One Piece 1152 Review: Tattoo? Tattoo!

One Piece, Chapter 1152: An Awful Day

What a chapter! On the surface, there really isn't a whole ton that happens here other than the beginnings of the flashback. But just like Wano and Egghead's flashbacks, I do really think this one is going to be a big one. The strange mystery behind Harald, Loki and Jarul -- what happened that fateful night when Harald died -- has been a mystery that Oda has successfully built up over the past couple dozen chapters. And I can totally say that unlike Kuma's backstory, I started out with absolutely zero investment in this, and now I'm quite excited to see it unfold!

But before that, we need to go through some present-day scenes. We start off with some characters moving around -- Hajrudin's crew are getting the ship ready to fly; while Chopper notes that he'll have to stay behind to take care for Scopper Gaban. That's all right, I suppose. At this point, however, Loki demands to be freed so he can help our heroes fight the God's Knights, since he's the only one there that has fought them before... which leads to an argument with Hajrudin. 

At this point, too, Gaban very casually drops the fact that there's 'another' that could use Conqueror's Haki among their group. This leads to a rather fun comedic moment where Sanji gets all excited, thinking that he is the one who has unlocked Conqueror's Haki just as Zoro and Jinbe are about to usurp him. Of course, it's actually Zoro that Gaban is referring to. Not a particularly big reveal, although as dialogue implies in the final Wano battles, Zoro doesn't know that he actually has Conqueror's. Or if he does, he's deep in denial. Luffy, actually, knows, since Zoro has been 'oozing off' Conqueror's, but he just assumed Zoro knows. 

Gaban isn't actually pleased at Zoro's Conqueror's Haki, in that Zoro has such a lack of understanding of his power and it's something inexcusable as one of the commanders of a Yonko. It's actually something that's delightfully similar to some of Zoro's own criticisms to other members of the crew (like Luffy in Punk Hazard) about taking things seriously. Between this ignorance of his own status as a conqueror, and the recent -- and concurrently running in the anime, I believe -- stalling-fight against Rob Lucci, is this the start of an actual character arc for Zoro? Finally?

Sanji yells at Gaban, about 'what about me', but while we see a secondary panel of Sanji yelling from behind, whatever is said between Sanji and Gaban is covered up by Hajurdin and Loki yelling at each other. Obviously Oda's playing up the rivalry between Zoro and Sanji, but I do wonder if this is leading to something for everyone's favourite cook.

But the focus of this chapter are the giants. As Hajrudin and Loki argue, Luffy decides to shut things up and yell at Loki to 'join my crew!' Which shocks everyone. Luffy thinks this is a way to get around Hajrudin's complaints, but Hajrudin can't accept this. Zoro and Sanji bring up a lot of logistical questions -- Loki can't fit on the Sunny, and he would consume so much food that even the food he eats can't fit on the ship. And Loki refuses to be the underling of anyone. Luffy himself seems quite happy-go-lucky and convinced that he can beat the shit out of Loki if he misbehaves.

Now I won't say that this is confirmation that Hajrudin will join the Straw Hats, because Luffy has asked everyone from Gaimon to Crocus to Kin'emon's ass to a couple of random Thriller Bark zombies to join his crew before. Loki does really seem to fit the bill better than most, but that's what everyone said about Yamato. And Carrot. And Kin'emon. 

Anyway, back to the story. Gaban agrees with Luffy, telling Hajrudin to release Loki... which Hajrudin protests, because Loki killed Harald, maimed Jarul, and killed 113 castle guard members. Gaban replies that that's what they knew, but he's also reminded of strange Haki emanating off of the castle, and concedes that they might not have the whole story. The idea that Shanks is involved causes Luffy to stay back, and Hajrudin finally relents and decides to hear Loki's backstory. I like the brief moment where Zoro actually gets a bit snarky about Luffy being obsessed with 'this dumb Shanks thing'. Yeah, Luffy has been a bit overly excited about Shanks in this arc, hasn't he? 

As the second-stringers leave, Loki mutters about how cruel it is for him to 'relive that day'...

And we cut to fourteen years ago, when young prince Loki was just a troublemaker, jumping around and terrifying palace guards as he finally returns to the castle. Loki and a knife-less Jarul arrive on the Elbaph Castle. The two argue around a bit, with Loki not being pleased at his father dealing with the World Government, and Loki in particular hates the World Government because they executed Rocks. Meanwhile, Jarul is quite content on Elbaph's future generations not knowing violence and knowing only peace. Loki kicks a guard through a door when he gets all wishy-washy... and is greeted to the horrifying sight of Harald being surrounded and pierced by a dozen spears. The artwork blacks Harald out in silhouette, so we don't know if Harald or the guards have been Domi Reversi'd, or if there is something more going on. 

That's all we see, though, of this myterious day. We cut away to Gaban's house, where Shanks has came visiting... and Shanks has two arms! MOST IMPORTANTLY, more important, I feel, than anything else in this chapter, is that we get to see Shanks's left arm. A rather ominous tattoo is there, and if this is actually a mark of Imu, it actually explains One Piece's biggest plot hole... why Shanks would let a Sea King rip off his arm, since he's established later to be leagues and leagues stronger than said Sea King. It would give so much meaning to his 'bet on the new age'. 

No confirmation either way, but that is so cool. Shanks notes that all he wanted was to sail the seas with Buggy, which is cute. Gaban also calls Shanks the 'child of destiny'. Ripley shows up, her head being as large as the hot bath the two men are in, and gives them some pie. We get a hilarious moment where Shanks almost lets slip the amount of women Gaban's been with during their voyages, which I thought was hilarious. But then he also lets slip that he met Harald in Mary Geoise, confirming that, yes, for some time, Shanks actually did spend time in the Holy Land... and says something ominous about wanting to discuss something with Harald before it's too late. 

We then get a couple of cutscenes of things we already know as the narrator speaks. An explosion of haki from the castle. Panicking guards. People trapped in the castle. Jarul being stabbed through the head... and someone we can assume to be Loki finding the strange, royal Devil Fruit hidden deep within the castle. 

And then we get another flashback!

To 109 years before the present day, where the Giant Warrior Pirates -- with a very young Dorry and Brogy as the leaders -- rampage through the oceans and were the top dogs of their day. Giants were the most terrifying things back then, and we get to see King Harald -- who is an even bigger menace than Loki! A random giant peeks through a castle to look for a princess, but Harald just casually kicks the giant through the castle, and he looks positively demonic with his two devil horns. The narration notes that Harald is 45 years old, but is equivalent to a 15-year-old human in maturity... and he is 'total scum'. This reminds me of the Oden backstory, and I am curious to see where it goes.

And again, a Loki flashback showing what happened 14 years ago is given. Some backstory about Harald is also expected, although I admit I didn't expect a full Harald flashback like this. But I think the Shanks/Gaban stuff really ended up dropping a lot of subtle information between the more obvious reveals. Pretty great chapter all around! 

Random Notes:

• Yamato's Inari Cover Story: Yamato delivers a kasa hat to Kawamatsu, who has became the Daimyo of Hakumai. S'cool! No one seems to react too much to Ulti and Page One hanging around Yamato as her minions. 
• Honestly, there is a bit of a question as to how the other members of the crew don't know that Zoro has Conqueror's Haki, but the ones that are confirmed to be users of Observation Haki are Usopp (who is untrained) and Sanji (who might be in denial). Jinbe, meanwhile, might just be working off the same assumption that Luffy has -- no one made a big deal about it, so he might've just assumed that it's the norm. 
• With Sanji's character, though, I actually wouldn't be surprised if he just doesn't have the disposition to be a Conqueror, since the crux of the Whole Cake Island arc is Sanji finding himself still emotionally yoked to his family and trauma. Sure, he broke free from that, but him needing to properly sort through his emotions before properly unlocking Conqueror's isn't too far off. That is, of course, if he even can. I doubt that Oda's going to leave Sanji behind Zoro all the way until the end of the story; the interesting thing is how he's going to catch up.
• ...and Sanji's been pretty demon-coded, with Ifrit Jambe and Diable Jambe...
• If Loki is our next nakama, I'm sure there are ways to get around the size problem. I bet that Devil Fruit he ate is the solution; he could have a shrunken or flying form that allows him to travel alongside the Straw Hats. 
• This chapter's timelines doesn't really add up, apparently, most notably Gaban and Shanks being a bit confused about how many years it has been since Roger's death. A popular theory is that Elbaph has some kind of time-dilation aura around it, which stems from the ominous warning at the beginning of the arc. I highly doubt that time dilation's going to be a thing here, but there have admittedly been some signs. 
• In the flashback, Loki still wields a giant hammer... but it's not Ragnir.
• Harald totally killed all the inhabitants of that poor castle, didn't he?