Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QioI0BFX-vo

Cover

On the cover, we follow Yamato to the outskirts of Bakura Town in Kuri, to Okobore Town, or Leftovers Town, the place where Luffy first met O-Tsuru while trying to rescue Tama. The lady that got rescued serves Yamato some soba, while explaining that the girls from the soba shop all disappeared. Evidently, someone has been kidnapping young ladies, but could also be behind the disappearance of the carpenter Minatomo. What remaining person in Wano could have done this? Could it be someone like Apoo if he still hasn’t left the country? Or perhaps someone more local, like Holed’em? Could it perhaps even be that we are overthinking this and it’s actually Minatomo himself?

Green Fairy

As the Straw Hats and giants head towards Elbaf, we get a summary of what we assumed likely was the case that happened. Oimo and Kashi set sail from Water 7 as see in a cover story and headed to Little Garden after the info provided to them by the Straw Hats to come after their giant captains, just as they had originally tried to when leaving the country 52 years ago before they were tricked into protecting Enies Lobby. However, we find out that Dorry and Brogy simply agreed to put the duel on hold, not end it.

As the Straw Hats party, Sanji inquires one of the giants about one of the drinks, which he explains is an alcoholic beverage called “Abusan”, which is the Japanese way to pronounce “Absinthe”, a real life Swiss beverage of green tint. Elbaf is generally inspired by Nordic countries and viking culture, but it also seems to take some inspiration from Switzerland’s Alpine landscapes, which are often mixed in with the imagery of Nordic countries, so it checks out. The giant explains this drink is also known by the name of “midori no yousei”, which translates to “green fairy”. This matches with the drink also being called the green fairy, or “la fée verte” in its original French language. The reason for this is because, though it has been contested, the drink was said to cause hallucinations, which was described as being whisked away by a fairy of a green color similar to the drink’s iconic tint. This is again a fact that is mentioned by the giant, so while it’s possible this could just be some tidbit of worldbuilding, there is also the possibility this is another of Oda’s guns that he intends to use for narrative purposes later, which we’ll get into in just a bit.

As the party ensues, we can see the giants are dancing to the tune of Nika and Luffy, likely none the wiser, dances along with them with the same pose of Nika. Meanwhile, in a sweet moment, Bonney comments to Kuma how they can finally see the sea’s horizon together. This is because the two had promised that they would travel the world together at some point in the future, but in reality the two were never able to make a trip aside from Kuma taking Bonney to Egghead, something that was likely done in big part through his powers, and even then Bonney was stuck inside a box the whole time. So this is the first time that Kuma and Bonney are finally having a proper trip together as father and daughter, with even the broken Kuma cracking a smile.

Bartolomeo and Shanks

Meanwhile, we are retold the events that happened a little over a month ago, where Bartolomeo attacked an island in the New World as seen in a cover story. The time lines up well with the events of after Dress Rosa, around the time of Whole Cake Island, which in-world was just not that long over a month ago, where Bartolomeo attacked an island that was part of Shanks’s protectorate. We even get a name for the island, which is called “Gartel” island. “Gartel” refers to a belt used in Jewish culture, though I wonder if it could be referencing something else, like being a deformation of the word “cartel”. Bartolomeo had attacked the island to spread the good word of Luffy-senpai, but when told that the island was turf of the Red-Haired Pirates, he simply set his flag ablaze.

As Shanks mentioned when he was approaching Wano in Chapter 1054, he needed to make an example of Bartolomeo so that other pirates think twice before invading his territory, which we see him do in this chapter. We see several onlookers among the villagers, which if you look closely match the different villagers that we had seen back during Bartolomeo’s cover story, including the large guy they beat up. Among Bartolomeo’s men, you can also spot some familiar faces, as beyond Gambia, his right-hand man, there’s also some other members like the pink-haired guy that tried to remove gum on the deck on their way to Zou.

Shanks then offers a trial for Bartolomeo, asking him to poison Luffy in a month’s time. The one offering the drink is Hongou, the doctor of the Red-Haired Pirates, and we’ve seen him handling medicine in the past such as trying to provide a cure for Uta during Film RED, found in a similar vial, though without the skull and crossbones of course. Bartolomeo however drinks the vial, as just as you might remember, during Dress Rosa it was the members of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet who decided to form the alliance, against Luffy’s own wishes, and so they retain their independence and responsibility even now. This turns out to all be a trick… at least for now, as while he lets them get away, Shanks still has Barto and his crew shot, with Yasopp delivering a deadly round that sets the entire ship ablaze at an impressive distance, turning the Going Luffy Senpai into cinders. However, the statement that any deaths are unknown seems to very well imply that the Barto Club will survive, just simply having lost their ship similarly to the Heart Pirates. So perhaps Shanks showed some mercy by giving them some chance to survive and only destroying their ship, but at the same time, this is incredibly cruel from Shanks. This seemingly is going to show that Shanks isn’t playing around anymore. He is serious to take the One Piece and he might even be willing to stand against Luffy as his opponent, obviously from a point of respect, but perhaps to honor that promise he doesn’t intend to hold back or play friendly with Luffy. As much as some have speculated about a possible friendly Davy Back Fight or something like that, it may very well be possible that Shanks will not be holding any punches anymore in the conflict for the One Piece.

Blackbeard

As we move to Hachinosu, where Blackbeard has returned from his battle with Law, he talks about the state of the world, mentioning that now that the poneglyphs aren’t a secret only known by the underworld anymore, the conflict for the One Piece will only escalate, with the major players being the Four Emperors and the Government. This is kinda what we mentioned a long time ago, that the setup of the final saga seems to be a big battle royale clash between the new Four Emperors, Luffy, Shanks, Blackbeard, and Cross Guild, and the forces of the Government, with the Revolutionaries as a wild card. This was recently reflected in the double page spread in Vegapunk’s speech. On the other hand, Law and Kid basically dropped out of the race, not making it as Emperors and eventually getting both crushed, though Law at least has survived.

Where’s everyone?

So with that, as it seems we might be diving straight into a new arc with next chapter, let’s do a quick check up on exactly what the current status of all the major players in the story is right now before we head into Elbaf.

For starters, of course, the Straw Hats are going with the giants towards Elbaf, joined by Lilith, as well as Kuma and Bonney. From his Grand Fleet, aside Barto, we don’t really know much about his other fleet members, who are mostly roaming around the seas freely as pirates, so they’ll likely come to play at a later point. Meanwhile the Gorosei and Imu are gathered back at Mary Geoise with their new member Garling, while York is at Egghead to produce more Mother Flames, though Punk Records itself has absconded as its own floating island with the consciousnesses of the Punks, trying to locate Haredas of Weatheria.

Among the Marines, Sakazuki is likely located at his office desk as always, and Kizaru is still to return from Egghead, while the current movements of the other two Admirals, Fujitora, and Ryokugyu are unknown, as they were last seen trying to hunt down the Shichibukai, but that was over a month ago now.

As for the other emperors, as we see here Blackbeard and all of his Titanic Captains are reuniting at Hachinosu, save for Lafitte who we will focus on in a moment. This also includes Caribou being brought along, who has knowledge of Pluton and Poseidon, as well as Catarina Devon having the ability to copy Saturn, which will prove interesting now that the real Saturn is dead.

Koby and the other SWORD members have escaped to Marine base G-S, where they are recovering alongside Tashigi and a rescued Drake. Smoker is heading towards Tashigi’s direction while carrying a certain mysterious crate. On the other hand, Garp has been jailed by Blackbeard, to be used as a trump card. However, conversely, Moria also managed to escape as confirmed in this chapter, thanks to the assistance of his daughter Perona being the one who broke out Koby to begin with in exchange for freeing Moria and running away with him.

As we saw earlier in this chapter, Shanks and his crew are at Gartel island disposing of Bartolomeo, though are likely continuously on the move. And last we saw them, Buggy, Crocodile, Mihawk, and all other members of Cross Guild are at Karai Bari, still preparing to make a move.

Among other important characters, Weevil was recently captured by Admiral Ryokugyu on Sphinx Island, with Buckin, the original Stussy, begging Marco for help, claiming that Weevil’s origin and connection with Whitebeard can be proven by Dr. Vegapunk, leading many to think there is some cloning shenanigans going on.

On the other hand, Boa Hancock was last seen at Amazon Lily near present day, following the attack on the island around a month ago. However, given how many wanted to hunt her down, she said she was wondering where to go in order to keep her kingdom safe, implying she might move somewhere else. She claimed wanting to elope with Luffy, so perhaps she might try to track him down. And of course, Doflamingo is still sitting behind bars.

As for the Supernovas, not counting Hawkins, Kid, and Killer seemingly dropping out, as well as Drake being revealed to be a Marine we are left with Bege, who was last seen in his cover story happily with his family and Apoo who was last seen in Wano and likely got off the island safely, even if we don’t really know what he’s up to now. And of course finally, Urouge, the final Supernova Oda really has to explore in any way and who likely will have some form of relevance in an upcoming arc. Some think that could be Elbaf, some think it could be another, but we are likely to see him making a move soon. His last location was the Ballon Terminal where he was recovering after being injured by Charlotte Cracker during his incursion of Totto Land where he defeated Snack. There he met Kaidou right before he jumped down from the sky island, though of course this was long ago, both in the story being a couple of months ago, and in real life being almost a decade since we’ve seen Urouge, so Oda is definitely building up that anticipation.

As a side detour before we end the chapter though, we see Laffitte at what are the headquarters of “Umit Shipping”. If you can recall, Umit was one of the Emperors of the Underworld who appeared during Big Mom’s tea party. He is a shipping magnate responsible for major shipping deals across the world, both legit and illegal, for which he has come to be known as the “deep sea current”. We even saw him in a cameo during Kuma’s flashback where his company was transporting materials to build Egghead. However, in this case. the headquarters are being wrecked, which will make transportation of food and materials limited for a period of time. With the bondolas of the Red Port being destroyed as well, this makes access to Mary Geoise practically impossible, effectively creating the resource siege that the Revolutionaries wanted. However, with the bondolas inaccessible, anyone that doesn’t have some kind of power won’t even be able to access the Holy Land, not even Marines as Lafitte points out. And in response to that Teach says “make the “preparations””, with the word preparations highlighted in Japanese for emphasis. This seems to indicate Teach is about to make a big move and execute a plan, and if it is connected to Mary Geoise, coupled with Devon taking Saturn’s identity… how could that all pan out?

Where is Nami?

Anyway, we cut back to our jolly old Straw Hats only to see that some of them… have completely vanished, alongside the Thousand Sunny. We know that we are near Elbaf as just like Robin and Franky point out the fishes in the surrounding waters are gigantic, a trait possessed not only by the people of Elbaf but also many of its creatures. And we know that a couple of days have passed since the Egghead Incident, placing us around April 10th or so of the current year. On the ship we see, Brook, Lilith, Bonney, Robin, Franky, and Jinbe, implying that it’s Luffy through Chopper who vanished, which would be the original six members of the crew. Can you smell that? It’s the smell of a new arc brewing, where we are thrust into a new unknown location with the Straw Hats separating once again!

However weirdly enough Nami wakes up from her hungover to realize that she is… inside a LEGO castle?? There’s a lot to break down here: for starters, in the dark, Nami hears what seems to be Luffy’s voice. We can’t say for sure, but the language used matches a lot with Luffy’s, though it could also be from one of the other crewmembers. At the very least, it has to be one of them due to the informality in which they are addressing Nami.

Second, is Nami’s outfit, which appears to be like one of a warrior, though with the iconic Oda skimpiness. She is wearing a special necklace and on her back you can spot a sword. This barbarian outfit would seem to indicate that this is likely Elbaf rather than a detour arc that has nothing to do with it.

Most puzzling however is of course… the LEGO castle. The entire building is made of building bricks akin to those of LEGO. While not all the pieces match, likely more than anything for copyright purposes, several of the pieces are identical to those of the LEGO system, such as the grated windows, the tile plate shield, and the bar elements among others. This isn’t even the first time Oda has drawn LEGO, as he did feature the Straw Hats playing with it during a color spread, and Oda himself is a big fan of LEGO and has built many sets across his life, as is yours truly as well. This brings into question however just where exactly this is, but I feel there are two potential easy answers to this:

One answer is the fact that this could in fact be Elbaf. After all Nami wears a viking-looking outfit, and we’ve never seen the royal castle of Elbaf or much of its inland, so this could perhaps be one of its locations, relating in some way to fairy tales of Jack and the Beanstalk and whatnot. It could even make more sense that this is in fact a toy house for giants built of building bricks made to be giant-sized. So in order to keep Nami comfortable, due to her small size, they tried placing her inside what is essentially a doll house that would fit her size. Though these are giant sized for us, they would indeed be LEGO-sized for actual giants.

This however brings some things into question: why would Dorry and Brogy and the other giants not know what is happening if this is a common occurrence in Elbaf. Why would the giants even think of kidnapping a ship that was clearly being escorted by the Great Eirik, the flagship of the warriors of Elbaf? Some people speculated that the one kidnapping Nami could be Prince Loki, the royal Prince and perhaps now even King of Elbaf that fell in love with Charlotte Lola but his marriage into the Big Mom family fell through after Lola run away… eventually marrying Gotti of Bege’s crew. So perhaps he is still trying to look for love and that’s why he kidnapped Nami, but that is still kinda hard to see. And there’s yet another question which is who dressed up Nami? After all, could giants really be able to change the clothes of someone that small in size? And why even bother to change her clothes at all?

There is a second answer, and while it’s a lot more boring, it makes a lot more sense. Perhaps Nami is… hallucinating. As we were told earlier in the chapter, Absinthe, known as the “green fairy”, is known for causing hallucinations. And so in fact, Nami could be here hallucinating completely. It would explain the different clothing, as well as the surreal landscape, not to mention her hearing the Straw Hats calling out to her, potentially because they might be doing so but can’t see them due to the hallucinations. She does in fact mention having perhaps drunk too much, so it would make sense this is all part of her hallucinating. However, what will this lead into and what is it still that really happened to the ship of the Straw Hats if so?

Regardless of what happened, it is evident that we are heading straight into a new arc with little room to breathe, so let’s just go along with this rollercoaster as we dive into a new arc of One Piece, what may be one of our last opportunities to enjoy such a moment!