Alright, the holiday break season seems to be over, and it looks like we’re starting to get to the main plot of Elbaph. I’m excited to get back into a One Piece rhythm.

In the cover story, Who’s Who reminds us all that he was once a spy with his incredibly subtle secret base. But genuinely, the design of the building is super fun with the saber teeth going down through the roof. Love that kind of flourish. And I’m happy with the choice of ex-Beast Pirate to use as an antagonist here – the dude had one of the best designs of the crew and some interesting lore to boot.

The lack of knowledge of the outside world the giants show when speaking to Jinbei and getting taken in by Usopp’s (admittedly truer than usual) tall tale and Sanji’s talk of mermaids, emphasised by Zoro and Nami’s exchange about how few have gone to sea, points to Harald’s cultural shift not being as dramatic as we might previously have been led to believe. No culture can be made up entirely of raiders, and the listeners here are obviously old enough to have lived through the period when giant pirates were a thing. In fact, aside from Loki’s rampage thta Shanks ended and Hadjrudin’s group working under Buggy, I don’t recall hearing about many giant crews besides Dory and Broggy’s, so it might be that a small handful of groups defined the wider world’s perception of giants for the better part of a century. (Can’t fault the locals for being confused by Brook though, whether or not they’d gone to sea.)

But what’s really interesting here is the new Nika lore. A ruler, a liberator, a destroyer or a god of laughter. Sects within the belief system, it seems. (Rodo getting destroyed in the brawl over it is a great touch.) As much as Luffy is emphatically not the actual Sun God, it’s pretty obvious which interpretation he leans to. I wonder then, will the story’s endgame (or at least this arc) give us candidates for the other three versions as well? We even have Loki putting himself forward for one of the others later in the chapter.

And what is this about the world being destroyed twice before? I guess the original mythological Nika, and then Joyboy and the World Government’s war. But how much of the first one will we actually get to learn about?

The stories about Loki’s youth feel a whole lot like how Oda built up Oden as a figure. He gets a dozen good guy points from the comparison alone. And that’s before he sets himself against the Holy Knights at the end of the chapter. Granted, his pranks read a little more sinister the way they’re told here, but I’ll bet there’s some exaggeration or misunderstanding at play.

Luffy, Zoro and Nami’s mission to get into the castle and free Loki feels a little contrived, but it can be forgiven for the sake a quick transition from the party to the real plot. Like, would Nami really be that okay with freeing Loki given what she’s just heard about him? This seems like a prime ‘voice of reason’ moment she just skips. Even with the treasure motivation, she should have pushed back a little harder on what Luffy and Zoro are doing.

The Holy Knights coming for Loki has the gears in my head turning. We suspected from their warp point in the castle that were was a prior connection between them and Harald or his family, but the confidence with which they offered Loki a job really raises some questions about what they know or think they know. And that Loki also knows of the Holy Knights and confirms that they’re entirely Celestial Dragons. I wonder if the revolts started over Vegapunk’s message are stretching the World Government thin, for the Knights to be recruiting outside their own. Also Loki gets another ten good guy points for calling them trash.

This conversation is followed by the full Gunko design reveal, and… Ugh, I feel like we’re so close on this one. I like the hat and jacket and mismatched eyes. I think the pantsless look can work in this seafaring world where swimsuit bottoms are reasonable everyday attire. But they just don’t go together. It really just looks like she forgot to finish getting dressed in the morning. And the fabric power as well; if Oda wants to get a bit fanservicey by making her unravel her clothes to attack he can do that – the world of shonen has far worse – but you have to start with the clothes first. That untwisting sleeve is a glimpse of what could have been if she’d come decked out in layers of baggy clothes to gradually weaponise, revealing more leg or chest or whatever else bit by bit as the arc goes on.

Oh wait, what if she already sacrificed her pants to tie up the two guards in the castle? I think that would be the development that would salvage this bizarre design choice.

Loki’s attitude towards death is a fascinating note to end on. He has a quick acceptance of an ally getting killed, much faster than most heroic characters we’ve seen, but still embraces the emotional reaction to it. I wonder how many fallen warriors are already fueling him and his plans for when he gets free. Do we think we count his father among them?

I can’t imagine Oda spending too much time on Luffy’s group just looting an empty castle, so I imagine we’ll get to the disabled guards and push towards a Holy Knights confrontation sooner rather than later, which is a great way to build some momentum for this year. Let’s get this series back in gear!