Our flashback is chugging a long at a fairly pleasing pace. Harald’s story plays out fast enough that we didn’t have to wait long for the real key figures of Hajrudin and Loki to turn up. The same can maybe not be said for Yamato’s cover story, which now feels like it’s running down a checklist past the point of its actual plot being resolved, but whatever.

I really enjoy how expressive Harald is in the early pages of the chapter. That Kaido-like portrait we first see him in would never have had me guessing he could look like that after taking a slap in the face. And man, casually destroying a shark with flicked snot in the second page is such a funny detail. Some real Mr 5 moves. Wait, could the secret Devil Fruit of Elbaph really be…?

And speaking of faces, Ida has a pleasantly unique one in a series full of Nami and Robin clones. And I like how her budding romance with Harald plays on the themes of cultural exchange and connectivity that have been building in the series. Vegapunk spoke of how limiting isolation is to people who can’t find the means to travel between island nations in this flooded world the Government has created, and we see that proved as the giants are enriched by the engineering, spices and fabrics of the humans. The messages about not being superior just because you’re born bigger, and the obviously genuine anthropological fascination Harald develops over different cultures as he gets to know Ida resonate with these ideas. We also, a little later on, get the suggestion that celestial navigation is not widespread knowledge in this world, closing up a logical hole in the log pose system that’s existed from the start. Wonder if that’s information the World Government discourages researching.

Few quick lore notes from this bit – Harald swims to collect a shark for the native population of that one island. While the initial exposition about Harald and Loki and the legendary Devil Fruit implied that Harald had the power and Loki killed him to take it, I’m becoming increasingly sure Harald never ate it, as if the panel of the treasure chest last week wasn’t proof enough. Second, the blood-soaked serpent being confirmed as the Red Line. Ain’t that curious, after Dory and Broggy’s mention of the serpent on Little Garden and then the big snake in the Harley mural. If I wanted to theorise boldly I might even mention the ancient Shandians’ worship of their local giant snakes as another possible connection. And finally, Ida’s South Blue origin. It’s curious how many giant colonies there actually are relative to how legendary they’re made out to be in the story. Saul was also a South Blue native. Sanjuan Wolf and Morley are from West Blue. Oars allegedly from the North. They’re on all seas except East Blue and the first half of the Grand Line. And yet when anyone talks giants, and when the World Government needs giant soldiers for military power, it always comes back to Elbaph. Definitely something special about these giants on this island, and I have to wonder if it’s the Ancient Giant genetics they’ve managed to preserve in such relatively high numbers.

But Harald brings Ida back to Elbaph to collide with the politics of the untraveled leaders of his homeland. Hard to argue against tradition with people who’ve never opened themselves up to seeing things another way. I would have liked to see more of Harald feeling conflicted over being forbidden to marry Ida and forced to wed Estrid. And how the relationship plays out after this happens. We’re not given much of an indication of how much, if at all, Harald was able to see Ida and Hajrudin after this, save for Ida thinking Haj would get the chance to meet his half brother. Did Harald and Ida remain lovers, or did the politics of it, or just jealousy from one side or another, force them to call it quits? My first impression of Harald was of the hind of free-spirited royal who would tell his advisors to shove it and do what he wants in scenarios like this, so why not show how the chiefs threatened him or pressured him into submitting? Or had he always been sailing and harassing other nations to get away from the restrictions and pressure of being king?

Estrid puts forward such a pettily hateable persona as she makes herself at home in the palace. This isn’t necessarily a Spandam or Orochi kind of vileness (up until the attempted baby murder) but the insistent and self-serving faux-mysticism lands a lot closer to a kind of person you might actually encounter in real life. Of course geomancy means all the things she wants go closest to her. Of course she makes up (at least that’s how I’m interpreting it) a prophecy that justifies the removal of someone she was already uncomfortable with. Add to the fact that she’s exactly the kind of generic Nami-clone princess I was glad Ida wasn’t, and it’s not looking good for Estrid.

I like her horse though. That thing’s crazy with the legs and the flaming mane and tail. Imagine how small a normal human would be next to that monster. Too bad it’s doomed to die of Loki’s “curse” in the near future.

Of all the reasons for Loki to wear the blindfold, I’m not sure I would have guessed that his eyes were simply weird in a way that provoked superstition. From his reputation, you might think he wouldn’t care about the discomfort his features cause others, that’s their problem, not his, but like Harald’s marriage, the apparently free-spirited and unstoppable warrior is bound by culture, tradition and expectations. I wonder if this is going to be a theme. And has a more educated, modern Elbaph moved away from these kinds of issues? Maybe Loki missed the forest for the trees, getting caught up on losing the right to rampage and pillage and missing that he could have gained the right to walk around barefaced in exchange.

Loki’s return from the Underworld is a crazy note to end this one on. It’s such a classic One Piece tall tale kind of development. And the dead bear as well? God damn, this kid was something else.

What I’m really curious about after this chapter is what’s happened to both Ida and Estrid by the present day. They don’t see to have been counted among the victims of the massacre of the castle, and I don’t recall any other kind of death for them coming up. I’ve been big on Jarul as Loki’s Shaggy friend, but Ida would make for a really interesting dynamic. Well, we have their fates, alive or dead, to discover, the start of Harald’s relationship with the World Government, which may be the focus of the next chapter, and then the main event after that.

I think there’s a chance the flashback could wrap inside of volume 113 if the book runs long to 12 chapters (that’s three more), but I’m not counting on it, and I’d rather Oda take the time to properly flesh everything out here anyway.