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Feel free to reblog any post that has reblogs on. I don't always tag posts but if I did actually object to something being reblogged, I would just turn off reblogs.

Please keep asks on topic (this is a One Piece blog for talking about One Piece; if you want to talk to me about something that isn't One Piece then at least try to do a convincing job of tying it to One Piece somehow lol)

(Also I might be slow to respond to them, sorry)

Something that's really easy to miss when you don't read One Piece in Japanese is Oda's use of kanji in character names, specifically how rare it is.

The vast majority of actual given names in One Piece are written in katakana, like every Strawhat's given name: ルフィ (Luffy) ゾロ (Zoro) ナミ (Nami) ウソップ (Usopp) サンジ (Sanji) チョッパー (Chopper) ロビン (Robin) フランキー/フラム (Franky/Fram) ブルック (Brook) ジンベー (Jinbe) and frankly like 90% of all other names too, maybe even more

There are also a few that are written in hiragana like たしぎ (Tashigi) くま (Kuma) おつる (O-Tsuru) くれは (Kureha) しのぶ (Shinobu) おでん (Oden) ひぐらし (Higurashi) はっちゃん (Hatchan) しらほし (Shirahoshi) にんじん (Ninjin/Carrot from Usopp's village) たまねぎ (Tamanegi/Onion) (but not ピーマン (Pepper/Piiman) whose name is written in katakana, probably because that Japanese word is also written in katakana). And that's pretty much all the actually memorable characters whose names are written in hiragana, or the ones I can remember at least (sorry if I forgot someone important)

^ Female characters are definitely overrepresented in that hiragana category (considering how many more male characters there are in One PIece than female ones) which makes sense since hiragana is sort of associated with women (somewhat). A lot of these are also just Japanese words. Tashigi is a kind of bird, Kuma is a bear, Tsuru is a crane, Shinobu means "to hide", Higurashi is a cicada, Oden is a food, Hatchan is a cutesy variation on "hachi" which means "eight", Shirahoshi means "white star", Ninjin is carrot and Tamanegi is onion. Kureha's name is a bit ambiguous, it is apparently just a woman's name in Japanese, but it's also probably a reference to a Japanese pharmaceutical company, which itself gets its name from a village.

いっぽんマツ (Ipponmatsu) and うるティ (Ulti) are both a mix of hiragana and katakana. Ipponmatsu means "solitary maple tree" but Ulti is just a Hungarian card game and idk why it's partly in hiragana, unless it's just to show how wacky she is.

The big exception to the no kanji rule are the Wano characters, like 錦えもん (Kin'emon) モモの助 (Momonosuke) 雷ぞう (Raizo) 傳ジロー (Denjiro) 康イエ (Yasuie) カン十郎 (Kanjuro) 菊の丞 (Kikunojo) アシュラ童子 (Ashura Doji), although you might notice that most of these still use either hiragana or katakana in addition to the kanji, which is a bit unusual (except maybe for Kiku because the "no" being written in hiragana is pretty normal I think)

The only names I can think of that are written entirely in kanji are 日和 (Hiyori) and 玉 (Tama) and 鶴女 (Tsurujo). This also applies to Hiyori's Oiran name 小紫 (Komurasaki). There's also Denjiro's fake name 狂死郎 (Kyoshiro) and Ashura Doji's alias 酒天丸 (Shutenmaru). There are probably others too though, I can't be bothered to check all the minor characters in Wano.

There are still plenty of Wano characters whose names are just written in katakana, like トキ (Toki, although I guess she did grow up outside of Wano) トコ (Toko) スキヤキ (Sukiyaki) オロチ (Orochi) etc. I know I'm not listing enough of katakana names to fully demonstrate how common they are, but in my defence if I did start listing them it just would never end. Even in Wano katakana names are pretty common.

The surnames in Wano are all in kanji, though: 光月 (Kozuki) 霜月 (Shimotsuki) 黒炭 (Kurozumi) etc.

The interesting thing is that epithets like "Whitebeard" (白ひげ) and "Red-Haired" (赤髪) are much more likely to contain kanji. Even Luffy's 麦わら (Mugiwara) is partly in kanji. It makes sense because these epithets are supposed to be descriptive so of course they're just written as actual words. It's actually kind of a good trick to spot epithets and codenames as opposed to actual given names (aside from the aforementioned Wano characters). Like the admirals: 赤犬 (Akainu) versus サカズキ (Sakazuki), 青キジ (Aokiji) versus クザン (Kuzan), 黄猿 (Kizaru) versus ボルサリーノ (Borsalino)... etc. They all work the same way, including Fujitora and Ryokugyu and also all the "admiral candidates" with similar naming schemes.

(Arguably I think the more consistent thing would be to translate all the admiral codenames: Red Dog, Blue Pheasant, Yellow Monkey, etc. just like the pirate epithets are translated (like Whitebeard, Straw Hat, etc.))

There's also cases like タマゴ男爵 (Baron Tamago) where there's a title in the name and that title is written in kanji. This also applies to the "saint" in the names of Celestial Dragons, like チャルロス聖 (Saint Charlos) and シャルリア宮 (Saint(ess) Sharlia). And then there are characters who are only known by their title, like Woop Slap, whose name is never mentioned in the manga so he's always only referred to as 村長 (sonchō, village leader), same with the Shandrian chief who is only ever called "chieftain" (酋長 shūchō), etc.

Then we have バンダー・デッケン九世 (Vander Decken IX) リクドルド３世 (Riku Doldo III) and エリザベローⅡ世 (Elizabello II) where the generational number is written in kanji. Or western numeral and kanji.

And a rare example of a non-Wano character who has a kanji in their surname: ネギ熊まりあ (Negikuma Maria, AKA that bear-like onion lady from Drum Island, her surname literally means "onion bear") Her given name is also written in hiragana so you can add her to that list too, a rare exception where a non-Japanese name is written in hiragana (altho I guess Maria might be a popular name among Japanese Christians? Looking it up on Japanese Wikipedia, that hiragana spelling does seem to be somewhat common)

(The other Marias in One Piece are written in katakana: マリア・ナポレ (Maria Napole) and ブラックマリア (Black Maria))

As a sidenote, there are also some names which have Latin letters or Arabic numbers in them like Tボーン (T-Bone) ドクQ (Doc Q) ベビー５ (Baby Five), etc. Although unclear if they're actual given names or just nicknames/codenames/epithets. And then there are of course all the Baroque Works male agents, all of whose names are written in the same style: Mr.0, Mr.1, Mr.3, Mr.4, etc.... (Mr.2・ボン・クレー is a little bit of an exception lol; also their name is also written in kanji a couple of times: Mr.2・盆暮 (Bon Kure), but of course their legal name is written the usual way, in katakana: ベンサム (Bentham))

But are there any non-Wano characters (other than Negikuma Maria) whose real actual names, not nicknames/codenames/epithets, are written in kanji?

Well the only examples I can think of are 戦桃丸 (Sentomaru) and 軍子 (Gunko). And Gunko is highly debatable in terms of whether that's actually her "real name".

Sentomaru is clearly a reference to various Japanese folktales (especially Kintaro, but also Momotaro and probably others as well, and the name Sentomaru is a very folktale coded, I think) and Sentomaru himself kinda seems like a folktale character, being this super strong kid just randomly found in the forest.

Gunko literally just means like "army girl" or something. Technically 子 means "child" but more typically it's "girl", especially in names, especially when pronounced ko (compare アシュラ童子 (Ashura Doji) where it's pronounced ji instead)

The fact that there doesn't seem to be any good reason for Gunko's name to be in kanji makes it come off as extra weird and literal, at least to me. It really does feel like she was just lazily named for her purpose. "I want to make her into my child soldier so let's basically name her child soldier". (Obligatory note that this isn't the actual term for child soldier, that would be 子供兵 (kodomohei) or 少年兵 (shōnenhei) or in this case 少女兵 (shōjohei). Gunko is not a word that's used for that, as far as I know (I'm pretty sure tho), but it does kinda effectively convey the same idea. It also sounds kinda cutesy to me idk. Like literally I think "Army Girl" is a pretty good translation for the vibe? Although in English that doesn't sound like a given name. "Militarella"? "Waria"? "Battlette"? "Weaponie"? lmao)

Okay one more weird case: Zunesha. Zunesha's name is sometimes just written in katakana (ズニーシャ) but occasionally it's given the kanji 象主 with the pronunciation written in katakana as furigana. 象主 would be pronounced something like Zōnushi, which sounds a little bit like Zunesha but not exactly, and it means "elephant master" or "elephant guardian spirit" or something like that. I can't actually tell if it's even meant to be his name or if it's just a description of what he is.

Oda does sometimes use kanji with mismatched readings to convey extra meaning or nuance. See for example the One Piece itself, which is often written ひとつなぎの大秘宝 ("Great Hidden Treasure Connected As One" or something along those lines) with the furigana reading ワンピース (wanpīsu = One Piece). And the name "Zunesha" is likely based on Ganesha, or at least that seems likely.

Anyway, as for character names, I'm sure there are more interesting examples but that's kinda all I can think of and all the ones I can be bothered to check out. When it comes to the names of places or concepts in the One Piece world, that would take a whole other post to discuss.

I guess my conclusion is that I think there's something to these choices, at least in some cases. I feel like the choice to use so much katakana (and so many foreign names) is meant to give a sort of exotic vibe to the series, like it's clearly not set in Japan (despite some characters having Japanese names and despite there being a lot of Japanese cultural features all over the place), and then once they do go to Wano it can be a lot more obviously Japanese (but still with some weird elements). Writing Japanese names in katakana in particular might be a way to make them seem a bit more foreign while still being easy to remember and full of jokes and puns and themes.

The use of hiragana might be a bit vibes based and it seems to be mostly used for Japanese names and in particular for women and children and maybe also some childlike or cute or soft male characters?? idk (because hiragana is considered softer and cuter than katakana) Well, idk if Oden counts, but he is pretty childlike at least lol. Still, the hiragana names are pretty rare. I probably listed most of them in this post already.

This kinda gives the vibe that when kanji is used, it might be because the meaning is somehow significant (or the character is from Wano) or maybe Oda just wants to clarify the reference. With Sentomaru the meaning would not be obvious from the pronunciation so the kanji helps explain what the pieces are: 戦 = war, battle 桃 = peach 丸 = name suffix (in this case). The "peach" ties him to Momotaro, the Peach Boy. Otherwise you might interpret it as 戦闘丸 which would be kinda like "Battle Boy" since sentō also means "battle/fight/combat". And there are lots of other words that are read sentō as well; sen and tō are both very common kanji readings. I think Oda might have been wanting to make sure that people get his pun. (In addition to the folklore vibes maybe)

Gunko might also be somewhat confusing without the kanji. Not as confusing as Sentomaru, but still a bit ambiguous, since it's not really a real word or a real name. Although apparently gunko can also mean "war drum" (written 軍鼓). That's the only word I can find that's actually pronounced gunko (there are words that are pronounced gunkō with a long ō but not gunko with a short o.) But the use of kanji could also be a hint that Gunko isn't her real name.

And of course that's kinda the most interesting thing to me, the fact that kanji seems to often be a sign that the name is an epithet of some sort. When you see a name written in kanji, there's a very good chance that it's not the character's actual legal name, unless they're from Wano (but the Wano names are also generally very easy to recognise as old-fashioned Japanese names).

EDIT: added some colour-coding lol, hopefully it's not too obnoxious

#one piece thoughts #one piece analysis #one piece translations #definitely let me know if y'all have any additions or corrections or other thoughts

escape-the-game-itself

Random epiphany:

The word yonkō actually translates pretty literally as tetrarch:

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tetrarchēs, from Ancient Greek τετράρχης (tetrárkhēs), from τετρα- (tetra-, “four”) + -άρχης (-árkhēs, “ruler, leader”).

tetrarch (plural tetrarchs) 1 A governor or ruler of a quarter of a country, especially of a fourth part of a province in or client state of Ancient Rome. 2 Each of the four members of a jointly ruling tetrarchy, notably of the Roman Empire since Diocletian. 3 An officer in charge of a fourth part of a phalanx in Ancient Greece.

The tetrarchy was an era of Roman history when they had four emperors, btw. Admittedly it's different because those four emperors were meant to rule together in association with each other, but the etymology still works out IMO (also I think the tetrarchy also kinda ended up with the emperors turning against each other lol)

escape-the-game-itself

I'm just so pleased because I've been thinking about how it's annoying that you can't really use "four emperors" as an individual title in English the way you can use it in Japanese, like you can't say "Buggy is a four emperor." But you could say "Buggy is a tetrarch", and it would be 100% grammatically correct.

Random epiphany:

The word yonkō actually translates pretty literally as tetrarch:

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tetrarchēs, from Ancient Greek τετράρχης (tetrárkhēs), from τετρα- (tetra-, “four”) + -άρχης (-árkhēs, “ruler, leader”).

#one piece thoughts

punster-2319

My first thought after reading that “life force” line: “Yes, severe stab wounds tend to do that”. 💀

anmechokola

(SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1189)

It's interesting that Usopp is the first one we see reacting to Luffy's weakening haki. I don't know if it means that he was the first to realize, since when Jinbei explains it to the others he doesn't seem surprised, only worried, but it does seem relevant that he was the first one shown, at least. Maybe he's finally going to learn he can use Observation Haki, and probably has a pretty powerful one at that, because I don't think anyone has ever acknowledged that that was what he used in Dressrosa, right? Maybe it's going to be a repeat of the whole "what do you mean you didn't know you had Conqueror's Haki, I thought you were using it on purpose" that Luffy said to Zoro

That is something to consider, though. What would the giants who don't know about the secret King of the World think about their kids being kidnapped, if they actually had a second to breathe and ponder? Do people see the World Government and the nations at the Reverie as the same thing? Do they assume the actions of the WG are fully sanctioned by those heads of state? Would the giants think that the whole world is conspiring against them? This all has the potential to foster a lot of resentment, is what I'm saying

(chapters 1189 and 489)

The fact that the sword really does suck "life" out of its surroundings makes me think about the people who have Luffy's vivre card, especially when Imu then talks about Luffy's brothers. Ace is the one who introduces the concept into the story, and we know that Sabo has had Luffy's card since Dressrosa (I really wish we could have gotten his reaction to Luffy's temporary death in Wano). Maybe this is a hint that the rest of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet will show up eventually? Or maybe that Sabo will try to come to Elbaf

The word Imu uses is 生気 (seiki), meaning life, vitality, or spirit, while Lola uses the word 生命力 (seimeiryoku), which means vitality or life force, but I think the idea is similar enough to be worth considering, at least

Also, this seems to be Fragarach, the sword he's currently holding in hand, that's sucking the life out of that tree trunk. So would that mean that all of the weapons have this ability? He specifically said "that" sword before, meaning Vohu, but Vohu is a single edged sword and this sword tip looks double edged like Fragarach, plus the dark wavy flames seem to be coming from it. So maybe the whole devouring vitality thing is more related to Imu's Omen than the actual weapons

When Imu talked about Luffy's name, I thought it was because Luffy is a D, but then he immediately mentioned his two brothers with different names, so it kind of feels more personal than that, doesn't it? Sabo is the brother who stands out in the Revolutionary Army (something that Imu would find personally irritating), but Ace is just the brother that was slaughtered by the Navy. No mention of him being the son of the Pirate King, which is something Imu would also probably hate, or the fact that Ace was also a D, and from both sides of his family at that

Notably, there's also no mention of Dragon, Luffy's biological father and the actual leader of the Revolutionary Army. Maybe because Sabo is the one who actually managed to see Imu face to face, but then why mention Ace like that? Was it just to drive a metaphorical knife in Luffy's chest along with all the literal ones? Was it to remind us of the idea of vivre cards, since the whole Summit War Saga started with Ace's card burning?

This all makes me think of two things. One, that Shamrock left Elbaf because there was a situation with the Holy Land being on fire, and Imu originally possessed Gunko because he thought the God's Knights were being too slow. So maybe he's thinking about Sabo because the Revs really are the ones that were burning Marijoa. And two, all this talk of brothers with different names could be foreshadowing that Imu and Joyboy (and Nidhoggr?) were also sworn brothers once upon a time, before everything fell apart

Shanks is saying that gaining control of Elbaf is not the actual end of their plan, it's just a means to prepare for war, which ties in to Gunko's assertion that which side the giants join will be a huge factor in determining who wins the eventual war

(chapter 1146)

If Imu's words are to be believed, this future war is more like a continuation of the war that happened during the Void Century, which would imply that whatever it was that Imu wanted 800 years ago, he still doesn't have. Even with Joyboy dead, even with the previous Nidhoggr dead, even with the World Government controlling most of the world, even with Imu sitting comfortably at the top as the King of the World

And Loki raises a good point, about who the World Government would be waging a war against. Is it the same enemy as before, aka the Great Kingdom? (We still don't technically know what happened to them, just that they probably were defeated so the 20 nations could take control of the world). Is it a completely new enemy? Is it a new enemy that inherited the Great Kingdom's Will? Who would pose that kind of threat, enough for it to be a war and not a subjugation? The Revs are troublesome, but they just don't feel like they're too high on Imu's list of priorities, though I could be wrong. The giants are a piece of the war, not an enemy. The Pirate King is dead and never really had an army ralying around him. The other pirates are more like individual problems than a big organized coalition, since the Emperors (the only ones who would be able to do that) fight among each other as much as they do with the Navy. Were they preparing for the eventual moment when someone would inherit Joyboy's Will? For the same right timing that Roger talked about?

(chapter 968)

We still don't even know how Davy Jones factors into all of this. Was he on someone's side in the war? Was he also a "traitor" like Nidhoggr? Was he actually at the bottom of the ocean somehow, like the legends about Davy Jones' locker imply? Was he a merman? Was he related to Vander Decken? Speaking of Vander Decken, that story about him going insane and killing his crew sounds super suspicious now, right? I wonder if he was Domi Reversi'd or maybe had a Covenant with Imu

(chapter 606)

First, a moment of silence for poor Jarul who is having just the worst day ever. His king was being mind controlled and was then killed by Loki the cursed prince, no one would ever believe that he didn't do it out of malice so Jarul will have to either lie or stay quiet about it, there's a sword stabbed through his skull, and now this tiny little bastard is casually destroying his whole view of the World Government with almost incomprehensible implications, and then he's just like "well let's just move on from that, no one is gonna believe him if he talks about it anyway"

(chapter 968)

Second, I still wonder about why Shanks went to Marijoa in the first place. Did he go to find out more about his family and end up finding out about Imu when he joined the God's Knights? Was he poking around looking for answers about Imu when he found out about the Gum Gum Fruit? Or did he go with the full intention of spying and used his family as an excuse? I think it might all depend of what it was that Roger told him that made him cry so much. The fact that Shanks was the one who asked a question first makes me think that he found out that there were Celestial Dragons looking for him and then asked Roger about it

I wonder why Chopper was needed at the library. Saul was pretty banged up, but seemed otherwise fine enough to walk around, and Biblo the owl also seemed unhurt by the fire. Unless there's someone new there that we haven't seen yet

[Crazy theory time, but this would be a great time for a Kid comeback, if he were to ever actually come back. He was last seen getting blown to pieces by Shanks, but maybe Killer saved him from the ocean and they've been hiding at the secret room in the library ever since, probably so they could recover from what must have been some pretty bad injuries. If Robin found them, it could explain why she's asking for Chopper now]

The way Imu talks makes it seem like he doesn't really control which weapon will come out of his Omen. He goes "oops" when the axe comes out, and he says it's 残念 (zannen), meaning regrettable or unfortunate, that this is the third weapon he's gonna use

When Sommers is talking about the 19 weapons who brought the world to heel, he uses the verb 治める (osameru), which can mean both to rule/govern and to subdue/suppress, which kind of sums up the World Government nicely, doesn't it? Is it governing, or suppressing? Kind of depends on whether or not you're willing to bow down to them

I'm also thinking about that oath of equality, and whether it was just a normal promise of if it was something more binding, especially considering Imu's powers and the fact that he can summon those weapons through his Omen. Sommers calls it 復活 (fukkatsu), which means revival, restoration or return. So the Omen returns to them the ability to use their family's weapon. I wonder if they can only summon their specific family's weapon, and what would happen if someone tried to take it from them

It's interesting that Sommers calls them the weapons that conquered the world, that brought it to heel, that suppress it, reign over it, subdue it, but Imu calls them the weapons that "created" the world. He uses the word 創造 (souzou), which means creation, but also Creation in the Christian sense. It reminds me of when Imu told the Five Elders to destroy Lulusia, and Saint Mars calls him 創造主 (souzoushu), which means Creator, as in the Christian God who created the world

(chapter 1086)

Finally, let's talk about the weapons! So far there are 11 named Celestial Dragon families out of the 19 that founded the World Government: Figarland, Marcus, Jaygarcia, Topman, Ethanbaron, Shepherd, Donquixote, Roswald, Manmayer, Rimoshifu and Satchels. And now we have 9 named weapons and 2 of the families they belong to. I've talked about the names in the other chapters but I'll put them here again so it's easier to see

Blade of Judgement - Nemesis - 天罰剣 with the furigana ネメシス (nemeshisu)

天罰 (tenbatsu) means divine punishment or wrath of God, and 剣 (ken) means sword or blade. Divine punishment has been mentioned twice in Elbaf so far, first with Nami punishing Rodo (incidentally by striking a "god" with lightning, just like Loki does to Imu) and then when the children were about to fall off the pier and thought they were being punished for misbehaving. Nemesis is also the name of the Greek goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris, ie arrogance before the gods

Blade of Wrath - Gram (Shepherd Family) - 憤怒剣 with the furigana グラム (guramu)

憤怒 (fundo) means anger, rage, or resentment. In Norse mythology, Gram (meaning ill-tempered, wroth, angry, frightful or resentful) is the sword that Sigurd used to kill the dragon Fafnir, who wasn't exactly a dragon so much as someone who commits patricide to steal his father's treasure, after which he shapeshifts into a dragon and hides away

Blade of Hatred - Stigma - 怨魔剣 with the furigana スティグマ (sutiguma)

怨み (urami) means resentment, grudge, malice or bitterness and 魔剣 (maken) means magic/demon sword. Stigma is possibly about the Catholic belief of wounds that appear on certain people that correspond to the crucifixion wounds on Jesus Christ, ie on the hands and feet (from the nails), on the side of the chest (from the lance), on the head (from the crown of thorns), and on the back (from carrying the cross). Stigma can also mean a set of negative beliefs that a group of people have about something, which would match better with the meaning of the kanji, maybe

Blade of Nothingness - Vohu - 虚無剣 with the furigana ボーフー (boofuu)

虚無 (kyomu) means nothingness, or a state of emptiness. The furigana refers to the Hebrew term bohu from the Bible. Apparently, the term bohu is mentioned along with the term tohu three times, but most notably in Genesis to describe the state of the Earth before God began creation, and tohu and bohu are usually translated as "unformed and void", or "formless and empty". I think it can be read as both vohu or bohu.

Blade of Chaos - Tohu - 混沌剣 with the furigana トーフー (toofuu)

混沌 (konton) means chaos, disorder or confusion. By the definition mentioned above, the idea of tohu is of something unformed, like the chaos that existed before God brought order to the universe. Since tohu and vohu as the idea of "formless and empty" are mentioned together in the Bible, I would have thought that these two weapons would be more like a set, like dual swords, though that wouldn't make sense if each of them belonged to a different family. Maybe the original founders of these two families were siblings?

[Sidenote: 虚無 (kyomu) is the first word mentioned in the Second World of the Harley text, as "within emptiness, there was breath", and 混沌 (konton) is the first word mentioned in the Third World of the Harley text, as "within chaos, there was void"]

Blade of the Sea God - Fragarach - 海神剣 with the furigana フラガラッハ (furagarahha)

海神 (kaijin) means sea god, like Poseidon or Neptune. In Irish mythology, Fragarach, also known as "The Answerer" or "The Retaliator", was the sword of Manannán mac Lir, a sea god, warrior and king of the otherworld. It can supposedly control the wind, and when pointed at someone's neck it compels them to tell the truth. It can also cut through any man-made barrier and inflicts wounds that don't heal

Axe of Xingtian - 刑天の斧 (keiten no ono)

刑 (kei) means penalty, sentence or punishment, 天 (ten) means sky or heaven, and 斧 (ono) means axe. 刑天 read as Xingtian is a figure from Chinese mythology who fought against the Yellow Emperor for a divine position, and continued fighting even after he was defeated and beheaded, becoming a symbol for an indomitable spirit

Longinus (Rimoshifu Family) - 聖命槍 with the furigana ロンギヌス (ronginusu)

聖 (sei) means saint, sacred or holy, 命 (inochi) means life, destiny or fate, and 槍 (yari) means spear or lance. In Christian mythology, Longinus is the name given to the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus during his crucifixion. His weapon is known as The Holy Lance, Spear of Longinus or Spear of Destiny

Muramasa - 村正 (muramasa)

Muramasa was a famous swordsmith from the Muromachi Period (14th to 16th century). In popular culture, his swords came to be considered as cursed or demonic, hungering for blood and sometimes compelling their owners to commit murder or suicide in order to fulfill its bloodlust

<- chapter 1188 analysis

#ooh interesting questions about the war #and vander decken! i forgot about that!#i was thinking that robin needed chopper to translate for biblo #altho idk why that would be urgent enough to justify needing to do it right now #one piece 1189

invisibletinkerer

The swords

One Piece chapter 1189! We've got the name of at least nine of the nineteen swords by the "empty throne".

Mythological references are fun, so I made a deep dive to find out what each of these weapons were named for!

怨魔剣　　スティグマ ”Stigma”. A word meaning ”mark, spot, brand” in Greek. Possibly referring to the Christian concept of Stigmata (the wounds of Christ)? Meaning of kanji: ”Vengeful Magic Sword”

聖命槍　　ロンギヌス ”Longinus”. The name of the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus’ side with a spear. It’s sometimes also used as the name of that spear. Meaning of kanji: ”Holy Life Spear”

混沌剣　　トーフー ”Tohu”. Comes from the phrase ”tohu wa-bohu” in Genesis 1:2 of the Hebrew Bible. It describes the state of the world before Creation, and is hard to translate. A modern translation is ”formless and empty”. Meaning of kanji: ”Chaos Sword”

虚無剣　　ボーフー ”Bohu”. Comes from the phrase ”tohu wa-bohu” in Genesis 1:2 of the Hebrew Bible. It describes the state of the world before Creation, and is hard to translate. A modern translation is ”formless and empty”. Meaning of kanji: ”Void Sword”

海神剣　　フラガラッハ ”Fragarach”. The sea god Marannán’s sword in Irish mythology. Meaning of kanji: ”Sea God Sword”

憤怒剣　　グラム ”Gram”. The hero Sigmund’s sword in Norse mythology. The name is etymologically related to ”grim”, and means ”angry”. (See latter-day Swedish ”gramse”) Meaning of kanji: ”Anger Sword”

天罰剣　　ネメシス ”Nemesis”. The Goddess of divine retribution in Greek mythology. Meaning of kanji: ”Heavenly Retribution Sword”

村正　　　むらまさ ”Muramasa”. The name of a famous swordsmith in 16th century Japan. The name also refers to the swords he created. In pop culture, Muramasa swords are often depicted as cursed.

刑天の斧　　けいてんのおの ”Xingtian’s axe”. Xingtian was a giant in Chinese mythology who fought against the supreme god. He’s mostly famous for fighting on even though he was decapitated. As such, he’s a symbol of the indomitable spirit to never give up no matter what.

#this is handy #thank you!#one piece 1189

escape-the-game-itself

There's some fun colour symbolism going on between Loki and Hajrudin btw.

Firstly, it's not quite complementary colours but it's close: purple and orange rather than purple and yellow, but at least in the volume 112 cover it's a very yellowy orange.

But more importantly, Loki the legitimate heir is wearing royal purple while Hajrudin the illegitimate son is wearing the much more humble orange. Historically purple was the most expensive dye while orange was one of the cheapest.

Although Hajrudin also has a lot of gold in his design, which is of course also a colour with royal associations, and particularly there's Hajrudin's golden visor in contrast to Loki's steely grey one (not that we see much of the latter, if it even is a visor and not just a nose guard).

Both purple and gold are prestige colours which can also signify corruption/greed, but I think purple tends to have a lot more negative connotations and gold a lot more positive ones. Of course that aspect is kind of superficial, it says more about each of their reputations than about their actual personalities. (Actually both of them kinda have superficial aspects of those negative traits; Loki the spoiled prince who killed his father for power (corruption), Hajrudin the pirate and the mercenary who wants to rule all giants (greed), but of course that's only the perception)

It's also about warm and cold, light and darkness: Hajrudin of the Sun World and Loki of the Underworld

^ god I love this visual from the opening

escape-the-game-itself

Speaking of complementary colours, though:

(I felt like I had to bring him up lol. He's Hajrudin's friend but he also gets compared to Loki, and he manages to be just the absolute worst version of both)

There's some fun colour symbolism going on between Loki and Hajrudin btw.

Firstly, it's not quite complementary colours but it's close: purple and orange rather than purple and yellow, but at least in the volume 112 cover it's a very yellowy orange.

It's also about warm and cold, light and dark: Hajrudin of the Sun World and Loki of the Underworld

^ god I love this visual from the opening

#one piece thoughts #hajrudin #loki one piece #elbaph arc #cursed prince loki

escape-the-game-itself

I'm obsessed with that subtle little sound effect they gave Ragnir

escape-the-game-itself

(Spoilers for anime onlies)

Faint little squirrel noises :D

It sounds creepy in this context but it's also SO CUTE

He's going "gek gek gek gek gek"

I'm obsessed with that subtle little sound effect they gave Ragnir

#one piece episode 1171 #one piece anime #loki one piece #ragnir #one piece anime spoilers

Interesting that Imu's bringing up the ASL brothers unprompted

Sabo invading his super special room must have really bothered him

#one piece 1189

mjrtaurus

Babe wake up, new OPLA Dragon behind the scenes photos just dropped.

bulichh

a lazy sketch of a young dragon. not yet beaten by life

anmechokola

(SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1188)

Once again, when there are two flames talking, one of them speaks in a different font. I wonder if that's meant to imply that these are in fact two different entities talking to each other

Also, the way Imu's arm stretches and bends in unnatural ways... I don't think it's a coincidence that this attack looks so much like Luffy's rubber punch

Luffy's Gum Gum Genie is pretty straightforward, he calls it ゴムゴムの魔神 (gomugomu no majin), with 魔神 (majin) meaning devil, evil spirit or genie. Funnily enough, it's composed of the kanji 魔 for devil, demon or evil spirit, and 神 for god or deity. It reminds me of Imu's speech to Loki about there being no difference between a god and a devil

(chapter 1181)

(chapters 1188 and 1180)

So when Imu blasted the ice he was expecting Gunko to both wake up and try to get out of it herself, apparently. Which is interesting for two reasons. One, he doesn't seem to recognize Ragnir's ice, which is supposed to be unbreakable for anyone other than Ragnir, even though Imu knew him from before. And two, the fact that he thinks she should have woken up means she's not doing that for a specific reason. Maybe Ragnir's powers have that effect, maybe her memories and personality resurfacing is messing with her head and she's just passed out. I don't know, maybe she's faking it

Also, Imu remembers Brook from 60+ years ago, so he either has an amazing memory or that time was extra memorable. Because it had to do with Gunko? Brook was in that room with them for such a small amount of time, but maybe the impact he had on Gunko's psyche makes him easier to remember. Maybe Imu has access to Gunko's memories as Shuri when he possesses her

Luffy's attack is called スキあり銃弾. 銃弾 (juudan) means bullet and is written with the furigana ブレット (buretto), also for bullet. スキあり (sukiari) is an expression that means chink in the armor, like when you sense someone's weakness or see them distracted. In this case, he thought Imu was too preoccupied with Gunko to notice his punch coming

Imu's sword is called 虚無剣 with the furigana ボーフー (boofuu). 剣 (ken) means sword or blade, and 虚無 (kyomu) means nothingness, or a state of emptiness. The furigana possibly refers to the Hebrew term bohu from the Bible. Now please keep in mind that I know next to nothing about Hebrew (or the Bible for that matter), so take this with a shallow-DuckDuckGo-search sized grain of salt. Apparently, the term bohu is mentioned along with the term tohu three times in the Bible, but most notably in Genesis to describe the state of the Earth before God began creation, and tohu and bohu are usually translated as "unformed and void", or "formless and empty". I think it can be read as both vohu or bohu

[To be fair, vohu could also be referring to the Ashem vohu which, according to Wikipedia, is "the second most important manthra, and one of the most important prayers in Zoroastrianism. It is dedicated to Asha, a Zoroastrian concept denoting truth, order or righteousness." It could also be about Vohu Manah, "a Zoroastrian concept, generally translated as 'Good Purpose', 'Good Mind', or 'Good Thought', referring to the good state of mind that enables an individual to accomplish their duties", again according to Wikipedia. But to be honest the Bible one makes the most sense to me, both because of the whole Christian devil theme Imu has going on and the meaning of the word matches better with the rest of the sword's name]

(chapter 1138)

The first line of the Second World in the Harley text reads

虚無に息吹あり Within emptiness there was breath

It's the same word for emptiness as Imu's sword name. Plus the chapter title, by the way, which is 虚無 (kyomu) with the furigana ボーフー (boofuu). I've said this before but I don't like that they used the word "void" here, because it makes you think of the Void Century, and that's not the same word. That void is 空白 (kuuhaku), which is more related to a blank space, gap, or vacuum, like the 100 years that are "blank" and missing from the pages of history. Besides, kuuhaku is used in the first line of the Third World, but it was translated as "emptiness", which just creates unnecessary confusion in my opinion

Anyway, the word 息吹 (ibuki) means breath, but in the poetic sense it means something like a sign of new beginnings, a breath of fresh air, etc. The First World ended shrouded in "death and darkness" and the Second World begins with a breath of fresh air blowing in the middle of all the nothingness that was left behind. In that way, it kind of mimics the myth of creation, with God bringing light and life into a world that was tohu and bohu, or unformed and empty

It's not lost on me then that Imu's sword seems to do the exact opposite of that, sucking the life right out of the surrounding trees without even touching them. The sword sucking things out of the environment (and into Imu? Into the sword? Into the emtpiness? Who knows) also reminds me of Crocodile's attack where he sucks the moisture out of his surroundings

(chapter 201)

In both cases, they are taking away "life" and leaving only nothingness behind. I wonder if Imu's sword will have any other impact on Luffy besides the, you know, impaling part. Will it suck the vitality out of him like when he lets go of Gear5? That would also be very reminiscent of Crocodile taking all the moisture out of him and leaving him a husk at the end of their second fight

And speaking of Crocodile, this is certainly not the first time we've seen Luffy take such a big and seemingly definitive hit during a battle with a Big Boss. Him being impaled on Imu's sword is very similar to when he was impaled on Crocodile's hook during their first fight in Alabasta (and when he was dried up at the end of their second fight). The first time Luffy fought Kaido also ended pretty quickly, with Kaido only needing to land a single hit to take him out

(chapters 178 and 923)

All this to say that this is looking like a prelude to a loss before a comeback. Because to me this felt like a very unbalanced fight in Imu's favor, with the added bonus of none of them being in a good condition to begin with. Loki has been dead on his feet since the start and Imu has been coughing up blood since he arrived. Not to mention Luffy's terribly ominous words about feeling unbeatable before joining the fight. It would make more sense to defeat Imu in Marijoa anyway, where he's at the peak (ha) of his power, to really make it stick. And, if we're going with Imu's speech that history is repeating itself, I can see this arc ending with the kids actually being kidnapped, like they were 800 years ago, and the Straw Hats and some of the giants racing to catch up with them. Remembering that Vivi left them a message on the newspaper, it would also make sense to meet up with her along the way, since she's involved with the whole Imu business because of her ancestor (another bonus of being reminded so much of Alabasta in these last few panels, could it be a Vivi foreshadowing?)

<- chapter 1187 analysis

#ah you already pointed out the same stuff before i did lol #oh well it happens #good points as usual #i didn't even think to connect the 魔神 to that line about gods and devils #one piece 1188 #god i hope you're right about the vivi foreshadowing #and i hope it's not her getting kidnapped like everybody seems to think bc that would be so frustrating

(Sorry in advance for the negativity, maybe skip this post)

I have to admit that I'm still not invested in Imu as a villain. I'm so much more interested in his past as a Void Century character than his current self. I just don't find him all that compelling as an antagonist, I'm sorry

I live in fear of him actually being the final villain (please no)

(I still don't think he will be, I still believe in Blackbeard making an opportunist move and becoming the "last boss", but I've been wrong before)

I get that this manga is oriented around 1v1s because that's the format, so of course for Luffy to fight the World Government we need a guy who can represent the World Government as like almost an embodiment of it, but right now I just find it so boring... the only interesting part about it is Imu's relationship with Joyboy but, as has been made very clear, Luffy isn't Joyboy.

Secret king of the world that nobody knew about just isn't that cool to me. I'm just not into secret big bads in general. And the World Government has always been more interesting to me as a massive hegemonic organisation, so reducing it to basically just one guy and his handful of subordinates is a downgrade for me. Egghead was way cooler because they brought the marines along.

(Also I'm tired of just watching the monster trio getting all the focus, which seems to be where this is going. Will Zoro learn to control his CoC? Will Sanji get CoC? I don't fucking care, let them play with their CoCs off page. I wanna see more from the other Straw Hats. And I wanna see Bonney do something before her character inevitably gets written out of the story after this arc. Well at least there's Shuri... she's at least interesting to me. Basically the only thing that's keeping me hooked right now, otherwise I'm so tired of this arc that I'm tempted to stop reading and catch up once I know it's over)

idk maybe Imu will get more interesting eventually. Or maybe we'll get a reason to get more invested in the fight.

This is why I was kinda hoping it would be Blackbeard vs Imu and not Luffy vs Imu, I find the former way more interesting. But whatever, maybe I'll appreciate this more in retrospect. Maybe I just can't see the vision yet.

It's funny how everybody keeps complaining about the flashbacks and meanwhile I'm over here like the flashbacks are the GOOD PART of this arc. The actual arc has been kinda meh for me tbh. Except for Loki and Ragnir who are delightful, and some individual fun moments of course. But I just don't care about the Holy Knights, I don't really care about the child kidnapping plot (because I find it hard to believe that it's actually gonna happen), I didn't believe for a second that the books were actually gonna burn, and I don't care about Imu. I know he's not gonna get defeated here anyway and so far he just doesn't seem that impressive, he mostly feels like another Moria to me. He just kinda has a bunch of bullshit powers. Except Moria was still more interesting than this and at least there was SOME kind of coherent theme to his powers. This is just a bunch of random nonsense.

One more note I had on chapter 1188 was that some people were asking about who was talking in the panel about Luffy and Robin being frozen:

The one who asks about what to do with frozen people is definitely Brook (you can tell by the way he speaks because he's the only Straw Hat who consistently uses polite forms)

The one who mentions Robin and Luffy is less obvious, but I think it sounds more like Nami? (idk, does Usopp ever say "えーと"? I'm not sure, I'm just going by vibes tbh)

#one piece 1188

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