The One Piece Podcast – Episode 885: “Therapy Session” (SGS #26)

Release Date: September 22, 2025
Host: Maji Media
SGS Hosts: Steven & Greg (with Simba the cat)
Anime Recap Hosts: Sam, Steve, Simba, Steven, Greg

Episode Overview

Theme:
In this SGS (Steven & Greg Show) edition, the panel dives deep into the latest three One Piece manga chapters—1158, 1159, and 1160—dissecting the current God Valley flashback, recent reveals, and the implications for both lore and future storylines. The hosts explore Oda’s naming twists, the structure of the saga, their translation struggles, and fan questions—creating a genuine therapy session for long-time readers grappling with major plot developments.

Catching Up – Personal Updates & Gaming Tangents

[01:19-13:36]

• Bench Press Victories & One Piece Converts

  • Greg shares a personal victory: finally hitting a 270 lb bench press. His trainer, a former student, is now binging One Piece, currently at the precipice of the Whole Cake Island wedding.
  • Quote (Greg, 02:19): “I edged it up to 270. I am excited about that. A lot of work went into that and yeah, very happy with results.”
  • Discussion of how people discover (and sometimes bog down in) One Piece.

• Family Overload & Hollow Knight: Silksong

  • Steven recounts a hectic week with family, medical runs, and playing Silksong, sparking a deep-dive into game completion anxiety as adults.
  • Greg reflects on why dropping games mid-playthrough scares him now: “If I so much put it down for two fucking seconds, I'll come back to the controller and just be like, wait, what? Where? I can't. I have no idea.” [07:22]
  • Comparison between high-difficulty games (Elden Ring, Hollow Knight), how gaming habits and patience change with age.

Manga Recap: Chapters 1158, 1159, 1160

[17:08–79:24]

Key Points

• General Structure: The chapters cover the ongoing God Valley flashback, introducing new character connections, secrets about pirate ancestries, and government manipulations.
• Naming Trick Fatigue: Both Steven and Greg express weariness at Oda’s current run of “name gotchas,” where character identities or backgrounds are revealed via name reversals or sudden new information.
  • Greg, 22:20: “Once you start to pull that more and more frequently, it gets harder to do because you have lost a sense of… trust in the audience because you’ve deceived them.”
• Moria’s Heritage Reveal: The Kozuki Moria twist is dissected—questioning foreshadowing, character relevance, and potential Cross Guild implications.
  • Steven, 27:23: “Unless he has a plan to bring Moria back... at least at the moment it just kind of feels like, yeah, we sort of already had his story. I don't see where this is going…”
• Family, Bloodlines, and God Valley:
  • The flashback reveals Rocks had a secret wife and child, and Shanks and Shamrock’s buccaneer origins are hinted.
  • Strong focus on the twins’ mother’s wisdom (“wise like you”—an atypical Japanese compliment) and what this may mean for Shanks’s lineage.
  • Ongoing theme in One Piece of “men can’t keep it in their pants,” leading to increasingly convoluted family trees.
• Name Swap Cycling & Story Trust:
  • Comparing Davy, Joy Boy, Nika, and the handling of titles versus real names.
  • Greg: “You only get so many chances at playing with a character’s name before it starts to feel like an abuse of the... author pulling the rug out from underneath you.”
• Flashback Tone:
  • The “high school musical” vibe of legendary pirates in their youth; they are driven and dramatic, but the flashback injects lighter, youthful moments alongside the deeper world politics.
• Core Dramatic Thread:
  • At the center isn’t just Rocks, but the relationship between Rocks and Harold, and how this will intertwine with the fate of Elbaf and the Giants.
  • Greg, 59:39: “He’s really doing a good job of keeping the main pole. The main drama being between Xebec and Harald here. How these two come to where they are at the end of this is super exciting to me…”
• Analysis of the Motherlessness Motif:
  • The significance of Oda hiding mothers’ faces, especially in relation to Shanks. Steven praises how this could reflect a poetic loss of memory or identification from the child’s perspective.
  • Greg, 45:07: “I love it. That’s what we’re here—see, this is therapy. This is growth.”
• Knights of God/Holy Knights Naming Confusion:
  • Behind-the-scenes translation stories, adapting “Kami no Kishidan” between manga and anime, and changes in localization policy.
  • Steven, 71:42: “There are a number of different ways to parse Kami no Kishidan… and so it was kind of a compromise that I had to make… Holy Nights was kind of a compromise.”
• Speculation Corner:
  • What is the nature of Davy/Joy Boy/Nika? Are devils/demons in One Piece natural, supernatural, or man-made? Is Imu alien? Are the Knights of God vestiges of ancient races, or manipulated beings?
• God Valley Game & Story Structure:
  • The current arc is framed around a twisted “Hunger Games” between pirates, knights, and celestial dragons, setting up the historic trauma that shaped current events.
• Anime Recap (Summary Below):
  • Follows.

Anime Recap: Episodes 1142 & 1143

[96:04–127:30]

• Hosts: Sam, Steve, Simba, Steven, Greg
• Content:
  • Covers Vegapunk’s near-death broadcast, Kizaru’s assault, Saturn’s awakening, and islands around the world reacting to Vegapunk’s transmission.
  • Praise for moments where “animators get their shit in,” adding flair to side characters and random scenes (e.g., Vice Admiral designs).
  • Noting how the anime leans into Saturn’s monstrous transformation, Kizaru’s guilt, Luffy’s cartoonish creativity, and how the anime builds atmosphere with repeated use of the heart monitor sound effect.
  • Steve, 124:08: “These episodes are better than some of the previous ones where you can really, really feel that they're just kind of like, biting their time until the real showy stuff comes up.”
  • Anticipation for the next big action episode and further reveals.

Listener Questions (SGS Mailbag)

[129:41–191:42]

Selected Highlights

• Favorite Pokémon (Greg) & Kumamoto Statues:
  • Greg admits he doesn’t know Oda’s favorite Pokémon, but shares the Kumamoto One Piece statue pilgrimage isn’t on his bucket list.
• Shiki & Kyo's “Gokudo” Connection:
  • Deep dive into gangster/yakuza implications of the “Gokudo” title, and how it could indicate a deeper lore connection without being literal yakuza.
• Translators' War Stories:
  • Greg shares a translation horror story involving a hard-to-spot blood effect (“Enhance! Enhance!”), and Steven reminisces about editing Frederick Schott’s “impeccable” 1990s Ghost in the Shell translation.
• Weird Devil Fruits:
  • Suggestions include natto-natto (fermented beans), mania-mania fruit (eidetic memory), and the paradoxical “soup-soup” fruit.
  • Greg, 158:31: “Mania Mania fruit... once you hear information about a topic, you automatically sort it and can recall that information at any time without pause.”
• Retroactive Luffy/Nika Reveal Theory:
  • Discussion if Shanks “tipped off” the Elders to Luffy’s fruit. Panel is skeptical, with Greg asserting Who’s Who’s knowledge as a government agent contradicts this.
• Elbaf Arc & Endgame Structure:
  • Greg cites his detailed “End of One Piece” essay, estimating Elbaf at ~56–98 chapters (1.5–3 years total), possibly wrapping near summer next year.
  • Speculation on a “ten Marinefords” final war, global/fast-travel mechanics increasing, and who will be the ultimate Straw Hat match-ups.
• Who Could Join the Crew?:
  • Vivi, Loki, Yamato—all possible after the “main story” concludes.
• Hinokizu (Burn Scar Man) Identity:
  • Fan theories range from Rocks to Harold, but Greg warns there are not enough narrative crumbs for a definitive answer.
• Next Cover Story?:
  • Possibly Pudding’s perspective or aerial adventures of Egghead satellites—pure speculation.
• What Would Emu Look Like?:
  • Steven: “Either Emu has to look really, really bizarre or like unearthly beautiful… because anything less… what was this all for?”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Greg, 22:20: “Once you start to pull that more and more frequently, it gets harder to do because you have lost a sense of… trust in the audience because you’ve deceived them.”
• Steven, 45:00: “[Oda] can kind of get away with [hiding the mother's face]...Shanks was separated...so how much does he really remember? In a certain poetic sense, not being able to see her face...puts us in a similar space with Shanks.”
• Greg, 59:39: “He’s really doing a good job of keeping the main pole. The main drama being between Xebec and Harald here. How these two come to where they are at the end of this is super exciting to me…”
• Greg, 158:31: “Mania Mania fruit... once you hear information about a topic, you automatically sort it and can recall that information at any time without pause.”
• Greg, 177:05: “Whatever it is, there's going to be like, transportation is going to become simple by the end of this.”

Final Thoughts & Outro

• The episode is an insightful, sometimes cathartic blend of close reading, translation nerd-outs, and speculative therapy for veteran fans.
• The SGS format allows Steven and Greg to be frank about their frustrations and hopes for the narrative, to laugh about Oda’s quirks, and to field deep fan questions with honesty and humor.
• Teasers for new manga translation projects, anime events, and the ongoing “End of One Piece” timeline tracking.

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Bench Press & One Piece Trainer: 02:19
• Game Completion & Aging: 07:22
• Manga Recap Start: 17:08
• Naming Fatigue Rant: 22:20
• Kozuki Moria & Wano Foreshadowing: 27:23
• Shanks’ Mother Analysis: 41:04, 45:00
• “Therapy Session” Motif: 45:07
• God Valley Game Structure: 62:00+
• Anime Recap: 96:04
• Translator War Stories: 140:53
• Deviant Devil Fruits: 157:27
• Elbaf Arc Structure: 169:32
• End-of-Show Banter: 193:03

This episode is both a guide through the latest, lore-packed chapters and a therapy couch for fans and creators alike—honest, passionate, and very One Piece.