One Piece 1128 Review: Not a Dream

One Piece, Chapter 1128: RPG

So we continue on with the whole Elbaf Legoland storyline, and... as I expected, it's not a 'dream world'. I honestly think if Oda ever does a 'dream world' sequence, it would be way trippier than just giant animals! Look at what he did in Thriller Bark and the Seducing Woods, and even for Uta's world in Film: Red. 

I think this chapter shows off the Lego city a lot better, with our heroes jumping around, and even Sanji makes a bit of a fun about the dreamworld theory in that "if this was a dream, there would be more women in it". Yyyyeah, we know exactly what kind of dreams Sanji's having. There's some discussion between Luffy and Usopp about how Luffy thinks Usopp should've been able to beat the cat-lion, which... again, I really am expecting some kind of an Usopp character arc in the Elbaf part of the story, so I do like the sprinkling here and there. 

Usopp poses in his funky bearded puffy-pants Viking outfit, and gives a nice little theory -- these are Elbaf warrior clothing, but it doesn't make sense that Elbaf has clothes their size. Luffy is all excited about adventure, and Sanji makes a comment about how he doesn't sense Robin on his 'radar'. 

They then meet some big, bearded plump guy -- who isn't a giant, but he's riding around on a giant grasshopper that acts like a bug. Apparently this guy serves the cat that rules over Bigstein Castle, and we get a glorious panel of Luffy about to blurt out that they beat the cat and hedgehog and ate the rabbit. Usopp just covers his mouth with the scammiest, most disarming smile on his face, while Zoro, Sanji and Nami are whistling inconspicuously. Very old-school One Piece comedy. I really like this. I didn't like it as much back in Wano for some reason, but I did like the hijinks that the Straw Hats get into at the beginning of each arc. 

The grasshopper rider then talks about the Sun God's Temple, where it's dangerous and guarded and all the sounds of adventure, leading Luffy to burst off running in the direction of said temple while Usopp and the others yell at him to come back. Luffy just runs all happy, gets briefly confused when he sees another castle and another 'him' running towards him... and runs straight into, of course, a mirror. That shatters. They then see that the Lego-Elbaf that they've been in is... it's the equivalent of those gigantic, impressive Lego cities that people built, placed inside a cage with a fake sky. Outside it is a workshop with a bunch of Legos and a sewing machine where Chopper is trapped. 

We also get the answer about their clothing, where they find the clothes that Usopp compares to doll's clothing, while Sanji notes that all the bricks are made of plastic synthetic resin, hence the weird smell they mentioned last chapter. There's also a sequence where they realize that the mirror they broke is a one-way mirror, allowing the giant to peer inside like it's an ant terrarium or something. Sanji makes a comment about wanting to install the mirrors in the women's toilet and gets kicked in the face by Nami. And... basically the Straw Hats get a bit into theorizing, and while we can't confirm that we're in Elbaf, they're definitely captured by a giant. 

And then RANDOM ENCOUNTER TABLE, and even more giant animals -- a snake, a raven with a skull hat and some mice show up. 

We get to finally see the "Sun God", who has high heels, a black cloak, a staff and a goat's skull hat. She (I'm assuming 'she' because of the high heels, but the clothes are baggy enough that the "Sun God" could be a dude too) looks pretty creepy, but having seen the Lego diorama and how she's probably just a gigantic dork, this "Sun God" is probably wearing the creepy deer-skull mask just as an elaborate LARP-ing exercise. Which is adorable, actually... if not for the fact that she's kidnapping sentient humans and tossing them and placing them at the mercy of a psychotic cat. 

The Sun God comes in to see her game room on fucking fire, and Luffy actually is in the process of using Gear Fifth: Dawn Pistol to beat the shit out of the giant snake. Oh, and they are named after beings from Norse mythology, which is cute. The crow is named Muginn, a portmanteau of Huginn and Muninn, Odin's two crows. The snake is called Hilmungandr, a riff on Jormungandr. They run back into Legoland and take over the giant cat and force him to be their steed. 

Chopper, of course, can speak to animals and he notes about how the cat promises vengeance on the Straw Hats. Oh, and Nami also gets a map of Legoland... and then the "Sun God" show sup and chases them around the kingdom, being a full-on giant right next to the giant lego castles. The humans trapped (?) in the Legoland is panicking at the Sun God being infuriated, and that's the end of the chapter.

Still pretty fun stuff, and I don't see the Legoland adventures to extend particularly long. Maybe one or two more chapters, after we beat this Lego person. I do wonder just what this Sun God person is, if she's actually kidnapping these people out of malice, ignorance, or if this is actually a part of Elbafian society? We'll see. Not a whole ton to really talk about, to be fair, I'm just here with half my brain shut off and happy to enjoy the ride. 

Random Notes:

• No Yamato cover story this week, but a cover art with them as witches. 
• So yes, last chapter was just sloppy. I do think that having Oda pulled in all directions with One Piece live-action season 2 and the second One Piece anime being released are all kind of eating a bit into his bandwidth.
• I've seen some people take Sanji's comment about his sniffing 'radar' to mean Observation Haki, which... sure, why not?
• We last saw an arthropod being used as a motorcycle in One Piece: Strong World, where Franky, Brook and Robin rode on a crayfish bike. 
• I love the brief panel of Zoro also being excited at the prospect of fighting, and Sanji admonishing Zoro for 'feeding' Luffy. 
• Chopper is trapped by a hard metal collar, but... I really do think that he should've been able to break it in Heavy or Monster Point. Oh well, Rule of Funny. 
• Remember when there were a lot of theories about the Gomu Gomu no Mi's awakening as being something along the lines of resin? Yeah, I remember. 
• Hilmungandr is a bit of a weird pun, but it's basically switching the "yoru" on the Japanese reading of Jormungandr to "hiru". Yoru means night, and hiru means day. Oh, Oda. 
• Yes, Luffy goes to Gear Fifth to beat up a snake. I... I don't know how to feel about it, but I'm not bothered about it the way Dragon Ball Super portrays Ultra Instinct and how Goku can sometimes go into it to spar with Krillin, and sometimes he can't... generally I find Luffy to take battles and powerscaling with a lot less respect than someone like Goku, though, so I guess it's a bit more palatable to me.