One Piece Chapter 1174: THE STRONGEST THING IN THE WORLD

With the escape vessel destroyed, Sommers has pivoted, Imu is distracted trying to resolve the Brook-Gunko situation, and in his twisted glee, he’s decided to let the children fall to their deaths, with their parents unable to save them.

In a beautiful moment, each child’s family member clings to them, braving the thorns and being willing to die, all so their little ones won’t have to die alone. One Piece is no stranger to parents dying for their children, many, many parents have died in order to provide their children with any chance at a future throughout the story. This is definitely a different take on that, in the spirit of the Elbaph Warriors, the giants are willing to throw their lives away just to make it easier for their kids, when Ripley grabbed hold of her son, it’s safe to say I got choked up. This kind of earnest storytelling is exactly what keeps One Piece timeless, it’s so heartfelt, it’s not pretending to be anything other than it is, and it punches you in the gut every time.

The simple fears of happy children are also a key feature of this arc, the importance of protecting that innocence seems to be a point Oda is trying to get across, as Elbaph has become less warlike, the children haven’t needed to become warriors, and the simple things they fear, not eating their vegetables at dinner, not doing their homework, getting in trouble with their mothers, this is the country Harald was trying to build, where children don’t have to grow up to die on a battlefield, and can live in safety, comfort and education. The children’s nightmares, brought to life by Killingham, have been fantasy creatures and angry mothers, nothing as horrifying as the one piece world has presented us in the past, a world of slavery, poverty, war and bigotry. These children are safe, and loved and that’s exactly how their families want them to feel even as they plummet to their deaths. I think that’s a beautiful sentiment.

Before I move on, another moment worth commenting on, is the memory of the one child, whose only parental figure is their schoolteacher. Found family is obviously a huge part of the series, and Oda never skips an opportunity to highlight that the family that chooses us is just as (if not more important than) the family we’re born into.

St Sommers truly is a twisted villain, Oda makes sure to highlight just how much pleasure he takes, in not only killing these children, but making it as painful as possible, emotionally, for everyone involved, these are the people that govern the world of One Piece, they see themselves as above humanity, and lives as things to be played with and thrown away. We see this through the treatment of slaves, and the trauma it has inflicted on so many characters like Hancock and Koala, and how Shirahoshi was treated while in Mary Geoise. Thank goodness for our heroes. Luffy has provided a soft landing for everyone, although it is a bit thorny for him, his Gear 5th form allowing him to both stretch and inflate to a rather ridiculous degree.

And finally, after weeks of waiting… We get to see Loki’s full Zoan Devil Fruit form, and what a sight it is. A colossal, pitch-dark dragon, with glowing fiery eyes. Oda never disappoints, this truly is a sight to behold, the biggest dragon we’ve yet seen in this series, and the long awaited western-style dragon, unlike Kaido’s eastern-inspired one. With Loki’s power on their side, it feels like there’s nothing they can’t do.