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- [00:01]
A
This episode is brought to you by F's the Beauty Official Podcast Join host Evan Ross Katz on the official podcast for FX's hottest new series, the Beauty, taking you behind the scenes with its amazing stars as they discuss the show's most jaw dropping moments. Featuring Evan Peters, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, Ashton Kutcher, Rebecca Hall, Bella Hadid, Meghan Trainor, Isabella Rossellini, Jessica Alexander and Ari Grayner. Search FX Is the Beauty Wherever you listen to podcasts, the world moves fast.
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- [00:55]
B
Learn more@Microsoft.com M365 copilot Sam the One.
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A
Piece podcast episode 903 for the week of Monday, January 26, 2026. It's SGS week. So my name is Stephen.
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B
And my name is Greg.
- [01:41]
A
And that final S. Simba is not in the room right now. He wanted to nap outside, but rest assured he is here in spirit. Yes.
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B
What Simba wants, Simba gets.
- [01:54]
A
Oh yeah, yeah, that is true. Whether we like it or not. SGS, which is modeled after ODA's SBS segments, is our special off week podcast where Greg, a columnist for V Jump1piece.com and series advisor for Netflix's One Piece series, and me, Steven, translator for One Piece, manga in Shonen Jump and manga plus break down the latest events and share our expertise. Well, here we are. It's 2026. Another year that's come and gone.
- [02:28]
B
A brand new year. Infinite Impossibilities. That's the episode title right there.
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A
That was one of the Yakuza games, right? Infinite Impossibilities.
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B
All right, perfect. Starting the year off with Malapropisms. How was your. This is our first. This is why it feels so weird for me. You know why this feels so strange for me?
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A
What's that?
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B
Because I was on the podcast.
- [03:07]
A
That's right. Yeah. We had everything lined up for a grand live stream spectacular and Zach got sick and that was about all it took for the whole thing to just completely fall, fall apart.
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B
He wasn't. He wasn't just sick, he was sick, sick.
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A
So. Oh yeah, yeah, it was. It was bad.
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B
Poor guy.
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A
Yeah, unfortunately. But yeah, you got to. So yeah, it's an interesting. I. I think we were, we were looking at it. We Were like, I think between you and me, we already did talk about all of the latest chapters, but, you know, not. Not with each other. So. Yeah, we'll still have some. Some stuff to discuss, I'm sure. But yeah, other than that, how's. How's your January been? How's. What's. What's new with Greg?
- [03:57]
B
Well, my malapropism just earlier was indicative of, I think, what's in store for me for 2026, because we have had some horrible weather here.
- [04:10]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [04:11]
B
Just day after day of wet, cold snow falling at. Inconvenient intervals. And, I don't know, just from north, you know, the Northeast, where I'm from in the States, it's pretty typical to just, you know, oh, we're getting snow. Okay. So it's either snowing at the day or it's snowing at the night, or it's snowstorm where it snows both times and then it does its thing and it's done. Not here. Coming off the Sea of Japan is this. Are these awful masses of something they call. I think it's like jc, jc JCPZ or something like that. And it's. It's a. It stands for basically big fucking Cold mask that accumulates and comes into Japan.
- [05:13]
A
Wow.
- [05:13]
B
From the Sea of Japan. And those tend to just kind of stay over where we live. And so you'll wake up in the morning and there'll be nothing. And then you'll start to go to work and it will snow, and it will snow, and it will snow, and then it will stop and you'll have a completely clear day. Not a clear day as in sunny, but it's just no more snow. And then all of a sudden, on your way home, it starts again. And then it just keeps going until morning, and then it'll stop. And then you see nothing even from the morning that day. But all of a sudden, from the afternoon, it'll start snowing, and then that goes until nighttime and then nighttime and stuff. It's just all over the place, all over the map. So I am the one person in the world. And I might have even mentioned this before in the podcast, but I love to snow shovel.
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A
Yeah. I think you are the one person.
- [06:09]
B
Yeah, there's zero hypocrisy. Not hypocrisy. There's zero sarcasm in my voice when I say this, but I love it. And part of the reason, I don't know, it's. It reminds me of being off from school because if I was snow shoveling, I was off from School. And that is the best thing ever. So it has nothing but happy memories for me. But also one of the reasons I do it so much is because I want people to be safe. That was just part of, I don't know, my mentality. I don't know if it came from the whole slip and fall kind of thing where if you have a store or if you have a front walk and people fall on that, then you're responsible. So I felt like a certain responsibility to that. And so I'm always very careful with it. I try to do as much as possible. And maybe I hold people to too high standards, but I expect it as well when you're in a community, especially from the schools that I work at because they need to protect the children and the adults who are going to and from. So yesterday got up at 4:30, much like today and started doing some snow shoveling in the, in our parking lot. Finally got the cars out and safely and made my way to school. Got there super early, arrived there at around 6:30 or so. Wow. And I park in a back lot behind the school. It's this vast lot that they use for adults. Vast. It's Japan, a pretty big lot. And the entire thing was covered in, well, not the entire half the thing was covered in snow. And I parked in the spot that had minimal snow. But leading up to where I had to walk, you have to basically walk half the perimeter of the school to get in. So I'm not in the front of the school or anywhere near it. And I'm the first person there. And that means that because their groundskeeper doesn't like to get up early, the back of the school is, is this vast lot is just covered, you know, the back half of it, so you can't tell where anything is. And I just see, I just see flat all the way to the edge of the gymnasium. And I say, okay, all right, this is good, I'll just make my way. As I'm making my way across the, the more snow covered part of the lot, I see these little divots in the snow and I go, ah, okay, somebody walked there. Okay, good, good, good. So I'll follow this and I start walking and I'm making my way, making my way. Finally I get to the very edge of what is the back of the school gymnasium and I put my left foot down and it continues down beyond the level of the ground and I fall forward. But don't worry, the story has a good ending because I broke the fall with my shin on the Edge of concrete. Oh, and I had stepped directly into an open gutter that is exactly the perfect width of my foot that somebody had walked, evidently, before all the snow came to, but they just barely avoided it. So it was just pure luck that I happened to place my foot right in the. It was literally, like, inches to the right instead of inches to the left. And, like, I unleashed a flurry of expletives but kind of brushed it off and made my way into the school while cursing the groundskeeper. And. No, basically, there was only two people at the school before me. And I walk in, and I'm in pain, and I get my boots off and get inside, and I start hanging out by the nurse's office, but the door is locked, obviously. So I start looking around for a teacher, and one of them, eventually, who has the keys, who goes around unlocking all the doors, comes down the hallway and says, hey, glad you got the keys. Could you please unlock the nurse's office? And they're like, what's up? And, like, I think I need some ice. And I look down, and there is a stain on the front of my pants going down the leg that is very dark and crimson in appearance.
- [11:11]
A
Man.
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B
And I go, okay, all right. Let's just see what we got here. And I pull up the pant leg, and it's just. It's just dandy.
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A
Just, like, from scraping the skin or from basically puncturing.
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B
I think I hit one really, like, sweet spot, and it just made a nice, large hole right through. And of course, it's bruising. I haven't looked at it yet today, actually, since I got up. I do not want to. But we cleaned it out and got it all patched up, and I dragged my foot through the rest of the day. But the best part of the story, the silver lining in all this, is when I was leaving the school and trying to get my boots on that my wife gave me, she got me these lovely new timberland boots. I did notice there that it scraped up all the front of those two boots, so that's great as well. Super happy to have that to do deal with now. Got to go to a cobbler, but that is the start of my 2026. It's story time once again with great.
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A
What. What would be what. What is worse, like, if you. You know, if you follow the. The path in the snow, you know, following someone else's footsteps, basically. And then, like, you, like, you had where, like, oh, you fall in the hole, but you realize that they didn't like that. This Other lucky SAP just, just happened to step over it. Or would it be worse to know that like they also fell in the hole and you were the one who was like, well this is clearly going somewhere good. Let me just follow dum dum dum and I'm just gonna, you know, and then you retrace their steps and just do the exact same thing like it's a, you know, Three Stooges routine or something.
- [13:02]
B
That's a really good point. It's, it's either they fucking suck or the entire thing is hilarious. Yeah, that's really good way of thinking about it. I looking at the snow because there was no impression in the snow and I did leave an impression in the snow. I do not believe that they met the same fate as myself. So they can fuck off. Yeah, they, they trapped me. I, I, I was a too while cursing. I did stamp the snow around the spot so nobody follows the same fate. Like that didn't bother. Anyway, not that they fell in but yeah, but yeah, because that's not cool. I do not want that to happen to anybody else. So I did make sure to kind of flatten things out around there with my feet. Of course I'm sure it got covered up like by evening, but well, that's that.
- [14:00]
A
Yeah, that sounds real. That sounds real rough. I hope it, I hope, I hope it heals up without any.
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B
Thank you. Thank you.
- [14:06]
A
Without any incident. And yeah, speaking of, of poor weather. Not, not that I'm like we have a little bit of rain right now, but as I am understanding there's a, there's a colossal, you know, once in a century type storm kind of hitting the, the, the middle and the northeast of the, of the country. So hope every in, in America. Of course. So I hope everybody who is listening is able to stay warm, stay dry and it's, they don't lose power or anything like that because it, it sounded like it was a pretty nasty.
- [14:42]
B
So I heard that gas even prices are, they're spiking because of it. That's awful. Yeah.
- [14:52]
A
Yeah. I don't know. And of course, yeah they all the pictures of like people that bought out the entire grocery store because they're going to be snowed in for two days and they need two weeks worth of food for that and whatnot.
- [15:08]
B
But we have that over here in the form of bread. I don't know if that's the same in the States. I never really had a deal with it because when I was an adult in the States we didn't have terrible, terrible Snowstorms. But you just go into any, like, convenience store over here, and it's funny, like, there will be milk, there will be juice, There'll be everything. I mean, it'll be business as usual, but the bread is all the bread. And then you're like, okay, all right, so I guess I'll go to a. Like one of those larger pharmacies. You know the pharmacies that have, like, many, many groceries in them now. They've got these little things and. Okay, you go in. The bread section wiped out, but they have everything else. Yeah. What. What is it? I. I don't know. Do you know what it's like over there or do you not have to deal with that really, where you are? You're in San Diego, right?
- [16:08]
A
Yeah. Yeah. It's. So we don't. We don't. Yeah, we tend not to have, like, those kind of disasters, obviously. Yeah, I think the only times I've seen that or like, when there's, you know, what. Logistical disruptions and things, like, you know, when everybody was like, oh, my God, you know, Covid, like, stuff is not coming through the ports and all the things like that, then sometimes you get the empty shelf.
- [16:33]
B
Yeah. Toilet paper for that. Right?
- [16:35]
A
Yeah, that was a big one that people just bought tons and tons of toilet paper for whatever reason. Don't. Don't know why. It was very strange. But. Yeah, no, nothing. Nothing bad right now, at least here. But yeah, that's about. That's about all. My tale of woe is simply that I ran a 5k last weekend, and because I am north of 40, that means my foot still hurts today a week later. So. Yeah. Boohoo. Boohoo.
- [17:13]
B
Getting old. Did it feel good?
- [17:16]
A
Yeah, it was fun. It was fun. It was a good. It was a good time. It was an MLK5K.
- [17:22]
B
Oh, okay.
- [17:23]
A
Thing which we did for. It was. It was kind of like a. A bit of a favor for one of my wife's co workers who was, like, part of the organizing committee for the event. And he had been asking her for a few years, but she. There was always another running thing that she did, but she didn't do that one this year. So we went and did that and. And it was. It was cool. We saw the parade and had a good time.
- [17:46]
B
That's excellent.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Did you. Did you do any practice leading up to that, or was it just like, go for it, like, hit the ground running, like.
- [17:56]
A
Yeah, not. Not too much. My. I did. To be fair, I did have. Already have a bit of a Pain in the foot. So I was kind laying off of it just so because I was like, all right, well I'm going to run this thing. And you know, it's only three miles, so it's not, you know, I, I can tough it out if, if my foot starts hurting and, and it was fine doing the running but then you know, as I, as I knew it would, you know, the, the soreness afterward just kind of sticks around for, for a long time.
- [18:26]
B
I must ask, obviously Martin Luther King, but was this, are you just being humble here by saying it was a 5k because ML in Roman numerals would be 1050, so a 1050k. Did you actually run 1050k marathon?
- [18:47]
A
Yeah. The standards of distance measurements have changed quite a bit since the Roman era. Didn't know. Yeah, no, it was, yeah, it was fun though.
- [19:01]
B
Well done, sir.
- [19:02]
A
Yes, thank you.
- [19:03]
B
I'm sorry for your foot, but rest in peace.
- [19:06]
A
Right? Yeah. Not a lot of news at least one piece wise. At least this past week. I know we had some recent trailers and such for the Netflix show, but not much going on this week. Unless you count what is it? The. The latest DLC pack for a 6 year old pirate warriors 4.
- [19:31]
B
Jesus Christ.
- [19:33]
A
They continue to put out more for that, which is very baffling.
- [19:39]
B
I'm sure all five streamers are very excited about that.
- [19:42]
A
Yeah, they got all their streams lined up, but yeah, not much else to talk about. Obviously we'll have a chapter again next week, but for now I guess we'll just round off with a quick plug for the Patreon for the. For the podcast. As usual, patreon.com One Piece podcast. You can get, you know, special ad free versions of the episodes with our in between discussions, usually talking about what we want to do for the image which is always interesting and you can see all of the options and the alternate titles and things like that. And if you are on the $12 tier, you also have the chance to join the sticker club where every month you will get a new sticker from one of Steve's awesome illustrations and as well as the chance to vote between two options of which one you want. So yes, that can be you if for you for the $12 tier Patreon members. So you have that to look forward to. But for now I think we will go through the latest three chapters which I, I noticed even though it's been what, six weeks because of all the. The breaks for jump and whatnot. It just so happens that the last time we did one of these SGs episodes, it was just before the latest three chapters. So I think we will cover those and we'll see if we have anything new to say about them. What do you say? Get into it.
- [21:24]
B
I say yay.
- [21:26]
A
All right. New year, same extra value meals at McDonald's.
- [21:31]
B
So now get two snack wraps plus fries and a medium soft drink for.
- [21:36]
A
Just $8 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery. This is the manga recap. Four chapters. 1169, 1170 and 1171. I got them all loaded up here.
- [22:11]
B
Me too.
- [22:12]
A
To look at. All right, in that case, I'll give my little spiel. We'll start with 1169. Harald realizes the futility of his decision to join the Knights of God and begs to be killed. Shanks and Gabon discuss the Covenant and Emu's powers and what that means for Harald. When Loki arrives, Harald tells him to eat the legendary fruit before being taken over by the Covenant. And Loki enters the treasure chamber only to be attacked by the hammer there. So yeah, we start off with hammer time.
- [22:54]
B
I think we did that joke last time.
- [22:58]
A
Yeah, that's good. That's good. 35 year old references.
- [23:03]
B
Yes. I did like that Saturday morning TV show though. Cartoon. Nice color spread, cool to see the rocks. But I think there was something in the community. They're like why didn't he do this earlier? Because it would have been in the volume that blah blah, blah. Yeah, no, that's a shame. It won't be in the actual God Valley volume or something like that. But oh well.
- [23:36]
A
Oh is it? Because this would be in what is it not the next volume. It'd be the one after that.
- [23:44]
B
I believe so.
- [23:45]
A
I see.
- [23:46]
B
At the time there was something about. I don't know, but I just saw some kerfuffle. People were bemoaning that fact. I said, yeah, well you know, he just. He does a lot of things on whim so you never know.
- [23:57]
A
Right.
- [24:00]
B
I was like this totally reminds me of the Strong world.
- [24:03]
A
Yeah, I was literally just going to say the same. I was like, oh, this is like the rocks pirates version of the strong World. You know, put everybody in a suit and give them weapons and stuff to look cool.
- [24:14]
B
What's funny is, you know, speaking of looking cool, is that like sure there is for them there are little humorous little in joke things going on but there's nothing to the extent of where it's like where they look silly. Do you remember the 10th anniversary spread where they Were all in suits. That was the first time they were all in suits. In fact, I don't know. We're at the point where I don't know if people know this or not. But before Strong World, there was another movie that was planned called the Crystal Ship's Log and it actually had a teaser that ran after the Chopper movie in theaters. And it was a big deal at the time. I was all over Arlong park with it. Somebody brought a camera into the movie theater and recorded it for people online. No idea who that was. But over in Arland Park, I drew some attention to that because it was. It was. There's no other way to get that information out.
- [25:29]
A
Like.
- [25:29]
B
Like you either were in Japan and you saw. And it was before a lot of like major sns, social media and. Yeah, like movie, like movie recordings were like a big thing. Like obviously they've always been going on in certain countries, whatever, but like, it. It was a lot of what movies that played overseas. This did not play overseas. So, like, you were in Japan, you saw it or you didn't. Because film recording over here is not a real big thing because the law is not very kind to lawbreakers. But in this, in the end of the, the. The teaser, the straw hats walk out, much like they do in Strong World. And the suits that they're wearing are actually the suits from the 10th anniversary spread. The biggest difference was that Brook was there too, and Brook was not in the original 10th anniversary spread. Anyway, that's something that occurred. That's a piece of One Piece history. But in that 10th anniversary spreads where they originally appeared in the Strong World, the proto Strong World teaser, in that spread, Robin is pulling. She's breaking the fourth wall and she's pulling back the page of the manga, ripping it. And you get to see the legs of the straw hats. And some of them are in their boxers. Some of them have super hairy legs.
- [26:51]
A
Yes, that one. That one. Yeah.
- [26:53]
B
And my point of all of it is there is a very humorous, silly and even fourth Wall bending and breaking aspect to it here. There's none of that, which is just kind of cool because you get in Oda's head to think, wow, he really wants this group to look cool. And again, there are playful things going on. But even some of the more like, like quote unquote playful things are pretty nasty. Like you've got, you know, dude over there giving the middle finger.
- [27:22]
A
Right? Yeah.
- [27:25]
B
Who's that? That's probably what, the caribou's dad or whatever.
- [27:28]
A
Yeah, yeah, the ugly guy.
- [27:32]
B
So. But yeah, just interesting. His intent behind it is quite different. Portraying the kind of villainous. I don't know, you know, if you want to call all of them villains, but villainous characters. Obviously Whitebeard, very, very cool dude appearing more like this. And we've got what Miss Buckingham over there probably grabbing some of his DNA to. Whitebeard's DNA to clone, I'm sure.
- [27:59]
A
Is that. Is that the. The. The going theory on what the hell.
- [28:06]
B
Is like, she was. She was with Mads. Right, Right. Yeah, that's true. It's. She. She totally stole their. Their technique for cloning, but she just does a shitty job of it and she ends up with. With Weevil.
- [28:23]
A
Yeah.
- [28:24]
B
Yeah. How big are those fucking grapes? Are those like from elbow? Yeah, those grapes have got to be enormous. And he's always eating them. This isn't the first time. This is the first time we see him in color, but like, he's always got those big ass grapes.
- [28:37]
A
That's right. Gonzu. Yeah. Yeah, those. Those. Each one of those grapes is like 30,000 yen. Japan. Yeah.
- [28:57]
B
Chapter. Chapter is chapter.
- [29:00]
A
Yeah.
- [29:02]
B
Shanks. Being here with Gavin and just kind of hanging out like that was. That was a surprise. That was nice to see. Everything else to me though, was pretty straightforward.
- [29:18]
A
Yeah. Not a lot of surprises.
- [29:22]
B
And I say that like there's plenty to go over if you're looking for little details about the Shanks Pirates. It's not like nothing happened. And we even get what, some information on the. Oh, this is. This is the. I remember. This is the one where we found out that they tried to get Shanks back.
- [29:44]
A
Or am I. Oh, the. The knights.
- [29:49]
B
Yeah. Like. Yeah, I know who they are. We. We faced them in the. Back in the past. They tried to get you back a bunch. Or is this not that chapter that might have been a. It looks like it is. And I am wrong.
- [30:00]
A
Yeah.
- [30:01]
B
Congratulations, Greg. I think the last thing, because I would like to get along here.
- [30:08]
A
Sure.
- [30:09]
B
Somewhat speedily for our listeners. So I'm not dilly dallying, but one thing I am happy about is when we didn't know exactly what. Or we didn't have a confirmation for what Ragnar was yet. I was like, you know, to me that sounds like the chittering of a. Of an animal. And I wasn't sure if it was a. This was supposed to be interpreted as more of a Grr. Gargar. Garg. But it turns out it was indeed an actual chittering. And I'm happy I found that. I'm happy I could do that. I've come to that point in my Japanese interpretation of things.
- [30:49]
A
Nice.
- [30:51]
B
What was your take on that?
- [30:53]
A
Yeah, I don't think I clocked it as, like, necessarily a rodent, specifically because I could have also seen it being like, you know, like the. The equivalent of. Of like one of what, Perona's Hollow ghosts or something like it also because, you know, there's a. Maybe it's just. I'm thinking of like, Gege no Kitaro or something where it's. It's just kind of like a spooky sound, like a, you know, ghosty goblin sort of sound. So I was sort of thinking along those lines of, you know, like a. Like a poltergeist or something, since we didn't, you know, we didn't see it. And obviously we, you know, we will find out. There's a reason why we didn't see anyone swinging the hammer because it's, you know, the hammer itself is moving. But I definitely was on that, like, oh, this reminds me of. This reminds me of when Absalom was first. You know, we didn't know he was. You know, we didn't know there was a person, but we knew there was something invisible. And then there was the tantatas as well, where, you know, Oda has, like, a certain way of depicting, like, something is happening, something is moving, something, but we can't see it. And he has certain details that he will use to kind of convey that and, and hear the. The. The sound that it's making. You know, like, he doesn't. It wouldn't be a person because I don't think he ever, like, hand draws the text for, like, people's utterances. So it's a. It's a sound effect of some kind, but because it's in a bubble, it's also. It's a vocalization, so, you know, that kind of leaves like. Yeah, it's some. It's some kind of creature that's making the noise. And yeah, it turns out it is a. It is an animal.
- [32:45]
B
What was the sound for Absalom? I do want to say it was Guru.
- [32:53]
A
Yeah, he was. He was growling. And so we, we were like. We didn't. And of course he wasn't. He didn't say anything. Right. So, like, it's just. You hear the growling and you. And there's like the sound effects on the ship deck, and then they're like, something's here. And he didn't know what it was, but it seemed like it was like a monster or something.
- [33:10]
B
And Then.
- [33:11]
A
And then when we finally saw Absalom, it was like, oh, he's. It's just his snout that is like a lion, you know, lion mouth. So weird.
- [33:23]
B
All right, so, yeah, I. I did spend a lot of time going on putting forth different ideas about what the hammer could be or be controlled by. Um, but yes, I guess we will eventually find out in the next chapter. Did you have anything in this chapter that particularly stood out to you?
- [33:46]
A
Not that I recall. I think, you know, I found these. These chapters that go over all of the throne room stuff to be. To be very satisfying in the way that they were told in terms of, like, you know, just kind of giving everyone their say and. And feeling like it was all kind of left on the. The table. Because sometimes with the manga especially, you know, in more recent years, it does feel like the pacing is. Is such that, like, Oda needs to get through, you know, however many. You know, I only have so much time to do this or that, and. And sometimes it feels like that comes at the cost of. Of making sure that, like, the characters are fully expressing everything that's important to them. And I do feel like this was a very satisfying sequence overall. But that covers more than just this chapter.
- [34:45]
B
I will say the elbow in quotes comes up a lot here, and that is something I think we'll get to in a latter chapter more. But. Okay, that is super interesting to watch that. I don't think he has a solid rule for it, but when he's pointing it out like he does, he does try to point it out using those quotes or avoiding using those quotes. Foreshadowing.
- [35:13]
A
Well, let's move on to 1170. This was the one that you were. You were on the recording for, right?
- [35:20]
B
Yeah. Yes.
- [35:22]
A
Okay.
- [35:23]
B
I got to cleverly point out that the 10 on this eel is for Una Ju.
- [35:31]
A
Oh, yes, that's right. Yeah. Una Ju. That's right. That's good. I did not pick that one up, so that's good work there.
- [35:40]
B
I'm patting my own back, but I'm just teasing. You know what? I am surprised in this, and there's no point in us really discussing this little cover here, but I am surprised that he just simply, literally drew from behind Usopp, Sanji and Nami. This is really fucking weird. And Un. Oda like to do that because he just doesn't like, unless it's one character and he's trying to do a little like. Like gag or make a point or try to tell a little story. He usually avoids that. But, like, isn't this weird? Like, when you think about it, just drawing not only one, but, like, multiple characters from the back without showing their faces.
- [36:19]
A
Yeah.
- [36:20]
B
I'm not trying to say he's doing something like sneaky or anything like that, but it's just, it's. It's very odd to see that.
- [36:26]
A
Right? Yeah.
- [36:29]
B
Chopper two. Chopper's covered up pretty much, right?
- [36:33]
A
Yeah. I wonder if you could, like, argue that it's. It's kind of like it's bringing out the sort of childlike nature that he's depicting here, where, like, a lot of times kids, it's like they, like, they. They're not looking at the camera. Right. Like, they're just sort of off in their own world and not necessarily following quote, unquote, the rules, which in this case would be the rule of, like, you know, you have to. You have to make sure they're visible and clearly identifiable as the characters that they are. Yeah. And, yeah, they're kind of all. All running off. Interesting. As for the chapter itself, we'll go through here. The hammer Ragnar is revealed to be a transforming squirrel Shanks. And Gabon use supreme king or ie conqueror's haki to momentarily subdue Harald, revealing a weakness that can be exploited. Loki uses his newfound power to transform into some kind of beast and has a tearful, angry reunion with Harald, who asks him to carry on his legacy in Elbaf. And then Loki uses Ragnar to deliver a final blow on his father.
- [37:52]
B
How did you handle the cry of the beast? What we. What we assume to be a beast. It's probably right.
- [38:02]
A
Which. Oh, that's right. Okay, so Loki's. Yeah, Loki's transformation. Because I remember that Ragnar makes some weird sounds too, but. Right. Bo. And then, like, the. The sort of, like, trail eyes, glowing eyes. That's cool effect. Yeah. Yeah. I think. Yeah. I think I just did bow or maybe I did ba wu, like, with a. With it added a little W in there or something. But yeah, it's. It's hard to say. If he had done pow, then that would be immediately identifiable to. To any Japanese person that this is a. This would be an elephant, because that's. That's the elephant sound. But I don't think I, I. As far as I'm aware, there's no, like, obvious connection of bao to any specific animal. So it's just kind of a bestial roar of sorts.
- [39:01]
B
I was just curious to see what was out there, and I came up with an owl.
- [39:08]
A
An owl?
- [39:09]
B
Yes. An owl has been described in Japan as Not all the time. I mean, there's the obvious ones, but it's one of those like a screech owl howl. Not like a. But like a, like kind of thing. And so I was like, oh. So I was like, this is kind of like a kind of otherworldly, spooky kind of howl. And I was like, okay, that's clever. And the fact that it's not attached to, like. I mean, this is not. There's no Japanese agreement to this that an owl must howl like this, but I just found that several people have described it in that way. So I thought, okay, that's probably close to kind of ethereal, kind of spooky howl.
- [39:58]
A
And it is interesting since. And I assume you, you know, that was like, after this chapter came out, that was when you were looking at it. Because we do get that little kind of throwaway line in the most recent chapter in the present day, when he's like, oh, yeah, I'll fly up. Like, don't. Like you guys go ahead. I'll. I'll catch up to you. And it's like, wait, what are you. What is that supposed to mean? Yeah, so if it is some kind of flying animal, then certainly an owl would.
- [40:30]
B
In the podcast, we basically came to the conclusion, like, instantly that, like, I mean, everyone was in agreement that, like, yeah, he's. He's Nidhog. He's absolutely.
- [40:39]
A
Sure. Sure. That's. I mean, it's. It's already been established as a thing in this arc, so.
- [40:45]
B
Yeah, yeah, but because I like to do these things. I like to devil's advocate myself and of course, others, but. Because that's fun. But I tried to make an argument that he could be like a Fenrir type as well, because, you know, he. Oda specifically covers the snout in, I guess, what is it?
- [41:08]
A
Page 11, page 13, that big montage scene of action where. Yeah, you see the shadow.
- [41:15]
B
Yeah. But everything, I mean, with the. With the. Let's call it the rat. No, with the squirrel being obviously ratatasker, or at least an allusion to it. And how it reacts to it. The hearts showing that it's happy shows very much. There's a connection to it. I mean, without question. So to me, it seems very much like it is Nidhogg. You've even got that. I don't know if they're one to one, but Oda recently did a purple dragon, western dragon on a color spread. So, I mean, it's just one of those things where it's like, oh, he might have Drawn how he looks already in the public eye in front of everybody. So that's all there. But I'm going to basically shut up about the rest of the chapter because I already talked to it at great length with Steven dude and our guests. So if you have anything to add, by all means, this is your chance.
- [42:21]
A
I so my sort of thing and I, I honestly I don't, I don't really have a, a strong opinion on, on what the silhouette is supposed to, to be like. I, and I know that, that you know he has the little kids drawing version of, of Nidhogg that is, I don't know if that really resembles this particular silhouette. But like the, the thing that I just could not unsee from it is and I, I, I think I posted this on, on our discord is it reminded me of like there, there's like a photoshopped image where it's like a super buff, you know, because you can kind of see there's like a barrel chest sort of thing. You know, whereas he's holding Harold's head here, it's kind of barrel chested. And so it's like, I want to say it's like a bodybuilders like body. And then photoshopped on the head is just Jar Jar Binks. And I just can't unsee it just because of like the length of the neck and the, the we, the weird like sort of snout thing that, that is going on here. So I really don't know that that just completely messes with my, with my head and I can't, I can't envision anything else unfortunately. So.
- [43:40]
B
Steven, I have the exact same problem and oh my God, this is, this might, this might kill you. And you might be like, I don't know, I don't know your sense of humor and I don't know if you're going to get this reference or not, but the moment I saw it, there is a. In the early 90s, you weren't anybody if you didn't watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- [44:07]
A
Right.
- [44:08]
B
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was so big at the time that it produced not one, but multiple ripoff series.
- [44:20]
A
Right? Right.
- [44:21]
B
Almost none of them did well. And what I'm about to mention is not particularly special because it also failed very quickly. But it was called the Cowboys of Mu Mesa. And this motherfucking silhouette looks exactly like one of the cowboys of Moo Mesa.
- [44:47]
A
Oh, geez.
- [44:49]
B
He's the Loki of Mesa.
- [44:51]
A
Yeah, the Cowboys of Emu Mesa or something.
- [44:53]
B
The Cowboys of Elbow. The Moo Boys. Of Elba. I don't know, I'm just pulling strings. I still like, I still like our early one there.
- [45:03]
A
Yeah.
- [45:04]
B
Countless impossibilities. I don't know. I'm still going with that.
- [45:07]
A
Oh yeah, yeah, that's in the, in the driver's seat. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I think it's a, other than that, I think it's a, it's a neat, neat chapter. You know, I think of course the sort of obligatory like, oh gee, what could the power, you know, what could the, the key to stopping the evil power be? Well, just a little bit of how Shoku.
- [45:37]
B
Wow. His surprise.
- [45:40]
A
Yeah. Not have possibly seen that coming, but you know, not that I necessarily expected anything else. And yeah, just a real, real. Not shocking, but just kind of stunning ending. The, just the way that he draws it and very, very cool impact frame.
- [46:04]
B
Yeah, Steve was good, was very happy with that.
- [46:08]
A
Mm. Good stuff. So in that case, let's go to 1171. Most recent chapter. Gabon scolds Shanks for going on a self loathing streak about his birth and the power in his arm, while Loki laments the end of Harold Emu, reveals the cost of abusing the Covenant system and declares the end of the Elbaf experiment, saying that Elbaf is d. Loki chooses not to reveal what happened to the public and decides to fight the world government instead. And in the present, at last, Loki and Hain see eye to eye about their father and Loki is freed where his first act is to unleash Ragnir on the nightmare Draugr, encasing it in ice.
- [47:03]
B
I, I guess this is the first one we can really get into.
- [47:06]
A
Yeah, go ahead. I, I was going to admit that when I saw the title being Ragir, I was like, okay, all right, let's get into that. Like, let's, let's, let's learn same thing about Rag. I know, I know and I know we are not alone on that one. And then yeah, you, you basically get, you get, you get the attack at the very end and with. With as many questions as answers. And yeah, I was just like, are you kidding me?
- [47:38]
B
But here, here's what's kind of cool about it. Okay, cool. It's what the chapter does is because nothing else focuses on, on Ragnarok, you know, that it is directly talking about the end of the chapter and it's putting the focus on it. So to me, at this particular point in the chapter, it shows me that Oda is attempting to tell us that what is occurring here. This attack is coming it is related to Ragnar because a lot of people out there who are like, I think it's. It's probably Loki. He's probably using Nidhogg powers and he can absorb the powers of the realms and et cetera, et cetera. You could be totally right. I don't disagree with that in particular, but my interpretation from this is because the chapter title is such. It's telling us that this is part of what Ragnir can do. And it was a real shocker. This was my favorite part of the chapter because I thought I had Ragnar all figured out and that it was its fluffiness as a squirrel was able to conduct electricity. Not unlike a minx. Yeah, yeah. And the fact that it's just. Fuck off huge. Look at the size of it compared to the mountaintops in the final spread there.
- [49:08]
A
Right?
- [49:09]
B
So, yeah, like static electricity on that level can, you know, pull. Pull lightning, basically. If Oda wants to go that route, he totally still can. No question. But what this did was force me to think about different ways of how this is possible, but with all of it. With all of it. But related to the quote unquote abilities of Ragnar as a. As a fruit user. Did you come up with anything yourself or was. Are you still in the realm of, like, the fuck?
- [49:47]
A
Yeah. I didn't do a whole lot of, let's say, theory crafting on this one. Yeah.
- [49:56]
B
My belief is that there could be a couple origins somebody mentioned online. Actually. I don't know if they're a listener or not, but somebody was like, um, what if. What if Ragnar is past tech as opposed to future tech? What if it's past tech and it's like. It's this giant device that's on a stick and it can like, do this kind of stuff. And I was like, oh, that's. That's. That's interesting. That actually is similar to when somebody brought up Sukiyaki to me being Hitetsu. And I was just like, you know, I really don't like that idea. And I still don't, but I really don't like that idea. I don't think that's what's going to happen. And it's exactly. Is exactly what happened. That could be the same case here. Because what was curious, how did that panel right before the hit land with you? Yes, exactly.
- [50:48]
A
Yeah, it's hard to say because he. He.
- [50:52]
B
It's not Kyocho. It's. He's not like, look at this thing. It's not like you. Your attention should Be drawn here. It's a sound effect.
- [51:00]
A
Yeah. And. And also. And I do remember this. That was in the previous chapter. Maybe it's the she. Yeah, okay. No, it was a different one. I. I remembered Ragnar as a squirrel doing the sh. Like. Like. Like a hissing sound.
- [51:20]
B
Ah.
- [51:21]
A
Where he's trying to. But this is shoe, which. Which would be distinct in. In Japanese. So I don't know. I think I just kind of like. I think because it is an ice thing, I just sort of saw that as, like. It's sort of like the sound of, like, I don't know, the cold, like, coalescing around the hammer because, you know, you see the little clouds and such. But that. That was about. Yeah, what. What I thought about it.
- [51:49]
B
Okay. And you also see on the left hand, left middle, you see those. I don't know if they're supposed to be clouds or if they're supposed to be flakes of snow or something, but they're being. It looks as if they're being drawn.
- [51:59]
A
It's like a trail.
- [52:00]
B
Yeah, there is a trail. So my thought is, if this is not past tech and it is somehow fruit related, then is the squirrel a. Because I don't think it's the Ratataskr fruit. Do you know what I mean? I don't think it's a mythical fruit. I would like to think that it's just a squirrel. That would be fun to me. The ratatasker seems a little bit overboard if it is. And Oda's really going that route. Okay. But it's a little bit too much on point and pulling from. Directly from mythology, then he usually infuses the DNA anyway. Is it related to the squirrel? Is it related? Is it something that Loki is doing, or is it something that both of them are doing? I would like to think that it's something that both of them are doing and. Because that's why they're so. That's why the squirrel is so happy to be reunited with its old buddy.
- [53:05]
A
The Nidhog or whatever.
- [53:07]
B
Yeah. I think they're fruits may complement each other, because if he is Nidhogg and it's not just Dragon X, then it's okay for him to have mythical powers. And you could say that one of his powers is the ability to draw in the atmosphere whatever is around him in some capacity. The squirrel, being the squirrel, is able to gather and store, as, you know, squirrels do in their cheeks. Right. So you could say that it stores this so Loki could gather the atmosphere and it can be stored in the squirrel slash hammer and then poof or paki, I guess, it can release whatever it is. You could also say this for the lightning. It draws in dryness in the air that culminates in the squirrel's poofiness and creates massive static. So that idea still does work. You could make the Oda argument for it, but I'm not sure how much of it comes from one or both of them. It would be kind of cool if it's both, because that means that they're using their powers in sync. Like, that is super cool. That creates for all sorts of interesting dynamics for battles. But you could also make the argument that it is. If the squirrel is similar to a katakuri, which basically means it is a bullshit fruit that Oda could do whatever he wants, because fuck you and your attention to rules for 20 years. If he is a special squirrel, if he's a special zone, then yeah. You could also make the argument that because it is a squirrel that gathers and squirrels do gather and store, it is the squirrel gathering the atmosphere, storing the atmosphere, and then unleashing it. Done. Basically syncing up with Loki. And it knows what. It knows the heart of Loki and what Loki wants to do. So that has been my. My week thinking about that.
- [55:26]
A
Cool. Interesting. I do. I do like the. The idea that, like, that he's not. That he's not literally the. The, you know, squirrel, squirrel, fruit model, ratatasker.
- [55:40]
B
Yeah.
- [55:41]
A
Because I do agree, like, I. I think that's. That's a good. Like, you can make that reference by just having it be a squirrel. And then you look at it, you're like, oh, that's the thing from Norse mythology. But it's just. It's a. It's a cutesy or a cheeky, you know, reference because of the. The animal that he chose, rather than being like, here's the actual thing from Norse myth that you all know and love sort of thing.
- [56:07]
B
Yeah. I would like that personally.
- [56:12]
A
So the people that were talking about, like, past tech, is that just because of the kanji here, the sort of the primordial or the original world or the primordial world that. That they got that idea from, you think, oh, that's.
- [56:30]
B
Yeah, that's possible. Sure. I just think it's. I think it's a clever idea. And there's a lot of these that I read, and I go, no, no, no, no. But that is. I tried to disprove it in my mind. I tried to think about how it can't be possible. And I thought no, this is actually like in. In that quote, unquote, second world. Like, this is a device that they could have found and they were like, bloop. And they put it on a stick. That would also partially explain why it's just like, so blocky. Here's something I came up with. And I don't know if I'm the first whatever, blah, but what if the. What if the fucking last pony glyph is in there?
- [57:10]
A
Who. Wow.
- [57:12]
B
That's. Because that'd be a pretty safe spot. A pretty safe spot to put it.
- [57:17]
A
Yeah.
- [57:18]
B
Because it hasn't been disturbed. Right. B. It's also possibly something that Gavin could have known about. Now, the only part of this is it can't be the Hammer proper. It would have to be inside the Hammer, because I think we learned that it was in Fishman island, but it was removed X years ago. Right. So it would have had to be kind of a pet project by Gavin and Shanks to get it out of there and to move it here. And because we don't know everything about Loki's past yet, including his deals with mom. Yes.
- [57:58]
A
We did not see that.
- [58:00]
B
That all of that movement that occurred during that time frame was. Was during that. And. And so the squirrel actually is holding this within its body. That is one explanation. I kind of think that's kind of cool because it's. It would be the. It. The answer's been in front of your face the whole time, kind of. Oda.
- [58:21]
A
Yeah, Yeah. I don't know if that. I don't know if that. If I could square that up with the. But it was also, you know, ancient tech.
- [58:32]
B
Well, ah, but, but that is. But that's why it's inside. So it's ancient tech. Right. So what if this thing can open up? What if you, boop, push a button and.
- [58:40]
A
Okay, I see, I see, I see.
- [58:41]
B
Yeah.
- [58:45]
A
Interesting.
- [58:48]
B
Also, I love that this squirrel is like, bigger than most towns.
- [58:52]
A
Yes. Yeah, I do like that. You have to consider that it is truly monstrous, also immortal.
- [59:04]
B
I think I wrote about this for a V jump for my last V Jump article. Was like, if an item, like the people were like, I think it's an actual. What if it's a squirrel that ate a hammer fruit? And I was like, no, because it's still alive. This is an ancient being. So if an item eats a devil fruit, does it basically have immortality? And is that linked to the. The life of the. Of the device, be it a weapon or an item? Because it seems to be. Because this thing has been around for hundreds of years, right? And it knows the last fruit user, which is why it reacts with such a. With such a, you know, loving reaction. So it sees Loki. It's reminded of its former owner, the one that we saw in the inscription on the tree, even though he's wielding a spear there. But still, it's gotta be. But that. Unless. Holy shit. It's the Lance of Longinus, right? What if.
- [60:17]
A
Like, getting Eva in here.
- [60:20]
B
Yeah. What if the stick is the remnants of the spear and at the end of everything, they bloop. Plopped it on the. Left it on the. No, no, no, no, no. Because it would have had to travel with him as well. Yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Sorry. This is. What's. This is what it's like to be inside my head. Sorry, folks, But what else? I want to talk about. If you have anything to say about Ragnar, by all means, But I also do want to talk with you. I know we have precious time here, but about D. Because that hit like a. Like a Mack truck. Did that interest you at all?
- [61:00]
A
I was trying to explain, I think, unsuccessfully, that it felt different. Like, just the construction of. Am I wrong in thinking that, like, I don't think he's ever written it in that specific way of, like, something wad. D. Like, they're usually like, oh, I have the D. Or I'm also a D, but not like a country. Right?
- [61:30]
B
Yes.
- [61:32]
A
And so I didn't know, like. And I was like, okay, well, I'm not, you know, 100 certain what the. The implications of this are. So I just translated it as, like, you know, do not forget that Elbaf is D. And rather than saying, like, elbaf has the. Has a D, or, you know, is of the D or something like that, because it's just hard to say, you know, when you don't actually know what. What. What the. What D means. You know, what. What. How you should parse that, you know, as a. As a piece of text. So it was a. It gave me some stuff to think about.
- [62:13]
B
There is an answer to it that's just like, oh, right. But at the same time, it's still a really freaking weird way to use D and to refer to the group. But what it comes down to is that if we go back to the first time that we met Dorian Brogy, they tell you about their God. Like, Nika is a sun God, right? But they even made a point early in this arc to say, well, we've got a lot of gods. We've Got a God of this and a God of that. And like their God God is elbow.
- [62:49]
A
And they mentioned that that was like one of the first things they say in Little Garden. Yeah, yeah.
- [62:56]
B
So Im here is obviously referring to the elbow that they or their existence, their consciousness knew in life. And that's where I was talking earlier about these quotes. If you go back and you look to some of the quotes that are even in this very chapter talking about Elbaf or do they where is. I think it's Yarudu and Loki are having a conversation or something like that. No, that's where it is. It's on page 12, I think. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly where it is. They're talking about Elbaf in one Sonotoki garazuto erebaf inoteki datt Danuka. Yeah, when the giants are talking amongst themselves, they're using elbow in quotes. Yet when you go to Gabin, he says Elbaf in the very next panel and there are no quotes which is intentional. This does not, as I mentioned earlier in the previous chapter with the elbow in quotes. It does not match up. It does not match up one to one where you can always say that in the quotes they're referring to the person Elbaf or their God, who they interpret as a God. I'm calling it a person because it's probably a giant. But that is a deliberate choice. So we go back to Im talking about it is what is Elbaf or what was Elbaf? Elbaf. This is basically the confirmation that an Elbaf did actually exist. It's not a deific concept that they had similar to Nika. Elbaf really was an individual. If we believe that Elbaf is their God, Oda can pull a trick and oh, was actually a normal person. But I think the agreement would be that Elbaf is probably either the first giant or the first giant that fought back against something or someone that was a great individual at one point. And the only thing I don't know, I can't say for sure if the giant who resembles Loki from the inscription, from the inscription from the carving, you can make the argument that that is Elbow, the former wielder of Ragnar. But I don't know if it meshes too well with giant ages. Like that's basically what, two and a half giant generations. So you'd have a legend dying out pretty quickly. You could say that, you know, giants were basically cut down to like, like, I don't know, a handful of families. Right. Like that would have to be about it. And they just didn't talk about it. And they went away and they settled their. Like they didn't tell their. They didn't tell the next generation. You basically had like a couple that settled in the different areas of. Of the country, Elbow or Warland I guess. And they started their own families and things. But. And a little bit maybe obviously a genetic changing between the next generation as people moved between town to town. But they probably mentioning that Elbaf as anything other than a God was taboo to protect the next generation. So that's how you could make that argument for it being the individual in the carving wielding the spear or what appears to be a spear. But it's still weird for Im to have even if he or it knew that person in life to refer to it this way because he knows or it knows that they know that Elbaf is a country. And it's basically placing all of it together. Like he's not saying Elbaf was a D. It's Elbaf was D. D are meaning is. Is. So it's being placed on the country even if he's referring to the God. And that is why I think that D is simply a catch all term to mean enemy.
- [67:25]
A
Right, Right.
- [67:28]
B
And this was recently pulled off brilliantly in a novel that nobody has read here that's listening called the Book that Wouldn't Burn. I think that's the first one, the Book that Wouldn't Burn. And it's by Mark Lawrence who does a lot of dark fantasy, very dark fantasy, a lot of not safe stuff. But basically there he goes, the entire book calling these. This group of like canine, like no, like noles, no characters calling them sabers. And it turns out that due to quote unquote circumstances and with a little bit of sci fi, a little bit of fantasy, you have humans. The sabr just means enemy in this one. In the language of the gnolls and they refer to humans that way. And humans think that it means saber but because of circumstances they use it about each other. There's basically like. Like high tech translation, auto translation going on and just you hear the word savr being used and people who were not actually the gnolls are. And people who you didn't think people who you thought were humans are actually gnolls. I don't know if I'm describing that well. I am definitely not. I suck. I'm the worst person ever at this. It's really hard. I'm sorry. But there is like there was Like Sci Fi Auto translate going on and you find out that the character you've been following the entire book is, is actually one of the Gnolls. And you thought they were a human because of how they use this term. And I think that's what's going on here is D has always been used to mean just enemy, but it's been used in different ways depending on who it is. And this is my first instance of what I believe to be solid proof that the D. There is a very good chance that D stands for devil or demon, if you like. Steven, how has IMU been positioning themselves in the world thematically? What do they want to represent and or be God? Absolutely. They have a fucking army of seraphim, they have God's knights, they live above the world. It. It also, I guess there's a lot of holy like stuff going on. I don't know.
- [70:02]
A
The Holy Land, where they live.
- [70:04]
B
The Holy Land? Yes, yes, the Seichi. Thank you. The Holy Land. All of this is leading up to God. And what's super fucking weird about that is what is at the heart of the series, like what's the, the what makes the series fun, what's its catch is the devil's fruit.
- [70:20]
A
Right?
- [70:22]
B
And yet this thing is calling itself God. Why would it do that? Why would it try to make itself like this, this highest being, this, this deific being? And that is, I think, what. Corazon. Corazon's famous line which threw me for a loop back then because just like what. How is God involved in this? D is always the enemy of God. Literally. What is the enemy of God? It's the devil.
- [70:58]
A
Right, the devil.
- [71:00]
B
So using it as a catch all to refer to whether it's the person, whether it's the country, it just means they are our enemy. And I do believe that when. What does the abomination look like? What does it resemble? It's big horned creature, it's got wings, it looked like a devil. And yet we strongly believe, or at least I strongly believe. I don't know if anybody else does. That's okay. That the creature that was in there, the entity that was within the abomination, is now what IM is. And I think when it assumed IM's identity or it assumed its body or it assumed Lilly's body, I think originally what it did was refer to everything that was an enemy as it's the devil, it's just the devil. However, you have to remember that this is a pretty well thought out mind control of people over these past 800 years. And that means that at some point, IMU would have had to have faked its own death, because we don't even really know that Celestial Dragons are all tuned in about IM's existence. Right. As far as I have been able to glean from the story.
- [72:27]
A
Yeah. Because, yeah, we saw there was definitely. Sha' Ria was the one who was like, what is. What is that? What was that in reference to? I don't even remember. But we've definitely seen signs of, like. Oh, yeah. Some of. A lot of the rank and file don't know, like, what's actually going on.
- [72:45]
B
Yes. Thank you. All right. Okay. Obviously, as you get even higher up among the ranks around Celestial Dragons, you find out about it. And Garling is obviously in the know and very much in the know now.
- [72:57]
A
Yeah.
- [72:57]
B
But my point is, IM would have had to fake its own death, which is why people think that nobody sits the throne, because they just don't know. Oh, probably Mingo. Mingo probably knows about it. Right? That's his. What? He knows his secret or whatever, knows about the whole IM thing and maybe probably something else, you know, further. Otherwise Oda would have already revealed it. But the point was that one of the other things it did, besides fake its own death was, over time, remove the concept. The very concept of the Devil basically hiding itself, and it just shortened the Devil to D. And Celestial Dragons really didn't question it. It's just like. It's like changing a naming. It's like shortening. I mean, Japanese are famous for that, for just shortening terms. But what the point of it was was it didn't even want people questioning or thinking, why is the Devil our enemy? It wanted to completely erase it because that's what it had to do for history. If you're going to erase history, you must erase it absolutely. Which is what they basically did. And by shortening Devil to D and just making that the enemy, that basically covered up the. That's why we haven't been asking this entire time, you know, well then, what is the Devil? Where is the devil? Now, I say that it's a little bit overarching maybe, or overreaching, because there are absolutely people who, from as far as early as I was a One Piece fan and from, I'm sure, well before that, who thought that the D means Devil. That's been in the community for longer than I have been. Yeah. So that's obviously been there. But the idea that it just means enemy is something entirely new. And I'm super hyped about that. So many points. Sorry. Trying to get to. Trying to make it concise. Get along, Greg, you can do it. You can do it. No, no. Losing the point fading. Point fading. Point fading. But yeah, it'll come back to me, but I just, I figured I'd drop that with you for now.
- [75:13]
A
Wow. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely something that.
- [75:18]
B
Oh, got it back.
- [75:20]
A
Go ahead.
- [75:23]
B
Sorry, I, I can, I can leave you with this now is, however, the reason that they use it in the names is because I think it's something that they're trying to take back and they're trying. They. They intend it not to mean enemy, but I believe they intend it not. Or, or devil. I do believe that they intended to mean dawn. So it's going to turn out that both devil and dawn are the, the correct terms for both on both sides.
- [75:52]
A
Okay, there you go. That's. Now that's, that's a nice wrinkle that I do like. That's. I mean, because that's a. That's been my assumption certainly from the perspective of, you know, the people who carry the D in their names is that, you know, Don is the, the name that they are. They're hiding in plain sight. But I do, I do like the idea of you could, you can use devil as, as like. Well, this is what the other side, you know, interprets it as being because that, that adds a little, little wrinkle to it. That's good. Yeah. I'm not sure now. I, I was taught. I, I did mention the, the Elbaf being a guy just because it's such a, it's line that you get, you know, the, the on that one time in Little Garden of Elbaf being the name of the, the God. And then he never goes back to that. He never mentions it again even as they've talked about gods and they have, you know, they have Nika, they have the sun God, they have all these other gods and different interpretations of the sun God. And no one has, has mentioned like, oh yeah, and then there's Elbaf like the other, you know, the, the God that shares the name with our island that we live on. And it's, you know, you, you can't necessarily rule out that like Ode was just kind of riffing when he did that stuff in Little Garden and changed his mind and has, you know, has just been not mentioning it because that's not where he wants to go with the story. But I did mention that when we did our manga recap last week of like, you know, it's interesting that that Elbaf is also the name of, of, of their, their war God. I am not 100 positive on the, the, the differentiation of the, the quotes. And so what Greg is mentioning here is that in, in Japanese there are actually, they're actually two different kinds of quotes that, that Oda uses regularly. And one of them is like the, the, the quotation marks, the double, you know, the dot dot. And there's also the sort of Japanese style quotations which if you've ever seen them before, you know, it's like, it's like a little L. They're little right angles that you know, go over opposing corners of the text. And particularly in, in vertical writing like the, you know, the manga dialogue, they're castrated brackets. Is that the title for that?
- [78:34]
B
I just, I just saw them right now. It's just like they look like castrated brackets.
- [78:39]
A
Yeah. Brackets with, with one end chopped off. But yeah. And so that those brackets are the style that he's using for Elba. You know, so I'm like, I'm looking at, I'm just kind of paging through the, the chapter and he's using it for Elbaf and for the world government. You know, he uses it in for. For a lot of different words. And it is a little tricky to parse this sometimes because it's, it's the sort of thing that if you're super like direct one to one with the Japanese you, you kind of come to realize that oh like they just kind of use punctuation in slightly different ways and sometimes it's just to like to accentuate something to draw your attention to it. And there are, you know, there are several different things that they can do with the text to, to indicate that it is a little tricky be for me to talk about in terms of translation because basically we, we take out almost all of them like that. And that was literally like. I remember when I started working on, you know, Fishman, end of Fishman island, early Punk Hazard that I had to be told like hey yeah, we, we, you know the style guide for the series is, is we don't include all of these, these quotes. So we only use quotes when it's like directly quoting what another person has said. And so usually I will do the bold bold italic to you know, to set off the, the text if it's something that is like important or if they're you know, sort of like comic book speak of like this is the important thing of this sentence. So I'm gonna bold it so you know what I'm talking about. That's a, you know, kind of classic comic book writing. So it's not the sort of thing that you'll be able to see in the English, you know, in the English text of, like, which. Which of these Elbaf, you know, references to Elbaf have quotes around them because none of them do, basically, in English. So it's. It's. It's sort of hard to, like, see on the same level as. As all the English readers who are listening to us talk about it. But it is curious. And I'm not sure. I. I don't know if. If that's intended or not that, you know, that. That Oda is differentiating, like, which characters are. Are saying Elbaf with quotes and which aren't. It could just be a legibility thing. It could be, you know, what he wants people to notice in a particular line. But you are definitely correct that he's mixing and matching here. Like, there. There are some times where it does appear and sometimes when it doesn't. And it is a little curious, for sure.
- [81:27]
B
Yep. Yep. I don't. I don't read too much into it, but it does seem to be that, like. Yeah. From time to time, when the. When the Giants talk about Elbow, like, you can definitely interpret it as they're talking about maybe a. An ideal established by that. That individual or that individual or what it means to be, you know, something that's core to their identity. Yeah.
- [81:50]
A
Like a lady from Lady Liberty or something, you know, like an image. Right.
- [81:55]
B
What does it mean to be from Elbow as opposed to. To be of elbow, you know?
- [82:02]
A
Yeah.
- [82:04]
B
Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, well, there's a cat on Zorro that's. It's. Oh, my God, it's Simba. There's Simba.
- [82:17]
A
Well, you know, Simba is not a. A unicolor cat, though, so don't think this guy counts.
- [82:27]
B
Yeah.
- [82:27]
A
If anything, he's Simba. Simba shares the coloring of. Of Ragnar here, if anything. Got more of a little stripey thing going on. Anyways, I think we may have covered our bases on this manga section. Shall we see what the folks have to ask of us?
- [82:50]
B
Yes, we shall.
- [82:53]
A
All right, we'll take a break. We'll be right back. Foreign, Where we take your comments, your theories, your suggestions, your questions, all of that stuff, and we find out what we think about it. We will start on the Discord. I could call it this piece, but it is technically a different channel. If you are a Patreon member, you can get on our Discord and get access to the Patreon section where we have our SGS channel just for these little shows that Greg and I do. And I will start there with Wispy who says Happy New Year, Stephen and Greg and Happy New Year. I think it's been a while since I last asked this. Do you still have any hopes that we'll be going to split space? Is that what the astral realm will be for? Or will it only get revisited once we're in the flashback of the world's genesis? Thanks as always.
- [84:13]
B
You know, before we started this, I was going to say like, all right, I was gabbing a lot at the top there with my. My story. And we covered those chapters pretty well. And like I do have to go outside and snow shovel, so I'm going to keep this short and immediately right off the fucking B that is gone. So back when I did that write up about how long I think one piece will be, one of the things I added to the end of it was after the series ends, what is another frontier for them to explore. And I was like, space is absolutely a possibility. Maybe not the straw hats, maybe the next generation. Whatever it is, doesn't really matter. But going to outer space and like doing one piece GT ish is. Is not outside the realm of like what ODA would want to do. As in a high concept, sure. However, with the revelation about the world and the sinking and all that, I just made a tweet about this too. Is when they uncork the world and when they uncork is a weird way to say it, but like when they. When they drain the world, you just increase your potential for adventure spots by a bajillion. Literally walking across a plane is going to be like ancient ruins and stuff. It's like the entire Earth becoming an Indiana Jones ruin. Right, right, right. So the potential for adventure there is not endless, but it's. You could write an entire other series about it. So I do think things for anything post series will be more somewhat grounded. But as far as the space being involved in here, it depends what EMU is. I'd like to think that IMU is a either a spurned dragon, not in its current form, but like its identity, its consciousness. It's the identity. The Last Dragon Basically my idea is that originally the Earth was populated with dragons. The buccaneers were space explorers. They crash landed on the planet. They lived with the dragons, but they abused them. They stole their powers. They wanted what they wanted and they basically killed them off, whether intentionally or Unintentionally. And I detailed all of this recently, but I'm not going to do it here, I swear. One dragon did survive. They live extremely long. Long story short, it found its way into the Abomination and that's why it sees itself as a higher being than humans. And it hates humans. It's a really good reason to hate humans if they committed genocide against your. Your, Your everything, your people, your. Your dragon people. So that is one option. But the other option for what's inside IMU is basically the idea of a Jenova from Final Fantasy vii. I don't know if anybody is familiar with that or not, but it's. It's basically an alien that crash landed on the the planet and then tried to overtake it to. To use it, suck up its resources, basically kill the Lifestream. If it is a outer space identity, I mean, that's one option for sure. As far as the other option, the dragon, then you have the buccaneers who would have been space explorers. So one way or the other, I do believe that the story is tied to outer space. I don't know if we'll necessarily do anything on the moon at this point. It's really hard to say. If we need to go there to wrap something up in terms of finding a MacGuffin that's there, then yes, absolutely, we'll do that. But I do get the feeling that he is pulling things to be more grounded. Where we will get space, without question is in the story of what happened in the origin of the planet. That's almost unquestionable at this point. There is something that goes back and forth between the Blue Sea and the moon. There were probably several migrations that occurred, and we will be seeing it in that aspect. But how much further we go beyond that, I really couldn't say. And at this point, I don't think so.
- [88:52]
A
Yeah, I think I'm generally on the same lines, which is that I think that the space will certainly play a role in the backstory that we will learn. But it seems. It seems unlikely at this point that like we're going to see the Straw Hats go into space or have an arc that is space themed. It'll probably be more of a. Of a backstory thing.
- [89:20]
B
Unless that's where the last road Poneglyph is and that's our next arc. Right?
- [89:27]
A
Yeah, yeah, sure.
- [89:28]
B
Right.
- [89:29]
A
Yeah. It's, it's. They're drawing the X and you have a rotating object that is. That is going around the planet at all times. So the. The intersection of The X is just constantly moving around. You never have any idea where it is. Yeah, no, I think it'll be on the ground. Our next one is from Reverse Icat, who simply says, could imu be Davey D. Jones? Boy, that would make that scene with rocks much stranger, wouldn't it, in the flower field?
- [90:12]
B
Because I try these days not to knock anything down.
- [90:18]
A
How could this be possible, Greg? Let's figure it out. Rox has face blindness. He's. He's looking at his great, great grandpappy, and he didn't even. Didn't recognize him.
- [90:37]
B
That's okay. The next generation, the living generation, doesn't recognize him either.
- [90:41]
A
Yeah.
- [90:42]
B
Five elders. Blackbeard. I'm sorry, I'm still.
- [90:45]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [90:46]
B
And there go our YouTube comments. So I don't think so. I don't know if I can logic it out. Like, you'd have to at this point. You'd have to plead insanity. Like, the person is actually insane. I don't see a way that it's possible. I admit defeat.
- [91:17]
A
Okay, you've stumped us. Your. Your idea is rejected. Reverse Icat. Now it's a. Yeah, that. That would be a tough. That strikes me at. Plus, just in terms of storytelling, it is a little bit of like a.
- [91:32]
B
A little.
- [91:33]
A
A little too many twists there to be satisfying. All right, well, I'll. I'll ask this question. This is the. The last one on Discord, at least. Although we'll see. We'll see if you feel like answering it, because it is. It is a, you know, touching on a bit of a tricky topic here. Okay, Big Mike. Big Mike says. Hey, Opp, I would like to get a bit serious for a moment. There has been some controversy over the casting of Vivi and Cobra in the live action series for being portrayed by actors of Indian descent instead of Middle east and North Africa or Mediterranean. And I was wondering if Greg could provide some context on how race and ethnicity are handled in the casting of the live action series, since they use the straw hats image countries as guidelines for casting the straw hats. Also, since ODA is involved in the casting, does Japan culturally associate India with the Middle East?
- [92:35]
B
Okay, so that's actually that last part there. Sorry, I was just thinking about other stuff, but that last question is a really good question that's quite astute there. So I can't talk about season two stuff, but I can use season one as a litmus test. And that is. Everyone in this world who uses oda's answers as. As like, canon. The people who place the most Importance on that are. Do not include Oda. Right, right. Because from. In season one, casting Oda on the large did not care where people were from. In fact, there was a. Oh, God, There's. There's a story about Zorro that, like, if. If people heard. Heard it, like, obviously, McKenna is amazing as Zora, and. And Oda absolutely loves him, but, like, if you knew his stance on, like, what these. What the. The characters must be portrayed as or not, you would be shocked. You'd be like, oh, really? Then I guess, why am I making such a. Yeah, what are we doing? Yeah, there. There is no. Like, Oda's not. I can't describe things in detail, but it's definitely. Oda's not there at the helm. Like, he must be Brazilian or, you know, she must be this ethnicity. She must be Russian. You know, there is literally none of that. So it's really not important to him beyond a couple aspects here and there. But, like, it's the fans. It's the fans and the people writing it who place the most importance on that. They're like, oh, yeah, we did this thing. We took all your words like that. And he's like, oh, okay, I guess that's cool. But, like, I don't really think they look like that or that that's not how they look to me. Or like. Like some of the. Some of the casting choices that, like, Oda had compared to who actually finally got casted, like, you would be shocked at some of the choices. It's. It's wildly different. But as far as the. Do people see that as the Middle East? That's really important because Alabasta itself, I feel like I've mentioned this before, but not like. Not like everybody has listened to every sgs. There's no reason to do that, but. Right. I do think we've covered the fact that Alabasta is a mix of different cultures. And do they mix India in with the Middle East?
- [95:43]
A
I mean, is it.
- [95:44]
B
To my knowledge, I don't think so.
- [95:45]
A
But is it just Because, I mean, I think when. When you. When you draw the connection of India to Alabaster, it's probably mostly because of what, like, the Taj Mahal.
- [95:57]
B
Right.
- [95:57]
A
Like, it's this. It's the. The certain type of architectural styling that. And I don't know. I don't know if that also.
- [96:09]
B
Spice and bean. What is it The. The curry shop as well.
- [96:13]
A
Oh, oh, oh, right. The. In the background.
- [96:18]
B
Yeah. And I think they talk about curry and stuff. If I'm wrong about that, I'M sorry, but, like, there does seem to be an Indian influence in the series in the theme. Is it front and center? No, particularly if you consider the Falcon, because that's super important to the Middle east, obviously in the Middle east. But. Yeah, that's really astute. I think that. I don't think it's so much as it's mixed with the Middle east, rather than he intentionally mixed the concepts, his concepts of several cultures to make it.
- [97:08]
A
Yeah, he doesn't want it to be like. Yeah, he doesn't want it to be like, oh, hey, guess what? This is Egypt. So every single thing that is Egyptian will appear in Alabasta. And whenever you see Alabasta, just think Egypt in your mind. Like, he doesn't obviously, like, that's. That's hack work. Like, that's just that. That's just copying basically at that point. Like, he wants it to be a distinct thing and he wants to be free to mix and match and do things that catch his fancy. And that's why, you know, Water seven is not just. This is Venice, you know, there's. There's all sorts of stuff. And Dressrosa is not just that one town in Spain or Barcelona or wherever, you know, that has the funky roofs. Like, he. He pulls in a lot of stuff that. That also gets mixed into the. The influences that he. That he brings into it. So, yeah, I mean, I think. I think, like, trying to. To figure out, like, what the. What the exact formula is so that it can be repeated in. In real life is maybe missing the point a little bit.
- [98:20]
B
The one place where he, for good reason, sort of bends that rule is Wano. And I think this is why maybe it hits a lot of newer fans differently. I say newer, but now Wano is like, what, 2018. So, I mean, it's post Covid, for fuck's sake. Post excuse. Pre. Pre. Pre. It's pre Covid. So point Wano. It was something that he was building up to. To be like, this is not Japan. Like, this is my not Japan. So he gets a pass on that one because that's his. I get to celebrate my culture. But I would argue that even he infused that with a different style because the theme of the. One of the themes of the. The. The Animal Kingdom pirates is dinosaurs. So you basically have. I mean, dinosaur and prehistoric monsters.
- [99:19]
A
Right, right, right.
- [99:20]
B
So it's basically you've got prehistoric creatures ravaging Japan. That's one of the themes. Yes, they're oni. Yes. They're devils, obviously. They're all Oni. And yes, you get Big mom in there, who I guarantee you he brought in simply because he wanted to fucking do yokai.
- [99:38]
A
Yes. Yeah, but.
- [99:40]
B
But that's the one arc where he really went. And. And that's how a lot of people that a lot of the current fans got into one piece. So it makes perfect sense that a lot of people who became fans. I'm not saying that this question submitter did, but a lot of fans who did become fans at that era, it kind of raises a question mark, like, wait a minute. Well, then why isn't that just the Middle east arc? But yeah, everything leading up to that point and certainly many thereafter, you had multiple themes from around the world kind of becoming a delicious melting pot of oda's unique take on a variety of cultures. I guess that also. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's also, I think, why we were discussing Ratatousker earlier and why that doesn't feel so great just being ratatasker like a rat hasker fruit. Because it feels too on the nose.
- [100:40]
A
Right?
- [100:41]
B
Yeah. Anyway, yeah, sorry, that's a long answer, but to a very good question. And again, I really like how they went into that at the end there with wondering about the local culture, the local Japanese culture, how they interpret it. Good call.
- [101:01]
A
Yeah. I mean, there's certainly no lack of. Did you know that Japan assumes this about this, you know, as it is true of, of all, you know, all countries and all cultures. They all. We all have our weird, you know, blind spots and assumptions about other regions of the world. But yeah, there's certainly, you know, you could write a book about all of the. The strange things. Hell, like people. People will never get over Usopp being associated with Africa. So this is just like. Okay, that's not. That's not really very specific. That's not a country. There's many, many countries that have many, many cultures in. In within them. So, yeah, anyways, I think if we have finished that one, let me go check. You can also submit your questions on either Twitter X or Blue Sky. I will check the hashtag SGSS Sensei. No po. No other punctuation there. Just all one word. And it looks like we have. Okay, I think we have one new one on Blue sky here from Ice Fisher Tenacity at Ice Fisher 10 who says hi, Opp. After the latest SBS, I learned. I learned Gear 5's dawn attacks also mean white as well. This is correct. I was. I was explaining that the. The kanji is, you know, Shiroi. Do you think it's Possible Luffy will upgrade Red Rock to White Rock. Also, for consistency, would you translate it as Dawn Rock if it actually happens? Yeah. Like, I had to literally think about that. It was like, has he done that already before, you know, reusing his attacks? I can never remember all of the. All of the attack names or keep them straight in my mind when I'm not looking at them. That would be interesting. Like a gear 5 version of Red Rock. I don't know. You got any?
- [103:17]
B
The reason it was red is because it was flames. Right, Right. And we came to learn that those flames were because he's a sun God. So. Yes. Because what if he creates white flames? Right.
- [103:41]
A
Sure.
- [103:43]
B
It was Red Rock because there were red flames. So if he creates white flames and like, those are the hottest. I mean, what is the hottest flame? Is it. I thought blue, but yeah, I.
- [103:57]
A
Yes, I do. I do remember that blue is. Is much hotter than red when it comes to.
- [104:03]
B
And is that. We call it. Oh, you know what? I guess we call it white hot for a reason. Right. So, yeah, if he creates flames that burn white hot, sure. Yeah. Yeah, I do. I think he could.
- [104:18]
A
Yeah. In terms of the translation of it, I mean, that's just kind of like, what. What is this? Like, what is Luffy actually saying? Because, you know, red. Red rock is literally red Dorothy. And so I would imagine if it. If he were to do an attack like that, that follows the dawn, because, you know, all of the dawn attacks are dawn, you know, whatever it is. So, you know, if he's literally saying Dawn Rocker, then yeah, that's how I would translate it. But yeah, as far as, like, does he get. Is. Will he use it in the future? I have. I have no idea. I like to be surprised, you know, Other than that. Let's see. We have on Twitter, we do have our good friend Op at ChampagneBalla, who, as always, has I caught a glimpse.
- [105:09]
B
Of this, and I saw no fewer than five questions.
- [105:12]
A
So, yeah, yeah, he's got a couple. I. And I'm looking at these, and I'm like, how have we not answered some of these? So we'll. We'll see. All right, first. First on the series, Captain John's armband magnetized to his treasure. So I guess is this saying. Is this asking if it's like a. If it's like a log pose, basically, to. To his treasure, that it leads there? Because we never had any explanation of, like, why, like, you're looking for the armband. Like, what. What. What is it supposed to do to help guide you to the treasure. Right. There's no details about that.
- [105:58]
B
You mean. You mean like a lodestone?
- [106:01]
A
Yeah, yeah, something. Yeah, like a.
- [106:06]
B
Like a load stone. Yeah, I think that's what they're getting at. But was it Lodestar island or something like that? What is that last.
- [106:19]
A
Right, right. That's the. Yeah. So you think the treasure is there?
- [106:25]
B
I mean, Buggy does not seem to have found it. And he. He does have emperor level influence somewhat. I mean, it's largely controlled, but.
- [106:35]
A
And he always does wander his way into whatever is happening next story. So I suppose that is. That's a good point. I mean, I don't. Do we.
- [106:50]
B
Do we know that anybody but Roger has. Right. We don't know. It's never been specifically stated that nobody but the Roger pirates have been there. Right.
- [107:03]
A
I mean, it's certainly implied that nobody else has been there, but it could just be in living memory. Yeah.
- [107:10]
B
Okay.
- [107:14]
A
Anyway, since people started keeping track of, you know, who sails around the world.
- [107:21]
B
But if that's what they're inferring, you'd have to come up with. And this is super easy for Oda, but you'd have to come up with a good reason for why he hasn't been there yet.
- [107:30]
A
Yeah.
- [107:31]
B
Because he had two years. So.
- [107:34]
A
Sure.
- [107:34]
B
And a lot at his disposal. So. Yeah. Yeah.
- [107:38]
A
If I'm. If I'm being a little bitchy about it, like, I always liked Captain John's treasure as like a silly little side thing that is not that it's not also in the same place that everyone else is going. That is, you know, central to the. To the narrative. But, you know, whatever. That's my.
- [107:58]
B
Oh, my God. Do you know what the funniest fucking thing would be?
- [108:02]
A
Oh, my God.
- [108:03]
B
This would be hilarious if. Holy shit. Oh, my God, I hope this is it. I really hope this is it. The treasure is like a note that says, the real treasure are the friends we found along the way.
- [108:17]
A
Oh, my God, that would be so funny.
- [108:19]
B
That'd be so fucking great. And that's what Buggy gets. And the one piece is an actual thing. Captain John is the French battle on the way.
- [108:31]
A
And then all of his friends walk out from behind the rock and they're like, this is your life and. All right, next question. Is Shamrock an Elbaf boss fight or is he being saved for elsewhere?
- [108:47]
B
Oh, God, no. He's. He's la. He's. He's Scarp's last boss.
- [108:53]
A
Shamrock or Garling?
- [108:56]
B
Excuse me. Excuse me. My God, I'm. I got Garling on the brain. Sorry. I just finished writing an article about it.
- [109:03]
A
Evil chicks. Yeah.
- [109:05]
B
Oh. I'm not sure I like the idea of twins fighting each other just because visually, unless he. Unless they can do some, like, crazy transformations like that, that would be kind of cool. Like, let's say one of them. Let's say he gets a reverse it to. To get more powerful. Shamrock. Yeah, like that. That'd be. That'd be pretty baller.
- [109:26]
A
But other than that, like, Shadow Link sort of thing.
- [109:30]
B
Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
- [109:32]
A
Not bad. Not bad. Yeah. I don't know. Because it's like, I'm inclined to say. To say no, just because it feels like, well, he's not here right now, but at the same time, of the jokers that he has from the Knights on Elbaf currently, none of them particular. I mean, I guess maybe Gunko, like, it's. You know, the fight is to. To dispel Emu from Gunko, and that's kind of like the boss of. Of Elbaf, but I don't know. It's not super inspiring. Like, I do. I do feel like Shamrock would be a good. Our villain of an arc sort of a thing. So I could see it. I could see it.
- [110:22]
B
I do not see it. And if it does happen, I think it's a real poor move from Oda because he pulled him away specifically to deal with issues that they're having in.
- [110:34]
A
In maryjoa.
- [110:35]
B
In maryjoa. Thank you. And for him to appear again would signal that they are no longer having those issues, but it is imperative to the story that they continue to have those issues, because that's what's crippling the Celestial Dragons at this point and putting press, stress and pressure on them so that they make some desperate moves. So for him to show up, like. Like, things are. Things were bad, right? Like, things are really bad when all this started and they were like, it's so bad that we need you back here right now.
- [111:04]
A
Right.
- [111:05]
B
Things are not going to get better. Right. So for him to show up would be kind of a. Kind of a bullshit move. I don't like it.
- [111:13]
A
Okay.
- [111:14]
B
Not that I don't like you or your idea, but I don't think. Yeah.
- [111:18]
A
Next one. How or when would you reveal Emu?
- [111:22]
B
That's so fucking hard.
- [111:24]
A
Yeah.
- [111:25]
B
God damn it.
- [111:26]
A
I was just talking. I feel like I was just talking about this last week, and I don't remember what I said about it.
- [111:35]
B
I'm gonna default to my best because I am almost out of time, but. And this is a Fair answer. I like this one. When it would be the most dramatic and appropriate in the story.
- [111:46]
A
Yes, yes, for sure. Moving along. Is Davy Jones Hinokizu or Mr. Burn Scar?
- [111:56]
B
Davy Jones. No, no. They need to know Burn scar before. Oh, so in other words, is dead. Okay, so this is another case of Burnsky. I'm under the assumption that Davy Jones is under the sea this entire time, but is he wandering the earth in the Black Ship? Clever.
- [112:23]
A
As a tentacled monster played by Geoffrey Rush.
- [112:30]
B
I would like to say no. And that Davy Jones is the One Eyed Willy. And he is down there. Yeah, yeah. Because otherwise then im would direct everything. Yeah, yeah. And would direct everything at trying to get him. Unless he's doing it secretly, which is why they call him the Burn Scar Man.
- [112:49]
A
Which.
- [112:49]
B
That would be a cool twist, but.
- [112:51]
A
No, I feel like I have. I have a personal limit on the number of, like, seemingly immortal, you know, several centuries old characters in a story. So that's. That's my reason for vetoing it. Let's see. Why did Blackbeard ravage Drum Island? Boy, we're really going. Really going back. I mean, just kind of to set up that he's a bad guy. Right. He's just laying waste on his path through the world, gathering infamy so that he can.
- [113:23]
B
She really didn't like waffle.
- [113:25]
A
Yeah, yeah. He hates shoveling snow. Took it out on the island.
- [113:36]
B
He stepped into a gutter.
- [113:37]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [113:40]
B
He was at Bighorn and he stepped into gutter. He's like, fuck this country. Yeah, No, I see what you're getting at there. Did it have a point? Was there something there that he was trying to get to? And the answer to that is if Oda wants there to be, then there is. Or was he just trying to get. Make a name for himself That's. That's possible because Blackbeard does whatever Blackbeard thinks is appropriate in the moment. So.
- [114:08]
A
Yeah. What island will Vivi rejoin? Or I guess where. Where will her. Where will she cross paths again with the. With the straw hats?
- [114:23]
B
The most dramatic would seem to be the end. The final battle.
- [114:27]
A
Yeah. I mean, not to. Not to draw illusions to the. The rise of Skywalker, but the. The part where all the ships show up and everybody's there and all your friends have come to your. To your aid or to, you know, to help out. Like, it does seem like it fits for one piece as well.
- [114:49]
B
I would say. I would add to that rather that the. While I have always seen Uruge as kind of being the Way out of this arc for them for the. An escape. Yes, it is entirely possible that. And it's been set up that they could try to fly by in the news coup ship and pick them up from the top of the tree.
- [115:11]
A
Oh, yeah. There you go. Is Big Mom's return in a cover story or Elbaf.
- [115:25]
B
I think is, you know, at this point. Okay, I will make an argument for in Elbaf, because I believe that when. When you get to the point where they. They. All right, so Oda basically destroyed the Rising action. He obliterated it with the flashback. Yeah, yeah. Prior to that flashback, like, I was. I was making arguments for how he can keep the tension, keep the arc, and that all worked up until the flashback started and it went on for. I don't know, the longest flashback ever.
- [115:58]
A
We were stuck in second gear for.
- [116:00]
B
Yeah.
- [116:00]
A
For two months. Yeah.
- [116:04]
B
And now we're back. And so what has to happen is the Straw Hats need to be faced with a threat, but basically steamroll through it until things start to get difficult. And when things start to get difficult, they should go from bad to worse. And that is the point where mom has a chance to show up when things start to look bad for the Straw Hats. Mom showing up can do one of two things. A, the story dictates that before things. As things get worse, they must get really bad. So she must. Like, when we're like, oh, my God, like, the Straw Hats can't possibly get through this, what's going to happen? Like, if Mom's showing up and if the Charlotte Pirates show up and start to be a threat, that's perfect because it creates even more dire straits. However, if they show up and for whatever reason, they. They either want. They either want or need the. The Straw Hats cooperation, and they're. Or. Or they. It's the. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy. The. The enemy of my enemy is my.
- [117:19]
A
Friend is my friend. Yeah.
- [117:22]
B
If they play that role, then basically they're the savior, which brings. Which gives the Straw Hats hope. So they can bring. When things look bad for the Straw Hats, they can bring it up and they can help them escape, or they can kick things down and make it even worse. And that has to happen after things go well for them for a while. So it also depends how he wants matchups for elbow. Does he actually want matchups, or are we going to be dealing with issues? Are we going to be dealing with putting out fires? Are they going to have to deal with the monsters, or are we going to have to actually have 1v1s against the Knights or a number of the Knights. All that depends. But I think that's the opportunity for them to show up. Other than that, I'm with Steven in that they don't have a good chance.
- [118:12]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Hearing you talk about that, I realized, yes. If there's any. If there's any way that Big mom fits into Elbaf, it is only to crash like the last moment of it to send us on to the next thing. I don't think there's any way that he would throw her in when there's still any kind of significant amount of. Of story to resolve. Still. It would have to be, you know, it would have to be an Aokiji esque thing. Appearance of like, boom. Now. Now we. Now we have to rush off to the next thing.
- [118:48]
B
Yeah.
- [118:50]
A
All right, we have. He does have one more thing. That's just like a whole list of. Of what's, you know, the island roadmap. I don't know if you want to get. You mentioned that you have limited time here.
- [119:00]
B
Let's do it.
- [119:00]
A
You want to do it? Okay.
- [119:01]
B
You sent the question, so let's honor.
- [119:03]
A
All right, all right. Okay, last thing we'll cover here. Opiate Champagne Bala. What's your island roadmap? Feels like Lodestar to meet hk. What is hk?
- [119:16]
B
Hong Kong.
- [119:17]
A
Yeah, that's. That's all. Oh, Hinokizu maybe. So the burnt burnt scar guy 2 buggy slash cross guild tries to ambush until Hachinosu Pirate Island Blackbeard Ambush for a Battle Royale with post arc reunion for Dragon Vivi and Straw Hats to Raftel Laugh Tale to New Marineford to beat Akainu into Mary Joa. Then Epilogue Islands missing. Yeah, that's a. That's a long string of. Of words and names.
- [119:54]
B
So I do want to honor the question, but at the same time I want to say that maybe this is a non answer, but like, it's tough to say whether or not Oda will go to somewhere whose name we even know next because we just don't know where that at this point, we don't know where that next poneglyph is for sure. Like some. Somebody out there has theorized it and they're correct, but we just. We really don't know. He could put that anywhere he wants and he could make it an entirely new island. We just don't know what his idea for the velocity of the story is. After Elbow, I believe that he's slingshotting us into the end, but you just Never know. So one of my ideas for the end of the story, as you all know, many longtime listeners know, has been a battle on multiple fronts. So literally all of those options that you answered are not only possible, but like, possible at the same time, simultaneously.
- [121:02]
A
Yeah, all right.
- [121:04]
B
I know that's a shitty answer, but like, right. I would say that, yeah.
- [121:09]
A
Yeah. I have a hard time seeing all of these things as fully fleshed out arcs from going one after the other after the other. Just with the pace of things now, I do feel like it. I have a hard time seeing whatever, like by, you know, whatever. Whatever happens with the rest of Elbaf and who knows, like, they may reveal the last road poneglyph like, before we're done with Elbaf, for all I know. But if assuming. Assuming that isn't the case, I have a hard time seeing the next arc not being about that or that being, you know, in terms of story progression. Like, the goal of the next arc is like, okay, we have to talk about this last one so that we can get to the X marks the spot and you know, fulfill the promise of this story that we've been following for so long. So that is for sure. You know, for. For me, that feels like an ironclad requirement. But you know, all this other stuff of like, you know, who, who attacks whom and, and where and, and things like that, I really don't have like a super strong opinion on them at this point. But yeah, thank you for the question though. That's certainly some. Yes. Some parts of that that I had not considered or, or thought about as, as future, you know, story possibilities. So. And, and thank you for, for all of the many, many questions, not just you op at Champagneballa, but to everyone who sent in their questions. Once again, if you are on our Patreon, you can submit them to our SGS channel on Discord. We will read those first. And failing that, we also have SGS sensei all one word on Twitter or bluesky. I will check them both. So thanks and why don't we round this one off.
- [123:21]
B
Okey dokes.
- [123:23]
A
This episode is brought to you by State Farm.
- [123:26]
B
Checking off the boxes on your to.
- [123:28]
A
Do list is a great feeling. And when it comes to checking off coverage, a State Farm agent can help you choose an option that's right for you. Whether you prefer talking in person on the phone or using the award winning app, it's nice knowing you have help finding coverage that best fits your needs. Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. This is pro linebacker TJ Watt and I'm back with YPB by Abercrombie for another activewear drop. My second co design collection has new shorts and tanks that keep up with all my in season workouts. And their new Restore collection is a game changer off the field too, because even pro athletes like me need rest days. Shop YPB by Abercrombie in the app, online and in stores because your personal best is greater than anything. This has been the One Piece podcast episode 903 for the week of Monday, January 26, 2026. Another wonderful and enlightening episode of the SGS and as always, not possible without my good friend Greg.
- [124:49]
B
Oh, thank you. Yeah, someday we'll meet.
- [124:54]
A
Someday. Yes, we will. In the meantime though, as people await with bated breath our fateful meeting, where can they find what you have to say with your columns and such?
- [125:09]
B
You know that I get anxiety about this segment of the show.
- [125:13]
A
Say it every time each week.
- [125:15]
B
I just. I really. If you want to find me, you can find me. I'm out there.
- [125:21]
A
Okay.
- [125:24]
B
Send in an SGS and I might answer it. This. Every. Every time. This. This segment. I love. I. I love it. I love it. It's. Yeah. I actually think about how I'm going to answer this and I, I swore that this week I would answer like this. So. Okay, you'll find me. Go looking. All right.
- [125:40]
A
Yes. And I know you have been. You have been particularly active lately. I. I can tell that one piece has been on the. On the old Noggin for. For Greg with your. Your. The Go look and see what he has to say. As for me, of course you can find me on Blue sky at StephenPaul BSky Social Check out. Obviously, in addition to one piece, I also work on Akane Banashi, which recently I was kind of tickled that they announced some for. For the. The anime series that is coming up in April. I believe they've been doing cast announcements and our friend Akio Otsuka, AKA Blackbeard is playing the kind of villainous character, the, the very imposing mentor character, which is pretty cool.
- [126:38]
B
Isho Arakawa is Snake, the only nice person he's ever played.
- [126:46]
A
Yeah, they do tend to get typecast once they have a. Once they have a style. But yeah, that's. That's coming up in a few months. That's exciting. And I'm also working on this series, Kurumizawa's Folly, which is a neat kind of a thriller, you know, mystery ghost writing manga about, you know, proper, proper attribution of creative energies and such. So that one is also on Shonen, Jump and Manga plus as far as the the Viz stuff goes. As for the podcast itself, check out our site One Piece podcast.com you can follow us on social media. Twitter is pretty much inactive now. Bluesky@one piece podcast.com is where we will share the latest news and a deal will keep us all updated on what's going on. Follow us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. And yeah, no, no longer any voicemails. So do not call us at the modgy phone number. But that's it. That'll be it. That'll do it. We're done. We'll see you in however many weeks it is until our next break, perhaps. We'll see what happens. But until then, my name is Stephen.
- [128:17]
B
My name is Greg.
- [128:19]
A
And Simba. Simba's still chilling. He's not. He's not begging to be let in. He's just having a great time out there. I don't know.
- [128:26]
B
I'm not gonna lie. I do miss the meows. Yeah, I do miss the meows. So long, folks. Sam.