One Piece 1155 Review: Davy Back Fight

One Piece, Chapter 1155: The Rocks Pirates

Right, I'm a bit late with this one. I thought it was a break week! I actually don't have the most things to say about this chapter, though, which may be a bit surprising because everyone seems to have a lot to say about this. It is an exciting chapter, don't get me wrong, but it's also a lot of buildup. 

Rocks's meeting with little Loki shows off a bit more of his personality, where he's a bit of a dick. I do like the subtle characterization of Loki still under the impression that all humans are weaklings -- which is nicely built up as being the result of his own need to have a 'might makes right' mindset. Rocks proved it wrong by bitch-slapping baby Loki, except bitch-slaps from these guys are enough to like, break mountains and kill giant Elbaph bears or something.

We then cut to the third page, which flashes back to the epic Reverie that Harald alluded to last chapter, and we get in my opinion the most hype page of the chapter. Imu continues to play with his butterflies in her room, noting that the 'lives of mere kings are no threat to Mu'. And then we get the revelation that ROCKS made it all the way to this strange flower room, posing like a goddamn punk with his gun out. The narrator made it clear that this is the first time in a 'historical anomaly' that anyone's ever made it into the Chamber of Flowers. Also in the Chamber of Flowers is a woman with long hair that appears to be Gunko. 

Rocks is described as a 'follower of Davy Jones', the first time that Davy Jones is actually brought up as a historical (or god-like?) figure. Rocks is also noted that he 'did not do more than this, as he knew he could not'... but promises to Imu that he will be back. Ominous!

We then cut to Rocks escaping the room (and he's wounded, and whether this is from Gunko/Imu or the Admiral he killed we're not sure) while Harald is also running away, being on fire and being blamed for the kidnapping of kings that Rocks did. Harald and Rocks happen to run across each other and they swing their weapons at each other. The art's not the most clear, but I think they also have the whole 'there is a gap between their swords' that is the newly-minted hallmark of a Conqueror's Haki clash. Rocks takes an immediate liking to Harald while Harald views Rocks as an annoyance. and the more world-savvy Rocks instructs Harald to aim their next slash at a nearby town to avoid the Celestial Dragons catching him as a slave. Not the first time in the story that the Celestial Dragons wanted to enslave a giant royal that arrived on the Reverie. 

As they apparently blew away all signs of life within 5 kilometers (!!!), Rocks and Harald make their way out. Harald straight-up jumps off the Red Line, which is badass. I mean, he's a giant, sure, but it's still a gigantic mountain! Harald isn't too pleased about accepting help from a criminal, and we later get a sequence describing Rocks rising to infamy. Apparently his clash against the Admiral caused that nameless flashback Admiral to 'die of his wounds', and he also destroyed ships with heavenly tributes and destroyed the Gates of Justice. Yep, I can see why the Celestial Dragons hate him!

We also get the glorious, glorious revelation that Rocks built up his crew with the Davy Back Games. THE DAVY BACK FIGHT, a.k.a. the fucking Foxy arc. Glorious callback, and I love that somehow, this bit of worldbuilding tied back to Rocks D. Xebec. It does make sense that this is how Rocks managed to gather a lot of massive-ego pirates like Whitebeard and Shiki, people who don't seem like they'd ever be tied to another's captaincy. This is apparently something that some fans managed to even guess, which... kudos to them, tying this back to the Foxy arc is nowhere on my radar. 

We then go back to the 'Rocks meets Loki' part of the timeline, and turns out that despite Loki's pessimism, King Harald did come back when he heard Loki is injured. And little traumatized Loki is actually shocked that his father would come back for him. This whole stunt, by the way, is just Rocks wanting Harald to join his pirate crew, which Harald refuses. It's a bit of a matter of principle, where Rocks tells Harald that he should be fighting the World Government since they're getting in his way, while Rocks wants everyone in the world to be equals. Harald and Rocks argue about philosophy while Loki looks at Rocks in awe. 

We then get to see the members of the Rocks Pirates at this time period. We get the "Mobster" Shiki, the future Golden Lion, who notes that their Pirate Crew isn't tied together by any sentimental feelings, they won't feel a thing if Rocks dies. It is very nice to see some of these future legends wouldn't get their epithets until later. We get the 'Science Robber' Miss Buckin, and I guess that's her modus operandi since we see her as part of MADS later on in her life. And we also get Whitebeard, or rather, future Whitebeard.

But some new faces! We get a brand-new character, Don Marlon (named after actor Marlon Brando of Godfather fame), who I assume based on his gangster style and origin, is either Capone Bege's father, mentor or rival. We get Ochoku or Wang Zhi, future commodore of pirate island, who has been mentioned since forever. We finally get to see his face, and it's... it's a multi-chinned obese vampire that people have taken to comparing to Caribou/Coribou or Gekko Moriah. And we get a big guy called 'Pirate Smuggler' Ganzui, who is a new name but not a new face, since he's one of the General Zombies among Moria's zombies. I swear, I love how the random zombies Moria summons are actually ancient legends. 

Turns out that Hachinosu or Fullalead Island used to be a prisoner penal colony, but the prisoners end up finding a lot of gold under it, and have established themselves into a nation. That's... that's just real-life Australia, what the hell! But Rocks made a deal with the government to 'get the island back', which seems like a prototype version of the Shichibukai... except Rocks also plans to take over the island and make it Pirate's Paradise. 

Of course, Harald refuses to have anything to do with this mission, but Rocks keeps giving this huge speech about being King of the World, how this is merely the prologue to his life, and a whole lot of other huge boasts. Which impresses little kid Loki, who is eavesdropping on all of this and seeing Rocks's mentality as his salvation. And the chapter ends with the Rocks flag, happening four years after this meeting as he caused the world to quake with terror.

Great buildup, nice to see some faces and the context between Rocks and Harald's meeting, but it is admittedly just a lot of buildup for these legendary characters.

Random Notes:

• No cover story for this chapter.
• There are some theories that the heterochromatic-eye woman might not be Gunko due to longer hair, but I don't think a haircut's going to be what convinces me that this isn't Gunko, or at least Gunko's mother. 
• Notably, the tankobon release actually retconned Gunko and gave her the 'Saintess' title and the Manmayer family name, a Celestial Dragon clan we've seen before in the God Valley incident. 
• Rocks's laugh style is Vohahahaha. 
• Of course Rocks's bounty poster 'censors' his actual numerical bounty. 
• Disregarding the bullshit anime filler, Rocks's showcase of the Davy Back Games actually matches the three games that Foxy played in manga canon, except Rocks is deadlier on the two non-boxing games.
• The four-armed gunslinger that we see in the God Valley flashback and as a zombie has been established by Oda to be 'Gill Bastar', who, like Ryouma, is imported from one of his pre-One-Piece works.
• Franky beat up Ganzui's zombie in Thriller Bark. Remember that, Franky beat a Rocks Pirate member. Ha!
• We're only one Silver Axe away from knowing what all the Rocks pirates looked like!