One Piece 1147 Review: A Slave to Art

One Piece, Chapter 1147: Things That We Fear

A bunch more confrontations and setups, although this one, I feel, is a bit more interesting. It ends with two of our heroes, Robin and Scopper, going in to fight the God's Knights. 

We start off with the God's Knights having captured our heroes. Sommers mocks the defeated Saul and reminds us that Saul's survival is still secret to the rest of the world. Saul tries to keep Chopper and Robin hidden so they can sneak off at some point to help the kids. Gunko also shows up where they are, having off-screen captured the Straw Hats that fell off the flying ship... which is quite surprising because Jinbe is among that group. For someone touted to be one of the strongest members of the Straw Hats, it's a surprisingly muted sequence for our favourite ex-Shichibukai... and while I'm sure power-level debaters out there are having a field day with this scene, I do honestly wish that we had a bit more showing how Gunko takes down Brook and especially Jinbe in particular. 

The in-universe reason given by Jinbe is just that he's confused by what kind of power is being used against him... but the focus of this chapter is the confrontation between Brook and Gunko. Which everyone is expecting, but it ends in a way that I don't think everyone expected... which I absolutely approve of. In the name of keeping the tension high and keeping Gunko a serious character, Gunko does still fangirl over Brook... in the most assholish Celestial Dragon manner. She steps on Brook, and makes it known that she wants Brook to be her slave -- and make music for her always. 

So yeah, I think this puts the kibosh on the 'Gunko is secretly a good guy' thing, or even the 'her fangirling over Brook's music is a sign she's secretly good'. Brook, for his part, does one of those things that he does every other arc and gives a really badass line. No panty joke, no skull joke... he just makes it clear in no uncertain means that his loyalty is to Straw Hat Luffy alone... even if it means his death. Brook has been out of focus for very long, but god damn, he can be really cool when it counts. This leads Gunko to stomping and beating him up, but this honestly is the coolest and most narratively satisfying thing that this could turn out. Even if Gunko does turn out to be good in the future, it would feel a lot more earned. 

I also really like that Sommers isn't in the business of pissing off a Yonko, and tells Gunko to stop it because he doesn't want to tussle with Straw Hat. That's honestly a really cool, understated moment in the middle of all this. 

Sommers then makes a huge broadcast to all of Elbaph, introducing himself as the 'Dagger of Mary Geoise', and makes it clear that he's taking the children hostage and make the demand for Jarul to have all of Elbaph submit as battle slaves. He also rattles out all the names of the kids, making it a lot more personal to the giants fighting in the battlefield. 

We check in briefly with the kids, as Sommers rattles off their names. Colon has been inserted among their ranks and he tries to play it tough... but he is just a kid and gets freaked out at the sight of the giant dream demons. 

Meanwhile, a little side-gag from the previous chapters finally comes. One of the dream-fear demons is "My Mom", and the father of that particular kid gets a bit terrified when he realizes one of the monsters looks like his wife. Turns out that Killingham has been replicating that fear off of other children's minds, making a glorious gag as the very terrifying Giant Warrior Pirates panics at the sight of two "moms" -- who are gigantic even to the giants -- tearing their ship apart. The various husbands yell stuff that husbands stereotypically apologize to their wives about, and the Red Eirik crashes onto the ground because of this assault. It's a bit goofier than I would've liked, but at least the giants are being defeated by... dream giants? I suppose?

We get the arc's little map of where everyone is, and it's nice to see that just as some characters are being consolidated together. In addition to Gunko's group, Ripley and Franky are rendezvousing with the crash site. Sommers announces the names of the children, getting some of the parents and grandparents into a panic... and this includes Ripley and Scopper. Or, well, Scopper is more along the lines of 'I'm proud of my boy'.

Sommers demands the fealty of the giants, but also wants the giants to burn down the library as a sign of their new loyalty. And... well, at the very least, our the characters we're most attached to are very much ready to go off and fight. 

Anje, though, says something very stupid. She's either underestimating how cruel the Celestial Dragons are, or how secretive they should keep Ohara is. She blabs to Killingham -- and to Sommers and Gunko, over radio -- that the library is the last place where Ohara's knowledge is stored, and it's extremely valuable to the entire world. Yeah, Anje. Tell that to the people who nuked Ohara in the first place. There is a panel of Killingham giving a side-eye that tells you everything about how stupid this outburst is. 

Of course, we've got heroes. And in addition to Scopper Gaban bursting off with a grin to charge at the location where the enemies are, Robin also moves out from where she's hiding with a resolute expression on her face. "I won't allow this!" the two of them claim. 

So yeah, Scopper is being a bit more involved than I thought he would be -- and a bit earlier than I thought he would be, too! But Robin is who I'm more excited about, because as the map shows, she's right next to where Gunko and Sommers are. Whether she sets the other Straw Hats loose or if she tries to solo Sommers, it's going to be quite exciting. Again, pretty good chapter all around, and I'm particularly looking forward to seeing the Brook/Gunko interactions develop. 

Random Notes:

• Yamato and the Holy Inari Pilgrimage: Yamato and company celebrate with the Daimyo of Udon, Raizo... which brings to question why Raizo hasn't done something about the kidnappings and the giant cat-themed supervillain base in his territory. Come on, Raizo.
• We get to see more Elbaph villagers reacting to this, including the South-Western Artisan Village (everyone has a hammer!) and the North-Western Hunter's Village (everyone has an animal pelt cloak).
• The kidnapped children, including Colon, are:
• Ylva, Jarul's great-great-granddaughter, who we've established before. She's crying. 
• Skaldi, who's the kid with horns and goggles we've seen a couple times before.
• Olaf, a snot-nosed kid who hopes it's all a dream... and apparently Oimo's grandson! A cute little tie-in.
• Karin, a girl who's just tired and bemoans her luck. I vibe with her. 
• Mag, who tries to convince himself he's strong, but is clearly afraid.
• Ronya, who has two huge teeth and is smiling and is a cute Pollyanna trying to convince everyone that they'll be fine.
• Bent, the kid who dreams up of 'my mom', and right now is terrified of his mom. 
• Johanna, who is also an ancient giant heritage, who doesn't have parents. 
• Bjorn, who's a Butthead-looking guy who's trying to save himself. 
• Some background usages of the devil fruit powers include Gunko threatening Brook with an arrow-bandage sword, and Sommers riding around on his giant vines which have cute little dragon heads. 
• Also, notably, we've got a lot more dream monsters. With the appearance of multiple 'mamas' in this chapter, I guess it's confirmation that Killingham is continually making more dream demons. Of note is a very cool pumpkin-headed specter, and a horrifying dog-spider creature. 
• There is a weird panel where Gunko grabs his heart after she kicks Brook, which I'm not sure what it's all about. Is she just hamming it up for beating something she 'loves'? Weird.