedridden for months due to the stress of the Celestial Dragons visiting. It's not impossible, but it seems unlikely. It seems clear that something happened to make her unable to make any public appearances for a while. If we're being dark, I would say it reminds me a bit of Ginny, which would raise the possibility of Shuri being half Celestial Dragon (possibly a Manmayer, since that's the family she belongs to when she becomes Gunko). Maybe Reuven married Candelle to keep this a secret and protect her and Shuri from being taken to Marijoa

With yet another comparison of Candelle to the Sun, I wonder if this has anything to do with Gunko saying that her biggest fear is Nika the Sun God. Maybe she fears Nika because it subconsciously reminds her of her mother and the country she "betrayed" and left behind. I've also seen theories that Candelle is actually a spy for the World Government that infiltrated Esperia, which I don't personally believe because I can't think of a reason why they would need to do that

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When Brook talks about the land to the west, he calls it カミガタ (kamigata) in katakana, so it could mean any number of things, but there's a good chance it's a reference to the 上方 (kamigata) region in Japan that encompasses Kyoto and Osaka, especially since this region sits to the west of the Edo/Tokyo region. The Kansai dialect spoken in this region (and used in the lyrics of Brook's song) is more melodic and energetic than standard Japanese, and is usually used for comedy

For example, the chapter title is ほっときなはれ (hottoki nahare), with the verb 放っとく (hottoku) meaning to leave alone or to ignore, and なはれ (nahare) being an imperative form of the verb to do in the Osaka dialect, the more famous regional variation of the Kansai dialect. So a basic translation would be "mind your own business" or "leave me alone" but I assume the decision to use "mindja own beeswax" was to keep the spirit of what Oda was probably going for by using Kansai dialect

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A sudden mist that comes out of nowhere and stays for half a year before dissipating, also seemingly out of nowere, is something else that's more than a little suspicious. Especially if you consider that it destroyed the country's 宝 (takara), or treasure, the musical instruments that were Esperia's main export and cultural heritage. Seems like something maybe the previous owner of the Gas-Gas Fruit might do

It feels even more pointed since the mist literally and figuratively took away the people's Sun. Candelle was the country's Sun and, since the Sun is an obvious link to Nika, she also represents their freedom and hope, all of which were lost after months of exhaustion and disease. Which is why I say that it feels like a deliberate attack, because after taking away their Sun God, the Celestial Dragons came to take away their freedom

[Sidenote: I'm kind of disappointed that she died so quickly and out of sight. No one should be surprised anymore that we have another dead mother in a flashback, but for someone who was so hyped her death felt too out of the blue. Maybe that's the point? Still feels weird though]

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Brook says that Shuri sometimes moves as if she can see the future, which would suggest she has some level of future vision. Observation Haki in itself is not something one has to be born with, but the fact that she seems to have acquired such and advanced level at such a young age and in a relatively peaceful country in one of the four Blues does indicate that she has a natural talent for it at the very least

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It's interesting to learn that he wanted to be a pirate at this point in time, because nothing else seemed to suggest that. He was a boy living in a trash heap, who went on to serve Reuven and Candelle, and he hadn't mentioned at any point that there was something else he wanted to do. Not even when he was a kid and just spending time with Reuven, which would have been an excellent point to mention that he had dreams of freedom/adventure/money/whatever. We see him being envious of kids who get to go to school and play real instruments, we see him thinking swords are cool, we see him more than willing to wear the battle convoy uniform someday, and... uhm, enjoying beautiful women. And that's about it. The only thing we know he loves more than Esperia's king and queen is music, which doesn't really have anything to do with piracy. Unless he'd already met Yorki and his crew by this point and wants specifically to be in that kind of pirate ship. By my counts there's still about 10 years between this time in the flashback and when the Rumbar Pirates leave Laboon at Reverse Mountain, but who knows when they met

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This could just be an example of Brook being ride or die for his king, but he did tell Shuri before that he could guess why the king was worried. To me it shows that he's smart and aware that the kingdom's financial situation won't allow them to pay the heavenly tribute and that the Celestial Dragons would demand something absurd in return or just straight up attack them

If my theory that Shuri is half Celestial Dragon is correct, then this could all just be a plan to take her back to Marijoa. Last chapter we saw that when she was 14 her fame had already stretched to other countries, so it's not impossible that the same Celestial Dragon that came before heard about her and connected the dots. There should be a reason why they didn't just show up and take her (maybe it would be too much trouble? Candelle is supposed to be incredibly strong and the nation was prospering), so six months of smog poisoning the country's health and spirit, plus the death of their Queen/Sun would ensure that they would be easy pickings for the World Government. In that case, the demand for an absurd amount of slaves would be a win-win for them. If the king accepts, his people's morale and trust would hit an all time low and capturing the princess would be easy, and if he denied them, they could use it as an excuse to invade and take her anyway

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Since this is about 62 years before the present timeline, this country that was wiped out couldn't be Ohara or God Valley, which are both from the West Blue. There's a chance it could be Thriller Bark, since the island also came from the West Blue and we don't know when it made its way to the Grand Line or how it happened. It could also be the Kamigata country that Brook talked about before. If the lyrics we see later on are from the same song and not an embelishment made up by Brook, then it would make sense, since it sings of their name not being erased, and not giving up, and fighting back against an enemy

By the way, I think this song was really well used. It's first introduced with the implication of being a happy song for when princess Shuri grows up and decides to become independent and move away from the shadow of her parents. The lyrics seem to be about a child wanting to be treated as an adult, which is basically what Shuri is doing. And then the second time it's background music for complete devastation, and the lyrics turn to resistance in the face of annihilation. "I've heard about this violent place full of danger we can't even imagine, but they're easier to defeat than you'd think, and we don't have anything to lose anyway, so let's fight and protect our home" and the initial lyrics about a child growing up get a lot darker, with the implication not only that war will destroy childhoods, but that this now grown up child will probably have to fight in it too. Bonus points to the fact that Shuri, the innocent child brimming with life and future from the beginning of the song, ends up trapped in a nightmare and literally stuck in time, unable to grow up properly. The use of Kansai dialect, usually associated with comedy and lightheartedness, is just an extra punch to the gut

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So lots to unpack here, right? First, that man at the back seems to be wearing a God's Knight uniform. If that Celestial Dragon theory is correct, he could be the Manmayer (maybe) who was at Esperia and is Shuri's biological father. If not, it seems like a lot of trouble to send a God's Knight to destroy an already weakened country all the way in the West Blue

(chapter 1110)

That big fire bird kind of looks like Saint Mars, but the incomplete version of him when he's just coming out of the Abyss. So not only a God's Knight, but even one of the Five Elders is here in person, possibly. Why would they go through all of that for one country?

Not to mention that they seem to have Domi Reversi'd both Reuven and Shuri, which would also suggest that Imu is here in some capacity, maybe as cordyceps Imu like what he did to Saturn in God Valley. The fact that Reuven is dead means that either Shuri and him had a disagreement with their inhibitions lowered by Imu's attack and Shuri ended up killing her father, or Reuven was resisting the change somehow and Shuri couldn't, so she killed him. Kind of like the opposite of what happened with Loki and Harald

The title for this chapter is 裏腹 (urahara), which means opposite, reverse, or contrary. Like when you compare two things, and they don't match with each other. For example

気持ちと裏腹な言葉 Words that don't match (someone's) feelings

In this case, I imagine it means the two contrary sides Harald is showing. How he says to kill him and tell Elbaf what a bad king he really was, but then the mind control switches on and he says he will silence everyone in this castle and turn the country over to Imu

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We finally get an explanation as to how Gaban knows how to deal with the Gods Knights, but I wonder why/when they stopped coming for Shanks. Because if he doesn't even remember that happening, they had to have stopped at some point, right? Did they find it wasn't worth it since they always lost? Would people as proud as those guys really stand for that kind of humiliation? If Shanks was young enough to not even remember, how did they even find him in the first place? I can't imagine the Roger Pirates would go around advertising that they had two young children on board, and Shanks even says after this that the Gods Knights rarely come down from Marijoa anyway

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(official and TCB)

The difference is because the original sentence is pretty vague, he only says

ゾッとするよ... おれの人生 Makes me shudder... my life

ゾッと (zutto) means shuddering, shivering, being horrified or disgusted. So it could mean that he's disgusted by the life he could have had if he had grown up like the other Celestial Dragons, or it could also mean that he's horrified that this is the kind of life he has to live by being related to those people. Personally, I kind of agree more with the official translation, especially because Gaban follows it up by calling it fate, like it's fate that he wasn't raised in Marijoa and so was spared from sharing their twisted way of thinking

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So what was the requirement, in the end? Was it just brute strength? Was it the Conqueror's Haki that he seems to have used, judging by that black lightning? Was no other royalty except Harald and Loki born with Conqueror's Haki? Although, saying that something has lain dormant for centuries, considering the lifespan of a giant (let alone an ancient giant), doesn't actually mean that many generations when you think about it lol

If it was just about strength, then either Harald had purposefuly not tested if he was able to bypass the hammer before, or Loki is already stronger than Harald was before he got the boost from Imu (more likely, consering Harald mentions that with his strength now he might be able to do it). I was kind of hoping it was a little bit more like the MCU Mjolnir where only the worthy could pick it up or something. It would have been nice if Loki, who was always told he was cursed and unwanted, were actually chosen by this weapon who turns everyone else away, but oh well

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I'm not the most well versed when it comes to Japanese sound effects, so I'm not sure what animal this sounds like. It reads as バオオオオオ (baooooo). As far as I know a howl sounds like ワオーン (waoon) and a roar sounds like ガオー (gaoo), but we can at least be sure that the fruit was in fact a Zoan Devil Fruit, and that it's probably not a bird as I had been hoping

From his silhouette, we can gather he has claws, spikes (hair? fur?) and horns (though maybe they're more because of his ancient giant blood than because of the animal he transforms into, who knows). I like the idea I saw of it being Nidhogg, the dragon from Norse mythology that gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil, especially considering that Ragnir is a squirrel and in Norse mythology the squirrel Ratatoskr runs up and down Yggdrasil to carry messages between the eagles perched atop it and Nidhogg at its roots

(chapter 1138)

That silhouette also kind of looks like the dragon on top of the tree in the Harley mural, and there is a bolt of lightning (though it looks like it's coming from Enel's Ark Maxim) that even strikes the tree like Loki does

(chapter 1142)

When the children were thinking about things that scared them, they mentioned Nidhogg, written as 雷竜 (raiyuu) with the furigana ニーズオッグ (niizuoggu). The kanji 雷竜 literally translate to lightning/thunder dragon (funnily enough, it's also the Japanese name for brontosaurus)

Ragnir is written as 鉄雷 with the furigana ラグニル (raguniru), where 鉄 (tetsu) means iron or steel and 雷 (kaminari) means lightning

I could also see the fruit being Fenrir, since in Norse mythology Fenrir is Loki's son and plays a big part in Ragnarök, as well as being the one that kills Odin. He is also imprisoned by the gods because of prophecies that foretold the trouble he would bring, which seems pretty similar to Loki being chained to the Adam Tree. According to some stories Nidhogg gnaws on the roots of the world tree because he's trapped there, so it works for either case, actually

I would lean more towards Nidhogg than Fenrir because of the name, since Fenrir is written as 巨狼, which translates to Giant Wolf, with the furigana フェンリル (fenriru), and it doesn't have the nice lightning association that Nidhogg's name does. Besides, this is how my flying zoan idea can still sort of win lol

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Just as a sidenote, but I personally find the idea of my own thoughts being controlled even more horrifying than just someone controlling my body without my consent. Like, you're losing your own sense of self, your morals, your feelings, everything. It's control without even being aware that you're being controlled, or maybe manipulated into not caring that you are being controlled. It's the ultimate loss of freedom, where you're not even free inside your own mind

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I'm not going to lie, I kind of wish this hadn't been included, it makes me think less of Harald. If he knew the brewers village was responsible for her death, why was Loki locked up while Ida was dying? If he knew Loki loved her like a mother, enough to destroy a whole village because of her, why wasn't he there when she died? Why was he all alone? Why was he still locked up until now, when you happened to need him?

This "I love you too" kind of pisses me off more than it makes me sad. I think it's safe to say this now, but even if Harald may have been a good king (kind of debateable, considering how easy he was to manipulate, but I will admit he achieved a lot and his heart was in the right place), he was a bad father. There is no conceivable way that Harald didn't know the whole country thought Loki was cursed and that they blamed all of Elbaf's misfortunes on him. How could he allow that kind of thing to spread and linger for more than 60 years when he loved his son? Even if he believed the stories about Loki being violent for no reason, that's so much different than being called cursed. It just makes it hard to actually care that he died, other than feeling sorry for Loki for having been put in this position

I think that's kind of the problem of wanting to give someone The Worst (tm) life ever, while at the same time still wanting them to have the traumatic experience of losing a parent that loves them. It can work, as long as the parent hasn't been alive or present or have any kind of power during that whole The Worst (tm) experience. For example, Bellemere died before Nami's horrible life with Arlong started; Olvia chose to be absent from Robin's life to keep her safe; Sora had absolutely no power to help Sanji while he was in Germa

But Harald was there, he was alive and he had the authority of a king. He traveled a lot, but he was still a part of Elbaf society, he (supposedly) still received reports about what was going on in the country, he had the status of most beloved king in Elbaf's history. Am I supposed to believe there was nothing he could have done for Loki?

It might just be a coincidence (though knowing how much these people love their puns, maybe not), but there's a potential wordplay joke on this cover story too. The word used for panda shark is パンサメ (pansame), with サメ (same) meaning shark, but the verb 覚める (sameru) means to wake up, which is possibly why the reader specified the sharks as sleeping, to play with that other reading of same

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Imu called Harald's death a 迷惑 (meiwaku), which means trouble, bother, annoyance or inconvenience. I don't know if calling it a setback expresses the same level of... flippancy? Disregard, maybe. That calling a person's death an inconvenience does. It reminds me of Imu and Sommers talking about Harald's sacrifice as a blunder or mistake

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Sadly I couldn't think of any puns with this name, it's pretty straighforward. The attack is 鉄雷一槌 with the furigana ラグナイヅチ (ragunaidzuchi). 鉄雷 is the kanji used for Ragnir and literally translates to Iron Thunder, 一 (ichi) is the kanji for the number 1 but is also used as an "a" prefix before a noun, and 槌 (tsuchi) means hammer, so the name is pretty much Iron Thunder Hammer

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(chapters 1181 and 1179)

Imu calls the omen his 軍事力 (gunjiryoku), which means military force or military strength. It reminded me of what Garling said in Marijoa, though he used the word 戦力 (senryoku), which also means military strength, fighting power or war potential. As far as I can tell their meaning is pretty much the same

Gunjiryoku also reminded me of Gunko's name, which is written as 軍子 and literally translates to army child. If Brook's guess about her is correct, Gunko isn't her original name, but was given to her by someone in the time between when Brook last saw her (more than 52 years ago) and the God Valley Incident when she's specifically named as Gunko from the Manmayer family (38 years ago). That time she was with Imu when Rocks invaded the Holy Land she isn't really spoken of, so it's unclear if she's already being called Gunko by then

If omen is Imu's military might, then Gunko is another weapon in his arsenal, someone he can use when he wants and who does his bidding in the meantime. A child made for war, as it were

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He also calls it 万物に潜む力 (banbutsu ni hisomu chikara), which reminded me of the Voice of All Things, written as 万物の声 (banbutsu no koe). We still don't know enough about the Voice to be able to make an educated guess about what it means, but it's interesting to note, especially because not everyone can hear the Voice, even if by definition all things have it

潜む (hisomu) means to lurk, to be hidden, or to lie dormant. It implies that omen is something that everything has but not everyone is able to unlock or use it (like the name suggests, it's kind of like haki), and that Imu has the ability to control it. Or bring it to light, maybe. If we're going with his associations with the devil, you could interpret that as everyone having the capacity for evil, and the devil sways people more towards it than towards being good

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The gigantification thing is pretty interesting too, considering how much the government wanted to find a way to turn people into giants, both with the initial experiments to create ancient giants which failed and ended up creating Kaido's Numbers, and with Ceasar Clown's experiments on the children, which was also backed by Big Mom

(chapters 1181 and 605)

Also, doesn't the way his arm inflates before he grows give off Luffy's Gear3 vibes?

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(chapters 1181 and 1129)

Imu's attack is called 天罰剣 with the furigana ネメシス (nemeshisu). 剣 (ken) means sword or blade, and 天罰 (tenbatsu) means divine punishment or wrath of God. I remember talks of divine punishment twice in Elbaf so far, first with Nami punishing Rodo (incidentally by striking a "god" with lightning, just like Loki is doing now) and when the children were about to fall off the pier and thought they were being punished for misbehaving. The name Nemesis suggests that he sees his divine punishment as a retribution from an opponent that cannot be beaten, like the outcome is unavoidable and the person deserves whatever wounds they receive

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Ok first off, I think it's beautifully in theme with all the blasphemy that Imu calls them a 三位一体 (sanmi ittai), which can mean not only three parts of something, but also the Holy Trinity, as in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

(chapters 1181 and 1149)

Imu did say when he first possessed Gunko that he would show everyone 神の支配 (kami no shihai) or the dominance of god. The implication at first being that he would show the overwhelming power that made him the Ruler of the World, but it turns out to also be about his actual powers. God's Domination comes from the Devil Fruit and is based on a Holy Trinity of powers: the Domi Reversi, the Covenants, and the Omen

(chapters 1181 and 1150)

Domi Reversi is a 堕落 (daraku), which means corruption or degradation. It takes the desire for power (which all people have, according to him) and turns it into something all consuming. The Domi Reversi grants people strength and an indestructible body, but in exchange it takes away a person's mind and inhibitions, not in a way that turns them into puppets, but in a way that turns them into the worst versions of themselves, with no self control or morals

(chapters 1181 and 1169)

The Covenants are 契約 (keiyaku) or contracts and, while they supposedly afford you more free will than the Domi Reversi, they still bind you to Imu's orders. It's interesting that he says people choose them out of self-interest, since the only one whose reasons we actually know is Harald. And you could argue that no one pointed a gun at his head and made him do it, but it's also undeniable how much pressure the World Government was putting on him and how far they would be willing to go to convince him to join "voluntarily"

This one is pretty interesting. Imu says

それを成す為の羨望の魔気 And the power (omen) of envy to achieve that

I assume "that" is referring to that first sentence about how people desire strength. Imu says 魔気, which are the kanji for omen, but with the furigana ちから (chikara), which means strength, ability or power. Based on what he said before, about omen being a power that lurks within all things, he's explicitly associating omen with power. But he says that it's envy that allows people to achieve the strength that they so desire. The omen powers the envy that lies dormant within all people and that guides them into making deals with the devil, or falling victim to the dominance of god

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Those shaded eyes make me think this question has at least a little sarcasm in it, or at least anger. Maybe resignation? It reminded me a little of Rocks' last interaction with Harald where Rocks is asking him for help, which we know is a question he's repeated a lot during their friendship, but it doesn't really feel like Rocks is expecting the answer to be any different this time. It feels more like a ritual they both need, like a worn out discussion they follow mostly for nostalgia's sake

(chapter 1159)

So I feel that this is not the first time Imu has had this debate, which seems like an extension of the discussion about domination being bliss

Imu says that domination is the only 幸福 (koufuku), which means happiness, blessedness, or joy. Maybe this is more of a non-native speaker point of view, but I really want to associate this koufuku or joy with Joyboy, especially considering how Imu is really fixated on him during this monologue

If you think about it, it makes sense from Imu's point of view why he would think that devils and gods are the same, even if you disconsider that he literally kind of embodies both. Both a god and a devil are powerful supernatural beings that exert their will and influence over people, that dominate them, so to say. From a Christian perspective, God is good and the devil is bad, but for a lot of religions with multiple deities, they tend to be more neutral, or at least there are good gods and bad gods. If both god and the devil offer domination to "lesser" beings, and domination is the source of joy in the world, then there really wouldn't be much difference between a god and a devil

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It feels relavant that there are two separate memories with that exact phrasing, especially since Imu yells the same thing to Joyboy/the heavens right after. The first one is Loki remembering his father's words, and the second is what appears to be a conversation between Imu and Joyboy. I've seen someone talk about the possibility that Imu and Joyboy are related, and I thought it was a pretty interesting theory. It already feels like there was at least some sort of betrayal between Imu, Joyboy, Davy Jones and Lily, and the idea that person had is that Imu and Joyboy are kind of like a Cain and Abel situation. If that ends up being true, maybe this is another sign of that? Both could be memories of talking to family members

Harald is also talking about his reputation being irrelevant, and how all that matters is the future. Like Vegapunk said in his message to the world, we don't know what Joyboy's reasoning for his actions was yet, whether he was a good man or not, and who, if anyone, was on the "right" side of the Void Century War. All we know is the aftermath, the future

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So Loki can do damage, though mostly when Imu is distracted. When he used his Omen to block, even Thorheim didn't seem to do too much. This could be good if Loki and Luffy can decently tag team in a fight, even more so because Luffy is bound to remind Imu of Joyboy

He also seems to have fond (?) memories of Nidhoggr. When Imu is thinking about him, he doesn't seem to have nearly as much hostility as he has for the others, so there's a chance they were on the same side during the war, or at least enemies in the way that Garp and Roger were, which is more like friendly rivals

Imu has been talking to and about Luffy and Loki like they really were the Joyboy and Niddhoggr who were his enemies/traitors during the Void Century, so it's interesting that right now he's actually using their names when he's saying they won't be his soldiers. Joyboy and Niddhoggr wouldn't join him, and Imu acknowledges that neither will their successors

The question now is, who/what the hell is Douzan. In Japanese, it's just written as ドウザン (douzan) in katakana, which is how Oda usually spells characters' names. A 銅山 (douzan) is a copper mine, but I don't think that's what he's going for here? lol though honestly who can say

From context, it seems that Douzan was also someone who wouldn't bow down to Imu and got eliminated because of that, though it's still unclear if this is also something that happened during the Void Century (or maybe before that?)

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Loki's attack is 鉄雷二武界 with the furigana ラグナジンヘイム (ragunajinheimu). 鉄雷 is again the kanji for Ragnir, 二 means two, 武 means warrior, military, martial, etc, and 界 means world, realm or area. So something like Ragna Dual Martial Realms. Mythologically speaking, I would guess that the two realms could be Niflheim and Muspelheim, the two primordial realms of ice and fire, especially considering Loki already has an attack named after Niflheim. However, I'm a little stuck on the jin part of the name, to be honest, because 人 (jin) means person or human, but you could also read 神 as jin, which means god(s) or spirit, so maybe the two martial realms are the land of men and the land of the gods. Maybe it's Elbaf's Underworld and Sun World. Maybe I'm reading too much into this lol

Imu's attack is 憤怒剣 with the furigana グラム (guramu). 憤怒 (fundo) means anger, rage, or resentment, and 剣 (ken) means sword or blade. In Norse mythology, Gram (meaning ill-tempered, wroth, angry, frightful or resentful) is the sword that Sigurd used to kill the dragon Fafnir, who wasn't exactly a dragon so much as someone who commits patricide to steal his father's treasure, after which he shapeshifts into a dragon and hides away

It's interesting that Imu doesn't seem to follow any specific theme/culture/language in his attacks like the rest of the characters, since he's used latin (domi reversi), greek (nemesis), aztec (tzitzimitl) and now norse (gram)

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(chapters 1183 and 1179)

So Imu wasn't able to break the ice after all, which means that even if the other Straw Hats decide to free Gunko they probably won't be able to do it, though of course they have no way of knowing that or that flash freezing is apparently not fatal

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He says he lost contact with her after she traveled to Marijoa, and it's someone that he didn't think he'd ever want to see again, which means she wasn't forcibly taken there, or at least not obviously so. The oldest Reverie we know of was 56 years ago (where Rocks met Harald), so it's not possible that she went there for the Reverie and was kidnapped/tricked into staying, at least not unless the flashback covers a few years. Since Brook knew who the God's Knights were, I'm guessing some of them went to his homeland and Shuri ended up going back to Marijoa with them. Also, doesn't the idea of a little girl (apparently) willingly going away with the people who destroyed her home give off Nami vibes?

Since even when she's not being possessed by Imu, she still has a different name, personality and memory than Shuri, there's a chance she lost her memory at some point, whether before or after going to Marijoa, so it could also be that what Brook thought was her own choice was actually her being controlled or already being Gunko. Either way, her behaviour between possessions implies that she either didn't go willingly and it was a misunderstanding on his part, or she went but regretted it later

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(chapters 1183 and 653)

This song is a callback to the one Brook sang at the end of Fishman Island. My musical knowledge isn't the best, but apparently a new single can just be a re-recording of an existing song, so Brook probably just updated it based on his new experiences at FMI, since the next panel shows him singing some verses that are different from the ones he's singing now in the flashback. In Japanese, "good morn-maid" is グッドモー人魚 (guddo mooningyo), which is a pun on グッドモーニング (guddo mooningu), the Japanese-English way of saying good morning, and the word 人魚 (ningyo), which means mermaid

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That "end-maid" is mostly the same kind of pun, mixing エンディング (endingu), or ending, with the 魚 (gyo) at the end of 人魚 (ningyo). 魚 by itself just means fish by the way

Brook's silhouette against the dawn sun rising obviously brings to mind Nika, since he's even kind of doing the Nika dance, which is interesting considering the first verses talking about a brand new world. I wonder if the verse about losing your soul is relevant too. Calling it a bad ending makes me think of those little SBS specials about people at 40 and 60 years old in two diverging futures, which if I'm remembering correctly were in the normal timeline and in one where something goes wrong. Maybe it's one where they lose their dreams/souls? Since they go against everything they stand for now

But anyway, the scene of waking people up by making noise also reminds me of Usopp and his home island. So that's three associations in only two panels (FMI, Nika and Usopp/Syrup Village), I wonder if there's some connection to be made. Brook is kind of the opposite of Usopp in this case, though, since Brook was apparently famous and beloved (at least for his swordsmanship, if not his music) and Usopp was more infamous than anything

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So her eyes were already mismatched even before whatever happened with Imu. It's also not something she seems to have inherited from either of her parents. I wonder if it's just for aesthetic purposes, but her appearing in the same arc as Loki who also has unusual eyes seems a little too pointed for that. Maybe I'm reading too much into it? We still haven't gotten an explanation for his eyes either

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(chapters 1183 and 1139)

Gaban is an obvious Sanji parallel, but it's interesting that he and Brook are saying almost the exact same thing here. I say almost because Brook says 恋 (koi), which specifically means romantic love, while Gaban says 愛 (ai), which has a broader meaning of love and affection that doesn't necessarily have to be romantic in nature. In this case they are both talking about romantic love and how it is supposed to be free of boundaries and restrictions like race or, uhm, monogamy lol

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I think it's funny that Brook calls the king アニキ (aniki), which is a respectful way of calling your older brother, your senior, or just a man older than you. If I'm not mistaken it has a little bit of a gang vibe to it

Later on Brook calls him 国王 (kokuou), or king, but with the furigana アニキ (aniki), basically implying that he thinks very casually of the king and that they have a friendly, familial relationship

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This was objectively hilarious. What does that even look like? Do they put tapes on the snails' mouths or something? Also, I like that silent mode in Japanese is マナーモード (manaa moodo) which literally means "manner mode"

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First, I like that the guy more literally says she's gonna have to accept the don's love, it's such a weird way of putting it. Second, I find it beyond boring that this is the reason they're after her, especially considering she's supposed to be the former captain of the battle convoy and so why wouldn't they have some lingering resentment or something, anything that isn't "beautiful women can only ever be desired", which is giving me Kuja Pirates nightmare flashbacks

Having said that, the fact that she's introduced like this, as this woman who is strong and beautiful and that everyone admires and loves and wants, is reminding me of Shakky and God Valley (and also Ginny, maybe). In the sense that I wouldn't put it past Oda to have the triggering event for the fall of the kingdom be another case of the Celestial Dragons stealing women away

The title for this chapter is 約束 (yakusoku), or promise(s). There are a lot of promises made in One Piece, but to me the idea that always comes to mind are unfulfilled promises, like Zoro's promise to Kuina and Brook's promise to Laboon. In fact, chapter 104 is called 約束の岬 (yakusoku no misaki) or cape of promise(s), where both Brook and Luffy promised Laboon they would return one day. But there are three examples in particular I think make even more sense in this context, and they are Joyboy's promise to Fishman Island, Noland and Kalgara's promise in Skypiea, and Oden' speech to the Roger Pirates

(chapters 649 and 299)

Both in Fishman Island and Skypiea, there was a promise made hundreds of years ago, and while we still don't know the specifics of Joyboy's promise, it's safe to assume it involves the people of Ryugu Kingdom being taken to the surface on the Noah arc. And the Shandians have been fighting for 400 years to ring the Golden Bell of Shandora in order to signal to Noland and his descendants that they were still there, waiting for them

(chapter 958)

Chapter 958 is called 約束の港 (yakusoku no minato) or port of promise(s), and it's about the place where the rebellion's allies were supposed to converge before the raid on Onigashima. But that chapter actually begins with a flashback of Oden talking about going back to Wano and why the country needed to keep its borders closed, with a promise to open the land of Wano in the future

[Sidenote, that's an interesting timeframe he gave, isn't it? This is approximately 25 years before the present time and 5 years before Oden's death and Toki's prophecy, so why did he say 20 years in the future, specifically? We know Roger said they were too early, but I don't think he said how long exactly]

These three cases are all about promises made and left unfulfilled, and they all in a way involve people trying to connect and being unable to (Fishman Island with the surface world, Kalgara with Noland, Wano with the rest of the world), kind of like Vegapunk's message about people being isolated and the last lines in the Harley text about how "they will never meet". And all of the promises were/will be fulfilled by the inheritors of the original people's Wills. The Shandians rang the bell (thanks to Luffy), Momo will one day open the borders (to help Luffy, probably) and the promise at Fishman Island wouldn't have been mentioned if it wasn't going to be fulfilled too (by/for Luffy, the inheritor of Joyboy's fruit)

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When Rocks says that "promises are meant to be kept", it could be he's talking about when he invaded Marijoa and told Imu he would be back, "right here". Now, "here" could mean Marijoa, as he claimed he wanted to show his crew the peak of the world, or it could mean facing off against Imu. Either way, as Rocks called Imu "the world" last chapter, it seems that both meanings can apply now

Imu says that because of this, you (plural, so supposedly the Davy Clan) must be erased from history. Which is kind of sad, because it did happen. In the present, Davy Jones is just a legend and a game, and almost nobody has ever even heard of Rocks or the Davy Clan

It's also possible that Rocks is talking about a different promise, between Davy Jones and Imu, which would be an interesting parallel with Joyboy's promise to Fishman Island, both made 800 years ago. If it's a promise passed down to Davy Jones' descendants, it would also resemble Noland and Kalgara's promise, carried on by each new generation. Of course, in both of those the connotations were positive, which isn't the case here

I can see it being either interpretation, or even both. Imu could be angry at Rocks' presumption to threaten him in Marijoa, and/or at an 800 year long fight against Davy Jones and his clan

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The pirate says that Imu is 無差別 (musabetsu), which means indiscriminate. To Imu and the Five Elders, everyone who lives on the surface is the same, small and insignificant, the only distinction being that some of them (like the Marines) are useful to them on occasion

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(chapters 1163 and 1108)

That guy says that being attacked by Imu/Saturn is 興味深い (kyoumibukai), or very interesting. I'll be honest, I have no idea what he means by that. Is the pain different? Saturn by himself appears to have poisonous legs, but does that extend to this case too? Could it be the poison's effects that are interesting? Or could Imu now Domi Reversi these people too? I had thought before that they needed to flip that pentagram in order to do that, but apparently just impaling Rocks is enough, so who knows

Also Gaban saying "not again" seems to imply that Roger has a habit of going off on his own and causing trouble for everyone, which is very Luffy coded

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(chapter 1095)

In Egghead it's established that low ranking Marines can't even look at one of the Five Elders, but there are too many Marines present in God Valley to all be rear and vice admirals, and they all saw not only Saturn but also Imu, so I guess not one of these men are expected to leave this island alive, which makes it even more interesting that Dragon, a rookie, manages to survive. Did he smuggle away without getting caught? Did Garp bargain for his son's life in exchange for his silence and cooperation? (I can see it, but there is the fact that I can't see this happening and Garp still trying to get his grandsons to join the Marines in the future, if the reason he stayed was to protect Dragon). Maybe they didn't kill the Marines who were there but didn't see anything, since Bogard is also there and still alive in the present. Also, Garp is technically in some hot water himself, actively attacking what he thinks is one of the Five Elders, so I'm not sure he's in a good enough place to bargain for other people

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If this is Garp's first time seeing one of the Five Elders, then there's no reason for him to think that anything is different about Saturn, which is probably also true for most of the others there with the exception of Rocks, who has actually met Imu and recognized them

I'm not the first person to say this, but Imu sprouting from Saturn's head looks very much like a cordyceps fungus, those parasitic fungi that inspired The Last of Us, which mainly infects insects (like those zombie ants) and other arthropods like spiders. So it's very funny that Garp says

ウジ虫共のトップは相応の姿してんだな a suitable form for being at the top of maggot-like insects

[If Imu looks like a fungus, can I make a joke about how when Rocks calls them rat king he's getting the wrong kingdom (like animal kingdom and fungi kingdom)? Sorry.]

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Imu says that their world is still 未完成 (mikansei), which means incomplete, unfinished, or imperfect, suggesting that there they do have a plan and an end goal here. It's possible this goal is related to the original war between the 20 nations and the Ancient Kingdom, and I'd guess it involves flooding the rest of the world, leaving only the people living in high places (like the top of the Red Line). It would also explain those megastructures that are being built around the world for the past 700 years, where at least one of them, Tequila Wolf, is a gigantic bridge that could also survive a mass flood

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So Dragon still has faith that the Marines are the good guys here, or at least that they were misguided and misinformed, like he was. It makes sense, he's mostly seen the Celestial Dragons killing people, he didn't see the Navy ships opening fire on the civillians asking for help, and he hasn't really had any time to stop and think about what it means that the Marines are there to serve those same Celestial Dragons

Regardless, no good could have really come from it if he had managed to reach the ship. Either they would recognize Shanks and give him back to Garling, or they would assume he was just another civillian and kill him or put him back on shore, or they would take him, and we already know how much Cipher Pol likes orphans, especially one who would grow to be as strong as Shanks. Ironically, Shanks owes his life and freedom to Captain John and Kid's future Jiki Jiki Fruit

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So many attack names! I'm going to take an absurdly long detour here, be warned

Ganzui having what appears to be Mr. 5's Bomb Bomb Fruit from all the way back in Whiskey Peak looks like such a random choice of fruit, though if you think about it, Whiskey Peak was also about a bunch of colleagues all fighting and stabbing each other in the back. His attack name is a pretty literal translation of both the kanji and the furigana

Captain John's Big Eater, though, has both layers and a pun. The furigana reads ビッグイーター (biggu iitaa), or Big Eater, with the kanji 暴贖握磁気. 暴 (bou) means violence, 贖い (aganai) means redemption or atonement, 握る (nigiru) means to grasp or clutch, and 磁気 (jiki) means magnetism, so something like Violent Redemption Magnetism Clutch. However, 暴贖 can also be read as boushoku, and 暴食 (boushoku), which sounds the same but is written differently, means gluttony or overeating. And 握磁気 can also be read as akujiki, and 悪食 (akujiki) means eating strange food, so Overeating Strange Food, aka Big Eater

I like that, while there are some similarities, the naming conventions of past and current devil fruit users are mostly unique to each one. Captain John, for example, doesn't have Kid's punk aesthetics, so his attack doesn't have the punk themed name we see with Kid's moves

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I've already talked about Galaxy Impact and Divine Departure before on the post for chapter 1156 (both celestial themed, one astronomical and one religious)

We've seen it already, but Linlin's attack is 威国 (ikoku), with 威 (i) meaning power, authority or majesty, and 国 (koku) meaning country, so something like Sovereign Nation, maybe? It's translated as Ikoku Sovereignty because it seems to be based on Dorry and Brogy's Hakoku Sovereignty, written as 覇国 (hakoku), with 覇 (ha) meaning supremacy or hegemony. Also, written as 異国, ikoku can also mean foreign country, which makes sense since the giants won't allow her in their country

I think it's hilarious that Kaido just yells 龍 (ryuu), which means dragon. To be fair, he had literally just eaten his fruit like five minutes ago, so he gets a pass on not coming up with names and puns yet

Rocks' attack is 深淵の呪い, with the furigana パンデモニウム (pandemoniumu), or Pandemonium. 深淵 (shin'en) means ravine or abyss, but not like the Abyss that the Five Elders and the God's Knights travel through, which is read like "abyss" but written like "pentagram"; 呪い (noroi) means curse, so literally Curse of the Abyss. Pandemonium is the capital of Hell in John Milton's Paradise Lost, and an abyss is a bottomless pit that leads to the bottom of the sea, or the underworld, or to hell, so I take it his attack means "I curse you to the big hole that leads directly to hell" lol

I think this is the first time we see Whitebeard name an attack, and I found it kind of an odd name, or at least difficult to translate. It's 破空阿 with the furigana ハクア (hakua). 破 (ha) means break, rip or tear, and is possibly related to 序破急 (johakyuu) which, according to Wikipedia, is a "concept of modulation and movement applied in a wide variety of traditional Japanese arts" and means roughly "begin, break, hurry". 空 (sora, but can also be read as kuu) means sky, empty air or void. I'm not really sure about 阿 (a), it could be from 阿字 (aji), the first sanskrit alphabet letter (that अ symbol that some people visualize to meditate? I'm very much not an expert) that can be associated with emptiness or blankness, but is also considered like a seed, a primordial letter, the essence of all mantras. Something like Primordial Void Breaking is my best guess. The funny thing is that 白亜, also read as hakua, means chalk. I assume the kanji meanings are based on how his power looks (ripping or tearing at empty space) and the chalk thing is because it looks like his moustache? Also it has the kanji for white (白), like in Whitebeard. TCB chose Shattering Void, which kind of works, and the official translation chose to go the Ikoku Sovereignty route and called it Chalk Hakua, which is just a mix of the original name with one of the readings, but makes absolutely no sense without context lol

Ok, end of detour

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All of the people who attacked Imu had Conqueror's Haki, though maybe they didn't know to use Advanced Conqueror's on them? Either that, or that approach doesn't work on Imu and/or the Five Elders, just the God's Knights

The only people seen being knocked out by the haki blast are the Marines, I wonder if it's because they were closer, while the Roger Pirates, Dragon and Shanks are all trying to get away from where the fight is happening (or they're all immune to it, which is always a possibility, though I'm more inclined to believe that even insane-haki-wielding Shanks must have had a hard time resisting as a literal baby). When Imu used a haki blast in Elbaf it didn't affect everyone, but I saw it as them being selective (like Luffy in Fishman Island), and Luffy and company felt it even in the Underworld, but it wouldn't make much sense for Imu to just want to affect the Marines right now

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So, is this a Naruto reference? More importantly, is it just a Naruto reference? Because we can see Dragon hitting the ground with Shanks in his arms. The next time we see him, there are little movement dashes on his back suggesting he's rolling over, and there's still dust everywhere from things falling down, so it doesn't seem like too much time has passed since he fell, but there's already a piece of wood in his arms instead of the baby. If Shanks fell out from the impact, wouldn't he have cried? They seem to have literally just finished falling down, exactly how fast is that crawling baby to have gotten out of sight already? Is this just a little ninja joke that I'm not supposed to take seriously? Was it fate???

The fact that Shanks apparently went into the treasure chest by himself really does make him seem like a child of fate

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After the attack, Imu switches their focus to Teach and Eris, and immediately clocks them as being from the Davy Clan, but how? Maybe this is another indication that there's something biologically different about the descendants of Davy Jones. On that bottom left speech bubble they say

解き放ってはならぬ有害な命 harmful life(lives) that must not be released

Now, it sounds mostly like they're saying that Eris and Teach cannot be unleashed onto the rest of the world and bring harm to Imu and their domination of the world, but we could also relate it to the theory of Davy Clan members having multiple souls that must not be released/unleashed/woken in baby Teach

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I wonder why all that Reversi game imagery in the present if Imu can just impale people in order to Domi Reversi them. Maybe because they were possessing Gunko, and not in their original body? Maybe cordyceps Imu has different abilities? But yeah, a Domi Reversi'd Rocks attacking his family would probably lead to Roger and Garp having to team up to stop him (maybe with Rocks asking them to kill him, for maximum angst)

I also wonder where Kaido, Linlin and Whitebeard fall in all of this, and if this is where Kaido's talk about pirates eventually betraying you comes from, if he is the one who ended up seeing Rocks like that and abandoning him. From what we know of his character, I can't really see Whitebeard being the type to cut and run because things got tough, otherwise he would've probably done that already. Linlin is just incidentally there and Kaido wanted to test out his powers, but Whitebeard deliberatly chose to stay and help out, and yet he's not mentioned as being on either side of the Garp+Roger vs Rocks fight that Sengoku talks about in the future

(SPOILERS FOR UP TO CHAPTER 585)

Though the spoiler tag is for things I actually talk about in the post, please keep in mind that I'm up to date on the manga, so any analysis I make is probably going to be influenced by knowledge of future events in the story

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It's interesting that the first two crewmates Luffy finds are both (justifiably) prejudiced against pirates at first. Like Koby, Zoro and Nami had to learn that Luffy's ideas on piracy are completely different than their own past experiences dealing with pirates. At this point in the story, it still feels like Oda has kept some of his inital ideas for One Piece, where pirates were divided between Peacemains and Morganeers. Luffy (and Shanks) embody the notion of a Peacemain pirate, while Buggy and the other pirate antagonists represent the idea of a Morganeer

[An early concept of One Piece involved pirates being divided between Peacemains, who were mostly interested in adventure, and Morganeers, who were ruled by greed and interested in treasure and terrorizing people]

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Respect and Loyalty

(chapter 8)

To finish off the Zoro storyline, we get the final nail in the coffin of his fearsome reputation. Luffy talks about Zoro being a bounty hunter, but Zoro says he never actually called himself that. He went out to sea to search for a man (he doesn't say pirate, he just says a man) and then he couldn't find his way back, so he started going after pirate crews to pay for his living expenses

However, we still constantly get reminded of the name he made for himself all throughout the East Blue, with more than one antagonist initially believing Zoro is after their bounties. This continues even up until Alabasta, since Baroque Works had tried to recruit him even when he was still only roaming the calmest of the Blues

(chapters 10 and 73)

Luffy is basically a nobody right now, though he's always been unassuming. Meanwhile, Zoro is constantly being compared to a wild animal or a magical beast, like someone who would never "submit" to taking orders from anyone. But despite that first threat before joining, he doesn't really question Luffy's leadership and is the one who tends to hold him to account about acting like a captain. And aside from that one incident in Whiskey Peak, Luffy seems to trust Zoro completely to handle things and protect the others in his absence

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Luffy also doesn't interfere with any of Zoro's fights, even when it's obvious he really wants to (like with Mihawk), and he doesn't let others interfere either, like when he stops Buggy from helping Cabaji

(chapters 17 and 51)

In fact, he calls Zoro's duel with Cabaji his 野望 (yabou), which means ambition or aspiration, but with the furigana たたかい (tatakai), which means fight or duel. It's an acknowledgement that messing with Zoro's fight is the same as getting in the way of his ambition. Barring very few exceptions, they have been almost perfectly in synch with each other ever since Zoro first agreed to join Luffy's crew. Luffy respects Zoro's dream and was willing to watch him die in pursuit of it (he only attacks Mihawk after Zoro falls into the ocean) and Zoro answers that trust by tying his own will and ambition to Luffy's

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(chapter 11)

Sort of a sidenote, but I've always wondered if Zoro has a scar from this, and if it counts towards his claim that a wound on his back is a swordsman's shame. In a way, Buggy only managed to land a hit because Zoro was still East Blue fresh, he wasn't used to fighting people with Devil Fruits and didn't keep his guard up when Buggy was "defeated" so easily and none of his crew seemed surprised or worried about it. He was naive, and it cost him (kind of like how he was naive before for trusting Helmeppo's word)

Buggy's crew is the antithesis to Zoro and Luffy's ideals of respect and loyalty, they perfectly embody piracy without morals. They cheat, lie, steal, pillage and terrorize villagers who are unable to fight back. Even when the mayor tried to defend his town, Buggy refused to take him seriously and denied him any kind of honorable match. They fight using tricks and schemes, they use their crewmates as shields, and they use underhanded means to win duels

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Cat Burglar Nami

It would seem at first that Nami would fit in better with a crew like Buggy's than with Luffy and Zoro, since she also lies, cheats and manipulates others in order to get her way. But even without knowing her motivations or backstory, she has always shown signs of being different. Considering her past, she actually trusts Luffy pretty easily and early, already telling him her goal of buying a village with the money she steals. She tricks Luffy twice, but in between seemed to honestly consider partnering with him, even if she didn't promise to split the money 50-50 (she only says his cut of the pay will be generous)

(chapter 9)

She was getting along fine with him until learning he's also a pirate, and even after that, she was touched for a moment when he spoke about his hat being his treasure. She's clearly conflicted between her prejudice against pirates and what she's actually seeing of Luffy as a person

(chapter 10)

She even considers letting him go after she gets what she wants, maybe in part because she really did like him and maybe because to just leave him there when he hasn't really hurt anyone would go against her morals. Just the fact that she has them already sets her apart from Buggy and his crew

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The thing about Nami is that she's very good at using people's preconceived notions against them. She's a woman, she's young and she isn't physically strong and thus people have a tendency to overlook her, so they let their guard down and she uses that to her advantage. You can call that manipulative, but considering how long she's been infiltrating dangerous pirate crews all alone, I think it's better seen as an effective survival strategy

(chapters 9 and 276)

She may use her unassuming looks to get out of things without having to fight, but when push comes to shove she always sticks by her ideals, just like Luffy and Zoro. In Skypeia, when she's alone with Enel, terrified after watching almost everyone get defeated by him, in the end she still stands her ground and refuses to go with him. And now, when Buggy tests her loyalty and asks her to kill Luffy, she refuses to be like the people she hates

(chapter 10)

On that left panel, what she says is

たとえマネ事も私は非道な海賊と同類にはなりたくなかったから Even if I have to imitate them, I won't be the same thing as an unjust/inhuman pirate

Nami also has her own set of morals and her own ideas about loyalty an honor. Her problem, like Zoro's, is that she ultimately underestimated Buggy

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Buggy the Clown

Like Alvida and Morgan, Buggy is shown to rule his crew by fear. There isn't much loyalty to be seen from his subordinates, and it's very much a reflection of how their captain treats them. Buggy has no qualms about using his own men as shields, and that's why they prefer playing dead over trying to help him and why they gave up relatively easily on their attempt to rescue him from Impel Down (in this case especially contrasted with what the Straw Hats had just done for Robin and what Luffy was doing for Ace)

(chapters 16 and 525)

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The interesting thing about Buggy is that he isn't stupid, despite being a fool. He accepted Nami into his crew, but rightfully didn't trust that someone who abandoned her boss so easily wouldn't end up doing the same to him, so he tests her loyalty. Likewise, he probably knew that Cabaji didn't stand a chance against someone like Zoro, which is why he tried to give him a hand (ha) with the fight. His clownish (ha ha) personality makes us underestimate him, but ironically it's that same flamboyant personality that causes people to overestimate him later on. Buggy is the definition of "failing upwards" and none of his later success is based on physical power (which he doesn't have), but rather on a little bit of strategic thinking and a whole lot of his absurd innate charisma and luck that matches or even surpasses Luffy's (since Luffy does have physical power to go with his charismatic personality)

But while Buggy is weak by the Grand Line's standards, he does have one of the highest bounties in the East Blue, which might have contributed to his over inflated ego and made him believe he was actually powerful enough to take over the Grand Line. He should theorically have known better, considering he was a part of the Roger Pirates in his youth and has lived with and fought against the real monsters of the world. Now, from a Doylist perspective, I assume that Oda just hadn't originally meant to give him such a big role, but from a Watsonian point of view, I think it works wonderfully to highlight his tendency to fall for his own delusions of grandeur. Basically, Buggy got too comfortable in such a calm sea and ended up feeling like a big fish in a small pond

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(chapters 18 and 549)

Speaking of Roger Pirates, the way Buggy talks about Shanks is pretty interesting. The marines call Buggy Shanks' 兄弟分 (kyoudaibun), which means sworn brother. It's apparently a common practice between apprentices of the same master, and it's often a pledge made through rituals, like the brotherhood cups that Ace, Sabo and Luffy exchange. Since this is the Marines talking about pirates, everything they say should be taken with a grain of salt, and this is mostly what they interpret the relationship between Buggy and Shanks to be like, since they were both apprentices on Roger's ship

However, when Buggy talks about him, he calls Shanks his 同志 (doushi), which means comrade or kindred soul, someone who is of the same mind as you. It is the very first thing he says about him, before going on about how much he hates Shanks. There's a not inconsiderable chance that he was just trying to rile Luffy up, but he isn't even looking at Luffy or smirking or anything that might make this seem like a taunt, so to me it feels at least a little genuine. He doesn't say it with any sort of affection, obviously, but by calling him a kindred spirit beforehand, Buggy's story ends up feeling more like one of lingering resentment instead of hate. The fact that he seems to have absolutely no fear of Shanks The Emperor when they do meet again also lends a sense of familiarity to them, and their relationship comes off as more of a rivalry, like Zoro and Sanji or Garp and Roger

(chapter 19)

Their debate in the flashback about what it means to be a pirate is the perfect embodiment of Oda's inital Peacemain vs Morganeer idea. And I also think it's interesting that Shanks' eyes are covered when they talk about fighting to the death and going their separate ways. As a visual language, that could signal he's hiding his true feelings on the matter. We of course learn later on that Shanks never really displays any specific animosity against Buggy, showing that it's very much only a one sided rivalry on Buggy's part. Maybe because Shanks doesn't really see him as a threat, but it could also be that he always thought of him as the comrade or kindred spirit that Buggy himself initally called Shanks. Their views of the world are fundamentally different, but then so is Luffy and Koby's, and Luffy still considers him a friend

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Resolve

I'm glad that Oda eventually decided to give up on the idea of clearly separating pirates into Peacemains and Morganeers (which just seem like different ways of saying good pirates and bad pirates), because it allows for more nuance in the story. Pirates have a bad reputation, and even if the Straw Hats are objectively good people, they also don't expect to be treated differently than any other pirate. They chose this life with eyes wide open, so to speak

(chapter 21)

Luffy's honesty serves as a good way to get them into funny shenanigans, but it's also an example of his emotional intelligence. He always seems like he doesn't really pay attention to people's moods and that he lacks the ability to read a room, but he's perfectly aware of how much that town cares about their mayor, for example, and how much any explanation he gives them about why he hurt the man will only sound like excuses. He never tries to justify himself or defend his actions, and lets people judge him on their own. The fact that he also doesn't bother to provide any context means people more often than not misunderstand him at first, but it's also a standard that Luffy doesn't see himself as a hero. He is a pirate, for good or bad. Given those townies' past experience with pirates, it's normal and expected that they would be angry and mistrustful of other pirates

One thing that One Piece makes clear again and again is that, despite the story seemingly idealizing a pirate's life as one of Romantic adventure, piracy itself is a morally neutral thing. The whole plot of the first chapter was that a pirate's life wasn't as glamorous as young Luffy thought it was, it was dangerous and sometimes bloody. When Buggy tells Nami to kill him, Luffy doesn't necessarily hold it against him because that's just what happens when you're up against pirates

(chapter 10)

What he says is

中途半端な覚悟で海賊を相手にしようとするからそうなるんだ This is what happens when you try to take on pirates with a half-hearted resolve/determination

Luffy learned from Shanks and his crew that to be a pirate you need to have the determination to follow through on your word. So if you're going to lie and fake loyalty to a pirate, you need to be ready to do whatever it takes

(chapters 10 and 2)

Nami asks Luffy if the 覚悟 (kakugo), or resolve, of a pirate means easily being able to kill someone, and Luffy answers that it's the resolve to put your own life on the line. It reminded me of Koby admiring Luffy for his resolve when Luffy told him he wasn't afraid to die while pursuing his goals

(chapter 14)

Luffy is really good at seeing this kind of resolve in others too, and he always respects it. It's what he liked about the mayor, and it's important to note that this doesn't mean that he expects people to win their fights, only that they have to try. Like with Chouchou, who is a small dog trying to fight off a lion strong enough to send Luffy flying through a house. He was obviously never going to win, but when Luffy talks to him, he doesn't say "there was nothing you could have done", he says "I know that you fought with everything you had"

(chapter 13)

[Sidenote: funnily enough, this is probably something he has in common with Garp. As we see in Koby and Helmeppo's cover story, Garp decides to take the two under his wing after he sees Koby's resolve to defend his friend and Helmeppo's courage to talk back to his father]

Luffy admires resolve in people, and it's why he tells Nami that she should have had more determination when she was going up against Buggy. She's mad at Buggy for putting her on the spot, but Luffy is telling her that she shouldn't have underestimated a pirate in the first place

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Treasures and Regrets

The essence of this arc can probably be summed by the question of what exactly counts as a treasure. To Buggy (and Nami, to an extent), treasure is riches, money, jewels - in other words, material wealth

(chapter 15)

Buggy says in that left panel

持ち主の威厳を示す輝きをもってこそ宝なのだ It's only really treasure if it has a brilliance that highlights the owner's dignity/majesty

And that's the difference between Buggy and Nami in a nutshell. To Nami, treasure is money, but only because that money serves a purpose: to buy her village. To Buggy, treasure is also money, but because the money itself is a measure of worth, which is why he will never understand people like Luffy, Zoro, the mayor, Chouchou or even Nami, who all have things they consider important enough to call treasure, but that are related to their connections to other people instead of power and wealth

In fact, another good contrast to this idea of treasure is Gaimon. On a superficial level, his story doesn't seem that different from theirs, since he also had something that was important enough to him that he dedicated years of his life to protect. But noticeably, when Gaimon tells Luffy and Nami about what's keeping him there, he says he still has 未練 (miren), which means lingering attachment or regret, and that he can't let it go. Gaimon's story is that he could have left that island before, other people had visited and he could have asked for help, but he couldn't abandon the idea he had of that treasure, and so he spent 20 years guarding something that didn't even exist. What he has here isn't hope in the positive sense, it's unhealthy attachment, something that kept him stuck and unable to move on

(chapter 22)

Like always, Luffy helped to break him free of that, and even though he decided to stay, it was with relief and a sense of purpose instead of resentment and regret. In fact, when he talks about the strange animals that live there, he uses the expression 愛着がわく (aichaku ga waku), which means to grow fond of or to grow attached to. He let go of the lingering attachment and obsessive compulsion he felt towards the treasure chests and learned to accept the affection and attachment he felt towards the animals. He can now think of them as treasure the same way that Luffy and the others feel about the things that are precious to them

(chapters 1184 and 1146)

The last time we saw Brook get electrocuted (with a thumbs up, even) is when Gunko was making her speech about people warning the world about danger and how there's a war coming and it's unstoppable. I wonder if it's deliberate then that Brook is being electrocuted in this cover story by jellyfish with Imu eyes. It still feels right now that this flashback is following the Shakky in God Valley/Helen of Troy route, but maybe there's another reason the kingdom was destroyed and Shuri was taken

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I have a very curated online experience, so I mostly don't see Discourse on my dash unless someone I'm following is commenting on it, but I can pretty much guess what the Shuri and Brook one is about, so here's my two cents on it

It's not unusual for teenage girls, both in Japanese and Western media, to be fixated on their chest size. Think of those teen movies where girls stuff their bras so their boobs seem bigger in order to look "more mature". I'm not saying it's good, I'm just saying it happens. It's also normal for teens to have crushes on older people and to want to be treated like adults, I don't think I have to explain that it only becomes a problem when the adults in question indulge in and encourage that behavior. All of this to say that this interaction by itself is fine. She wants him to see her as a grown up woman, and he shuts it down immediately. As far as One Piece pervert characters go, this was all pretty tame

My only grievance is that, frankly speaking, I don't trust Oda much. He has a track record of making couples where the female character is unnecessarily young. There was no reason, for example, why Rebecca's mom or Pudding had to be 16 years old, was there? The story would have been exactly the same if they were 18 or 20, so their age was a conscious, deliberate choice on Oda's part. Sadly, it's also not an uncommon thing in manga, both shounen and shoujo, for teenage girls to end up in relationships with adult men (if someone tries to use the damn age of consent argument I will hunt you down and stab you in the face). Not only that, but "older woman in a younger body" is also, sadly, something that you see a lot in shounen. Which is to say that, while we don't know at what age she was frozen in time, I could see the "her body is 14-16 but her mind is 77 so it's fine" argument used in the future

I'm happy that Brook seems completely uninterested in her, and so far it doesn't look like it's gonna go that way, but if it ever does, let's just say that I'll be disappointed but not surprised

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Brook calls the king 大恩人 (daionjin), which means great benefactor, someone to whom you owe a great debt. This kind of debt is mentioned a lot in One Piece, and it's usually an interaction that saved a character's life and has a great influence on them, like Luffy saying he owes Law a life debt, or Sanji saying he owes Zeff a debt, etc.

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There's a visual metaphor here about Brook being on the outside looking in, but framing him as being the one behind bars. His circumstances are quite literally keeping him locked away from having a chance at doing the thing he loves

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Sharing of meals is one of the key themes in One Piece, a sign of friendship and goodwill that Luffy especially but also the Straw Hats in general think very highly of. Like Luffy has said, a hero is someone who shares their food, and scenes with lots of people having a meal together always lend a sense of community and bonding, like the typical feast at the end of a story arc. I think it's interesting that the things that came to mind for Reuven when Brook offered him food as a sign of friendship was not only the difference in the quality of the food, but also that other scene of being presented with a woman of "good pedigree". She's being described exactly like the food, her accomplishments being presented by someone else without even mentioning her name. It's the flashiness and exuberance that hides an emptiness, something that will never match the sheer kindness and warmth of a child who has only frogs and bugs to eat and still chooses to share it with someone else, without any expectation of repayment other than friendship

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(chapters 1184 and 584)

I don't think it's a coincidence at this point that Brook is being so heavily mirrored with Luffy. Both coming from rough backgrounds, spending time in junkyards, making friends with an older person who changes their lives, plus the Nika shot at the beginning of the flashback. But especially with these panels, both of them being beat up by adults, with the higher point of view lending even more of an impression of a grown man looking down on a child

As a bonus, the Marines also end up being paralleled with Porchemy and his gang, which only becomes more obvious when it turns out they were buying drugs from a gang and were more than willing to kill a kid for what he's seen and heard

As an aside, "we're all bones when we die" is a more literal translation of what Brook says, but I like the TCB's poetic license in turning it into "of the dead you'll find, only bones get left behind"

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(chapters 1184 and 584)

This is another shot that seemed very similar to Luffy's flashback. I assume that this was all done to really emphasize how important Reuven (and Candelle) were to Brook, and exactly how horrible it must have been to lose them. Though by this logic, it's not impossible that Candelle didn't die during the flashback, like Sabo didn't. The implications of what might have happened to her if she survived are... not great, so I'm not sure if I prefer that scenario

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It's important that Reuven calls Brook a musician here, because so far all he's seen is Brook playing on a violin made with a glass bottle and some wire. The sound effects when he's playing also imply that it must sound pretty bad, but Reuven saw beyond that, he saw Brook's potential and his love of music. Brook knows that Reuven is a prince now, and must have heard the best of the best musicians out there, and he still calls Brook his favorite. He also not only wants him to be able to learn music, be he also offers him a place to stay and even an education. It really contrasts with the beginning of the flashback within a flashback, where Brook is hated and chased away just for existing