I didn't really mention it a couple of chapters ago but Oda dropped some praise for Amy Winehouse in the chapter comment and...excellent taste dude. I know nostalgia for 00s music slants heavily towards emo but it wasn't actually super popular at the time. Back to Black though? Damn... Sorry, tangent. But we do kick off Chapter 1172 with a nice little recap of the main story thus far. Not a bad one either, though you don't get the OOTS comic because it was still very obviously exposition.
Now this is an interesting framing though. The assault of the three knights is presented as a twisted "game." So before we go any further into this thread that flows throughout the chapter, worth a recap of my own on why that theme mattered so much in Wano. Kaido literally had this "Little Pirate Games" motif and it boomeranged back around in some big ways. Heavily around a certain pretty flower and marimo. But in Wano, rejecting these illusions and silly games, maintaining focus on the core goal was the mission. The threat of the children so far seems to be a way to enforce the rules of our little game. And of course, it makes perfect sense Celestials would go about things in this manner.
We have three, count em three Spooky Greggs now and I couldn't be happier. I also like the left-handed cyclops. I don't know, I just think he's neat. Peep Zeus's pervy cousin down there too! Don't forget, one of Elbaf's hidden cards even this far in is the context of Big Mom, Lola, & Mother Caramel. Though I wouldn't be too surprised if that ends up being something that really shines when we've moved on from Elbaf and need to connect it to the rest of the story.
But then...Elder Jarul takes the stage and oh my does he run with his moment!
There is a humongous gap between being heartless and not caring about the kids vs. having the resolve to realize the best chance for them and Elbaf as a whole is to strike hard, strike fast, and be willing to recognize that this is war and it's naive to think there's some way to prevail while guaranteeing nothing is risked or sacrificed. Sound like a familiar logic? It's what drove Luffy to slug Vivi, right?
This speech kick-starts the radical shift for the giants. And now we have a very different Elbaf. While Usopp's glee was adorable, and we slipped in a reminder about Brook's odd connection to what's going on, one Straw Hat really caught people's eye in the end here:
Well now, talk about ominous lines of dialogue. Zoro having a plan can go a few ways, truth is he tends to have pretty good ones in the heat of the moment like this. I actually like the idea of knowing Dorry & Brogy and provoking them into fighting each other by invoking their old duel. I'd go apeshit if he dropped something that implied the main part of the flashback he was paying attention to was Shakky's charming self.
But uh...this is a great step building off of Zoro's story with "games" from Wano. So let's see if he learned anything from the example of trying to balance rescuing Tama with the threat of Bakura Town being razed. I'm ready to see what he has in store!
I read this chapter right before going out and after it slipped my mind, but I'm here now to say we're about to be blessed with some stupid or iconic shit. Maybe both, if we're lucky.
Still tickled by this massive nightmare chaos and how Odacchi draws it.
Scary Nika! Ghosts with hats! A bear in a helmet...??
Little Colon trying to get everyone to buckle up by appealing to the warrior spirit of Elbaph, and one of the other kids is like "But we're not warriors!".
Robin having to watch another library - one with her Ohara's books! - burn on order of the World Government. Oof. ;_;
And Brook ran off somewhere... BROOK WHAT DO YOU KNOW???
Ohhhh Jarul is spilling the Evil World Government, Innocent Loki beans!! Excellent. (But please don't die, Jarul!)
A plan? A scheme?? Zoro's plans are usually uuuuuuuuuuh interesting. So. Yeah. Let's go two chapter reactions at once (at least!)
Well the giants are excited, and so is Zoro. (And him calling Hajrudin "brother" is funny to me for some reason.)
Okay yes EXCELLENT (he's terrifying - demon indeed). From above so they can't Reversi him!
Oh. Oh no??? Oh whoops. Um.
Ah. So this is how Brook is getting around - caterpillar style. Of course it is.
SHURIHIME??? Gunko is "Princess Shuri"??
...oh after Brook kept talking about how it couldn't be her because she'd be 80 years old now I was all ready to be excited for Brook FINALLY getting to reunite with someone from his pre-death life (...) but. But apparently. He hates her because she killed his benefactor...??? Oh no.
IT'S OKAY lots of people have good reasons to kill their fathers (I mean, see Loki!) and she seems to like him, so maybe we will get a heartwarming... um. She's a Knight of God. So. Maybe not-so-heartwarming reunion...??
But she is trying to protect him from Imu's attack! So...
HUH. Imu doesn't know about Brook. So even if you've got Imu in your mind, Imu doesn't automatically absorb all your memories or anything. Hmm.
I absolutely love how there's a bunch of normal, (as in, not professional pirates or warriors) parents rushing out to save their kids. It's such a thing in One Piece - The God Valley incident had a lot of regular people (including, of course, Shanks' mom) dying trying to protect their children. And on the other extreme you have the worst possible parents, like Daddy Vinsmoke, and Big Mom, who don't just not love their children unconditionally, but are the ones the kids would need protecting from.
OH LOOK Odacchi set this one up IN LITTLE GARDEN that's totally normal for a mangaka to do. Just wait literally over ONE THOUSAND CHAPTERS to bring reference this two-page spread:
Dorry and Brogy's attack in chapter 129 (!!) is "supreme country"; Gerd, Goldberg and Road's in 1173 is "roaring country".
Oh WELL PLAYED, you three. Well played!!!
That's right. No ship; no getting the kids off of Elbaph. \o/
I'm grateful for Gaban and Kashii explaining the situation in ways that are easy to understand. Their ability to swiftly convey what needs to be known during a complex ongoing conflict is impressive and helpful. Plus, it's also nice to have a reminder of everything going on after six months of flashback.
Jarul is reminding me of Yasuie this chapter, which is great. Both are focusing on the pride they have in aspects of their respective cultures, which invaders are trying to corrupt, and both have lines about the children covering their eyes or ears in the face of horrible cruelty.
One thing I think that Yasu understood, that Jarul doesn't seem to however, is the harm that being too warlike can cause to children, when they are expected to bear such a heavy cultural burden. Yasu once placed such heavy expectations on children to live up to unfair standards, but mellowed out as he saw the harm that parts of his culture could cause, and after he adopted Toko. While Jarul, to some extent, is still insistent on sticking to the old ways for the sake of them.
Especially with us seeing that many of the kids do not see themselves as warriors and don't know how to fight. Jarul's fighting spirit in the face of the WG is good, but it alone won't fix all the issues of his culture. Good way to stress the need to find a better balance between the warrior culture and the appreciation of more scholarly pursuits.
Another interesting difference, is that Jarul's response is to Imu taking over, while even before Kaido and Orochi invaded, Yasu gave the retainers money to buy books and study. Yasu was too strict to children, to the point of unintentional cruelty. But he did understand that both violence and book smarts have value.
Jarul and Harald then, they aren't particularly harsh in their approach/mindset, but they don't understand or see the best path forward as Yasu did.
This ties into my want for Usopp to learn to value the library too. It's cool that he likes warriors and gets to finally see Elbaf, but it also kinda seems that he's being dismissive of the Giants' attempts to change their reputation as violent savages to the outside world.
Overall, the arc is good so far, though if I were to bring up something I think is missing, that nearly every post-timeskip arc has succeeded at, it's that Elbaf is perhaps playing things a bit too safe, narratively.
It feels like a crowd-pleaser arc, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it's not taking big risks. Think the Imu reveal just prior to Wano, gear 5 awakening, or Bonney's Nika form. How many different and opposing reactions there were to each.
In terms of aspects which will not be to everyone's taste, or prone to strong differences in opinions from various readers, Elbaf lacks a big story beat or development of that nature. I think it could happen yet, but as of now, Elbaf has yet to make a big risky move for the narrative.
