#like oda could just have him wash up on elbaph for all we fucking know

[crowdusk]

One Piece Chapter 1132: Adventure in Elbaph (thoughts & predictions for the arc)

Part 1 here.

Lessons in strength  

I also think strength is going to be one of the biggest themes in this arc. We’re in the final saga, and although we know Oda’s not interested in writing a typical shonen with a lot of fighting, it’s sort of inevitable that the final war will be, well, a war. The Strawhats are going to be up against some formidable enemies – from the Marines to the Elders and the Holy Knights – so it only makes sense that they need to be able to hold their own in battle. We’ve just had an arc where we saw them struggle against the Five Elders, even with DorryBrogy and their crew’s help, so I expect there will be some growth necessary before those final showdowns. Of course they get stronger every arc, but I think this one will make that quite explicit. And where better to develop strength than the ancient island of Elbaph, and a country of proud fighters that, as Loki said, once lived and breathed warfare? 

More specifically, though, I think this arc will look at definitions of strength. What does strength mean? How do we define it? What is it important for? One piece and the Strawhats have already answered these questions, but I believe Elbaph will take it further. In light of Gear 5, we see that the true definition of Luffy’s strength is not simply physical, but creative – how much can he break free of expectations, play, and imagine? Gear 5 Luffy does not follow the rules of reality, and this is crucial. The reality of the One Piece world is dire, as it is – people oppressed by the power-hungry and so-called gods, isolated from one another by geography, targeted by bigotry. The task is to refuse this reality, and break it to make a new one. 

Like many readers, I’ve been waiting to see a lot of growth from Usopp in particular, during this arc. Of course that’s because his dream is so tied to Elbaph, but let's get into more detail. Usopp is never going to be an inhumanely strong fighter like Zoro (no matter what the powerscalers say and expect). He isn’t supposed to be! That isn’t his strength! That’s not why we and his crew love him. Usopp’s strength is in bravely facing down his fears every single day, as a normal guy who doesn’t have extraordinary physical prowess. Usopp’s strength is that he believes, and he tries, and he fights with his whole heart for what he cares about. He inspires other people with his stories, and his words are powerful. As we know, stories are so important in the One Piece world (Skypiea was a whole arc related to a story most famous for being a huge lie!). I could say a lot more about Usopp but I won’t here because this is already long enough, but he is first and foremost human, compassionate, creative, and imaginative. He keeps trying for himself and his friends, regardless of not having the lofty dreams of some of his crewmates. That’s why Luffy liked him and recruited him. It would go against his whole character for him to have some kind of sudden wild power-up like I’ve seen people expect. 

Rather, his journey is about him reckoning with himself around what it truly means to be a brave warrior of the sea, because ultimately only he can define that for himself. I think he was first inspired by Dorry and Brogy, but that he might well find that he can’t simply follow the Elbaph codes to the book to achieve his dream. In Wano, we saw that Usopp was particularly upset with the samurai’s values when Kin’emon and Kiku were prepared to die in Onigashima because he strongly disagreed that it was right for them to “take responsibility” by throwing their lives away, proclaiming that he would rather “cling to life with snot running from [his] nose.” I don’t expect the dynamic to be the same in Elbaph, since of course he deeply idolises the giants and has a much different relationship with them. However, I think his path this arc is going to be one of taking what works for him in terms of being courageous and confident in his abilities, while also realising that he already is brave and can be strong on his own terms using his specific skills (long-distance precision sniping, surprise attacks, storytelling and playing with reality using his intelligence as we saw in Thriller Bark). He’ll develop his fighting abilities (observation haki, maybe get some cool new plants from the Elbaph jungle) but most importantly develop confidence, and understand the power of his words in battle (see: becoming God Usopp in Dressrosa). Incidentally, I fully believe we will see him leading 8,000 men some day – not because he’s some overpowered fighter, but because people are drawn to his speaking. 

On the opposite end of things, I think we’re also going to see Zoro go through an important learning curve. Clearly, the swordsman is not in a great headspace. He literally saw Death in Wano and it freaked him out despite him always proclaiming he has no fear. He was then off his game in Egghead, leading to him clearly repressing his feelings of fear and guilt afterwards (see: him calling Luffy pathetic for being upset they lost Stella). Something’s off with him and he’s trying to hold it together, but I’m hoping Elbaph might just burst his dam of inner anxiety. As we know, Zoro’s whole thing is strength – being strong enough to become the best swordsman in the world, being strong enough to protect his crewmates and make Luffy the Pirate King. He takes that responsibility incredibly seriously, to the point of being much too hard on himself and his body. 

Zoro needs to learn a parallel lesson to Usopp – that the expectations he places on himself as a fighter and protector cannot be too rigid and extreme, or they become self-destructive. Prioritising the values of honour and strength can help you grow, but they can just as easily become chains holding you back. We know that’s not what Luffy wants or expects – the Pirate King’s crew should be free! That’s why I really think we need to see Zoro cut himself some slack and remember to rely on others. Being obsessed with individual strength is unhealthy, and may well cause more damage than good in the end. Mihawk is a good example of that – he’s the strongest swordsman in the world, but he’s completely alone. What did he sacrifice for his throne, and was it worth it? 

I would love to see Zoro in Elbaph finally allow himself some vulnerability, ask for help, stop repressing his emotions and work with others instead of fixating on simply training to an extreme level. I want to see him get over his ego a little (or a lot). Unfortunately, knowing how stubborn he is, this lesson may need to be learned through some kind of painful experience. Don’t get me wrong, I say this from a place of so much love for Zoro. It’s difficult to see him be so closed off and hard on himself, as much as I understand where it comes from. So if events on Elbaph lead him to have to face all the fear and emotions he’s not dealing with, I think it will only make him a stronger and more resilient fighter. This could very well be Zoro having to deal with the promise he made to Sanji and realising he can’t take on that responsibility alone, nor would the other crewmembers want him to. Or, maybe that impossible choice would help him understand that he isn’t just an emotionless fighting machine – that what powers his strength is his dedication and love for his friends in the way that it is for all the Strawhats.  

What I would also really like to see out of Zoro’s development is more teamwork with Sanji, since they mirror each other’s growth (with Sanji currently going through his own mutation-related changes) and need to work together as the wings of the Pirate King. Of course that doesn’t mean they’re always going to fight as a team, but I can imagine that they might need to against particularly tough enemies. I do think whatever happens with the promise, they will come out of it stronger (if maybe traumatised) somehow. Oda’s cheesy – he loves demonstrating the power of friendship and deep love. We saw that in Egghead with Kuma protecting Bonney against all odds. Kuma, like Nika and Joyboy, essentially broke reality and science because he loved his daughter so much. One Piece is just that kind of story. Plus, the whole point of Sanji and Zoro being Luffy’s wings is that they reflect each other perfectly, and they are at their most powerful when they work in sync, balancing out each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Sanji is too driven by emotion, with that balance currently changing slightly with the Raid Suit mutations. Zoro, on the other hand, isn’t connected enough to his emotions, and I think something needs to happen (potentially in this arc) to move him towards being more driven by them. I love the symmetry of it all. They can then balance each other out with even greater coherence, which will translate into battle.

Elbaph technology, ancient technology

I can’t wait to learn more about the painters (sunstones) that have been introduced to us in this arc. They’re incredibly reminiscent of Skypiea’s dials, with a hint of sun-based technology that makes me think of Vegapunk’s research and his dreams. Now, Oda could just very well never explain what they really are, or where they come from – we never got answers about the dials. However, given that we’re much further along in the story, I’m hoping we will get more information. My suspicion regarding the dial technology is that it came from the moon with the sky people who became the Skypieans, Shandorans, Birkans and Lunarians. Alternatively, it might have been developed by the Ancient Kingdom. 

The painters of Elbaph could be a technology of similarly ancient origin (there may be more kinds of painters that serve different purposes, like the dials). Given we’re likely to start getting more information about the Ancient Kingdom and the Void Century if Robin visits Saul and his library, it would make sense for Oda to start bringing together the threads of these ‘otherworldly’ technologies. On top of that, Egghead very much highlighted technology as critically important – something that can cause immense harm, as well as bring immense relief and ease to people’s lives. We know that the Ancient Kingdom had incredibly advanced and sophisticated technology, and it seems like too much of a coincidence to me that islands and societies with strong historical links to that kingdom would also happen to have sustainable technologies that haven’t been shared with the world at large. 

Speaking of Egghead technology, I’m curious to see if we get more information about why Elbaph has island clouds. We know from Egghead that they’re formed when pyrobloin (also found in seastone) meets water vapour after being ejected in volcanic eruptions – and that Vegapunk managed to create them and maintain them artificially. It makes sense that Elbaph’s Sun World is high enough in altitude for island clouds to exist stably there, but does that mean there are also volcanoes around there? Were they created a long time in the past when there were volcanoes there? Same question goes for Skypiea. Can the giants work with and manipulate island cloud in the way the Skypieans did, too? Regardless, they’re going to become invaluable given Vegapunk’s global flood prediction. Scientists like Haredas and the remaining Punk satellites’ knowledge of how to create them might become essential to saving people’s lives, as hinted during Egghead. And again, I sense connections to the Ancient Kingdom’s technological prowess that I believe we’ll start to get more and more pieces of as the story progresses in Elbaph.I’m sure the connection to seastone and Wano is important – even the idea of bringing together the elements of earth, water and air/sky (which happen to be linked to each of the ancient weapons) as well as fire/the sun and the Motherflame?? Oda’s cooking something, I know it. 

With all of that said, I'm very excited to see what Nami might learn and do this arc – we've already seen her invoke "divine retribution", and I wouldn't be surprised if we see some more of her skills in a setting as nature and environment-based as this. On top of that, she's one of the scientists of their crew. She's a genius when it comes to weather science and technology, so who knows what she'll be able to do with painters and other weather-related technology on Elbaph, or even knowledge from Saul's library.

One of the biggest challenges in the One Piece world and one of the reasons that the world government is able to maintain dominance to some extent is its literal geography. It’s a world mostly covered by sea, with the only large land mass being the Red Line where the World Government's leadership is based. Parts of the sea cannot be crossed unless you have specific technology (Calm Belts) and on top of the usual difficulties and dangers of maritime travel, the Grand Line harbours extremely erratic and dangerous weather phenomena. This disconnection of people across the world serves to break up collective power, connection and communication, which is part of the reason why the Great Pirate Age was so threatening to the World Government. Normal people basically can’t travel long distances because they lack the resources and technology to do so safely. 

As we’ve seen, technology is a double-edged sword – in the hands of those in power, it can easily become a tool of dominance and destruction, as with the Motherflame. However, if distributed amongst the people for the purposes of bringing better quality of life, it is also invaluable (as we’ve seen with the dials and painters so far). I believe we’ll see more examples of this emerge from this arc, potentially even including tools from the Ancient Kingdom itself. I imagine that part of the downfall of that advanced civilisation might have been their resources and technology. Perhaps they themselves took things too far, or maybe some other group wanted control of what they had, leading to war. 

The return of the princess

One thing that did surprise me slightly in this chapter is the reunion of the Strawhats, because I genuinely thought Oda was going to keep them split up. My reasoning was that he would keep the Alabasta crew and older crew apart, to make it impossible for the message from Vivi to get to the relevant crewmembers. This makes me sound like I don’t want Vivi back ASAP and I promise, I do! For clarity, I think Vivi is (already) the last Strawhat and will join the crew on the Sunny sooner or later. Something that supports the idea of her meeting them on Elbaph is that we’re of course getting a lot of parallels and throwbacks to Little Garden (DorryBro, the giant animals, themes of strength) and who was with them on that island? None other than our beloved princess. Oda loves doing things like that. 

To be honest, I thought he would want to draw it out for longer, just to tease us. Of course, just because the crew is back together for now doesn’t mean that a) they’ll stay together for long (although I would love for that to be the case) or b) the Strawhats who saw the newspaper will bring it up to the others. I’m sure Robin will want to see Saul as soon as possible after the welcome feast (maybe even immediately if he’s unwell), and they might not all go with her. Plus, there’s no guarantee that any of the crew who did read the newspaper would think to mention it to the others (since only Robin picked up on the mark). It’s not like they got new bounties after Egghead. On the other hand, someone could just produce a copy at the feast as an update, and someone like Nami picks it up – it wouldn’t be that clunky for Oda to do. 

Initially upon reading it felt to me like the Vivi thing was going to be forgotten and left for a while, especially if the crew got split up. Thinking about it now, I really don’t know what kind of timeframe we’ll get. There are just too many possibilities to guess. He could have it be something that gets relatively resolved quickly and they send a message to Vivi early in the arc (I’m sure they can send a letter to the WEJ) so she can start heading over (again, don’t know how long that would take), or it could be something that’s left aside for a while. I have no idea. Also, very smart of Oda to put her on an airship that could just, directly land on the Sun level of a certain giant tree. Hmmmmmm. 

We also know Sabo needs to talk to her and Luffy, so I’m anticipating (praying) we might see him meet up with them towards the end of Elbaph, or shortly after. No, I’m not being delusional just because I want to see him...

Brag Men, fictional romance and Shadow the Hedgehog

Lastly, I wanted to talk about the very ominous ending of this chapter, which of course will have caught everyone’s attention. If you remembered Louis Arnot and Brag Men, big kudos to you. I will own up and say I remembered Louis Arnot vaguely being mentioned in relation to Little Garden, but not much else. 

It feels obvious to state, but the first thing that jumps to mind for me is that Oda is once again making the parallels between Little Garden and Elbaph extremely clear. He is also showing us that Brag Men and this Louis Arnot character are important in the One Piece world, which was previously hinted at. Specifically, it ties into Montblanc Noland’s story and the Skypiea arc, and further strengthens the key theme of stories in Elbaph. Both Brag Men and Noland’s story are considered fictional or even lies by most people. However, we know that Noland’s story turned out to be completely true, including the fact that the sky islands do exist and can be reached, and likewise with Louis Arnot’s account of Little Garden. It seems very clear that Elbaph is going to explore ideas around fantasy vs reality, truth vs lies, fact vs fiction, myths and storytelling, and the nature of what’s possible in the world of One Piece. I think Oda will get a little meta, and I love it. 

On the topic of the actual Louis Arnot quote, two things jump out at me. Firstly, the emphasis once again on Warland being a part of Elbaph, which I discussed earlier. This raises the question of when people started predominantly calling it Elbaph, and why? What changed, or was erased, on the island? Secondly, Arnot’s warning that travellers should not regret their “lost time” or overstay their welcome. I’ve touched on ideas around this earlier as well, but I think there are many options as to why this might be. It could be a question of time passing strangely (like on Little Garden), danger (whether from the environment or the inhabitants), or something else. My guess right now is a combination of those. Since before the arrival on Elbaph, the giants have been associated with a stretching out and lengthening of time, as well as a detachment from reality itself (e.g. the Green Fairy alcohol and hallucinations, the idea of drinking and feasting for days). It makes me think of entering a fae realm where time passes differently, and it’s all too easy to never return to the real world, or maybe even become trapped. I also think there may well be threats to humans especially due to internal conflict, secrets kept well-hidden on the island, and/or hostility from certain inhabitants. It feels too early to say much else.

What was particularly interesting to me, though, is the choice of visuals Oda paired with the Arnot quote. In the panel where we see a natural jungle landscape, with a huge bear right in the middle of it, there is a tiny mysterious silhouette. It is wearing what looks in shape like a Wano-style straw hat, and seems to have a distinctive spiky hairstyle or coat. Of course not that much can be deduced from this one panel, but this figure does look very similar to the seated one we saw after Egghead, who was drinking from a bottle and saying “come on…”. The hat is the same, and if you zoom in, it looks like they are holding something to their mouth (a bottle?). I’m putting my money on it being the same person, and I also think it may well be the same mystery character from the cover story of Chapter 631, where we see Crocus drinking with someone who’s back is turned. They are wearing the same Wano-style amigasa and have spiky hair. Crocus seems happy and relaxed, so they probably know each other and are quite close. Obviously we know absolutely nothing about this character apart from a vague silhouette and maybe their hair and hat, but I will put on my clown makeup and say I think it’s Scopper Gaban. 

Why? Because I want it to be. This theorising about the silhouette is the part I’m fully just including for fun, because we have so little to go on but. He would be friends with Crocus since they were both on Roger’s crew, he has spiky hair which might now be white from age, he’s been to Wano, it would make sense for Oda to make him cross paths with the Strawhats, and he’s strong – which he would need to be to get from Twin Cape to the New World alone, and to survive in the wilderness of Elbaph. Also, I just think it’s interesting that we haven’t yet heard anything about someone who was clearly extremely strong in Roger’s crew (unconfirmed but likely Roger’s #3 after Rayleigh). I have no other evidence, but that’s my theory. The timeline of Louis Arnot’s activity would actually also fit with someone from the Roger Pirates (pen name, maybe?) but I feel like that’s stretching it. I will be a clown if it turns out to be someone we’ve never met before, or even just Louis Arnot himself (real not pen name), but that’s fine. I’m manifesting. 

The last thing I’ll say about the last page of the chapter is that the last panel, with the pitch-black background, very much reminds me of the ‘blackout’ panels we saw during the Lego world adventure a few chapters ago. It could of course just be a coincidence, and Oda’s using the background for pure dramatic effect. But, and again I am in a full face of clown makeup, something else could be going on… [insert DOOM! panel]