One Piece Chapter 1176: WITH PRIDE

As a nice bonus this week, we have a colour spread to analyse, and I’m happy to say- it’s a remake of the cover for Volume 12, one that was a big milestone for the series, as our heroes left the East Blue and entered the Grand Line. I’m sure Oda has redrawn it to celebrate the release of the second season of the Netflix series. I particularly enjoy Franky and Usopp hitting the same pose together, and Sanji being overjoyed with pulling along Nami and Robin in the wagon. I also find it interesting that Oda pretty often depicts Luffy in his yellowish orange shorts and purple sash, a standard these days, showing just how important Wano was for his character, I’ve always taken the purple to be representative of his Gum-Gum Fruit, but that might be a stretch.

Circling back to the chapter one of the main points of this chapter for me is Franky’s new upgrade, courtesy of Vegapunk. I don’t want to hear anyone complaining that Franky didn’t receive any focus during Egghead ever again, his time is now, as he helps to turn the tide against the Holy Knights with his new Super Vega Cola infused abilities. Lilith also mentions that Elbaph is teeming with a kind of energy that should allow her to adapt her technology to the island. Vegapunk’s core research has been centered around harnessing the natural energy of the world and using it to benefit mankind, we will have to see what this special energy Elbaph has, and if it’s related to the warning given not to stay on here too long.

Nami has also been given her flowers this week, as she helps to save the books from being burned, although Lilith is the one who finishes the job. Seeing as Vegapunk has given Franky a cola power-up, and has been able to convert natural energy into natural disasters (a snowstorm), I wonder if she will be able to give Nami an upgrade in the future too.

Elbaph has been a treasure trove of combination attacks, something I know fans have been clamouring for more of in recent years. Seeing Sanji, Franky and Jinbe working together is really exciting and flashy as they battle such colossal opponents. The first time we saw stuff like this was way back in Thriller Bark, with the battle against the reanimated Oars, and these fights really pay off that setup from all those years ago. Saint Killingham has also been served his just desserts at last, getting his head caved in by Sanji’s flaming kick. It seems like one by one, the Holy Knights are being taken down– leaving Imu remaining.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but we as fans may have been too hasty in delineating Egghead and Elbaph as two separate arcs, as many of the plot points have simply carried across locations, and we shouldn’t pretend as though things have been dropped, as shown with Franky and Vegapunk here. One Piece probably won’t go on another 10 years, nor as I see it, even another five, as Oda has repeatedly shown us that he wishes to end things soon, and the pace will only increase as we sprint towards the finish. I expect a lot of things will be resolved in Elbaph that may be unexpected to many, as just last week we got one step closer to understanding how objects “eat” devil fruits, another Egghead plot point some fans assumed had been abandoned.

Our last revelation seems to be that the way to undo Domi Reversi, is to deal a killing blow! Brutal! But seemingly effective, as Dorry and Brogy quickly shake off being dead, and strike a pretty cool lineup with Hajrudin, Stansen and Zoro. Their bloodthirsty natures have seemingly taken over, sarcastically saying what a shame it is to have to kill their comrades in order to save them. For a warrior, there’s nothing more exciting than not having to hold back. Zoro fits right in with this group.