One Piece, Chapter 1137: Shamrock Takes the Stage
Rodo is a nice vessel of exposition as he explains about King Harald, and the massive battle that took place in the castle during the battle that claimed Harald's life. Loki and Jarul were the only survivors of that battle, and Loki allegedly killed around 100 guards in addition to Harald as well. I find it rather cute that of all things, it's Luffy jumping around these corpses that gets him asking about how some of the skulls have horns, just like Oars... leading Rodo to tell us something the fandom kind of guessed from a while back -- Ancient Giants are a subset of giants, and some traits still appear among giants whose lineage go all the way back. Rodo also shows the Straw Hats a picture of King Harald, who is also one of these horned giants... except he ripped out the horns from his own head because he viewed the horns as a sign of war.
Luffy and company also finally learn that Hajrudin is Loki's brother... or rather, half-brother. Loki was born to the queen, while Hajrudin was born to a different woman from a non-Elbaph giant tribe. This explains why Hajrudin was never referred to by the title of prince. It's also a nice tie-in to how Saul noted how he came from a different giant village that didn't think the most highly of Elbaf. I do like the discussion that happened next, with Zoro being a bit baffled at why they would hate each other before Rodo reminds him that humans kill each other over, well, essentially racist nonsense like 'tainted blood'.
Zoro asks Rodo why he would follow Hajrudin if he had this supposed 'tainted blood', and... we get a flashback to Rodo's backstory. Which is pretty bitch-basic shonen nakama backstory, admittedly. Rodo was a geek that got bullied, Hajrudin shows up and sees Rodo for his skills and not his weirdness, and basically shanghais him into his crew the way Luffy does so with many of his friends.
Rodo notes how Hajrudin has had a lot of hardships in his youths, but god damn it, he has a dream to be the "King of Giants". We cut to adult Hajrudin with his crew yelling the same thing in the party -- with a lot of admirers around him. Zoro sighs and notes that it's a "boring motivation" that's nothing new to him, but I think he's not exactly dismissive of Rodo's dream but just kind of pissed that he's finding something in common with such a creep. We cut away from this just as Luffy finds the knocked-out giant guards.
And we cut to the Underworld again, where Not-Shanks and Gunko have beaten up a whole lot more animals. Gunko is later revealed to have the powers of the "Arrow Arrow Fruit", so... she's a regular Devil Fruit user. There has been some discussion on whether the Gods' Knights would even utilize Devil Fruits at all (from the god/devil dichotomy, it would make sense for them to hate Devil Fruits), or if they're getting their powers from Imu directly or something stranger. But at the very least Gunko is a fruit user.
Gunko's arrow powers are... interesting. Most people thought that her ability was something along the lines of 'ribbons' or 'bandages', and she still uses the arrows she creates similarly to a substance-creating fruit. In a very ridiculous sequence, Gunko creates super-long boots out of the arrows that are longer than she is tall. I guess Oda took the 'legs' memes that people were making out of Gunko last chapter to heart! The two Gods' Knights have beaten up a whole lot of Loki's animal friends, and are beating the shit out of Loki. And... Not-Shanks claims that the result would be the same regardless of whether Loki is tied up or not, but it's also... not the most impressive thing regardless to beat up someone that's incapable of fighting back.
Interestingly, Gunko's arrows then manifest... rather strangely? Out of the shadows under her feet some arrows pop up and seem to telegraph where she's going to kick. Loki is able to describe it based on the arrows, which seem to take time to coil into place to show Gunko's kick and uppercut. Gunko claims this shows the 'unavoidable' trajectory of her future, which... okay? Sure. The art in the action scenes is pretty cool as Gunko whirls around as the arrows have described, and it always is special when a mangaka is able to take such a ridiculous design like this form of Gunko and make some cool panels out of it. I'm just not as intimidated as this 'arrows show the direction of my punch' ability as I was when Gunko was just manipulating arrow-ribbons.
Gunko then threatens Loki with like a swarm of a dozen arrows, to which Loki pulls a bit of a troll move where he yells "stop, enough!" followed by a raspberry. So yeah. Loki is pretty interesting as a character if nothing else.
We then cut away to Not-Shanks, and we finally zoom in on his clean, un-scarred face and his two hands. To the surprise of no one, turns out that Not Shanks is actually not Shanks! I'm not sure if this is the most epic reveal that we could've gotten from him, or if it would've been more impactful if we had seen this before (around the same time that Gunko's identity is revealed to the audience) or later on when he eventually meets Luffy or someone. But Not-Shanks is actually 'Figarland Shamrock', which... admittedly is not the most intimidating name. Neither is 'Garling', though. I'm sure it'll eventually grow on me? We'll see.
Shamrock is also confirmed to be the captain of the God's Knights, and the son of Garling. We also get the confirmation that Gunko is the user of the Arrow-Arrow Fruit. Shamrock wants to contact Mary-Geoise, and notes that not every piece is useful. Shamrock notes that the fierce warriors of Elbaph used to dominate the new world... and now, the World Government is about to make them heel. Very nice. The Gods' Knights as the primary antagonists of Elbaph is a pretty fun setup, and kind of a nice way to keep the momentum and focus on the World Government as the ultimate Big Bad of the story (at least of this part of the story) going after the Gorosei showed up in Egghead. Looking forward to see what Shamrock and company will do!
Random Notes:
- Yamato Inari Pilgrimage Cover Story: Yamato and gang sneak around Who's Who's base, and see a bunch of cat-themed Gifters standing guard. Nothing much to write home about, but it's nice to see the story progressing a bit.
- It really is a bit weird that the corpses of every giant warrior that died during the Loki/Harald fight are just left there in the castle where they died? That feels a bit odd. There were the two guards in the castle as well, which I thought was a bit weird with how Ouest Castle was shown to be all but completely sealed up.
- Ouest Castle is really huge, and I like that panel where the size of the door is compared not to our human characters, but to the giant Rodo.
- So in addition to Oars, Harald, Loki and the background characters in Elbaf, we can assume that anyone else with horns -- like Kaido and Yamato, the Numbers, and maybe even Moria -- have Ancient Giant's blood in them. I find it rather interesting that we spent years with Kaido as the main villain, and no one ever brought up the horns or the alleged 'oni' thing!
- I like the single panel of Zoro nodding in manly respect over King Harald's conviction -- as someone who was willing to die several times for his captain's dream, that's something he would be impressed by.
- The 'tainted blood' stuff extends to giants from other tribes, and I wonder if someone like Colon, who had the blood of non-giants, would've had even worse racism.
- Some people have compared Gunko's ability to a character called 'Medusa Gorgon' from Soul Eater. I haven't read that manga yet, but I guess I have another one to add to the pile. I think there was also a minor villain who uses balls and directions in Demon Slayer?
- I'm not sure how significant it is since the original printings of the Gorosei name reveals were missing 'Saints' for half of them, but Gunko is also not listed as a 'World Noble' where Shamrock is. Is that why Gunko is so obsessed about being 'offered divinity'?
Guess we know whose giant sword that belonged too. Though I am curious of how much Jarul knows about what transpired in the castle. Being the one of the only survivors means he could say whatever he wants since I doubt people will trust Loki's word.
ReplyDeleteOn that subject I am curious if the King was really altruistic. He might have been though I am curious if he was planning on joining the WG when connecting with the outside world...
To be fair, this isn't the first time that Oda has introduced a side character who's defined by a ridiculous gag that turns out to be a traitor! Hi, Rob Lucci and Kanjurou!
DeleteThat said, what little we've seen of Jarul in the past doesn't really feel like a traitor. I would buy it if his plan involved vengeance against Big Mom in some way or form, but wanting to weaken Elbaf for... reasons? It feels weird.
I think one of the most common theories out there has been questioning if Harald was actually secretly evil (or obliviously stupid) that Loki is 'forced' to kill him and be vilified for it. People really do want Loki to be a good guy -- in no small part because Luffy does seem to like him -- and one of the easiest ways to do that is to reason that Loki's opponent is actually evil. Again, this also isn't the first time that Oda has introduced a good ruler that turns out to be fabricating his good reputation when he's secretly evil. Hi, Doflamingo, Crocodile and (in a fashion) Orochi!
Not to mention every time giants have appeared in One Piece in important roles they’ve always been the victims of the real villain’s deception.
DeleteLittle Garden, Enies Lobby, Dressrosa, and Big Mom’s Flashback in Whole Cake Island shows that for all their mighty strength, the Giants of Wlbaf have always been falling victim to human trickery and outright deception.
The World Government got Oimo and Kashi to waste half a century of their lives guarding Impel Down for a promise they couldn’t even keep about their Captain’s safety, Mr. 3 managed to turn a deadlocked duel into a near death experience for Dorry by tricking him into downing explosive wine when the Strawhats showed up and ended up taking the blame for it at first, Hajrudin nearly was erased when he entered the tournament to win the Flame Flame Fruit which the Doflamingo Family wouldn’t have actually given him even if he won, and finally everything with Caramel becoming their treasured friend by saving the lives of some of the Giant Pirates was a long term con allow her access to their children for World Government.
All in all I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop to finally reveal the lies that Elbaf have been fed about Loki and their King.
I haven't actually realized how many times the giants have been bamboozled, but you're absolutely right! That's a running theme that I haven't realized Oda has been doing throughout the various appearances of giants peppered throughout the story!
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