On the cover page, we see Boa Hancock practicing her cooking skills for Luffy! Just call her "Arbys", because she's got the MEATS! I'm not sure if she's supposed to be burning the food, as a classic "the girl can't cook" joke, if if this is just flambe? But, she's got the quantity of meat maximized, which is probably the most important thing when you're serving Luffy, so she'll probably be fine. Could this be subtle foreshadowing that we should prepare ourselves for Luffy's fight almost being here? Who knows?!
"The palace is packed with cute babes...er...not her" Lil' Brook is kinda rude. Not wrong...but still rude. I guess Leuven employs a lot of women around his castle. I guess I can't blame him.
And we get a panty request! So, Brook was just always like this. Unless we go even FURTHER back, for some reason. It does feel like Oda is repeating this so we keep it in mind. So, dramatic rule of threes says the next time we see this gag, there should be some sort of a payoff.
So....Candelle thinks Leuven is out of her league. Huh. Yeah....sure. Okay. It would have been nice to know why she thought that, but we're kind of speedrunning this flashback a bit. And this is a pretty decent way to show that Prince Leuven is actually a really good guy.
"You have to be polite and use honorifics when you ask someone for a favor!" Heh?! That's what she's taking issue with?!
"She shines like the sun over the whole nation" Given how important the sun is in this story, that's probably deliberate wording.
Candelle got sick right after some Celestial Dragons visited the kingdom. Hmm....that's....interesting. I'm not sure if that's a subtle hint that they tried to make her their slave/wife and she escaped, or not? Or possibly she got sick from catching something FROM them like Ginny did. Another woman getting sick around Celestial Dragons. More links to Celestial Dragons and diseases. This could be a hint that the "space suits" they wear aren't really to protect THEM from outsiders....it's to protect everyone else from THEM. Plus, metaphorically, this may begin to tie all these sick and dead mothers together, somehow. Something to think about for later.
So, Shuri was born....AFTER the Celestial Dragons arrived. Hmm. Really similar to Bonney, when you think about it. Another special baby born after the mother got some mysterious illness. And I have to wonder....could Shuri's different colored eyes ALSO be the result of some sort of experiment by Saturn or another Celestial Dragon? I feel like Oda's planting seeds for something, here.
Pouty or hungry, Shuri is pretty cute. Also, I'm pretty sure her love of candy is suppose to show us she's still a kid at heart.
D'aww...dealing with a minor cut, helping out a dog in the rain, measuring her height, taking her to dances, going fishing. Brook really did spend a lot of time with Shuri. This is really sweet. So....something REALLY bad's about to happen, huh? Also...Brook is afraid of ghosts! How ironic!
"Kamigata" I feel like that's probably a reference to the Kansai dialect? But, I really don't know for sure.
I wonder how Brook got hurt enough to end up in the hospital? Just dueling? Or dealing with all these rival gangs?
And then a thick mist that turns to smog rolled in and ruined all the instruments in the kingdom. Huh...that's pretty similar to the mist that always seems to accompany Harald and Loki, when they were out at sea. Oda's doing a lot with mist, lately. Including the fog that swallowed God Valley as it collapsed (Chapter 1166). And it can't help but remind me of the Florian Triangle. And this fog is causing illness all over the kingdom. Yeah, I think this is all connected to something happening underground. All these illnesses have their root at the center of the planet!
So, Candelle died because of this fog-borne illness. I guess anyone who expected her to turn out to be a secret villain was wrong. That's another dead mother for the pile.
We get a hint that Shuri's special eyes might be able to see the future. So, she has some form of inherited Future Sight, perhaps?
And Shuri originally wanted to go with Brook to become a pirate. Shuri/Gunko for nakama is gaining some steam!
So, the Government demanded one THOUSAND slaves, if they couldn't pay the Heavenly Tribute this year. WHOOF! That's a nasty tax.
They mention another nation disappearing after not paying the Tribute. I'm not sure what that's referring to. But, it could be another island that collapsed into a hole in the ocean, like we would later see with God Valley.
Hmm...with the talk about bees, the legendary island that Brook is singing about that's a home for Samurai and Giants is likely Hachinosu, aka "Beehive" Island. We know it was originally a penal colony, so it kind of makes some sense that it'd eventually evolve into a legend about a home for all the people who disobey the World Government. So, the chapter title "Ya Better Buzz Off" is actually a roundabout reference to stories about Hachinosu inspiring other people to stand up to the World Government.
So, it's all out war with the Marines. It does NOT go well for Esperia.
And then Brook finds Shuri being Reversi'd standing over the body of her father. I guess her hat covers up her little devil horns in the future.
And it looks like Leuven was also Reversi'd, himself, since he has wings and horns, just like Shuri.
With Marcus Mars' Itsumade form is also in the royal palace. Marcus Mars is probably acting as Imu's avatar on Esperia. Like how we saw Imu control Saturn and Reversi people through him, during God Valley. Kind of interesting that we don't see anyone else Reversi'd outside of the palace.
And then there's ANOTHER guy. And this guy actually reminds me a lot of Shiryu of the Blackbeard Pirates. I guess it could be Shiryu's grandfather or something? But, it's kind of hard to tell since we don't see much of him. I guess it's mostly the cigar and the hat that reminds me of Shiryu, so that might be nothing. But, this is probably a God's Knight from this time period. He's probably a ancestor of SOMEONE we know. But, chances are, it's someone we might not expect.
AND...there's another break next week. NUTS! Oh well, I have a feeling we only have one or two more chapters of this flashback left at this point. It's even possible we only have a half-chapter of flashback left, and we'll get back to the present day next chapter. But, we'll see. I do want to see more of this mysterious new God's Knight.