Elbaf is getting in gear and starting to hint toward its real themes and storylines. The prelude, reunion and environmental art dumps seem to be wrapping up, but even with the big cliffhanger this one ends on there’s likely to be a crossfade between the opening worldbuilding and the serious story over the coming chapters.

The colour spread makes a very nice tribute to Franky’s voice actor, but the passing of the speedos onstage at Jump Festa was even more fun. Still, it’s a great piece of art even without that context.

Despite the yakaza speak gag not being something that translates culturally (and me not knowing much at all about yakuza traditions) the opening scene does its job. I think it helps that Jinbe employed a pretty similar tradition with his formal self-introduction at the start of the Onigashima raid, so even though the crew is confused about where Luffy picked this stuff up, it’s obvious who he’s copying. Which is actually pretty sweet, that he used Jinbe as his model for how to make a first impression on someone you respect. Saul’s kindness and the crew’s support of Robin keep the warm and fuzzy mood going.

And then on the flip side, we have a fully functioning Vegapunk Stella clone. Come on, Oda. You pushed the limits with all the Satellites living on in a single body, but there was still the loss of the original there to make the arc feel impactful. This walks back even that consequence. But credit where it’s due, Vegapunk’s ability to make all these trips to Ohara and Elbaf and have meetings with Clover while working for the World Government is easier to swallow if he has a secret extra clone going in and out for him. I can buy that. And at least Lilith makes it clear it’ll take some time and tech to get him up and running. So this isn’t a character coming back right away, it’s setup for a Vegapunk faction to show up unexpectedly in the final battle with a bunch of new weapons invented.

I wonder if the promise to heal Kuma is going to be conditional on this new lab, essentially giving him and Bonney a temporary jumping off point for the story, or if there’s plan to make them part of the Elbaph plot as well.

Most of what’s left in the chapter after this toys with our expectations for Elbaph and its culture. Over a couple of generations, there’s been a shift from a fearsome viking warrior tribe to one that seeks trade and peace, to the shock and disappointment of Usopp. While this explains the lack of giants terrorising the seas in the present relative to their reputation, I’m definitely feeling wary about this turning into the ‘kids these days are too soft’ narrative I’ve already seen some people online taking it as. I don’t think Oda is the type to make that point without at least a level of nuance, but you never know. Come on, Vinland Saga has proved that vikings and peace aren’t incompatible concepts, and that a pacifist might even be the most badass thing a viking could be. I wonder if the setup here is for Usopp not to be rebuilt from the ground up as a ‘brave warrior of the sea’ by the giants, but helping a new generation of them redefine the term for themselves.

But this, along with the scene from the end of the chapter, gives us some pertinent questions to ask about King Harald motives and allies and how they play into Loki’s accused act of fratricide. In Big Mom’s flashback, Jarul attributes the idea of trade over plunder to Carmel, who we know was in touch with Cipher Pol about getting giant soldiers for the Marines. But does the timeline work for her to be the root of it? The heyday of the Giant Warrior Pirates was a hundred years ago, so assuming the raiding stopped soon after there’s a gap of decades before Carmel began wielding influence. And, of course, Harald continued pushing these ideas of his own accord for decades after Carmel’s departure and death. And the fact that two apparent Holy Knights would have the ability to portal directly into what I assume to be Harald’s castle implies an even higher up connection than what Carmel was working with (assuming fairly confidently that the summoning circles have some restrictions about distance unless someone connected to them has gone to a place physically already). And if Harald was colluding secretly with the upper tiers of the WG to disarm Elbaph’s society, why – to get Elbaph recognised as a member state? To weaken the nation to the WG’s benefit in exchange for… something? Or is it some deeper negotiation to do with the ancient past and the Sun God, disconnected from Harald’s pacifist politics. And we can’t discount the possibility that the WG assassinated Harald (as they are very much known to do) and framed Loki to sow discord, whether in connection to the giants’ cultural shift or not.

But that’s jumping ahead. First we have the absolutely gorgeous backgrounds of the Walrus School and the Owl Library. Wonder if we’ll circle back to how the books were made giant. Just beautiful.

Loki’s scene this week leans in the direction of him maybe being a good guy, but he’s gone back and forth on that point for me already, so his role is far from confirmed. Whatever way he ends up going though, he’s going to be an fun character to have onscreen. My first thought for his shaggy friend was Jarul – he has the beard that goes with the snail’s appearance and Big Mom’s rampage makes for a pretty strong traumatic experience that definitely would have someone like Loki saying her and Carmel ‘should have been put down for good.’ But then, I don’t think the timing and social elements work for Loki saying he never saw or met Shaggy in person – his dad apparently clashed with village chiefs like Jorul and Jarul over culture, and their village is seemingly right under his castle. In fact, it seems almost impossible that Loki never met Jarul. Perhaps the as-of-yet unnamed giant warrior who witnessed Big Mom eating Carmel and the other orphans then?

And finally, circling back to the ending scene, we have the near-confirmation of Shanks’s evil twin. Not fully, given that we still don’t get to see his arm or the left side of his face, but given that we’ve been shown the real Shanks should be elsewhere and with his crew right now, it’s getting hard to deny. Some people aren’t thrilled by this, but honestly I like it. I’ve been onboard since Film Red revealed that he had Figarland blood, and I like how the framing of his scene at the Reverie provides clues in hindsight. I’m a big fan of a reread bonus.

2025 is going to be a good year for One Piece, provided it can be even mildly lighter on breaks than this year. The setup for a great new arc is all here, now all it needs is the chance to pick up some momentum.