Chapter Discussion ONE PIECE CHAPTER 1183 : GOOD MORNING MERMAID

[RiShin]

We are getting their reactions panels

Yeah, but it just to show that they don't know who Brook is as a friend. Not even knowing where he lived at, what he did, and so on.
It these moments that I sorta pause at and really view the strawhats are just a bunch of strangers on a ship.

 

[K!NG HARA$H!MA]

Yeah, but it just to show that they don't know who Brook is as a friend. Not even knowing where he lived at, what he did, and so on.
It these moments that I sorta pause at and really view the strawhats are just a bunch of strangers on a ship.

The technically are.

Some straw hats probably feel they are closer to arc allies than their crewmates. Usopp certainly does with Kaya

 

[Peppercat]

Gonna make a little crack theory:

Candel is Garling's mother.

 

[S.W317]

I’m just annoyed by the timing of the flashback, why now?
Can’t he just do it after the fights end?

 

[S.W317]

@PuckTheGreat I’m leaning towards you being right about Sanji having to deal with Zaza

I was on the fence about it and was moreso undecided before the chapter dropped because I was waiting for a specific detail

Jinbei/Nami (the characters most people including myself assumed would assist with the situation) are standing still currently

If they were moving somewhere then Oda could easily have them bail Sanji out but since that isn’t the case… yeah

The only potential exception there is to this would be if Killingham sent Zaza away with the children and that was our “Doomsday Clock” for the arc

What if instead of Sanji directly hitting Zaza, he just awakens CoC - like this is the moment he awakens it and then dispels Zaza or “simps her” using CoC before using AdCoC to defeat Killingham? That’s what I wanted to see not the Brook FB!

 

[S.W317]

Because it was obvious that it was coming

Yeah, smartass we knew it was coming but why not wait until the fights end?

 

[Punk Rotten]

UGH this is a terrible time for another freaking flashback. Gunko/Shuri seems to be another Nami clone.

This criticism doesn’t make sense. The whole every character looks like a Nami clone argument is lame. Look at Kubo, Toriyama, and every jojo character. The faces also look exactly the same. It’s a style of an artist.

 

[Franz]

Yeah, smartass we knew it was coming but why not wait until the fights end?

Maybe because it wouldn't have made sense?

 

[Juanpiz]

I’m just annoyed by the timing of the flashback, why now?
Can’t he just do it after the fights end?

 

[Mike B. Duncan]

Gunko will not die. Ragnir's ice tecnique is the secret that Is manteining alive the Giants of Galley-La in Punk Hazard... For this reason there Is a way to revert the power and Rocks knew it (he needed 2 specific Devil fruits + Harald with Niddhog)

 

[Punishhh]

Brook doesn't even know Haki at 80 yet he was somehow one of the two stars of his kingdom

 

[Moewu]

On the Color Spread, we have the Strawhats playing with some pink elephants. What could it possibly mean?! Do the pink elephants represent alcohol, perhaps? Lie Bink's Sake? Or possibly some sort of tie to Zunesha? And what significance could Zoro having a elephant t-shirt and Usopp clinging to a baby pink elephant have? The key could be INTERNAL for Zoro, but EXTERNAL for Usopp? Perhaps Zoro has a tie to the alcohol part of the equation, and Usopp has ties to the Zunesha part? Who knows?

We find out that Ragnir wants vengeance upon Imu! And Ragnir's been testing people this entire time to find someone capable of kicking Imu's puffy pants! I guess that makes Ragnir's test just being able to bonk him on the head make some sense.

And, apparently, neither Loki nor Luffy could ever be Imu's soldiers. Not sure if that's due to their powerful personalities or due to their Devil Fruits allowing them to resist Imu's control. Hard to say, it's too vague.

And Imu will "Erase them...just like Dozan". So...who's Dozan? Well...I kind of have to wonder if Imu just revealed Joyboy's real name? Or possibly the source of the Will of D. For the Will of Dozan? Or possibly both those things. There may be some clue in the exact "letters" Imu uses for the name, but I don't know what it could be. The name "Dozan" kind of reminds me of the word "Dozing" as in sleeping, though that's probably not intentional. But, it's not impossible that there's some important figure who's been asleep for the last 800 years that the Strawhats will have to wake up at Laugh Tale, or something.

"Ragna Two Jin Blades! Sword of Wrath Gram!" There's probably a pun here that's going over my head. I do wonder if "Jin" is supposed to be "Djinn" as in the evil spirit that's the inspiration for Genies? That would kind of fit Imu's vibes. And Gram is actually a pretty famous dragon-killing sword from Norse mythology, basically the Norse version of the Sword in the Stone given by the god Odin, so that makes sense to use in a fight with Nidhoggr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_(mythology)

Meanwhile, Ripley won't let ANYONE take her boy! Not even GOD themselves! We don't get to see much of what Zaza can do, which is a same. And we don't even get to see Sanji's reaction to seeing Zaza, which is another shame. But, it does seem to involve a lot of water!

And we see that...Gunko's still frozen in ice. So...Imu shooting at her earlier did nothing! Maybe the ice is *little* more melted? But, Gunko's still frozen. So, Ragnir's ice is no joke.

So Gunko is someone that Brook hoped he'd "never have to face again". And she'd be 77 years old now, if she aged normally. And the last time Brook saw her she was heading for Mariejois. And Brook is slowly putting together that Gunko might have been mind controlled. So, good on him!

So we're getting Brook and Gunko's flashback NOW! Back to flashback land we go. I'll admit, I kind of thought we might be saving this flashback for later down the road. Well...we probably won't be here as long as with God Valley, but we'll see.

70 years ago in the Kingdom of Esperia before it fell. Which makes Gunko/Shuri 7 years old and Brook 20. Brook's singing about mermaids LONG before he ever met any.

And Esperia has a Arena, which feels like it'll probably come into play later on, with Brook's history as a swordsman. Possibly fighting in duels? And a GIANT harp, which may or may not ever get addressed. I wonder if this is the equivalent of all the giant swords and skulls we see laying around places like Wano and Elbaph? A remain of the First World, perhaps? And with it being a tiered island...something about it reminds me of Water 7, though I'm not sure that's intentional. A land of instrument makers!

And here he's LORD Brook, so he does have some sort of noble title. And he's part of the Guard Corps, which we kind of knew with him being "the captain of a battle convoy".

"You have to master the basics before you can dream" I'm not sure if that's foreshadowing something later or not?

Shuri's laugh is "Gehehe"! Which sounds pretty cute! Hopefully, we can see her laugh again in the present day.

Brook's got a crush on Queen Candel. And the King, Leuven, doesn't seem too pleased about that. And, according to this translation, King Leuven is Brook's BROTHER? Not sure if that's a "gang boss" kind of "Bro" like "Aniki" or a actual sibling kind of "Bro". So...Brook could actually a prince?! Go figure! Not sure if these two just have a sibling rivalry or if they actually hate each other. Given his comedic jealousy of how much Shuri loves Brook, I'm guessing Leuven is actually a pretty okay guy. Despite kind of looking like a greasy landlord. It's a little worrying that Shuri's got a crush on her "uncle"...but I'm sure she grew out of it.

"I don't really want a bride with a runny nose." Wait...is THAT what Gunko's hiding under her bandages?! Could that be subconsciously why she's hiding her face, even if she doesn't have her full memories, anymore? Now I kind of want to see that.

The Mouron Family (...I see what Oda probably did with that name) is trying to kidnap Queen Candel at the Operahouse! How dramatic! It'd make for a pretty memorable performance!

Everybody loves Candel! Shades of Shakky during the God Valley flashback. Romance is becoming a bigger and bigger theme in this manga. That's probably foreshadowing something.

And...Brook already cut those guys down a hour ago! Man...that's one delayed attack!

And Queen Candel...actually looks a LOT like Shamrocks' reveal design. Just flipped. She even has that same sword-guard. Hmm. I'm not sure if that's Oda hinting at something or if Oda just likes that design for his "knight" characters. And Brook has that same sword-design, too. Maybe Candel is a descendant of the Davy Clan on God Valley? That...could be a reason why this kingdom may have fallen, later. Hmm. Or maybe the God's Knights just ripped off the Esperia Kingdom's whole design philosophy?

So, how long do I think this flashback will be? Well, it's probably going to be more than a couple, given that we haven't even introduced a threat, yet. I'm going to say...5 or 6 more chapters of flashback? If Brook's flashback doesn't somehow dovetail into...I don't know...Doctor Kureha's flashback or something like we did with combining Loki and Harald's flashbacks.

I also like to look at color spreads and try to find things for fun.


The pink elephant in the color spread Usopp is interacting with has some interesting meanings.


In Feng Shui, an ancient chinese practice, and in Thai, they are treated as sacred symbols of good fortune, royalty, and hidden talents.





Then there is the umbrella Nico Robin is holding. We see daisy flowers depicted on it. Since flowers seem to hold a deeper meaning, I thought about this potentially being a hint that Urouge could be close by. On a second look, he's even represented by an Elephant, Lol. (From SBS 95).

(Of course, this could be unintentional)

 

[Fn Lucci]

It is SO weird to see eyes, a nose, and lips on a skeleton…this guy didn’t have a face for 20 years, but now that he does…

I'm tolerant of Brook but knowing what he was is going to ruin what he is

Brook doesn't even know Haki at 80 yet he was somehow one of the two stars of his kingdom

Do you not remember Alabasta in the great age of pirates?

 

[Peppercat]

Brook doesn't even know Haki at 80 yet he was somehow one of the two stars of his kingdom

Can he even learn Haki as a skellie?

 

[ZoroFan23]

Ruven has hairy balls as his chin, interesting choice from Oda.

 

[Aknolagon]

Its obvious that clown is saving that fb for later probably when Zoro in on the verge of forging his first kokuto

I hope but i don't think so. Oda seems to not care at all about Zoro's nowadays

 

[Aknolagon]

What are we going to say about Imu's power level if he fails to beat Loki?
Still the final villain material and #1?

He looks bad the more it goes ... Imagine the ultimate villain struggling to even break an ice lol.

 

[ArturCantSpeakJapanese]

This criticism doesn’t make sense. The whole every character looks like a Nami clone argument is lame. Look at Kubo, Toriyama, and every jojo character. The faces also look exactly the same. It’s a style of an artist.

Oda has more differences than pretty much any other big mangaka. it's a funny criticism.

 

[Welkin]

I feel like there’s in no point to this interaction if Sanji isn’t put in a bind. So I don’t really see why Oda would go out of his way to avoid this fight. Assuming Sanji is indeed able to utilize his speed to outmaneuver Zaza & somehow save those massive ass giant kids (which in hindsight could be interesting flex of his current strength) it’s not like that will get rid of Zaza so the problem still remains.

Already said this in Sanji FC but if Sanji is pit against Zaza I don’t think he just outright forgets his code & starts smacking her around, if that were the case Zaza shouldn’t really be presenting much of a challenge to Sanji. What makes this fight interesting is how Oda could potentially write Sanji to defeat Zaza without hurting her and there are several ways around this like intimidation kinda like Zoro did with Monet or maybe even via PoL as that ability seems to be able to allow Sanji to do ridiculous tings or maybe even conquer Zaza without domination like typical CoC but rather something more characteristic to PoL.

Sanji till now has been unable to deal with this problem. It is all well and good resolving yourself to not hurting women but if Sanji is put in a situation where those he loves could potentially die as a result of that decision without being able to rely on a nakama, what does he do?
Does he just die on that hill alongside his Nakama or does he break his code to save his Nakama or does he find some way to save his Nakama without breaking that code?

This is why this fight is appealing to me personally from the perspective of growth for Sanji and whilst I don’t really care that much about whether he gets CoC or not this potential challenge is the most sensible way for him to get it as opposed to him unlocking it from fighting a character he just swift diff’d a few chapters ago coz he got a buff.

My bad I saw your like but not your quote! I woke up, thought it was weird that you wouldn’t reply to my reply to a question you asked, (which you normally do) checked again, and realized I’m an idiot

Anyway, I guess there are alternative ways it could be handled because, as you said, a direct fight wouldn’t really make much sense here. The dilemma would be whether he’s able to really do anything to a woman even if the people he cares about are in danger right in front of him

That probably would be more interesting than awakening CoC or PoL against Killingham himself

The problem is like… on paper none of these abilities should assist him here. CoC is temporary as we all know, and what would PoL do to an MMA if Sanji doesn’t hit it

Let’s chalk Sanji breaking a laser in Egghead to PoL, fine I could see that. But he had to actually kick the laser, no?

And that’s where the leap is for me. PoL is “magical” but not that magical lol

Sanji isn’t a wizard. He couldn’t just make Zaza dissipate into thin air with the swipe of his hand. He’d have to hit her

 

[Franz]

Brook doesn't even know Haki at 80 yet he was somehow one of the two stars of his kingdom

Most of the kingdoms in One Piece don't have much military might. Alabasta's strongest warriors were Pell and Chaka, remember.