Back again, and we get the climax of the flashback to start off the new year. My hope is that we’ll be back in the present at the end of the next chapter, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it takes until the one after. The cover page is a cute one. An eel train is such a specific idea; I wonder if the reader behind this one was inspired by the ‘teeleport’ mode of transportation from Donkey Kong Banaza? I love that even with everyone aged down, Robin gets to be the mature one. Strangely, Nami looks a lot younger than the rest, doesn’t she?

Everything about Ragnir in this chapter is so Oda. Living Devil Fruit weapon? Sure, some people guessed that, but for it to be a separate fruit from the legendary one under guard? For the animal it transforms into to be a cuddly squirrel (even if it probably doubles as some Norse god to justify the lightning powers). You just don’t get this kind of storytelling anywhere else. It’s actually a pretty fun fight too, seeing how Ragnir has the ability to change its weight, playing on the Mjolnir myth and Loki’s claim that no one else could lift it. You do have to wonder about this being a known factor for the royal family though, just sitting there in the castle the whole time. Like, do they have to feed it? I guess if it’s been standing guard for centuries the answer is no, but then does the immortality come from the mythicality of the zoan or from the unageing nature of the hammer?

There’s a lot we don’t know about Devil Fruit weapons and I’ve been curious for years. Oda implied in – I think – a post-Water Seven SBS that when Vegapunk was introduced, he’d explain how they were made. Egghead came and went with no such talk. Shamrock’s Cerberus sword raised my hopes again, but he’s ducked out of the arc early. But hey, here’s a living weapon attached to a really prominent character. This time for sure!

Shanks and Gaban’s talk about the God Knights’ weaknesses gives me little faith there’ll be any particularly creative method to fight these guys. The emphasis on the pain Harald feels is interesting, leaving me wondering if someone with a pact feels more hurt from a CoC attack than someone without it, but that’s a very nebulous thing to measure. Learning that Garling sent his men out on repeated attempts to retrieve Shanks is some compelling history though. Would love to have seen the emotional rollercoaster the guy went on when Shanks returned of his own volition then left again without saying a word.

I think it’s a bit odd to have Jarul give the final order for the guards to buy Loki time. On the going assumption that the sword to the head damaged his memory of this day, it’s too lucid a move to make after getting the wound. And on the topic of things that are odd, Shanks and Gaban talk about Harald’s Conqueror’s Coating being enough to stop them from ending the fight, but Harald is simultaneously being pierced by regular guardsman halberds. So what kind of defence is he actually putting up? Or is it that unlike Armament Haki, CoC doesn’t provide any additional resistance to physical blows, only adding or blocking its own lightning-blazing damage type?

Trust Oda to save Loki’s actual power for later. All these little hints of a clawed hand, a spiky mane, an elongated body, all to build anticipation. It’s unique for a manga to do a first person scene, but it lets Oda do a small fight with Harald without ruining the surprise. In the first panel of this sequence though, it seems like Loki is taking a hit from Harald’s axe, but in future panels he’s uninjured. Does his new power come with a level of regeneration, or is this just misleading framing?

I gotta take an L on something here. I’ve been talking a lot of doubts that Shanks let his arm be taken deliberately to remove the mark, but there is strong evidence to the contrary here. The framing emphasises strongly that Loki’s claws have gouged off Harald’s mark right before he comes back to his senses, and we see it’s just about to fully regenerate when he says he’s going to be taken over again. So yeah, even though the regen stays without it, the mark absolutely is a functional part of Imu’s connection, not just the cosmetic signifier of something more innate. Good to know.

This is a rough day for Loki. How long must he have waited in that cell thinking that the vengeance he took for his mother was unwanted and unappreciated. To finally get that from his absentee father after so long, and then to have to kill him. Damn. I think this moment could have been stronger if we’d had more time exploring the dynamic between these two earlier in the flashback, but I might change my tune on that when I get to reread all of this in an afternoon instead of having it drip fed over six months. The Rocks portion was so good on its own, but it all the Elbaph segments have suffered for it on the weekly read. It continues to reflect well on Harald how he keeps Elbaph’s future in mind and is able to understand Loki’s feelings, even though he can’t state them directly. It echoes, on a level, Garp and Dragon’s conversation where Garp already knows and has already accepted everything Dragon wants to hold against him before it’s even said.

The final visual of Harald shattering is such an interesting choice. Is this some interaction of the various vaguely defined powers in play here, or an abstraction for how utterly he’s being obliterated by Loki’s attack? Regardless, the fight is done, and we have only a few loose ends to tie off before returning to the present. Chief among them, why Harald’s final wish for Loki to take the throne wasn’t honoured, and why, even if Loki rejected the role of king, why Gaban and Shanks wouldn’t speak in his defence to prevent him being vilified while Hajrudin stepped up. That’s going to take a strong reason to feel right after everything we’ve seen, but I’ll go in with an open mind.

It’s a reasonable chapter to start the year, but my thoughts are pulling hard toward the end of the flashback, the climax of Elbaph and the things Oda has planned for after. Bring it on!