Well, the end has come. God Valley is wrapping up. Rocks is on his last legs. Volume 114 is now on its ninth chapter, so I guess we’re not going back to the present before the flashback is done, even if we stretch to 12 chapters. If the cover story hadn’t finished when it did, Oda might not have drawn Luffy at all for the whole book. I wonder if he’ll still be on the cover.

There’s a lot of trademark Oda vagueness in this chapter. Davy Jones as the previous king of the world? Him and Joyboy being separate but comparable threats to Imu’s order? Davy’s dream, not to be confused for the Will of the D (probably), and that promise that was also mentioned last week? Rocks being ‘too early’ to face Imu and that’s why he lost? (Is this related to it being ‘too early’ for Roger to properly use the One Piece as well?) Yeah, we’re going to be looking back to some of these lines for years. For now, the idea of Davy Jones and Joyboy both scaring Imu is something that’s sticking with me. Obviously Blackbeard represents one and Luffy the other. Could they be forced to team up to topple Imu (or just race to be the one to take him down) and then Blackbeard makes his play for the world, turning into the real final boss?

Just when you think Rocks couldn’t endear himself harder, he defends Harald to Imu in his final lucid moments. After everything that happened between them, it takes integrity from Rocks to this. What a way to go out. And while it’s obviously a very bad thing for him, it does have to be said that he absolutely rocks the fangs, and wings forming out of his cape is a fantastic visual touch.

I’m awed by the clash between Rocks and Whitebeard and the sequence of the mountain toppling that follows. Holy shit that is cool. The scale. The power. I have to believe Oda knew he was going to do this from the moment he first drew those spires, it’s such an effective escalation. You really get the feeling that things are over for this island. It’s most prominent landmark has been savaged; the following pages show how far fire has spread through its forests as all but the strongest flee to save themselves. How much of the landmass – how many fleeing people – were obliterated under an unfathomable weight of solid stone just now? Almost like a sinking ship, the structure and safety of the place fails zone by zone, making it uninhabitable by the living. Get to the lifeboats, the end only accelerates, and you don’t want to still be onboard in the final minutes of the cascade.

And right when you thought you couldn’t love Kuma more, he puts himself in harm’s way for Eris and Teach. What a clutch move! But this means Eris both survives and never sees Rocks’ ultimate end. Will she depart from Sorbet and make it to Lulusia expecting him to be there? How does she meet her end, and how much of this is conveyed to little Teach before she does? Questions for a future Blackbeard flashback.

This sequence also closes off a question that’s spurred a lot of debate in recent months: why didn’t the World Government kill Blackbeard when they had the chance, in his warlord days? I wasn’t massively bothered by this – with the fake Marshall name there’s only a loose family resemblance to go off – but it’s still nice to see an answer. All signs suggest Imu genuinely believes Eris and Teach were killed by Rocks. From a distance, he sees the explosion rise and knows he can’t sense the Voices of the pair on the island anymore. He doesn’t curse that the Davy clan slipped away again or chastise Rocks for failing as a tool, he just calmly assigns the next task. Why hunt for a bloodline you’ve already extinguished? And even if you want to take no chances on every dude with a similar nose to your old nemesis, that’s a long enough shot you can probably let him fight a war for you first (and not demoralise your other Warlords by killing one of their number in front of them right when they’re about to fight). Case closed. Ah, the rollercoasters of serialised reading. The time it can take to see apparent holes closed up in easy and satisfying ways like this is why I try to take a wait and see approach to developments that get a lot of the fanbase riled up.

Expanding on the above, it’s harder to say for sure because he would have had the chance to see Kuma, but I wonder if Rocks also believes he succeeded in his mission. The pained expression, tears and begging for death aren’t just about losing to Imu or turning on his crew. They only start after Eris and Teach disappear. The kind of guilt Rocks must be taking to his grave in this case…

I think next week is the last we see of God Valley. Oda doesn’t like to linger on a fight with a foregone conclusion, so I’m keeping my expectations reasonable for the amount of battle we get to see. One or two showcase moves, teary final words from a wounded Rocks, then a transition into the aftermath leading back to Loki and Harald’s story. That’s my prediction. But damn, even knowing, it’s going to hurt to see the last of Rocks.