Love his journey. And look at how beautiful that village has been drawn. Oda's break was well worth it. This chapter seemed fairly long too. However, these are not TSC scans, and some of the translations are a little dodgy, but the main idea comes across (for example, there is a frame of Shanks telling the young viking boy we saw in the Shanks and Elbaph scenes to make sure he keeps an eye out for Straw Hate Luffy. The boy's excited to meet him, so I hope it's a typography error, but a pretty big one to make! Anyway, I'll refer to the official, when it's out. Seems to be. Other scan caps don't have this error.
Also, like I know that Lilith is a softie at heart, but Oda seems to be making her very soft (this was the second time in this chapter). I liked her impetuous violence! Love when the Straw Hats all get blown away by rainbows you can ride on, and dragons, and carp pulling boats and so on. Robin looks gorgeous!
Sanji's not on the boat (on the cloud), and maybestill blissed out after having been in Gerd's hand? (Giant oni sama?). Or maybe he just enjoys the clouds. Anyhoo, it looks as if Usopp (and Robin) will have time to shine.
The chapter was fun. Zoro slicing a tree to bring down Road and then declaring that it's okay because he didn't directly touch Road. Gerd and her companion further wiped him out. Loki remains in the Underwolrd, but it's not known if Luffy freed him or not, but Luffy struggles not to tell the other giants about him, so it's only a matter of time...
Franky's scientific explanation for rainbows and Dorry and Brogy's laugher at his expense (and foolishness) was fun too.
I pretty much had two obligatory choices for this title for reasons that will become obvious later. For best effect, you can go ahead and pop open this link in a new tab. Wow is this a cool chapter. So let's start where it starts and that's this little giant boy Collon. Who we've seen before. It's cute and he's scooting off to the banquet after checking in with Giant Makino. In spirit. Giant Makino for real would be too much to handle.
What I find most interesting though is how this little segment frames the rest of the chapter. Particularly with Shanks here. It's not just the first of three times we have a character giving a reminder like this. It's how it builds off of the rest of the scene too. Time matters, and we'll get to the really big way it does. But it starts with the barmaid mentioning Dorry & Broggy would stay here drinking for days if they stopped by. That's an interesting concept and one that makes sense based on what we know of the giants. Their lifespan is so much longer it makes everything they do take longer. That's our introduction to them; a century-long duel after all. I want you to think about that with the much more grave warning we'll leave off on. How it builds off of a previous arc where we were in a rush to leave events that didn't have much to do with our main crew and the one before it we spent a rare prolonged stay on. The world is moving fast and we really don't have any point for the Straw Hats to stay on Elbaf. That matters.
But forget all that nerd shit and look at the fun whimsical pirate adventure moment! Instant favorite panel, immediately on par with the other cool ones like the Knock-Up Stream and climbing Wano's waterfall. This is a part of Norse mythology by the way...though probably not the type your cosplay tough guy Viking enthusiasts obsess over. Called Bifrost, the rainbow road from our world to the realm of the gods. For what it's worth, as much as I dig Miss Goldenweek and her Rainbow of Dreams...another interesting parallel since we meet her around the giants too.
I just love it. It's wonderful and fun and cool and makes me so happy to finally see Elbaf. Same with the village. Nothing much to analyze, just want to note that this is something so long awaited as much for me as it is the crew. I've mentioned it before, but reaching Elbaf holds special significance for me given I originally caught up to the manga on Oimo & Kashi. Just a cool, iconic moment that I know is gonna stick with me forever. I even got a little misty eyed. I fuckin' love One Piece y'all.
Okay, so back to the plot. Who's next? Goldberg, Gerd, and Luffy meet up! We also saw Hajrudin on the rainbow and everyone comes together pretty quickly tbh. I thought the stuff with Gerd cooing over Luffy was adorable. Gerd is adorable. Sanji simping over such a sizeable woman was neat too. Also liked them beating up creepy Road.
But this bit with Loki? That's intriguing. Especially when it's framed the same way as Collon's little flashback to Shanks. Though not the same concept as that and what we'll get to...the point is not dwelling too long here right? Well Loki is probably what the threat of doing that hinges on. And this is a potentially bad outcome for Luffy here. Quite dangerous he's keeping the secret and there's apparently some kind of promise. Sure it'll be interesting to see what comes of it.
But this is what we're all really here for. I mean, the rainbow road is great and all but it's just a pretty scene using Norse mythos for inspiration. This though? Ohhh mama is it right up my alley. Do you remember the last time we saw Louis Arnot? He's the author of Brag Men, the book Nami read from to recognize Little Garden. Cool callback. But the content is what matters here. First of all because he's taking the place of our usual narrator. Which is a concept I've been high on since Wano. Because this narration is an in-universe character it opens up questions of reliability. Arnot hasn't steered us wrong before, but it's there.
"Do not linger in this land for long." Why!? That's gotta mean something. It makes me wonder about Shanks taking off as quickly as he did. It makes me think about getting sucked into some Loki plot a lot more. But simply...why? Could it be some time screw thing? That could be bad if you have some kind of Narnia Time aspect when the world's on fire. Or maybe there's some aspect of the geography that's hazardous. Or it's just really easy to run afoul of giant politics.
We'll have to see. But hidden here is something else intriguing. The silhouette. Is that the guy saying "come" a few chapters ago? He's normal sized. I definitely agree with the common theory that he looks oddly reminiscent of the figure we saw drinking with Crocus long ago in a cover page. I also like the idea of Scopper Gaban for who that could be. A former Roger Pirate could be interesting. With Elbaf being the last real foreshadowed island and Luffy being about as high as he can climb before reaching the Pirate King level...probably gonna end up with at least a lead on the final road poneglyph. Or at least finding a poneglyph. They tend to show up with nonhuman races. We'll have to see there too but it all makes sense for a purpose of being here.
also i’ve got a feeling, in particular with the amount of allusion to early op & pay off for early op we’re set to get with elbaf, that this arc is gonna be good for the women. like, i’m not sure exactly how, but it just seems like they’re going to get a lot of love from the narrative & we’ll end up with a lot to chew on. with the need to resolve bonney & kuma’s storyline to some extent, the fact that we’ll likely get some sort of pay off to justify lilith’s presence, the fact that gerd is the first of the Elbaf people the Straw Hats really get connected to on the island, the fact that our attention was drawn to how important nami’s intellect is to the straw hat’s ability to succeed in surpassing their circumstances, & the fact that robin is set for narrative focus due both to her storyline with saul, & the fact that robin’s role as an archaeologist & historian means she is more likely than not to take some degree of centre stage due to elbaf being an island that is very deeply focused on historical narratives, mythology, & carrying on the legacy of the past. like. do you all have any fucking clue just how far on the edge of my seat i am? like, based on every current indication, us woman appreciators are going to be fucking happy by the end of elbaf.
also normally i’m well within the “the straw hats don’t need romantic storylines really like it’s far from the point being made here” camp, oda needs to yuribait me with gerd & nami. for the plot.
