One Piece Chapter 1192: WE WON’T STAND FOR IT!!!

This was another Usopp chapter. Appearing from nowhere to assert his belief in Luffy, and critically his beliefs about Luffy. Which is an interesting point to make, Usopp effectively rejects the prophecy in this chapter, and to me this is an important viewpoint to highlight within the text. Everyone has given Luffy’s status as the second coming of Joyboy as a given, heck, even as the inheritor of Roger’s will. But here Usopp states clearly that he knows Luffy is just himself. Luffy will do what he wants no matter what, whether that fits with the prophecy or rejects it, Luffy will live as he pleases, which is, ironically, what makes him worthy.

The battle between Luffy and Loki and Imu rages on, it’s fun and frenetic but also pushing Luffy to his limit. Despite his wounds, he still keeps pulling new moves out of the bag. Kraken Gatling is a lot of fun, perhaps inspired by his friend Surume from Fish Man Island. I think it’s important to keep drawing attention to how Imu’s move set parallels Luffy’s, it’s fun and cartoony but while imu remains stoic, Luffy tries his best to smile through the pain and ultimately have fun. Imu is just too strong. Usopp reminds us all of just how crucial the giants have been to each stage of the story, the beginning in Little Garden, the middle with Water 7, the prelude to the end in Dressrosa, and now the climax with Elbaph. The giants are the personification of the romance of adventure, Vikings were the original pirates and Oda grew up on the Vicky the Viking animated series, which is one of the main inspirations for the story as a whole.

Luffy’s final gambit is to launch himself at Imu using Loki’s attack, and it works. Landing a decisive gut-punch on Imu, causing him to spit up blood. This is huge, and truthfully I think this will cause Imu to freak out. The privilege he has will feel very undermined here, he may even flee. We saw how much he struggled even coming down to the surface world and this will no doubt justify his rage and hatred for all the little people he lords over. Imu cannot be used to pain. One major point we need to keep in mind is Luffy’s injuries, he has pushed himself to his absolute limit here, allowing Loki to hurt him in order to land a blow on Imu. Luffy has always had a self-destructive streak, the two key examples of which are during Marineford in which he kept receiving hormone shots in order to overclock his body to be able to keep fighting, and during Whole Cake Island where he attempted to tear his own arms off just to be able to help Sanji. There are other moments like this, but those two emphasise how far he’s willing to go for friends. The moment he puts his guard down, his body will be in tatters.

This was a very important chapter for the Elbaph storyline as a whole, as I mentioned earlier and as I have been repeatedly drawing attention to in these reviews, this arc has been the culmination of so much thematically. Oda uses repetition to reinforce the message of the series, and the bonds made hundreds of chapters ago will never go forgotten because that’s the power of empathy, the power of inspiration. We wouldn’t be here without the groundwork laid all those years ago, the friends made then provide the allies now that will help to create a better world for all.