Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VevjsZjoJ7s

Covers:

On the cover, now that we’ve reached Hakumai, we see that Yamato is partaking in a sumo match, particularly against the brother of Urashima, the yokozuna wrestler that Luffy fought in Kuri’s Bakura Town, quite evident given their physical resemblance, except this one has a mustache and a beard, and his name appears to be the Yokozuna Sukune. In this case he is almost certainly named after Nomi no Sukune, which is a legendary figure from Japanese history that is considered the founding father of sumo, an art that is said to have began from having fought with his rival Taima no Kehaya in hand to hand combat. Here’s a picture I took of a statue of him that I actually saw in Fukuoka just the other day. As you can see Sukune is often depicted with a luscious beard and mustache, which is why our Sukune here also has a beard compared to his brother Urashima, who may I remind was also named after another mythical figure in Japanese folk tales. In this case though I wonder if Oda is making a pun as “sukune” could alternatively be read as “insufficient”, or “worthless”, perhaps an allusion to how easily Yamato is dealing with him. As we can see behind them, Kawamatsu is indeed here as well, seemingly operating as the daimyo of Hakumai.

In the following cover, we see Yamato finally delivering Tama’s hat to Kawamatsu, which he takes quite a liking to. Having helped raise Hiyori, it makes sense that Kawamatsu is pretty caring and grateful towards kids like Tama. Ulti appears to be asking something of Kawamatsu or pointing towards Yamato, but her brother urges her to stop, so I wonder what that’s about. In the background, several villagers rejoice, including Sukune, who has a big lump on his head from his bout with Yamato.

Killingham:

As Dorry and Brogy’s rampage continues, more and more giants get devilified just like them, and in fact the metaphor for reversi, where those caught in between get “flipped over”, is even more evident as we see an actual game of reversi being shown as a visual metaphor. The one getting reversi’d here is a giant warrior pirate by the name of “Tallman”. He is in fact quite the tall man, being a bit higher than other giants not due to a bigger body but lankier and longer limbs, particularly the neck which is quite longer than that of other giants. This makes me wonder if he could somehow be a hybrid between a giant and a snakeneck, who are known for their long necks, as it’s far too long and far too similar to snakeneck necks to be just a different physical trait. This is also a giant who we had seen before, as those with good memory might remember him from the Egghead incident when he was attacking Marine ships.

Killingham proceeds to use a horn, similar to the gjallarhorn that harkens the arrival of Ragnarök, as a way to revive the dead MMAs, who simply stitch themselves back together. Similarly, from the Nightmare Holes, new MMAs are born, in this case devils, very much in the same image as Imu, which only aggravate the current situation. However, we actually get to take a look at Killingham when he isn’t fully transformed into a kirin, in what is in this case his hybrid form, appearing like a centaur with horse-like legs but an upper human body. This is because the kirin is a four-legged animal, but I guess in his transformed beast state he simply had two legs in a more hominid way, so I wonder if he can also get four legs in that form or not. He also appears to be able to fly thanks to the heavenly clouds he produces, which he is able to use as platforms to jump over and leap into the sky, much like Momonosuke did, likely harkening to the similar Eastern myth for both.

In this case though we actually get to see Killingham’s actual human face, which shows him with spikey dark hair, thick eyelashes, and sharp teeth. The sharp teeth are reminiscent of fish-men like Jack, but there’s no way that a Celestial Dragon would be a fish-man given their strong prejudice, and we’ve seen plenty of humans with sharp teeth like Bartolomeo anyway. Interestingly he also has a very different tonal shift from how he looked like before, going from what some considered to be quite cute-looking and goofy to looking aggressive and dangerous. But while we already had seen that he’s quite the cold-blooded monster like all the other Celestial Dragons, this could tie in how the kirin is a symbol of calm and tranquility, and as such he gave off a much more serene vibe despite his usual threatening appearance for an intentional contrast.

In this panel we also get an official romanization of his name, showing that it is indeed “Killingham” just like in the official translation, showing the recent pattern of canon romanizations lining up with the official translation, which makes things easier. In this case, the name Killingham is an obvious pun between the Kirin (also known originally as the Qilin in China) mixed with killing, given his murdering tendencies as a Celestial Dragon.

Chaos continues:

As Dorry and Brogy continue to rampage, with Brogy having already recovered his wrist, Usopp laments his idols turning over, feeling heartbroken at the loss of their pride given how much he admired them since Little Garden. Hopefully this sets up Usopp actually doing something to help turn this situation around and actually give him some much needed development this arc as one of our final hopes for Elbaph centering a bit on Usopp. In fact their change of attitude is quite evident in their words, with Brogy considering Jarul weak and frail and Dorry even going as far as to say that they shall become Kings of Elbaph because they have no need for God Elbaph. This is such a stark contrast to Little Garden, where Dorry claimed that God Elbaph’s words were sacred, Elbaph being the God that shares its namesake with the island. He also mentions wanting to bring back the Sensou no Jidai (戦争の時代), or Era of War, the period in which the ancient giants rampaged in the past, and refers to the new era he wishes to build as the Kyosha no Jidai (強者の時代), or “Era of the Strong”.

While the kids keep proceeding, among the parents we see Bent’s mom calling out to him, clearly the inspiration behind the mom MMA. However, in this case while she screams out Bent’s name, she actually appears dead worried and willing to unleash all her motherly fury to protect her son, showing that despite how scary she might appear to Bent, she is in fact kind and caring deep down, as any mother should be.

As the forces of nightmares march on towards the West Village to kill Jarul, we see that the fire from the Library and School has begun to spread and take over the rest of the forest, which is incredibly dangerous as we had thought, since the entire island is now at risk of burning down. Furthermore, in this panel we can spot a lot of interesting MMAs. There’s a Naitame Nolida MMA, essentially a fear of the species Zunesha belongs to, which I can’t blame the children given how massive Zunesha is, but I wonder where they heard about that species. Then there’s a dragon, though unlike the Níðhöggr, this one seems more like an Eastern long dragon, being a fear of the type of dragon Kaidou and Momonosuke are. Behind the giants is a wolf, but unlike the Fenrir this one is walking on its hind legs. And even further back is a… bunny tiger thing that I can’t even begin to comprehend what it is, like the dog spider.

Sommers and Killingham question the “boss” about how far they’ll go with this destruction, particularly as going too much further may end up wiping the entire island, and in this occasion Killingham uses an interesting wordplay, as he brings up the word “senjou” in Japanese, which means battlefield, except the phonetic reading is the English word “playboard”, though this is more of a Japanese waseieigo loan word that more specifically means a game board, a playing board. The battlefield being compared to a game board further drives the parallel of the use of reversi as a way to turn the giants over, as if Imu were playing an actual game of reversi. Imu however claims that she wishes to go as far as possible, so as to break Elbaph’s very heart, claiming that if Harald had not messed up, then Elbaph would’ve already been under the World Government’s control. This once again reinforces the idea that Harald very much was in kahoots with the Government as many had suspected and that Loki was likely driven to kill his father because he felt he had no choice to liberate Elbaph, but Jarul declared Loki a father killer, whether innocently mistaken or in kahoots with Harald (though this now seems unlikely given Yarul’s hesitation and Imu’s current resolve to kill him as an unfit king). Once again, I wonder how much of Harald turned over to sell out to the Government and how much of that was Imu’s influence through the Power of Evil, not to mention how Harald’s policies of peace tie into all this.

Underworld:

As Gaban falls down to the Underworld, we see Chopper following after him to save him with Guard Point just as we expected. To depict this fall, Oda uses an entire half-page panel, which is fairly rare in One Piece but gives a great feeling for the verticality of the scene.

As Hajrudin’s crew continues to tend to Loki, Hajrudin demands answers from Loki as to why he killed their father, but the latter says that he’ll explain everything only if Hajrudin properly apologizes with a dogeza prostration. Hajrudin however has no patience and tries to kill Loki with his axe if you look at the big panel, but Stansen tries to hold him back. While Luffy and the others go to rescue Gaban though, Loki gets a call from the mysterious Mosa-ko, who I hope you haven’t forgotten was his friend who he had been talking to on the den den mushi despite never having met each other. As another reminder, Mosa means “shaggy” in Japanese, so we’re still not sure if it’s a nickname or their actual name, and “ko” is an honorific that Loki has given them. We still don’t know Mosako’s identity or even gender, but we know that they have a very polite speech pattern in Japanese, sounding like someone delicate, fragile, and kind. The speech pattern does sound slightly feminine, which is the general vibe it gives, but it could also potentially be interpreted as a very delicate boy speaking too.

In their previous conversation, Mosako explained having undergone a very traumatic experience in the past, with Loki kindly… or well, as kindly as it can be, offering to kill all those who hurt Mosako. But again, the details of that were unclear. And here once more the details are yet unclear, as Mosako claims that they will not be able to contact Loki again, but is unable to explain why this might be the case, leaving Mosako’s identity and their relation to the story still a complete mystery. Though Gerth, who listened, is at least happy Loki made a friend.

As Luffy brings Gaban and finds out about his identity, he is told that he was originally called one of the Pirate King’s “Ryoyoku” 両翼, which translates to the “two wings of the Pirate King”. This is of course the exact same terminology that Robin used to describe Sanji, and by relation likely Zoro as well, as the wings of Luffy. However, given how well versed Robin is in history, instantly knowing who Rayleigh was from the moment she saw him while the other Straw Hats weren’t aware (and even figuring out about Gaban as soon as she heard his name), I’m wondering now if she decided to gift this title of “two wings of the Pirate King” due to her historical knowledge of what the likes of Gaban were called, as she wanted to liken Luffy to Roger, showing her faith in the fact Luffy will become the Pirate King.

The parallels between Gaban and Sanji are pretty evident. Beyond being the evangelist of love and being compared to an older Sanji by Luffy, Gaban is here also considered the “number three” of the Pirate King’s crew, and just as pettily he wakes up simply to remark he was the “number two”, showing he likely had a similar rivalry with Rayleigh as Sanji does with Zoro, with Zoro and Rayleigh’s parallels as the Underworld King and King of Hell being pretty apparent too.

However, as we catch up closer to the present, we get the moment from last chapter when Imu unleashed her Conqueror King’s haki, as Gaban, Zoro, Sanji, Luffy, and all the others pick up on how strong it is, sensing it even from all the way down here in the Underworld. Luffy understands just from how powerful this haki is that someone dangerous is here and that is all that needs to be done, and so is joined in this final panel by Harjduin and Loki, the two polar opposite princes of Elbaph, who will be the keys in assisting him in fighting this threat. Hajrudin mentions riding the “lift”, which might suggest some other method to get to the Sunworld that we might not yet be aware of, as I’m assuming this isn’t referring to the bridge. While on the other hand, Loki claims that they need his strength, and at this point we really need Loki acting as an ally by our side, even if he is still a bit wounded. This would however set up a pretty interesting clash, as Gunko was the one that dealt most of the damage to Loki, so Loki might be seeking revenge even if Gunko isn’t even in control anymore. But it is clear that now as things are at their direst the counterattack of Elbaph finally begins!

Conqueror Kings

As the group prepares to go up, with said lift being some form of gondola, Gaban tells him that indeed the secret to defeating the God Knights is in fact haki as we thought, though specifically it has to be Conqueror King’s haki, which confirms Gaban as a user. As we’ve explained before, it’s been continuously established that devil fruit abilities can be negated with strong haki, and so it makes sense that even the devil’s own powers can be reversed through strong enough haki, which might even perhaps be able to… uh, reverse the Reversi effect.

Gaban mentions the Straw Hats have one more Conqueror King, which Sanji mistakes it to be himself, but of course it’s Zoro, who he himself wasn’t yet fully aware of having that level of haki. Sanji insists on if he has it himself, but while we don’t get a direct answer, two panels later we see a panel of a shocked Sanji, but Loki’s loud screaming is drowning out whatever he has heard. The way it’s framed looks like a typical Oda panel of muting out what words are being said, meaning we don’t know what Gaban told Sanji. For Oda to go out of his way to mute this, I highly doubt this is just something as simple as “you don’t have haki”, so if anything this could potentially be setup for Sanji having the potential to unlock Conqueror’s haki down the line. And after all, if Gaban has it, it makes sense for Sanji to have it too to support the future Pirate King. And there’s no better time than fighting against the God Knights to help Sanji unlock the haki needed to fight them off, particularly if one of them is harming a lady. That said, with Luffy, Zoro, and Loki, we already have enough Conqueror Kings for all three of the God Knights present, so I have to wonder if Sanji is quite necessary, though perhaps we might get Zoro and Sanji vs Killingham and Sommers, and Luffy and Loki together against Imu, which might make more sense.

To get around the issue of Loki being freed, Luffy brazenly asks Loki to join his crew, asking him to become his new “nakama”. Zoro and Sanji slightly break the fourth wall by bringing up all the complaints fans have had, such as if he would fit on the ship or if they could even feed him, as around them we see the sound effects “muri muri muri muri” which means “no way no way no way no way”. Loki however himself refuses, as he doesn’t want to be a subordinate to such a shrimp, though admittedly he did once want to join Xebec’s crew. So even though Luffy asked him, it’s not a guarantee Loki will join us, particularly as not everyone Luffy has asked to join the crew actually has.

Gaban however reveals more details about what happened that day 14 years ago, as he was there on Elbaph with Shanks, which catches Luffy’s interest to listen in on the backstory. Zoro calls him a “Shanks baka”, or “Shanks idiot”, and Luffy gets mad at him for calling Shanks an idiot, but Sanji explains Zoro meant it as Luffy being a Shanks-obsessed idiot. Hajrudin asks Loki then to detail everything under the name of God, referring to God Elbaph whose words are considered sacred, just like how Dorry spoke of this god all the way back in Little Garden.

Loki (and Shanks) Piece:

We take our minds back to the year 1510, 14 years ago and 10 years into the Great Pirate Era. Important events of this year include the completion of the Sea Train and Ginny is kidnapped by the Celestial Dragons. We see a younger Loki, who here is 49 years old. Keep in mind that giants age half as slowly as humans during their youth and later their aging slows down considerably more after when they pass 100 years of age. So at age 49 Loki would be the equivalent of a human 24 year old. Interestingly, he is still covering his eyes with bandages (which admittedly he did as a kid too), so this isn’t related to his powers or anything, but I wonder what it really is as I doubt it’s just a fashion choice. He also carries a large hammer, though its design is different from the Ragnir. We see Loki meeting up with Jarul, as the two cross over the entrance to the castle, which you might notice is the same entrance we saw the Straw Hats cross when it was completely in ruins. The two of them tower over the normal giants due to Loki’s ancient giant blood, which is making me wonder if Jarul has it too. In the vivre cards Jarul was said to only be about 20 meters tall, the same height as an average giant, but I have to imagine this was a mistake that will get retconned given the sheer difference here.

Loki gets pissed off at his father for “selling his soul to the Government”, again alluding at the collusion between both parties we were told about, and is also annoyed that it is the Government who killed Rocks, which once again reinforces Xebec was the one he idolized. The guards greet the two, speaking very formally to Jarul and then almost calling Loki by name, before switching to “bocchan” (ぼっちゃん), or “young master”, the term used to refer to the son of a ruler, which was also used by the Beasts Pirates to refer to Yamato. Interestingly, the guards have similar helmets to what Loki is wearing, seeming to be a royal trademark. Loki bursts directly into the throne room, but the two are greeted by the sight of Harald getting skewered by all of his guards. However, if we look at his silhouette, we can spot not just his iconic mustache, but also spikes coming out of what look like his shoulders. Which despite looking a lot like devil wings, these actually more accurately match with the outfit that we saw him with in his portrait. The two are shocked, but we cut away from the scene before we get any extra context.

Instead we cut to Gaban’s house, which is situated up the tree overlooking the West Village with breathtaking views. The house features an onsen, though I wonder if it’s just water they’ve heated up or somehow naturally heated water coming from somewhere warm within the tree. As you might be familiar, in Japan onsen culture often involves friends bathing together in warm water while naked, as there’s not much of a stigma in bathing together, rather being seen as a bonding experience to catch up with old friends. The act of relaxing naked in warm water is seen as a way to lower your guard and being able to be more frank and open with your feelings. Gaban evidently looks younger, but older than he did with Roger, having started to have his hair grow white and having begun to tie his beard, although it’s still not quite as long. Shanks instead looks younger, currently at age 25, but he already has Blackbeard’s scar on his eye, which narrows down the timeframe this could’ve happened in once again as being between 14 to 19 years ago, between 1505 to 1510, as when Shanks found Uta he did not yet have the scar. This would also be the time he would still have his straw hat, but he obviously isn’t wearing it in the bath as it would get damaged by the heat and water. His crew isn’t present here, perhaps somewhere else on the island (unless he really came alone), though this would be at a time when Uta would still be present on the crew, with Shanks’s bounty not yet having reached a billion due to this being prior to the Elegia incident.

But wait… hold on. What is that tattoo on Shanks’s arm?! This is the first time we’ve ever seen this tattoo, and with good reason, because this is the arm that Shanks lost to the Lord of the Coast to protect Luffy. And Oda is purposefully having Shanks here naked within this bath to show us this tattoo on his arm. So what is it? It appears to be a circle with a cross within it, with its ends opening up like bones, or like the symbols of crosses we’ve seen before across the series. More specifically though, we’ve seen this symbol before: on the bands of the God Knights. This connection makes sense, as Shanks is the child of a God Knight, and it would make sense if he was branded in some way during that period of time that he went back to Mary Geoise, something that happened prior to this present moment as he mentions it to Gaban that he met Harald in Mary Geoise and got in good terms with him. I do wonder if he could’ve potentially had it before, perhaps since birth, but in Oden’s flashback, at least in the manga, while we do see Shanks naked or exposing his arm, it is hard to get a good shot of that side of it to really make sure. It should be noted, however, that the mark the God Knights have on their sleeves has this added line on top, which looks a bit like horns or something else, making it slightly different, but it’s clear the two symbols are related. I’ve seen people think this is the Abyss mark, but I kind of doubt it, given how Shanks got his arm ripped off, and even if that might’ve removed said mark, the arm itself could not be ripped off without regenerating if the immortality was active, especially after how much we saw Gaban dice up Sommers.

However, that’s not it. We’ve actually seen this symbol before. Now, there are some conicidences in which we’ve seen a similar symbol, such as appearing in Kid’s Punk Rotten mecha in Chapter 1001, or as we’ve said in some crosses across the story like Mihawk’s, but there’s one very subtle instance that actually makes a lot of sense. The location we saw this symbol in was… the freezer room in Mary Geoise. What some think might be the Phantom Room, hiding away a frozen ancient straw hat, likely at this point belonging to Joyboy, features these large alcoves. But above those alcoves is a symbol that looks a lot like this one: a cross with split ends and a circle in the middle. When you think of it, if anything, this symbol is quite reminiscent of that of the World Government, and as such, might actually be connected. This could perhaps be the symbol of Imu, a more ancient version of the World Government symbol that spans back to ancient times. And one that until some years ago, was tattooed on Shanks’s arm.

To add to these uneasing mystery, Gaban refers to Shanks pretty explicitly as the “unmei no ko” (運命の子), which means the “child of fate”, or the “child of destiny” as there isn’t much distinction in Japanese. Hard to say to which degree Gaban is just being figurative of if he truly believes that Shanks is the child of destiny, a title that perhaps Shanks voluntarily thought of passing on to Luffy. However, the two decide to abandon this type of talk and simply move on to more casual conversation topics. We see Ripley in the next room over, which is far larger, making their house both big and small to accomodate for the two of them. If you look closely, you’ll actually notice Gaban’s amigasa-style hat hanging on top of the wall above them. She calls Gaban as Yaa-san, while she refers to Shanks as “Shan-kun”, a play on words between “Shanks” and “kun”, the honorific to affectionately refer to someone younger, a term that even Shanks feels shocked by. In her arms we see a young Colon, who is actually already 6 years old by now, but compared to human years that still makes him like a 3 year old infant. Ripley serves them a pie tarte of “kokemomo”, or “cowberries”, which you might not recall, but is actually a reference to the start of the arc in chapter 1132, where Mato, the bartender of the tavern at the coast of Elbaph, offered Colon some food to bring to his mother and father, including their favorite foods. And within that basket was cowberries, which we later saw in chapter 1135 made Ripley quite happy to have received some cowberries. So it being her favorite food, it makes sense that she would make a tarte of them during this flashback. Shanks clearly seems to enjoy it as well, having a heart around him as he dives into the food. On the table we can also spot a giant bottle of wine, with a logo on it that shows grapes going into a drink.

Shanks mentions to Gaban that while he did meet Harald at Mary Geoise, there was some things he couldn’t talk with him there for obvious reasons, so he was hoping to reach Elbaph and talk with him directly before it was too late… which unfortunately, it evidently was. A set of events transpire within the castle, but we’re not yet told the full truth… only given small glimpses. For one, a massive blast of Conqueror King’s haki comes out of the castle, alarming Shanks and Gaban at his home. The guards attempt to flee but someone has locked them in… creating a perfect airtight anti-alibi for Loki to be framed as no more witnesses would remain. Jarul is stabbed through the head with a sword, which might have affected his memories of the event due to the cerebral trauma, or at least knocked him out to not know what fully happened by the end, though interestingly, as mentioned before, this appears to be the same model of sword that Harald had carried. A set of chains are unlocked, which are likely those to the door to the chamber housing the legendary devil fruit of Elbaph, which we now see was stored inside a chest rather than having been eaten by Harald. This fruit is further described by the individual approaching it as “kindan” (禁断), which translates as “forbidden”. We see a silhouette in front of it, which circumstances would lead us to believe this would be Loki, willing to eat the fruit, perhaps even just as a resource to stop the Government from seizing it and protecting it himself. However… what if that’s not the case?

For one, the silhouette doesn’t quite match Loki. It’s hard to say due to how simplistic it is, but the top of the head appears slightly spiked rather than featuring the two large horns on Loki’s head, which would remain whether he had a helmet or not. The line uttered also sounds a bit suspicious, being “This is the forbidden devil fruit that is passed down within Elbaph”, which sounds a bit off to be said by an actual resident of Elbaph, and it’s also very simple in its structure in Japanese for someone as rude-speaking as Loki, but it’s hard to say given how short the sentence is. But if this wasn’t Loki, then who actually stole the fruit? We were told that Loki had stolen this fruit and eaten it too as was stated early in the arc, but we haven’t seen Loki ever using the fruit, and there’s a big chance that perhaps he had never eaten it to begin with. Loki was binded and weakened by the seastone cuffs, but it’s possible that those cuffs are simply binding him even if he doesn’t have a fruit, under the assumption of others.

This is still a bit of a stretch in logic, but let’s entertain the idea… what if someone else did in fact steal this fruit? What if Loki was completely framed and the one to steal the fruit was in fact a member of the Government, who we’ve already been told may have been involved in meddling in this situation? As such, let me propose what may be a crazy idea: a lot of people have connected the fruit of Elbaph with the Gomu Gomu no Mi, as both seem to revolve around the idea of Nika and becoming the Sun God. But what if instead of these being two fruits that both allow one to become some different version or incarnation of Nika… what if they are one and the same? What if the forbidden fruit of Elbaph was in fact the Gomu Gomu no Mi?

What if in fact Elbaph had been guarding the Gomu Gomu no Mi for many years, not allowing anyone to eat it, awaiting a new Joyboy to appear in the future, but this had been stolen by a member of the Government. What would’ve happened? Well, we now know that Shanks was present at the scene of the crime, if only a bit late. So he may have at least had the inkling that a member of the Government had stolen that fruit. And as such he may have tried to give chase or at least try to locate somewhere out there where this fruit may have been stolen to. Which would result in Shanks tracking down and stealing the Gomu Gomu no Mi… the very next year. If you look at the timeline, we know that Shanks stole the Gomu Gomu no Mi in 1515, the year after these events, and in fact likely towards the start of the year from what we know, potentially placing it just a few months after Harald’s death. Which would lend credibility to a connection between these two events. If this were the case, then Shanks could’ve potentially attained back the Gomu Gomu no Mi but either wasn’t able to go back to Elbaph in the New World right away or he instead preferred to keep it on him, searching for a new Joyboy himself, landing that very same year in Foosha Village and making it his base, where he and Uta met Luffy. Then he would spend an entire year traveling across the East Blue and parts of Paradise, until a point in which he returned to Foosha Village and that’s when Luffy ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi. Setting events of fate in motion…

Harald Piece:

Well, we can’t say for sure, but the mystery will linger a bit longer as we do in fact dive into a flashback within a flashback, focusing instead on a Harald flashback as we follow him in his youth. The year is 1415, 109 years ago from present 1524. This is a time so old to us that the likes of Brook had not even been born yet. The only human characters we know to have been alive at that time were Carmel, Kureha, and Clover. This is, of course, the time of the Giant Warrior Pirates, in which Dorry and Brogy terrorized the world known as the Blue Oni and the Red Oni, epithets derived from the Japanese myth of the blue and red oni. We do in fact see a young Dorry and Brogy, who at the time were both 51 years old, or like 25 in human years, with their appearances more closely matching those of their bounty posters rather than those of the present, of course. Behind them you’ll also notice a younger Oimo and Kashi, 44 (22 in human) and 47 (23 in human) respectively, and of course they are riding the Great Eirik, the same ship they used for Egghead all the way in the present. For a time reference, this is 7 years prior to their argument, duel, and disbandment in 1422. Interestingly, two years later, in 1424, the remnants of the Giant Warrior Pirates were set to be executed at Marineford, but Carmel would come to their rescue, allowing her to set good relationships with Elbaph for the next decades until Big Mom’s flashback 63 years ago. I’m bringing this up because I feel we’re quite likely to see the events from her story play out within Harald’s own flashback.

Within this time, we see King Harald’s ship approaching a human kingdom, one characterized by rounded roofs. Harald asks one of his subordinates to look inside the royal castle in search of a beautiful princess, but only does this to trick him into stamping him against the castle, causing the large part of it to crumble, sending what seems to be the king (given his crown) and potentially the princess too within it into a panic. This young Harald wears a similar outfit, also carrying the same blade we saw in his portait, which seen better here is evidently the same that got stuck on Jarul’s head all those years later. On his belt he has a symbol, which looks like a jolly roger but with two axes and a helmet similar to that worn by the royal guards, which we do in fact see atop some of the royal guards here. Here he already had his tattoo but much more visible are the horns he would eventually rip off, which actually make him look a lot like Inbi, the failed ancient giant Number from Punk Hazard in Kaidou’s crew, which already showed us back then that ancient giant horns come in all kinds of different sizes, in this case of course being closer to Loki’s. At this time Harald was 45 years old, which the box claims is like 15 years in human age. This doesn’t fully add up, as Oda’s previous explanation in the SBS said they aged at half the speed, saying that 58 year old Dorry and Brogy were 29 in human years, so 45 would be closer to 22 than 15. So either this is a numerical mistake to be fixed in a volume release or Oda might be retconning giant aging to be even slower. Regardless, this puts Harald’s birth at 1370, a year next to Oimo, and means he was 140 when he died 14 years ago, fairly young, all things considered, for a giant. Back then 109 years ago though, he was clearly quite the young lad, and just as reckless as Loki, showing no mercy to either his enemies or even his subordinates, as he just laughed with his iconic laugh “Bara ha ha ha”. Gaban claimed that the people of Elbaph worship their king like a god, and as such Harald himself acts like one as a result. As the narrator describes, the later beloved peace-keeping Harald, back in his youth, was nothing short… of an absolute scumbag.