That’s a bow on 2025! Wow, what a year. It feels almost like a shame to not squeeze one more chapter in and get the climax of the flashback done so we can start fresh in the present for 2026, but that’s life. We get some great colour work to wrap up with – the unique stained glass Jump cover, and then a slick as hell colour spread.

What can you even say about this spread? The Rocks crew are looking amazing, truly fitting for the crew that dominated the conversation for so much of the year. It’s all attitude, all the way down. I have to wonder if this piece came from a rejected concept for the volume 114 cover. Oda has, in the last few arcs, used colour spreads to give group shots to crews that didn’t get covers to themselves (the Beast Pirates in Wano and then the Vegaclones in Egghead) and since that volume wrapped up just a few chapters ago this would be the time to be thinking of its cover. Maybe it will be more Harald and Loki based?

And before moving on from this, the presence of the tiger begs analysis. Roger and Luffy have long been associated with lions, and why wouldn’t they be? King of the jungle and king of the pirates. Oda loves to use the mane of the lion as a visual metaphor for the burning wreath of the sun, tying Nika lore into lion symbols. But while lions are the culturally accepted heads of the food chain, in reality tigers match if not best them in terms of size, weight and power. So of course Rocks gets a tiger. The counterpart cat that hits just as hard but got left out of the conversation. It’s a perfect choice. Plus, you know, he’s got those zigzaggy stripes in his hair too.

Shanks learning of Ace and thinking of Roger’s legacy in the opening scene definitely raises questions about his being in the East Blue at the start of the story. He must have known it wasn’t Luffy, but he could have been looking for Ace just as easily as he could have been seeking out the Gum Gum Fruit Cipher Pol had found. Gaban thinks it’s more interesting if the children of the greats aren’t guaranteed their own spots at the top, but he’s maybe in the wrong story for that.

As predicted, Harald gives the order for his own death, causing the scene we opened the flashback on. You can say a lot against Harald and his choices, but his commitment to Elbaph’s future at the cost of himself is complete and true. There is no hesitation on his part to die for the country, and he doesn’t waver (at least internally) once the choice is made. Stupidity does not rule out integrity, and Harald has that if nothing else.

Picking up the Shanks and Gaban conversation, I’m intrigued by the covenant mechanics here. Shanks has hesitated a long time in pursuing the One Piece; is that because getting it will involve entering Marie Geoise or otherwise going somewhere close enough to Imu to be influenced? The popular line of thinking in the fanbase seems to be that Shanks was freed with the loss of his arm, but I’m not so sure. Gunko had her whole upper body destroyed, for sure burning up the mark, but was still able to regenerate and act as Imu’s conduit. My view is that the mark is just a symbol, not the source of the power. Shanks himself might not even be totally sure if he’d be safe or not. He may be gambling with his soul.

There’s a lot of tragedy coming from bad timing in this flashback. Rocks was undone by a perfect confluence of random encounters. And here, one final time, we have Shanks arriving just barely too late with his warning for Harald. How much history could have been changed with the smallest nudge…

Back in the castle, I appreciate how in the official release, Harald’s dialogue gradually takes on the font they’ve been using for Imu. I’m not 100% sure if Imu has an exclusive typeface in Japanese – I don’t think so at a scan of his scenes in the raws, if he does the difference is a lot more subtle – but as an adaptational choice it works really well and I’m happy for them to continue it.

The mystery of Elbaph’s Devil Fruit deepens. Rocks inferred it would be important in raising the Galeila. Harald says it would give the user the power to overcome a covenant-holders godlike regeneration. Jarul foresees apocalyptic consequences to it being eaten. My old theory was that it was the Gum Gum, and that Government agents who came through the abyss Harald made stole it and let Loki take the blame. That no longer makes sense. No one has used the pentagram. It seems unlikely the fruit could leave the castle at this point. The spread of Harald cutting through the guards in this sequence is also a fantastic action shot.

The presence of Shanks and Gaban here puts a spanner in our understanding of the present. If they saw this, if they both know so much, why does Elbaph see Loki as a criminal? They should be able to explain it all. There’s a piece of the story missing, some kind of greater good honour play they must all feel bound to. But does it happen here and now, or later when Shanks captures Loki at sea? Maybe Gaban went with him for that. He has fewer scars here than he does in the present, after all.

Ragnir moving is definitely something. That’s no small twitch or chance toppling, it’s literally a straight flip upward. The hammer having absorbed the Devil Fruit somehow would explain a lot (its powers, why not just anyone can use it) but would require a few explanations of its own. Like why this kind of thing isn’t more common if it can just happen naturally, and how Vegapunk worked it out and if his method differs. I’ve been waiting a long time to learn about that. Next chapter’s answer to this strange final scene is going to set the trajectory for Loki’s role and abilities, something we’ve been kept in suspense about for the whole arc.

I think this has been unquestionably one of the best years One Piece has had in a while. The last two years of Egghead didn’t slouch, at least compared to Wano, but from the Harley to Rocks, the amount of important info we’ve gained this time has been immense. And we can only hope for 2026 to be even bigger.