One Piece 1083 Review: Silhouette-Silhouette no Mi

One Piece, Chapter 1083: The Death of Nefertari Cobra

Man, this Reverie flashback just keeps on giving, huh? We pick up right where we left off, thankfully, with Cobra reacting in shock to the sight of Imu on the throne. Imu addresses Cobra and... we don't really get any sense of whether Imu speaks with a masculine, feminine, robotic, or any kind of voice other than 'intimidating as all hell'. 

Cobra actually identifies the name 'Imu' as one of the first twenty rulers that became the Celestial Dragons, which... Imu themselves (which is the pronoun to use until we get a confirmed gender) deflect this statement with a talk about how curiousity is impertinent, and will not be dignified with an answer. 

Imu then talks about some queries that Cobra and the Gorosei had been discussing last chapter, confirming something that we know -- 'D' is the moniker of their ancient enemy... and that it had cropped up more frequently recently, but it's nothing but a faint echo since those who carry the name don't even know the actual meaning. Which we've seen before with Saul confirming that he had no idea what the 'D' is other than it's important, and most certainly the likes of Luffy on't care to know. 

Imu then rants about a blunder caused by Queen Lili 800 years ago, and how it's comparable to the scholars of Ohara looking for the truth behind the Void Century. Imu also makes it rather explicit that Lili's "incompetence" was what scattered the Poneglyphs all around the world, causing pirates to hunt them down and try to decipher the true history. Imu then quickly goes through another angry rant, about how they wonder if Lili's 'mistake' was, in fact, on purpose. It most assuredly is!

And then as Cobra reacts in shock, we get panels of the five Gorosei pulling out their guns (and Fake Gandhi pulls out the sword, of course) and Cobra basicallty realizes that, yes, he's not going to leave that room alive. 

Imu then continues to talk as Cobra realizes that the Gorosei are gathering around him with weapons drawn, and Imu notes how deliberate Cobra has been in referring to Queen Lili as "Queen Lili of House Nefertari', and demands that Cobra divulge the full name written on the letter. The Gorosei, though, make it clear that Cobra's fate was already sealed the moment he saw Imu... and den name-drops Lili's full name as Nefertari D. Lili. 

Which... yeah. A big bombshell, isn't it? This means that retroactively, Cobra and Vivi are both 'D' members. Nefertari D. Vivi! Man, I am pretty hyped for Vivi rejoining the crew for sure!

And then a weird goopy black tentacle-arrow thing unfurls from somewhere, and impales Cobra right through the gut! It's... I've gone a bit back and forth but the way the two-page spread is laid out, it's really unclear if it's Imu or one of the Gorosei that (presumably) transforms into this mass of black shadows that has an arrow on it. We don't really get a wide shot of the situation...

And then Sabo unleashes the mother of all HIKEN's, enveloping all the Gorosei. He then unleashes another blast of fiery attack called Smothered Mate up the throne at Imu...

And then something weird happens. Imu's eyes seems to distort, and I'm not sure if they just distorted out of rage, or if they are actually transforming. But whatever it is, some kind of jagged black jaw chomps down on Sabo's fire attack. This could very well be Imu himself transforming... or one of the Gorosei members moving quick enough to intercept the attack. 

The very next shot shows five figures, transformed, surrounding the Empty Throne. We don't exactly see Imu, but he could be protected by one of them. And we do see five figures:

• A big blobby guy with long hands that's crawling down from the top of the Throne, which, if it's not Imu, then is one of the Gorosei moving fast enough to cover Imu. 
• An Onigashima-looking horned bull-creature on the left.
• A weird long-necked zombie hag thing with the 'awakening clouds' very visible. Presumably this one if Fake Gandhi?
• A bird with a hideous neck and weird wings.
• A weird figure with tiny wings on his head and what appears to be tusks? The silhouette of this guy reminds me of the one Gorosei with the long beard and long hair. 

And there are theories out there. These five are shadow constructs created by Imu's power. These five are shadow constructs created by one of the Gorosei's power. They are all mythical Zoans. They are all mythical Zoans mixed with other powers.

But really, it's pretty obvious to me that these are all just the Gorosei, transformed, all of whom are Devil Fruit users. The jury's out whether they're all Zoans (bird boy and awakening-clouds guy probably are) and they could be Logias or Paramecias, too. But the middle-left panel of Sabo and Cobra running away while the silhouettes of the Gorosei chasing them has an additional set of eyes on a 'menacing' background which I assume represents Imu. 

And... yeah, I know, Wano was a arc with a whole lot of Zoans, but those are Ancient Zoans and I would definitely believe that this are all Mythical Zoans, if they all are Zoans. There's also debate if the blackness surrounding them are literal, or if it's just a narrative device intentionally keeping them in the dark until it is time to actually reveal them, similar to the Numbers during the Wano arc. I could see this going either way.

Anyway, this is easily the hype-est of the revelations in this already high-tension chapter. We get to see the Den Den Mushi on the wall that takes a picture of Sabo for the newspapers, so there's that plot point covered. Sabo and Cobra quickly bond over them knowing Luffy, before Sabo tries to escape with Cobra. Cobra tells Sabo to give a message to Luffy -- that they're both sharing the moniker 'D'. We get a brief flashback of Sabo talking to little Luffy and little Ace, and they joke about Sabo getting the 'D' middle-name as SaD. Bo. 

And then the weird shadow-arrow tentacle thing pierces through Sabo and Cobra again, which I think is the final, mortal blow that finally ends Cobra's life. Cobra stands up and seems to block another attack from hitting Sabo, while reading Nefertari D. Lili's letter. 

Oh, while all of this is going on we tie another loose end from what we found has happened in the present day. Somehow, of all people, Wapol witnessed everything from a hole in the wall, and realizes how fucked he would be if the World Government finds him. Wapol reminds us why he's a terrible person by saying that it's a good thing that 'Cobra the Senile' died, but then he runs off. 

We get a brief check-in in the Grand Round Table where the other kings (other than Riku and Neptune, who are suspicious) talk about Cobra and Wapol's confirmed absence, and King Hamburger thinks this is because Cobra has done what he needed to do when he gave the speech about the dissolution of the Shichibukai.

There's also a brief check-in with Shirahoshi, who wonders where Vivi is... and Vivi has found herself abducted by CP-0, leading to a nice re-introduction to Kalifa and Jabra.  Kalifa notes that the government is planning to 'disappear' her, and that she might live the rest of her life as a pet (hopefully as a prisoner instead of a Celestial Dragon's literal pet), but Vivi was far more concerned about Shirahoshi's well-being than her own. 

Jabra also delivers two very important pieces of information. Sai and Leo announced themselves boldly as members of the Straw Hat Fleet. Retroactively, this is probably another factor in what made Luffy be considered a Yonko since he's revealed to have a fleet. Meanwhile, explaining how Morley managed to ninja away and rescue Kuma when we last saw him fighting Ryokugyu, turns out that Fujitora's actions had helped the Revolutionaries free slaves, causing a fight between him and Ryokugyu. It's interesting that this is a way to give the Revolutionaries a win while still keeping the Admirals relatively 'hyped up' in terms of power, since they found it difficult to act -- first because they fought in Marie Geoise and can't use large-scale attacks, second because Fujitora wanted to free the slaves, and third because of this literal infighting. 

After getting this information, Vivi seems to start to concoct a plan to escape, so it's nice to see that she's not completely helpless. Something else saves her, though -- the chapter ends in a rather comedic tone as Wapol bursts through the room, munching through everything and Vivi ends up hanging on to Wapol in the midst of it all. The silly CP-0 agents are too busy being dumbfounded by the bizarre appearance of a metal-jawed hippo man literally eating through the wall. The punchline of this chapter is Wapol's wife, Ms. Universe, being shocked at what he thinks is Wapol eloping with a young mistress.... a bit of a jarring scene compared to the rest of the chapter, but... eh. 

Random Notes:

• Imu addresses Cobra referring to themselves as 'Mu', which, in addition to being a shortened form of Imu, could also mean alternately 'void' or 'dream'.
• If Imu is truly one of the original 20 kings (and they definitely is) then Imu most likely had the Op Op Fruit's immortal surgery done on them.
• I guess Imu is not Lili, then, and that rather intimidating panel of Lili from the previous chapter is just a misdirection. 
• Fake Gandhi is definitely holding the Shodai Kitetsu, isn't he? That hilt is kind of a dead ringer with the Sandai Kitetsu. 
• Smothered Mate is a checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because it is completely surrounded (or smothered) by its own pieces. Presumably, if Sabo actually kills Imu, it's because Imu is unable to move because the Gorosei are all around him.
• A lot of the speculation is that the Gorosei and Imu are all non-combatants, and the combatants in the 'final arc' is going to be left to the God's Knights... but realistically, other than the possible 'Shanks's brother/father', I would really care more about the Gorosei being opponents. We've seen them in the background for so long, it would be nice if they get to fight!
• So assuming we eliminate the three Ancient Weapons (Pluto/Pluton, Uranus, Neptune/Poseidon) are the Gorosei members just called Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn? With Imu perhaps representing Earth? 
• Screaming demon-humanoid Gorosei, the second on the left, is creepy. 
• Casually having a Den Den Mushi on the wall, in a room where Imu regularly hangs out in, just sounds like the recipe for a serious security breach. 
• There is a joke that Sa D. Bo can be written as "Sad. Bo" or "Sad Boi", the opposite to Joy Boy. Funny as it is, I don't think this very English-specific joke is going to work. 
• How the hell does the Kano Kingdom not get into trouble, when Sai, the bodyguard to the Kano Kingdom, proclaims himself as an underling of the Straw Hats?
• I mean, Don Chinjao also has an active bounty, and he was still actively serving the Kano Kingdom even during the events of Dressrosa. I guess Kano's just weird. 
• So the injuries we saw Fujitora have in the scene where he goes off to arrest the Shichibukai is given to him by Ryokugyu, since both him and Karasu were still 'clean' when we last saw them?