Video version: https://youtu.be/Dw_PBnrbE54

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For the first time since 2014, after 12 whole goddamn years, Usopp finally appears to use his observation haki again. The last time he did, at least in canon, was when he first unlocked it back during Dress Rosa to hit Sugar. He appears to notice that Luffy’s haki has faded a little bit, particularly as Jinbe makes that same remark. Let’s just hope there’s more to come from him!

Gunko has now been fully unthawed, but remains unconscious. Interestingly though, even though Imu already long since abandoned possessing her body, she still maintains her long hair that she developed when Imu took over. Given how we now have Imu’s design, at least when transformed, we can probably assume that the hair grew to match Imu’s longer hair, but it’s interesting that it now remains even after Imu left. In a sense, it makes Gunko’s appearance match better that of her previous self as Shuri, so perhaps it was done so Brook could recognize her more easily, but I wonder how the specifics of the transformation work.

We get a brief flashback of that day at the castle before Loki left where Shanks brings up the Government’s seeming willingness to be preparing for a war. As he puts it, he believes they are slowly preparing for a big war to come and this is the reason why they have been trying for a long time to amass manpower and weapons. In fact, there’s been strong hints of this for the past decade of serialization: during Wano, we were shown how Kaidou was producing weapons en masse through the factories on the island and other territories (such as the one seen in Caribou’s cover story) to then sell them to Doflamingo, or Joker, to resell in the Underworld market. In exchange, Doflamingo produced the SMILE fruits which he gave to Kaidou to build his army of Gifters. Doflamingo resold those weapons across the Underworld to fund several wars and whatnot, but it was later revealed his biggest client was in fact the World Government. When Doflamingo fell, with Fujitora making it impossible to cover up what happened, the trade deal fell through and so CP0 visited directly Wano to try and bargain with Orochi directly in order to attain more weapons. The negotiations fell through as Orochi demanded Vegapunk in exchange, but mostly went nowhere especially after Wano was liberated. It was revealed however, by one of the arms dealers organizing the whole operation in Chapter 926 that their client seemed to be preparing for a war. And since it was later revealed this was the Government, again this was a strong hint they are preparing for a massive conflict.

Meanwhile, as the Straw Hats learn about Imu and keep unthawing Gunko, Chopper is called to the Owl Library, probably in an attempt to talk with Biblo since he can communicate with animals.

Back to Imu, he continues to pull blades out of his Omen to keep hurting Luffy, but what’s interesting is the way he reacts to it. He says “tsugi wa… otto”, which would mean something like “up next is… oh, okay.” This sentence expresses almost a sense of surprise at pulling this blade, almost as if he’s pulling them randomly out of the Omen like a gacha, which is interesting enough. We get a bit more context about the blades though in the next scene, where Zoro clashes with Sommers. Zoro uses his move “Enou Santouryuu Ippyaku Sanjou Hiryuu Jigoku” (閻王三刀龍 一百三情飛龍侍極), a move which you might recall was previously used to defeat King in Onigashima. But like many of his moves, this one is quite a mouthful, so let’s break it down:

Enou Santouryuu just means Three Sword Style King of Hell, meaning that he is using advanced observation haki. The remainder, “Ippyaku Sanjou Hiryuu Jigoku” is a reference to a famous historical drawing by Edo artist Santou Kyouden which depicts Enma, the deity that serves as King of Hell, titled “Ippyaku Sanjou Imojigoku” (一百三升芋地獄). The difference is that while the original drawing and its title talks of Enma casting potatoes into hell according to myth, as odd as that may be out of context, Zoro’s attack instead changes part of the line with “Hiryuu”, which means flying dragon, in order to symbolize the dragon killing that parallels the way Ryuuma previously slayed a flying dragon. Furthermore, while jigoku retains the phonetic reading of “hell”, the kanji is actually changed to make a pun that reads as “extreme samurai”, likely a reference to Ryuma himself. This became iconic enough for the OVA that adapted the Monsters one-shot featuring Ryuma to use this very same move name as the title of the OVA itself.

Sommers however parries the attack with Gram, the same blade that Imu used a few chapters back, and explains that it is actually part of the 19 blades that were pledged around the Empty Throne. These would be the blades of the original 19 founders, excluding Nefertari Lily, as she of course “mysteriously vanished” back then and the Nefertaris didn’t become Celestial Dragons, but including Nerona Imu, who despite being now the supreme King, was still one of the 19 founders. Each founder of course had one specific blade, which they pledged around a throne, and now the Omen can recall those blades, with those of each family allowed to only use the specific blade that belongs to their family. Despite their sharp edges, these blades aren’t all swords, with some axes and spears, as we already had seen around the throne back when it was first introduced. Considering how these have remained there all these years aside from the occasional use, I wonder if any of these fall under the Meito classification or if they are fully unique of their own right.

Now, we don’t know how consistent these necessarily are, but as we saw from the manga at least, Oda seems to be fairly consistent with the placement of the blades around the throne, as appears to still be the case this chapter. So going through them we see we have: 1 cutlass, 1 scimitar, 2 sabers, 3 katana, 2 axes, 2 spears, and 8 which can generally be classified as “swords” with fairly minimal variation, some simply having shorter or sharper crossguards, bulkier or thinner blades, and other details which are subtle enough to be generally bulked in together as just “swords”. As a distinction, a saber has that D-shaped knuckle guard stretching around on the side, a cutlass is similar to a saber but with a shorter bulkier and more curved blade, while a scimitar has a more distinct curved edge with a double curve towards the top. A katana usually has a rounder or more square crossguard with a long and slightly curved blade, and well you know what an axe or a spear are. Now, it’s possible that we could be judging how some of these blades classify inaccurately since those more on the side don’t have many close up shots to still fully judge, but let’s currently assume that our general interpretation is the best one we have.

Imu’s Blades

So since Oda has been fairly consistent with these blades, let’s go over all that Imu already showed, the few extra ones that Sommers mentioned, and see how we can classify them:

Let’s start with Boufuu (虚無剣/ボーフー), which we saw Imu using last chapter. Though its half-spherical cup crossguard makes it look like a rapier, the shorter bulkier curved blade indicates that this is likely a cutlass, though by its crossguard it evidently seems to be the single cutlass with such a design seen on the right of the Empty Throne. Its phonetic reading, “boufuu”, sounds almost like a sigh, like a breath, with the kanji reading “Kyomuken” being “Blade of Nothingness”. The reading “boufuu” is also the Japanese reading for “bohu”, one of the two Hebrew words for the two elements that formed the world before God gave it light in the Bible, being formed by nothingness itself. This befits the blade’s power to drain life around it and make all living creatures whither, and the name itself is likely a reference to the Harley passage starting the Second World where it says “Whithin the nothingness, there be breath”. We do not know to which family this blade belongs to, but I wonder if given the importance with which it was introduced this could be Imu’s original blade or if his original blade is another one entirely, particularly as the Boufuu appears to be paired with another blade later.

As a separate note, we saw in the Flower Room that Imu stabbed Shirahoshi’s picture with some kind of saber, but given its look compared to the other 19 weapons present on the throne, I think it’s more likely this was just a random sword Imu used at the moment rather than one of the 19 hallowed blades found around the throne.

Then, as seen this chapter, there is Gram (憤怒剣/グラム), the blade of the Shepherd family. Its shape appears to be like that of a saber, with the D-shaped knuckleguard and its long slightly curved blade. The Gram here appears to have spikes on it, reflecting Sommers’s thorns, but I wonder if he just applied them on the blade as part of his powers, particularly as none of the sabers around the Empty Throne appear to have this many thorns on them, but maybe Oda hadn’t quite finalized the design. If this is how the blade actually looks like, I wonder if the Thorn-Thorn Fruit had somehow been passed down the Shepherd household. When Imu summoned Gram within his polearm when fighting Loki, the blade extended much further, but this is likely just due to his powers. Its name refers to the legendary blade from Germanic and Norse mythology, also known as the Balmung, with which the hero Sigurd killed the dragon Fafnir. Stuck to a tree, the blade could only be pulled by the chosen hero, which has prompted some scholars to wonder if the Gram and the Excalibur are both blades that may have derived from the same older myth, although this is yet under debate. The word Gram in old Norse literally means “angry” or “ill-tempered”, and fittingly enough, the kanji here reads as “Fundouken”, or “Blade of Wrath”, using the same kanji usually used for the deadly sin.

Following is the blade of the Rimoshifu family, being Longinus (聖命槍/ロンギヌス). As it is very clearly visible, Longinus is a spear, one of the two seen around the throne. Although Sommers first quotes it only in phonetic katakana for some reason, Killingham later introduces with its proper kanji reading. Longinus of course refers to the Spear of Longinus, that being the name of the Roman centurion that was supposedly present at Jesus Christ’s death, and pierced the body of Christ on the cross with his spear. Putting religious belief aside, even religious and Bible scholars have long been skeptical that Longinus was his actual name, with some even questioning on if he really existed or not, as in the Bible only an unnamed soldier is really cited. Some later retellings claim that he was a man by the name of Longinus who eventually became a saint who repented and converted to Christianity, but many scholars are skeptic, particularly as “Longinus” is likely derived from “lancea” in Latin and “lonche” in Greek, which mean, as you may have guessed “lance”. So it’s likely that this name was attributed afterwards. But regardless, in Christian belief, the Spear of Longinus, generally known as the Holy Lance, the Lance of Destiny, or sometimes shortened to simply “the Longinus” itself as we see it named here, is a legendary relic said to possess some grander holy power depending on the retelling. It is interesting however to have the Rimoshifu family, with a name that is so clearly Asian, have a blade associated with Christian myth. Fittingly enough, the kanji reading “Seimeisou” is that of the “Lance of Holy Destiny”, using both of the names in which it is known as in Christianity, the Holy Lance and the Lance of Destiny. The first kanji used here, “sei” (聖), is also the honorific used for male Celestial Dragons, generally meaning “saint” or “holy” (also used for the Holyland Mary Geoise, “seichi”), which is fitting as Longinus was considered to have become a Saint.

Focusing on other swords we’ve seen Imu summon, there’s the Nemesis (天罰剣/ネメシス) which he used to impale Loki a few chapters back. By its shape it appears to generally classify as a sword, perhaps more of a greatsword given its size and how Imu used it with both of his arms, making it one of the swords around the empty throne which had a large crossguard. Its name, “Nemesis”, is derived from the Greek goddess Némesis (Νέμεσις), who was the personification of divine retribution, in other words the holy punishment for those whose hubris led them to think they were better than gods. Némesis itself is derived from Greek “némein” (νέμειν), or “retribution”. It is the reason why even in today’s common English, a “nemesis” is an archenemy, because it’s someone who essentially will make sure to take retribution against you. Fittingly enough, the kanji reading of “Tenbatsuken” reads as “Blade of Celestial Retribution”, which fits the retribution attributed to Némesis, with the “ten” being the same as in “tenryuubito” or Celestial Dragon.

Following that is the homing blade that Imu used against Loki, called the Stigma (怨魔剣/スティグマ). It appears to be a large sword, which much like Nemesis seems more similar to a broadsword, fitting again the design of broadswords seen around the Empty Throne. The word “stigma” as we tackled recently refers to a social judgement cast upon an individual or group of people due to a preconceived idea. Historically though, a stigma was usually a brand embedded onto someone to shame and disgrace them, such as a mark that would be placed on a slave or a prisoner. In Christianity, stigmata refers to the wounds that Christ received during his crucifixion, including one by the aformentioned Longinus. The kanji reading of “Onmaken” translates as “Blade of the Grudge Demon”, which befits the idea of “stigma” being associated like a grudge, and its homing properties befit the concept of a stigma being an inescapable mark.

Now, this chapter instead, Imu summons yet another two blades. The first is Fragarach (海神剣/フラガラッハ), yet another sword, as traditional as it can be in this case with a very classic crossguard. Given the shape of its crossguard, I’m confident this is likely the blade seen to the left of the katana and the axe right to the left of the Empty Throne. The name is derived from the legendary sword from Irish mythology, pertaining to the Sea God Manannán mac Lir, which translates as something like “The Retaliator” or “The Answerer”. In the myth, it is said that the Fragarach could not be blocked by any armor and that it held the power of weakening its foes, with the myth claiming it left its foes as defenseless and in so much pain as a woman during childbirth. This is reflected in the blade used by Imu here, which is capable of draining power from whoever is stabbed by it. Fittingly, its kanji reading of “Umigamiken” translates to “Blade of the Sea God”, referring to Manannán being the Sea God in Irish mythology.

The following weapon Imu brings out is the “Keiten no Ono” (敬天の斧), or the “Axe of Keiten”. As its very name and clear shape shows, this is one of the two axes found around the Empty Throne. Its name, which is only written here with kanji rather than having a unique katakana reading, is that of “Keiten” (removing the “ono” which means just “axe”), referring to the Japanese name for the Chinese deity Xingtian. The name translates as “Celestial Punisher”, as it refers to a Chinese deity which lost the battle for becoming the Supreme God, but continued to fight, never giving up, even after he was decapitated. As such the name “Xingtian”, or “Keiten” in Japanese, means “Celestial Punisher”, or more like “the one who would punish God”. Once again, the same “ten” as in Celestial Dragon (tenryuubito) is used here. Imu claimed that this weapon would be quite bad for Luffy, as it would leave far more than a mere stab wound.

While we haven’t seen others, Sommers mentioned two more blades when he lists several of them beyond those we already know. The first one is “Toufuu” (混沌剣/トーフー). The name is once again the Japanese reading of the Hebrew name “tohu”. Tohu refers to the primordial chaos which filled the world before God said “let there be light”, and is paired alongisde bohu as being the two aspects of the world before God blessed it with life, nothingness and chaos. Fittingly enough, the kanji reading reads as “kontonken”, or “Blade of Chaos”. The kanji “ken” can generally refer to blade, but it doesn’t really specify if it’s a sword, a cutlass, scimitar, or saber, as even a cutlass like Boufuu was also referred to as a “ken”, but we know at least it’s not a spear or axe.

The other blade mentioned is the “Muramasa” (村正). While we don’t visually see it, the incredibly Japanese name should clue us in on this being one of the katana seen around the Empty Throne. Being a Japanese name its name is only written in kanji without phonetic katakana, simply meaning “righteous village”. The name is simply referring to the famous Japanese swordsmith, which came to be known in myth as a swordsmith who created “youtou (妖刀)”, or “cursed katana”, said to curse those who bear them. As you may realize, Muramasa was basically the real life Kitetsu, a swordsmith said to have crafted blades that curse its wielders, which no doubt Oda took inspiration from, especially as the Kitetsu are classified as “youtou” or (cursed katana) in the world of One Piece as well, so I wonder if the Muramasa will be cursed too.

As a final note, there’s one more attack Imu used on Loki which was called Tzitzimitl (日食爆撃/ツィツィミトル), is name referring to the Axtec deity/demon and its kanji reading “Solar Eclipse Bombing”, but it’s unclear if he was summoning one of the blades here too or if this was just an unrelated generic attack. Given how the kanji reads as “bombing” rather than blade, spear, or axe, I think it’s better to assume for now this was just one of Imu’s attacks.

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As a good segue into the next chapter, we get another one of the 19 blades, in this case being the Honebami Toushirou (骨喰藤四郎). It appears very clearly to look like a katana, which would make it one of the remaining one or two we had seen. Its hamon is seemingly patterned with a wavy shape similar to the Boufuu, but more interesting is the crossguard, which is in the shape of a snake eating its tail. This fits the snake-like omen creature that pops out of the blade, which Imu then swings and guides around like a whip, though it seems he can use multiple of them as seen in the panel where two snake heads bite Gaban. Imu also seems to have no issue dual wielding different weapons. The name of the weapon is quite a handful, but Imu does seem to later shorten it to just “Honebami”. The reason for this though is because it is, just like the Muramasa, based on a real sword of the same name, a blade originally created as a naginata but later refined into a wakizashi. While the real life Muramasa is found at the Tokyo National Museum, the Honebami is at the Kyoto National Museum. Its name is composed of two parts, with “Honebami” meaning “bone eater”, because according to Kyoho sword catalogue, it is said the sword can easily slice through any bone and amputate with esase, which given how this chapter goes is quite fitting. On the other hand, Toushirou is the famous swordsmith who had crafted the blade, much like Muramasa, whose name is kept in the blade. The image of the serpent wrapping around the blade could perhaps be a reference to the Kurikaraken (倶利伽羅剣), the blade wielded by the wisdom deity Fudou Myouou (the same one which inspired Gear 4th for reference), where the dragon king Kurikara, the manifestation of the Myouou itself, wraps around the blade, in much the same way as this serpentine or perhaps draconic omen wraps around Imu’s.

Gaban still attempts to fight back, using a few new attacks: the first is called “Kamakiri Buppou, Touroubai” (カマキリ斧法蟷螂梅), which translates to “Mantis Axe Technique, Praying Mantis Plum”. A figurative mantis is depicted behind him, but more than anything tangible, this is likely just meant to serve as a visualization of how his attacks are spinning and slashing like the scythes of a mantis. As you might imagine, this attack is a play on words, as it refers to the Japanese expression “kamakiri no ono” (カマキリの斧), or “the axes of a mantis”. What we generally call the scythes of a mantis in English are more commonly called axes in Japanese, but the expression in particular refers to how the mantis supposedly takes an offensive pose when faced with a bigger predator in hopes of scaring it off. As such, the expression is similar to the English one of “David vs Goliath”, pointing to someone facing odds far larger than what they can chew. This is quite fitting given how you wouldn’t really expect Gaban to ever defeat Imu.

There’s more to the kanji being used here though. The first kanji is phonetically written as “buppou”, which is usually written with kanji that refer to Buddhist teachings (仏法); but I wonder if Oda was trying to create a play on words here as well since the first kanji can also be read as “Imu”, as the kana of his name form the kanji for “Buddha” (in the same way the kana for Nerona form the kanji for “God”). On the other hand, “touroubai” here reads as literally “mantis plum”, but the phonetic reading “touroubai” is usually associated with using the kanji (唐蝋梅) which refers to the wintersweet flower. The connection here is likely intentional, as during God Valley, Rayleigh used an attack called “Higanbana” (彼岸刃鉈), which despite its kanji reading as “Buddhist Equinox Blade Hatchet”, the reading is more commonly associated with the higanbana, or the lycoris, another flower. Rayleigh’s attack even include another mention of Buddhism much like Gaban’s did, which is fitting as Roger’s attacks were based on Shintoism and Japanese spiritual belief, such as “Aramitama” (荒御魂), and “Hinokagutsuchinoeisu” (火之迦具土 慧士).

In between attacks, Gaban gives a small speech about how he believes Luffy is the man that he and his generation has been waiting for, pointing to Rayleigh, Crocus, Shanks, Oden, and Whitebeard. Most of these should be fairly self explanatory: Shanks of course bet on Luffy from chapter 1, he later told to Rayleigh when they met at Sabaody (as seen in a brief flashback) about how “Luffy said the same words the captain did”, which now in retrospect was likely referring to Luffy’s true dream which we still don’t fully understand. Crocus also wondered if Luffy was the man they’d been waiting for ever since the ending of Reverse Mountain decades ago, and Oden had been waiting for a figure to emerge in 20 years as Yamato had explained to us in detail. As for Whitebeard, you might also recall that during his final speech before his death, he told Teach that he wasn’t the man Roger was waiting for, with the way the camera was framed obviously hinting a lot that Luffy was gonna be that figure. This was quite clear ever since Crocus mentioned it really, or even since Chapter 1 if you want to put it that way, but having one of these characters actually confirm it outright this way is a nice moment to see how far Luffy has come. In response, we even see a single panel flashback of the time that Imu censored Gol D. Roger’s name into Gold Roger, leading into the confusion we’ve seen since the start of the series.

Gaban continues the offensive by unleashing what does seem to be advanced conqueror’s haki, giving the cracking of thunder sound effects seen around him before attacking. Though the attack is more a set of air slashes similar to what Zoro does, there does appear to be a strong lightning bolt that goes towards Imu but he parries it with what looks like to be some omen flames. The attack in question is called “Kamudo” (神門/カムド), which translates to “Divine Gate”. If you are attentive enough, you might realize this attack is quite similar to Roger’s iconic “Kamusari” (神避), or “Divine Departure”. Roger’s attack is composed by the kanji of “god” and “departure”, which not only matched his stand against the Celestial Dragons, but was quite fitting as it was inherited by Shanks, a god that did depart from heaven. The term “kamusari” originates from the ancient Japanese text, the kojiki, where it was used to refer to the death of a god, as a more sacred way to refer to this event rather than just saying that a god “died”, instead stating that it was a “divine departure”. Gaban’s attack instead is composed by the kanji for “god” and “gate”, and ironically with this attack he is banishing Imu to the Underworld, almost as if he were tossing him away from the gates of heaven. Gaban even makes mention of not really wanting to “eat” the Treasure Tree Adam, a reference to his epithet of “Yamagurai” (山喰らい, “Mountain Eater”), where he was said to have cut all the trees on a mountain, this time cutting a far more massive branch.

He then unleashes an attack called “Yachitakeru” (八千梟帥). You may recall that this attack looks a lot (being drawn very similarly) and sounds a lot like his previous move “Yasotakeru” (八十梟帥), a move literally meaning “eighty tribe commanders” which was a term mentioned in the old Japanese text, the Kojiki. It serves as an expression referring to a large group of brave warriors fighting together, referring to how the attack unleashes many slashes at the same time. And as we just mentioned, the Kojiki is also where the term “Kamusari” (Divine Departure) originates from, creating yet another connection between the three top members of Roger’s crew. The difference here is that “Yachitakeru” doesn’t read as “eighty tribe commanders”, but as “eight thousand tribe commanders”, giving the idea as if the attack was somehow a hundred times stronger.

But while Imu bleeds a little bit from the head, he was still able to sneak in an attack with the Honebami. If you look at the big Yachitakeru spread, you’ll notice the Honebami cutting through Gaban’s arm, literally eating at his bone, and the next panel already shows a lot of bleeding too from the arm, but hard to see since it’s mostly off-screen. But as is evident by the end of the chapter, Imu ended up chopping off one of Gaban’s arms, making him join the one-armed club.

So, to recapitulate Imu’s blades! We have:

• 虚無剣/ボーフー (Boufuu/Kyomuken, Blade of Nothingness) – Cutlass
• 混沌剣/トーフー (Toufuu/Kontonken, Blade of Chaos) – Some kind of sword or blade
• 憤怒剣/グラム (Gram/Fundoken, Blade of Wrath) – Saber (belonging to the Shepherd Family)
• 聖命槍/ロンギヌス (Longinus/Seimeisou, Spear of Holy Destiny) – Spear (belonging to the Rimoshifu Family)
• 天罰剣/ネメシス (Nemesis/Tenbatsuken, Blade of Celestial Retribution) – Greatsword
• 怨魔剣/スティグマ (Stigma/Onmaken, Blade of the Grudge Demon) – Sword
• 海神剣/フラガラッハ (Fragarach/Umigamiken, Blade of the Sea God) – Sword
• 敬天の斧/けいてんのおの (Keiten no Ono, Axe of the Celestial Punisher) – Axe
• 村正/むらまさ (Muramasa, Just Village) – Likely katana
• 骨喰藤四郎 (Honebami Toushirou, Toushirou’s Bone Eater) – Katana

This gives us ten of the 19 blades total! If we go by those we identified at the empty throne earlier, this would leave us with 1 axe, 1 spear, 1 katana, and not knowing what kind of blade the Toufuu exactly is, about 5 swords left, another saber, and a scimitar, though of course that’s assuming that we have our blades right.

Or in other words, we’ve yet to see the Muramasa and the Toufuu, alongside nine other blades, which hopefully we will get to see all of them in the near future!