Category: Manga

Decades after their visual introductions, we have the Five Elders’ names.

Was it worth the wait? Heck no! But I guess Oda wanted to keep their celestial names a secret—Wait! The Five Elders are Celestial Dragons and planets are a type of celestial body. …That took longer to connect than I care to admit.

Another connection that may seem obvious that I wasn’t sure about until now are the Five Elders being Celestial Dragons. Can you blame me? The only other CDs we’d seen were immoral bubble helmet elitists who thought the entire world revolved around them. Sure, the Five Elders are dicks but not on that superficial level (that we’ve seen so far). And after meeting St. Figarland Garling this chapter, I’ve come to the conclusion that their are basically two types of Celestial Dragons: Those who put in the effort and those who don’t.

I doubt the original 20 kings who made up the OG Celestial Dragons were weak nor stupid. But over the centuries my guess is most of them just wanna have fun. Those types of CDs don’t care about anything but their own self-amusement, usually at others’ expense (Rosward’s Family, for example). Then we have the CDs who put in the work. The ones with ambition. The ones who want to do more with their life than torture slaves and eat bon-bons on the couch all day. They are the Garlings, Imu, and Elder Stars of the group. So, yeah, this chapter really hit home for me that the Celestial Dragons control the world and aren’t simply mooching off it.

Goodnight, sweet prince—erm—king.

Gum-Gum Gonna miss ya, Cobra Commander. Or should I say Cobra D. Commander? The Nefeltari Royal Family carry the D. name. Princess D. Vivi being so important to the series is making more and more sense. I’m guessing she’s the one who will unite the Pro-Luffy kingdoms in revolt against the World Government. Oda’s definitely gonna do some sort of badass parallel between Vivi and her descendant, Queen Lily.

Queen Lily, what a homie! She’s responsible for the spread of Ponegiffs around the world. Her actions sparked of revolution 800 years in the making. Yeah, she outplayed King Imu. Not by winning, Imu won that war. But by sowing the seeds of the World Government’s downfall for future generations to, um, harvest? Cultivate? Grow? I’m not a farmer, Y’all. You get what I’m saying, I think.

Watch out for falling lore!

King Nefeltari Cobra fed us hungry One Piece nerds well this chapter. No Void Century information, of course (probably get that on Laugh Tale), but we get a little more info about the formation of the World Government 800 years ago. My question is: Why is Cobra Commander bringing this up now? Sure, there’s definitely something fishy going on given what he knows about the beginnings of the WG, but what’s motivating him to confront the Elder Stars? Could his declining health put him in a do or die mental state in regards to learning the truth before dying? Could Monkey D. Luffy’s actions be another? Hmm…

Here’s another question: Who are the Elder Stars? If the 19 Celestial Dragon families are supposed to be equal, aren’t having five CDs ruling the World Government a direct violation of that rule? That is IF they’re Celestial Dragons at all. The Elder Stars’ backstory must be linked to very formation of the World Government. I wonder if we’ll at least get more on their origin during the flashback. Especially, with Saint Saturn on his way to Egghead.

Demolish the Celestial Monarchy! We want a democracy!

Things are heating up between the World Government and Revolutionary Army. The R.A. destroying the Celestial Dragons’ food supply while declaring war is a smart move. Just giving those elitist, tax exempt bastards a taste of wanting for bare necessities is something short of impossible without some of the strongest Revolutionaries working together. And good on them for freeing as many slaves as they can too! Where’s their Nobel Prize, huh?

We get confirmation Jabra and the rest of Lucci’s CP9 crew we haven’t seen lately are also members of CP0. Not sure why they’re there. They’re just standing around giving commentary. That’s what happens sometimes. Someone gets promoted and they do as little work as possible. Cipher Pol bastards!

I guess Buggy’s Cross Guild really is becoming a Warlord crew.

Cross Guild needs heavy hitters if it wants to compete against Shanks, Blackbeard, and Luffy’s crews’ in reaching Laugh Tale first. Not to say Buggy, Sir Crocodile and Mihawk aren’t already a powerful “team” but Oda’s seems to be setting up all the major pirates to be in the race for One Piece, either still in the running or failing to achieve it. Gecko Moria’s given. He’s got nowhere else to go. I was hesitant about Boa Hancock joining but if Crocodile wants to establish a nation where they’re safe from the World Government then I can see the Snake Princess joining for that reason. Edward Weevil’s a wildcard. Especially since he’s been captured by the Navy, but who knows? If he escapes his travels could lead him to Cross Guild.