Episode 908, “The Mythical Ultraviolent Obsidian Dragon” (with Lucas DeRuyter)

Summary

THE ONE PIECE PODCAST – EPISODE 908
“The Mythical Ultraviolent Obsidian Dragon”
Release Date: March 2, 2026
Host: Zach (Maji Media)
Special Guest: Lucas DeRuyter (Anime News Network, Anime Feminist, IGN)

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, the One Piece Podcast panel dives into Chapter 1175 of the manga, “Nidhogger”, a chapter packed with Norse mythology references, massive dragon action, and fan-favorite violence against a loathed villain. The hosts are joined by anime journalist Lucas DeRuyter for a lively mix of fandom history, deep-dive manga analysis, debate on Norse myth integration, devil fruit theorycrafting, and discussion of the upcoming One Piece Live Action season.

---

Table of Contents

1. Introductions & Lucas’ One Piece Origin Story
2. Fandom Icebreakers: Favorite Characters & Arcs
3. Latest News: Live Action Season 2, Events & Promotions
4. Main Segment: Manga Recap – Chapter 1175 “Nidhogger”
5. Discussion: Dragon Lore, Devil Fruits & Norse References
6. Piece Together: Listener Questions & Community Theories
7. Closing Thoughts, Plugs & Community Initiatives

---

1. Introductions & Lucas’ One Piece Origin Story

Timestamps: 01:27–06:08

• Host Zach introduces the panel: Ed, Sam, Ken (archivist), and special guest Lucas DeRuyter.
• Lucas shares how he discovered One Piece on Toonami as a pre-teen and grew with the series. He transitioned from the 4Kids dub to FUNimation, switching to manga around age 16 due to impatience for anime release pacing.

  “I am a 30 year old man, so One Piece was on Toonami when I was 10 years old. And somehow over the course of 20 years, it's become a big part of my life that I have a lot of opinions about.” —Lucas (03:11)

• Anecdotes about growing up with One Piece, differences in dubbed versions, and the maturing of the series alongside its fans.

---

2. Fandom Icebreakers: Favorite Characters & Arcs

Timestamps: 06:08–14:17

The classic One Piece Podcast “Three Questions” for new guests, plus more:

• Favorite Straw Hat: Usopp

  “Usopp is just a guy we all know... he's just that kind of guy dialed up 60% more.” —Lucas (07:18)

• Favorite Antagonist: Crocodile

  “His plans would just work in real life... that's actually really well informed sociopolitical writing in that character.” —Lucas (07:59)

• Favorite Secondary/Obscure Character:
  • Killingham (“pet favorite”—because he chooses to go around as a centaur)
  • Pearl (early weird fight logic), Gaimon (the “little dude in a treasure chest”)
• Favorite Arc: Thriller Bark

  “The last time One Piece was maybe firing on all cylinders for me... giant exercise in creativity, casually feeding into some long-term world building.” —Lucas (12:27)

• Favorite Anime Opening:
  The original “We Are!” and appreciation for the Egghead opening’s animation
• Team banter about the nostalgia of older arcs and “lost” anime like MÄR and Scryed.

---

3. Latest News: Live Action Season 2, Events & Promotions

Timestamps: 14:17–19:36

• Live Action S2 News:
  • Theatrical premiere March 10th in select theaters in US, Canada, Japan; Netflix launch March 15th.
  • Appearances upcoming on The Tonight Show (with Jimmy Fallon) by lead cast members.
  • Exclusive clips released by IGN show the Straw Hat crew in classic banter mode—praised by the panel as the best part of early One Piece.

  “Honestly, the more attention it gets, the happier I am.” —Ken (17:14)

• Promos and Tie-ins:
  • Giveaway gifts for moviegoers in Japan
  • One Piece trading card ads during sports broadcasts
• Discussion of viewing strategies (“binge or savor?”) and anticipation for OPLA interviews post-Netflix release.

---

4. Main Segment: Manga Recap – Chapter 1175 “Nidhogger”

Timestamps: 22:23–90:57

Opening Gags & SBS

• Oda’s Author’s Note:
  • Oda is delighted by the practicality of McDonald’s wooden salad forks in Japan.

Chapter Recap (Major Points)

• Sanji rescues Robin from magical thorns with a fiery kick.

• Nidhogger Revealed:

  • Loki, Elbaf’s prince, finally unleashes the mythical Nidhogger Dragon fruit (model: Obsidian Dragon).
  • Visuals evoke Western “shadow over the world” dragons; raw double spreads praised.

  “Every time I saw another two-page spread, I thought it was the end—Oda really delivered on the scale this week.” —Zach (29:01)

• Town Evacuation & Banter:

  • The giants are evacuating children; Loki (in true Norse fashion) is grouchy and aloof.
  • Manic energy as Luffy in giant form perches atop Nidhogger-Loki:

    “Hey Zoro, I'm up here! I'm sitting on top of a giant dragon!” —Luffy (31:06)

• Summers’ Last Stand & Epic Punch:

  • Summers menaces survivors with thorn-creature hydras, but Zoro and Luffy break through.
  • Luffy uses “Dawn Thor Rifle” to obliterate Summers; panel described as one of the series’ most satisfying “big punchies.”

  “At first I thought it was just lightning, but he’s literally being split—severed into multiple pieces.” —Ken (41:05)

  • Massive celebration as hostages are freed.

• Norse Mythology Lore Drop:

  • Flashback: Elbaf’s ancient legend describes the dragon-dragon fruit (Nidhogger) as increasing in power relative to the size of its user; a mythic god warrior wielded “Ragnar Iron Lightning” and fought the Sun God Nika, aided by his loyal ice squirrel, Ratatoskr.

  “Interesting that they were enemies... it’s the first time we see the ancient Nika and an ancient giant as true rivals in the world.” —Ed (50:20)

• Loki’s Rampage:

  • Obsidian dragon Loki scorches the enemy; Oda’s art praised for scale and kinetic energy.
  • Lively discussion about Ratatoskr, the origins of the hammer, and fairy-tale logic.

• Connections to Imu & Lore:

  • Panel focus on Emu seeing Loki’s power through Gunko’s eyes: “I see… so Nidhogger, that’s where thou were. I knew I left you somewhere.” (55:27)

---

5. Discussion: Dragon Lore, Devil Fruits & Norse References

Timestamps: 55:46–90:55

• Art & Theming Praise:

  • The chapter is called “gorgeous,” with standout spreads and well-orchestrated action.

• Norse Motifs:

  • Hammer (Ragnar) and squirrel (Ratatoskr) references, potential interpretations of Nika and Nidhogger’s legendary rivalry.
  • Playful debate over the literal mechanics and possible “power scaling” of the hammer, ice powers, and how Devil Fruits might evolve with each user.
  • “Do Devil Fruits reflect the will and imagination of the user? Is the fruit’s identity mutable?” (76:22+)

• Oda’s Mythic Storytelling:

  • Reflections on One Piece’s sense of vast time, legend, and historical scale.

  “There’s something about the depth of history and time that One Piece manages to capture…” —Zach (71:11)

  • Speculation about the origin of Nika legend, timeline of the ancient giants, and the intertwining of real and invented myth.

---

6. Piece Together: Listener Questions & Community Theories

Timestamps: 92:55–119:40

• Notable Viewer Topics:

  • Whether Season 2 of the Live Action should foreshadow future events (e.g. including Brook hints early, or killing Pell for real).

    “I admire the Live Action as a work of adaptation—building on manga and anime rather than just translating them.” —Lucas (96:00)

  • Norse myth references in Elbaf ship iconography.
  • Would Barney the Dinosaur be a Nidhogger Fruit user? (Humorous)
  • Connections between Loki/Nidhogger, Shirahoshi, Uranus, and the ancient weapons.
  • The logic and power of the hammer “Ragnar” (is it lightning/ice, how did the squirrel get in, etc.)
  • Mother Flame and Ancient Weapons: Is the weapon used on Lulusia Uranus, powered by the Mother Flame?

    “Vegapunk confirms the flame I created was used to activate an ancient weapon... so it all but confirms that.” —Ken (129:13)

• Memorable Exchanges:

  • Listener Pongzilla: “I just think you are all awesome. That's it.”

    Lucas: “That's gonna get me through the week ahead.” (93:31)

  • Listener: “Fuck Sommers and fuck ice.” (94:47)
  • Group joke about hammer “tier lists” and power scaling (90:47+)

---

7. Closing Thoughts, Plugs & Community Initiatives

Timestamps: 131:08–139:53

• Final Thoughts:

  • General sentiment: “Extremely satisfying to see Loki unleashed, and Summers truly get his comeuppance.”
  • Some wish other Straw Hats contributed more, but accept the arc’s current action focus.

• Plugs:

  • Lucas: Reviews at Anime News Network, current coverage includes Golden Kamuy and Jujutsu Kaisen; active on BlueSky @lucasderuyter; Anime Herald Magazine contributor.
  • Ken: @kindking01 everywhere; updates on OP Art Collab and OP Podcast Atlas magazine project (in progress).
  • Podcast: Discord “Arc Madness” bracket-style arc tournament running through March—join to vote and discuss!
  • Sam: On BlueSky @lcsam
  • Zach: @zachlogan; general OPP socials and YouTube.

• Community Reminder:

  • Piece Together call for questions/comments (Discord/Patreon for priority).
  • Magazine and manga recaps ongoing.
  • “As always, fuck ice.” —Zach (139:53)

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Lucas’ Origin (03:11):

  “Somehow over the course of 20 years, it’s become a big part of my life that I have a lot of opinions about.”

• On Crocodile’s Realism (07:59):

  “His plans would just work in real life…that’s really well informed sociopolitical writing in that character.”

• On the Epic Punch (41:05):

  “The punch…it's literally being split. Like, severed into multiple pieces.”

• On Oda’s Use of Time & Scale in Storytelling (71:11):

  "There's something about the depth of history and time that One Piece does manage to capture."

• Live Action as Adaptation (96:00):

  “I admire the Live Action as a work of adaptation—building on manga and anime rather than just translating them.”

• On Norse Naming & Devil Fruit Logic (74:56–79:06):

  “For the first time the dragon-dragon fruit has been applied to something that is immediately ascribed to being a dragon in Nidhogger.”

---

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:27 – Episode/guest introductions and One Piece origin stories
• 06:08 – Fandom icebreakers: favorite characters, arcs, and music
• 14:17 – One Piece Live Action Season 2 news (premiere dates, appearances, promo items)
• 22:23 – Manga Recap for Chapter 1175 “Nidhogger” begins
• 29:01 – Loki’s Nidhogger dragon form revealed (art praise)
• 41:01 – Luffy obliterates Summers (epic “Dawn Thor Rifle”)
• 50:16 – Elbaf flashback: mythological lore about Nika and Nidhogger
• 53:44 – Loki’s rampage, art/destruction, and discussion
• 55:27 – Panel: Imu’s knowledge of the Nidhogger (mystery deepens)
• 71:11 – Deeper conversation about time, legend, and historical scale in One Piece
• 92:55 – Piece Together (listener Q&A/discussion)
• 131:08 – Plugs and closing segment
• 136:02 – Announcement: Arc Madness bracket tournament (Discord)
• 139:53 – Closing remarks (“as always, fuck ice.”)

---

Tone & Style

• Warm, enthusiastic, and irreverent; packed with banter, high-energy theorizing, and inclusive humor.
• In-depth fan-critical style, always circling back to Oda’s craft and the thematic coherence of the manga.
• Frequent asides, callbacks to classic “One Piece Podcast” bits, and meta-commentary on the fandom experience.

---

Final Takeaway

This episode stands out for its blend of lore-heavy manga analysis, playful fandom in-jokes, and passionate appreciation for Oda’s storytelling. It’s a “must listen” for fans eager to understand the new dragon mythos, the evolving legacy of Nika, and how One Piece continues to blend epic fantasy, pop culture, and found family with its signature wink-and-nod charm.

And as always… fuck ice!

Transcript

[Ad Host]

Get in the game with the College branded Venmo Debit Card. Wreck your team with every tap and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance, just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit [e-mail] collegecard the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank NA Select Schools available Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo me stash terms max $100 cash back per month this episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast Smart move Being financially savvy Smart move. Another smart move having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.

[Zach]

This is the One Piece podcast episode 908 for the the week of Monday, March 2, 2026. And yes, it is Sanji's birthday. For those wondering, my name is Zach.

[Ed]

My name is Ed.

[Zach]

I'm happy I looked that up accidentally. We have on today's episode our anime recap host. The anime, by the way, returning in April. So that's a month away. This April we have Sam Leach with us. How's it going, Sam?

[Sam]

Next April? Because we're not in April now, so it's wrong to call it next April.

[Zach]

Speaking of, we have our archivist, Ken o' Connor with us. How's it going, Ken?

[Ken]

Y' all are stealing my Joker after the start. Happy March everyone. For now, we are officially in March.

[Zach]

This is your month. All of a sudden, this is my month.

[Ken]

This is my month to shine.

[Zach]

Two years ago or four years ago? Has it been.

[Ken]

Oh my God.

[Zach]

Probably today's guest a writer for. I'm gonna miss some of your bylines, I'm sure. But we have Lucas, the writer who has written on. You know what? I'll let you, Lucas, say everything so I don't miss anything.

[Lucas]

Hello. Yeah, hello everyone. I'm Lucas de Ruyter. I've written for Too Many Places to Remember, but lately Anime News Network, IGN a little while back, Anime Feminist for Ever ago. And anyone else who wants some good anime gaming culture writing if you're out there, I'm very affordable and my DMs

[Zach]

are open there it is. Lucas, when we have new guests on, we ask them, how did you get into One Piece? What's your origin story?

[Lucas]

I am a 30 year old man, so one piece was on Toonami when I was 10 years old. And somehow over the course of 20 years, um, it's become a big part of my life that I have a lot of opinions about.

[Ed]

I don't like to think about the fact that Zach and I were in freshman year of college 20 years ago when one piece was on Toonami.

[Zach]

Yeah, why would you even mention that? You're hurting me.

[Ed]

Because that was 2006. I remember it was the summer of 2006. After our freshman year is when I watched the anime at the time.

[Zach]

Mm, yeah, there's a lot of people listening.

[Ed]

Eddie was just starting in the anime at the time.

[Zach]

Ed, there's a lot of people listening who were not born when we started watching One Piece. And I hate to tell you that, but it is unfortunately true.

[Ed]

I'm not that old yet. Getting older every year.

[Zach]

How does that keep happening? I thought you would do something about that. Luckily, that doesn't happen to me. Lucas. So what was it that like, hooked its. Have you just always, you know, been consistently on the boat since it's been on Toonami when you were 10?

[Lucas]

Yeah, I. So the thing that was.

[Ed]

When did you switch from the anime to the manga?

[Lucas]

That was going to be probably close to ages 16 or 17. I got fed up with waiting for the anime to come out, realized, oh, a lot of the manga is online through dubious sources when I would have been 17, but still online available for me to read. So I got caught up instead of waiting for the anime. But yeah, no, I am kind of fortuitous in that I got into One Piece. I was at an age. I was at like a transitional age where I didn't really mind the four Kids dub. That's just what cartoon sounded like for me. And then as I. I think I was about 13, 14, 15 when they switched to the more accurate, more mature, whatever you want to call it, FUNimation dub. And then I'm like, oh, perfect. I'm just the right age for that transition to actually be like a big win for me and carry on. Yeah. So I don't know. I guess that's my way of saying that One Piece has matured along with.

[Ed]

What other anime were you into at the time?

[Lucas]

I was a Pokemon kid. I was big into Pokemon. Actually, speaking of Anime News Network, they're paying me to review the new Fire Red port for The Nintendo Switch. So that'll be a fun project for me. But yeah. God, what was big in high school? Does anyone remember Mayor? I don't know why, but I'm remembering that was an anime I also watched in high school.

[Sam]

Mares Mar.

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Yeah, I vaguely remember that.

[Zach]

Is that how that's pronounced? I do vaguely. There's an umlaut on the A right or something, right? Yeah.

[Sam]

Or it's like a. It's like an abbreviation of something.

[Zach]

Yeah, I vaguely remember that one. Like, that definitely was in the background.

[Sam]

That's one of those. Like, that does not even really come up in like nostalgic conversations much.

[Zach]

No, there's. When I was on Quest for the Vest a little while ago, I mentioned that several times already, but we were talking about, like, series that are like that and like, you know, Scryd is kind of. I feel like the one that pops into my head of a series I've watched and that I really forgot that I watched. Like the memory of it has been sucked out of my brain and I feel like that probably fits, you know, kind of there. So now that you're at the end of your origin here, we have to ask you some questions. There's only one right answer to these. You may have heard them before, since you mentioned you listened to the cat interview from a few weeks ago, but pretend that you've never heard them before. First, who is your favorite straw hat? Umm.

[Lucas]

God, Usopp is a lot of fun. I feel like Usopp hasn't had great screen time lately, but like on other podcasts, forever ago now I've said Usopp is my favorite character. Just like hang out with, exist around. He's just a guy we all know. Like someone who is like 40% USOPP. And USOPP is just that kind of guy dialed up 60% more.

[Zach]

Yeah, you don't have to stick with the same answer. I. In fact, I believe my answers for all of these questions probably change relatively frequently. But it's. It's. If you want to stick, you can. Second question. Who is your favorite antagonist in one piece?

[Lucas]

Oh, I know. This is an easy one and a topical one with the second season of the live action series coming out soon. But Crocodile. Crocodile mostly because his plans would just work in real life. That is actually really well informed sociopolitical writing in that character. He is. Oh yeah. He was effectively disrupting a government in a way that would work in real life.

[Zach]

Wow. Yeah. When you compare Doflamingo and Crocodile, if you put them in Real life and gave them those same tools somehow. Yeah.

[Ken]

I feel like Doflamingo's plan was too complicated. Crocodile treated some more was more effective.

[Zach]

Doflamingo's plan was too complicated in the One Piece world, a world which lives in complication. Third question. Who is your favorite character that does not fit into one of those two buckets?

[Lucas]

Ooh, a more neutral character that I'm.

[Ed]

Secondary character. Hero or villain?

[Zach]

Tertiary Primary, but not really primary. Primary in your eyes. I.

[Lucas]

I really like that. Okay, so this is going to be a terrible reason for this person to be my favorite secondary character. Yeah, no, I think he counts as that category. Killingham right now is kind of my pet favorite character. I have a soft spot for this archetype of character that is like, they are really stoked to be a centaur. This comes from playing the video game Bravely Second, the sequel to my favorite game of all time, Bravely Default. Not Bravely Default. Dude, that game is terrible. But Bravely Second, there's an iteration of the character from Irish myth Cuchulun, who is inexplicably a centaur, and he is stoked about it. And then when I was in Mexico City with my partner a couple of years back for Day of the Dead, in one of the grand square squares down there, there was a version of Pancho Villa that was both a skeleton and a centaur and giant and is just like, you know what? I like and respect anyone who's like, yeah, I want to be a centaur. I want my body to be even better for war. And that's killing him. For some reason. He doesn't have to be a centaur, but he is just choosing to go around like that half the time.

[Ed]

It's the year of the horse.

[Zach]

It is the year of the horse. I am told the year of the centaur is as we hear in the pod. But you must have loved Punk Hazard then, because there were so many centaurs and Luffy became kind of a centaur by putting someone's butt on their butt. Right. Isn't that Kinemon's butt legs? Oh, it was Kinemon's legs and butt. Yeah. It talked by farting, so that's why my brain. Anyway, more mature topics. That was me. Who? I'll ask this one if you think killing him's your answer for it too. Who is your favorite obscure character, a character you like that you don't really even think anyone remembers except for us? Cause, you know,

[Lucas]

I really liked Early One Piece that was just filled with weird little guys and very even more cartoon logic explanation for things. Pearl learning a fighting style of lighting himself on fire. With the explanation being because he grew up in the jungle. That is terrific. And also him having. I forget the name of it. But a blood phobia because he's so focused on defense. That is really great small character writing. But I think the little dude. I think the little dude who was like in Treasure Chest. Yes. Yeah. That is terrific. Amazing.

[Zach]

Both great answers. You have the support of most of our podcast.

[Ed]

Gaimon who eventually got a little treasure chest wife.

[Zach]

Yeah. Gaimon Serf Uncle. Yeah. It's good for them. I hope they have a band together. Next one. What is your favorite story arc in One Piece? I.

[Lucas]

So I think that the last time One Piece was maybe firing on all cylinders for me was. Oh my God, why is the name escaping me? It's the story arc where Brooke is introduced.

[Zach]

Thriller Bark.

[Lucas]

Thriller Bark. Yes. Thriller Bark was. I think the last time One Piece was really firing on all cylinders for me where it was just this giant exercise in creativity will also make like casually feeding into some long term world building and also pacing issues in Thriller Park.

[Ed]

Especially at the end of the fight with Moria.

[Zach]

That's the anime, I think. Yeah. So like when I reread Thriller Park, I agree with you 100% that the anime has a lot of those. I mean that's not really so unusual with the One Piece anime, but the manga is. I think you were describing that arc well in the manga.

[Ed]

And we do have a couple of anime centric questions. Do you have a favorite opening or ending theme?

[Lucas]

The first opening of One Piece is the best one. Like that is it. It's classic. They kind of nailed it out of the gate. And I appreciate everyone. That's an iteration on it. The. The one they did for Egghead. That was like a marvel of animation. Yes. Yeah, I didn't love the song on that one. That wasn't top tier for me. But the animation and it being kind of a celebration of the entire series or at least the second half of the series. I really appreciate it.

[Ed]

Us. Or as some people romanized it, Assu.

[Zach]

Yes, I forgot. Okay. I think that's. Did you have something else, Ed, or was that.

[Ed]

No, I just wanted to make sure we got the anime question in.

[Zach]

Yeah, I know.

[Lucas]

Music.

[Ed]

Music question.

[Zach]

Gotta get the music in before we get started. We have One Piece news to go through and it's all live action related as previously. So first, the One Piece live action season two premieres on the 15th. Correct. Me, if I'm wrong. Of Marvel.

[Ed]

No, no, it's the 10th.

[Zach]

The 10th. Well, so the first two episodes are premiering in the select theaters in the United States, Canada and Japan on March 10. I think if you search right now, like on Fandango or, you know, your whatever you use to book tickets for movies.

[Ken]

You sound so old.

[Zach]

Whatever the kids use.

[Ken]

What are the kids use nowadays? Using the Fandang.

[Zach]

I just don't go to theaters often enough.

[Ken]

That's fair. That's fair.

[Zach]

Yeah. That's more me than my age. Anyway, it's gonna be playing in 200 theaters that day only at 6pm wherever you might live. So the local time. Now I sound old. It'll also be for those who are in Japan. It will also be premiering there on the same day, which is technically a day earlier. Nationwide. They'll have.

[Ed]

But it'll be on Netflix on the 15th, it sounds like.

[Zach]

Yeah, they'll have messages from Inyaki and Oda. So I assume we're going to get that giant transponder snail talking again. Cool. And a limited. And this is at least in Japan, I don't know if that's going to be the case here, but we'll see. Plus a limited in Japan, 30,000 nationwide theater exclusive admission gift. Because they love those over there. So if anyone is there, please pick me up at least one of those. I appreciate it. I don't know what it is, but I want it. I need it. I don't collect the card game. Give me something here. I'm not.

[Ed]

I was watching a college basketball game, what, a week and a half ago or so, and I saw, I think, a one piece trading card game ad. They're doing a college basketball partnership.

[Zach]

It is everywhere. It is everywhere speaking.

[Ken]

That's insane.

[Zach]

This isn't even a good segue because I'm going back to live action. The cast is going to be on. What is this show? The Tonight show with Jimmy Fallon. Okay. March. I don't know about that. March the fifth. That's this Thursday as of us recording it. And from the picture, it looks like it's going to be Taz, Emily, Inaki, McKenu and Jacob. So that's Sanji, Nami, Luffy, Zorro, Usopp, respectively. So look forward to that. I don't know. I don't know what's going to be involved in it or. But I have opinions on Fallon and they're not good. But I'm glad that they're there.

[Ken]

So it's so nice seeing the Live action get more attention. Like the more attention it gets, honestly, the happier I am. But I understand the reservations.

[Zach]

No, that's my reservations about Jimmy Fallon. It has nothing to do with the cast. They also came out ign, I know. Came out with an exclusive clip of season season two, which was a lot of fun. It is actually my favorite part of One Piece, which is the crew hanging out and just talking and bantering. So more of that? Yeah, no, I'm. I am excited to see some of that. A staple of early One Piece as we were talking about the. It's. It's specific glory days and. And we haven't had time for that recently because, you know, giants and dragons. Oh my. Any. Any other thoughts as we lead up? When is the live Action is going to be coming out in two weeks?

[Ken]

March 10th.

[Zach]

Yeah, it is March 10th. I was wrong.

[Ken]

Yeah, it's Mario Day. March 10th.

[Zach]

Oh, I'm okay. Well, I don't know why I said 15th. I don't know what I was thinking.

[Ken]

I double checked when you said it too. Like that didn't sound right. I feel like it's earlier than that.

[Zach]

Okay, well, March 10th, March 10th.

[Ken]

Are you planning on watching them all at once? Are you gonna slow roll them?

[Zach]

I think I did like one or two at a time last time and I didn't watch them the day they came out. I watched them. I had to watch them pretty quick though, because I had to talk about them.

[Ken]

You have so much more self control than I do. I watched them all in a day.

[Zach]

I don't have that kind of time.

[Ken]

That's true, that's true. I have a luxury. I get it.

[Zach]

I mean, unless I don't.

[Sam]

Steven, I binged the whole season when it went out last time. I don't. I think it's too. Too short noticed to ask for that day off of work this time.

[Zach]

But yeah, I don't know. We should probably do something. You know, I am hoping to put together a new season of our Opla interviews, but those probably will not be ready until after. Thank you. There it is, Ed. Until the season comes out on Netflix. But yep, I think everyone knows about it. There's a live Action One Piece and it has a second season and mom's.

[Ed]

I think if Alex was here, he'd back me up on that Opla.

[Ken]

Oh, absolutely.

[Zach]

Yes. That's what they say in Greece. They say Opla spanakopita.

[Ken]

Is that when they break the plates?

[Zach]

Sure. You know.

[Ken]

Okay, nevermind.

[Zach]

No, I mean Oppa is the like. Cheers.

[Ken]

Gotcha.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's the joke. Anyway, let's talk about the one piece manga right after this commercial break. Or if you're on Patreon, nothing now.

[Ad Host]

Chronic migraine 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more, can make me feel like a spectator in my own life. Botox on a Button Etulinum toxin a prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It's the number one prescribed branded chronic migraine preventive treatment prescription.

[Zach]

Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including als, Lou Gehrig's disease, Myasthenia gravis or Lambert Eaton syndrome and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Why wait?

[Ad Host]

Ask your doctor, visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-844botox to learn more.

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

The Fed's out of Options Rate cuts, Money printing, balance sheet reversals. They call it policy, but it's really panic. This is endgame economics, where hope replaces discipline and the illusion of control finally breaks. They're not cutting rates because things are strong. They're cutting because the system is cracking. Inflation's eating savings, the labor market stalling. Confidence in the dollar is fading fast. For decades, the Fed built a house of paper. Now they're striking the match that could burn it all down, leaving you to pay the price. When's the last time you actually held the wealth you've spent your life working for? My friends at Noble Gold Investments have been helping Americans move from paper wealth into into real, tangible assets. Numbers on a screen can disappear, but physical gold and silver, they've outlasted every crisis in history. Visit noblegoldinvestments.com and get your free wealth protection kit today. That's noblegoldinvestments.com for your free Wealth Protection Kit, discover how simple it is to protect your future. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Investing in precious metals, including gold, involves risks. Consult with your tax attorney or financial professional before making an investment decision.

[Zach]

This is the manga recap for chapter 1175. Nidhogger, who's hogging the NIDS? We'll find out this week. You could read this chapter in all chapters as soon as they come out at Shonen Jump, Viz.com or MangaPlus. Shueisha Co JP before we get into the chapter though, add what is Oda talking about this week?

[Ed]

Our boy ate a salad. It's big news in itself.

[Zach]

That is big news. Yeah.

[Ed]

He says the wooden fork that comes with the salad at McDonald's. I used it for the first time and I was impressed with how well it works. So Oda ate a salad, which is good news.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ed]

From McDonald's, but still,

[Zach]

first time I used the fork at McDonald's. Apparently they have wooden forks, at least in Japan.

[Ken]

But does that imply this is the first salad he had there? Or take it as a salad? McDonald's. He eats his hand. Like he doesn't have fork or it's

[Ed]

the old school salad shaker and he just drinks it out of the cup.

[Ken]

Oh, right.

[Ed]

I wonder if Japanese people struggle with forks like we struggle with chopsticks.

[Lucas]

That was a gag. That was a gag on the most recent episode of Golden Kamui that I reviewed.

[Ken]

Was it really? Yeah.

[Lucas]

No. They teach the main character how to eat proper dinner, how to eat properly, and then the curveball is that is a western style dinner. And he does not. He does not know that etiquette.

[Ken]

Yeah, I love that. Cool.

[Zach]

Okay, so what's going on in the COVID story, Ed?

[Ed]

It's a reader request for Saba with koala babies hanging all over him by Ramen Maru. There's at least five. It looks like five koalas, including Sabo's girlfriend.

[Zach]

Well, I was gonna say, I think they. The writer forgot to put a possessive on koala. It was supposed to be Sabo with koalas hanging all over him.

[Ken]

It's their babies.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's their babies. Yeah. Like I saw this. I'm like, this is def.

[Ed]

One of these babies is kind of like a salaryman with his short sleeve white collar shirt.

[Zach]

You're asking how babies hang all over you? That's pretty easy. They do that. They. They do that.

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Ken]

I'm assuming that now that's the father at the table then. And the baby, his babies are on sabo.

[Zach]

Oh, my God. Yes.

[Ed]

You're probably eating some sort of.

[Ken]

Looks like a sandwich.

[Zach]

He's eating a eucalyptus sandwich. I think we could all say.

[Ken]

Oh, yeah, like the leaves.

[Zach]

Yeah. Because I'm assuming those are the leaves that a koala eats. These are adorable koalas. And as we learned from John Oliver's program, probably they all have chlamydia. That's what the fact about koalas. I know. Hey, watch.

[Ed]

I've heard that too.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, he has. John Oliver has. Not to spoil it, but there is a John Oliver's koala chlamydia ward in Australia that exists, so he had that named after him. Good for him, right?

[Sam]

If. If everybody has chlamydia. Nobody does. That's.

[Zach]

That's the koala way. That is the koala way. I apologize to Koala the character.

[Lucas]

No one look up how koalas develop the gut biome to subsist on eucalyptus. That. That will ruin koalas more than what you said.

[Sam]

Thing.

[Zach]

Yes. Wow. Okay, two good. We have ruined koalas for everyone this evening.

[Ken]

Why do I know so little about koalas compared to you people?

[Zach]

That's what I've been asking you, Ken.

[Ken]

Of all the subjects that I have no knowledge on, it's koalas, apparently.

[Zach]

You know, Yamato.

[Ken]

No Yamato. That's about it.

[Zach]

That's it.

[Sam]

You replaced all the koala knowledge in

[Zach]

your brain with yamato.

[Ken]

Yamato and huskies. Yes, Kendall.

[Lucas]

Huskies.

[Zach]

Huskies. Huskies. Huskies. That's true. What if there were a husky koala? Then maybe. Or what if you dressed.

[Ken]

Is that just a real fat koala? A husky koala?

[Zach]

A very. Yeah, that's okay. A nice way to put it, I guess.

[Ken]

Yes. Don't fat shame the koala. Just call him.

[Zach]

I'm not fat shame. I'm saying I think you should dress your dog up like a koala and then keep it away from other dogs because of the reasons we've mentioned. Okay, let's start the chapter, Ken.

[Ken]

All right.

[Zach]

Throwing it right on you after that.

[Ken]

Yeah. Thank you for that. All right, we start off the chapter with a big fiery kick from Sanji, slashing down on the thorns surrounding Robin. And Nami says, I'm so happy Robin. And Robin is thanking Sanji. And so usops like, yeah, that's our Sanji. Like, she saved him.

[Ed]

And Onigashima, right? Against Black Maria.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Ken]

Yes, I think so.

[Zach]

Oh, yes, you did. You're right. Okay. That's a good way to think of it.

[Ken]

Yeah. And then someone says, I guess it was vulnerable to heat. That's a relief. And I'm just pausing right here. This bothered me so much. At no point did any of them think, ah, the vines, the plants, they Must not be weak to fire. Like this is Pokemon 101. You use Fire on the vines.

[Zach]

To be fair, Elbaf is also weak to fire.

[Ed]

True.

[Zach]

So give them that. I'll give them that.

[Ken]

Robin says there's no time to celebrate. And Sanji agrees between the hockey and the roaring. And then it pans over to something emerging from the mist out in the trees. What's that shadow?

[Ed]

It's like the shark's fin.

[Ken]

Yes. Dunn. Loki. Loki. Loki. Loki. Loki. All right, then. We're taken to the western village and all of the children and the parents are being dropped off. And various giants going, Ripley. Oimo Roto. And the kids are, please help our parents. They got stabbed by our thorns. Mommy's gonna die. And one of the giants screams at loki, Loki, this village is in danger. Take the children somewhere safer. And Loki, still in dragon form, replies, not. Not my problem. The only thing I'll do to people who climb on my back is dump them off.

[Zach]

I don't know. I feel like Loki should have a more fitting voice in this.

[Ken]

Let me read that then.

[Zach]

No, no, no, no, no. I mean, when I say more fitting, I mean not my problem. Oh, no, not my problem. The only thing I'll do is, you know, something like really sassier. Yeah, it's not my problem.

[Ken]

The only thing I'll do to people who climb on my back is dump them off. Like that.

[Zach]

Needs more falsetto. Okay.

[Ken]

I don't know why you wanted falsetto.

[Lucas]

I'm fine with going full pika for Loki until the anime proves us otherwise.

[Zach]

That's where my joke was, apparently. Get off me. Yeah, so now get off, mate. No. Oh, he should probably be. You know, he does have a New Yorker vibe to him. I should be. Now get off of me. And New Yorkers can't do New York accents. That's. That's the secret here. What a cool spread, though. This is. I. This chapter. I'll say, every time I turned and saw this really cool two page spread, I'm like, okay, to be continued at the bottom, right? And there was like four of them. So I. That was. That was a fun surprise. This other dragon here, that's Nidhogger. That's the. That's the. That's the dream. The nightmare Nidhogger looking at.

[Ken]

Oh, you're looking at page four or.

[Zach]

Yeah, he's looking, right. I assume dragon, you mean. Yeah, the sleep titger. The dream Nidogger. Yeah, got it. The dreamt up. Anyway, what a cool spread though. So he has do we know the name of the winged one. I don't even know. The winged sleep tit is hanging out of Loki's nidhogg mouth. And he has one claw in the foreground on one of the branches. On one of the branches of the Adam tree. Right? I think it's been confirmed, right?

[Ken]

Yes.

[Zach]

And the other claw next to the western village there as Luffy in his giant form, the same size as the squirrel on top of. On top of Loki in his. In his dragon form, saying, hey, Zorro. Hey, I'm up here. Do you see me? I'm. I'm sitting on top of a giant dragon.

[Ken]

Hey, you guys.

[Zach]

Zorro. I do love how all the sleep tits are freaking the f out down here. That's really great. Meanwhile, on the loudspeaker, Yarrow says, attention Elbaf. All. All the children are safe and Nami, Robin and Jim BAE are all very happy about this and there are no longer any hostages. And I do love this. Just like rawing crowd just saying, good. All right. Good, good. I guess that's okay. Um, what an excellent panel here of the giant Luffy in the bottom right waving in the way that my one year old waves hello at me or goodbye at Zorro, saying, oh, what took you so. Oh, this is Zoro saying, what took you so long? And is that dragon? And Luffy finishes his sandwiches and says, yes, that's Loki. If you're here, at least I could be sure that this place is safe. And Zoro's like, yeah, okay, sure, let's say. Anyway, since you're all giant, you guys should crush those dream monsters before they destroy all of Elbaf. And Luffy's like, yep, got it. Meanwhile, an explosion, or actually shots to doom being fired into the. Into the crowd there in the Western village. Oimo, who has seen better days, and Angie both also seeing better days, saying, oh, what's landing on us? They're thorns. Oh no, I know what that means. Meanwhile, here he comes, the guy everyone hates, Summers on his thorn. We'll see his thorn creature saying, you fools are wasting your time. You're not supposed to be alive, you miserable credence. Give me my back. My emotions. I need my emotions. I know what he's saying, but it's still funny to think of it like that. And yeah, we see Ridley Roto and Oimo looking up at this prick.

[Sam]

Sam, you turn the page and we got Lou. This is Summer saying, on the other hand, this works for me if the brats are still alive. I haven't Failed yet. I can still take them to the Holy Land as planned, however. And then he's summoning a little hydra of Thorn Lizards with cannons for tongues. I assume the cannons are also made of thorn.

[Ed]

Do they fire thorns?

[Sam]

I don't know.

[Zach]

They do. That's what they've been firing. Yeah, yeah.

[Sam]

And the kids are down below. They're still tied up and they're shouting, we're not gonna let you do that. Or first Summers is saying of, I'll finish off those half dead parents now. Using my Thorn launchers, of course. And then the kids are protesting, of course. We're not gonna let you do that. Now it's my turn to protect mommy. Yeah, me too.

[Zach]

Me too.

[Sam]

And then, like, Summers has this. Like, he is. He is aghast. He is shocked by the nobility and the cuteness. And he's like putting his hands on his head. He's crying. His tongue is out. He's like, oh, that's so sweet. Kids are the best. Now I don't even care about the mission. Who should I kill first? I'll never forget the bravery written on your stupid little faces. Farewell. And then, da da da da da da. Like machine gun thorns,

[Ken]

no hesitation.

[Lucas]

Ripley.

[Sam]

Ripley is. Ripley's pleaing, Colin, please run. And Colin says, no, Mommy. I'll keep you safe. And then, you know, there's a wham. As the thorns keep landing around him and are about to hit him in the face.

[Zach]

Lukas, what happens next?

[Lucas]

We get Zorro. We get Zolo coming to the rescue, knocking away all of the thorns.

[Sam]

Thorns.

[Lucas]

I can't quite tell from the panel if he is cutting them or if they. Well, no. They've been described as indestructible.

[Ed]

Yes.

[Lucas]

Yeah, but that is deflecting them.

[Ed]

He's charging directly into them and they're going off.

[Zach]

Okay, to flex something that's indestructible.

[Lucas]

Right? I just want to not to be a power scaler. But like, that is a new tier if Zoro can't cut them.

[Ken]

Yeah, See, the problem is Zoro's using a steel type move. And he should be using a fire type move. Zoro is the worst Pokemon. Pokemon trainer once again.

[Lucas]

All right, so we get Zoro charging in, knocking those out of the way. Luffy responding. Way to go, Zolo. I always believed in you. Naha. I knew that. Now go. I presume that is Zoro. I presume that is Zoro telling Luffy to, like, come on, man. Take out Summers. And then he proceeds to. Summers yells, huh? Who did that? Luffy That's Zoro. Remember the name? He's with me as he is looming up in the air, charging electricity from the storm that

[Zach]

that is he's creating, I think.

[Lucas]

Yeah, the squirrel. Wait, well, no.

[Ken]

Loki's making the lightning.

[Lucas]

Loki's making the lightning. It's the squirrel that does the storm. That's right.

[Ed]

This reminds me of Skypiea, where Luffy had a giant ball of gold on his arm and threw it up into the thundercloud.

[Zach]

This reminds me of the fight against Koda, where he literally did this.

[Ken]

Yeah, he did this exact same thing against Skydive.

[Zach]

Yeah. No, I also, you know, that's Zoro. Remember his name. He's a samurai. That's the lyric, right?

[Ed]

And the la d y nami is not shy.

[Zach]

Yeah. Thank you. Okay, there it is.

[Ken]

For some reason, Luffy's really gassing up Zoro. It's like, hey, remember his name. I knew you could do it. Thank God you're here.

[Sam]

Zoro's the man who's gonna be king of the pir.

[Zach]

I really am a big Zoro. I'm a big Zorro fan. I think he's the man now, dog. I think he's doing this to also, like, show he's on my crew. Like, when you're putting a wanted poster out there next time, remember Zorro, he's on my crew.

[Ken]

It seems a little off. Just like, it's like, wants him to be your friend. Like, hey, they're my friend. Look, you're my friend over here. Hey, you. We're friends, right? We're here all the time together. Just. Very funny.

[Zach]

And Sanji's over there. It's like when you're just, like, introducing random people that like. No, I don't care.

[Ken]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Zach]

I'm just here to kill the children, you know? That's what I don't care about your friend. Go ahead. Sorry, Lucas.

[Lucas]

And then we get Luffy in the next panel, creating a scope out of his finger because he is in out of his curled fingers. Because he is in Nika mode. And reality can be whatever he thinks is funniest in a given moment, I guess. And then, yeah, he blasts Ask Summers with a giant Dawn Thor rifle. And while I know we just mentioned how that kind of alludes to the Kaido fight, my memory reading this panel, I immediately went to Is that one piece movie 10 with the Legolas Cayuga? Yeah, I think that's where they first introduced, like, the naming convention of Thor for Electrified.

[Ed]

It was Thorax. I think he used against Thorax.

[Lucas]

Correct.

[Ed]

Cheeky.

[Lucas]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yes. That is the first thing I thought of. And then someone pointed.

[Ed]

It was a Gear third gigantic Thorax, but a Thor.

[Zach]

I think the Dawn Thor might have been used. I need to double check, but I. I think Thor has been used as a naming convention, I think.

[Sam]

Against Dungeon Zhao.

[Zach]

Yes, that's what it was. A bunch of people on our Discord were talking about that, so. Yes, you're right. But then it wasn't a rifle, but it was a. It was a Thor.

[Lucas]

I appreciate that. Luffy's first big attack of this arc is it uses the Thor namesake that's tying into the Norse mythology that this is all drawing from.

[Ed]

Punching Summers. That's always good.

[Lucas]

That's also great. You know more of that.

[Sam]

I like that we're compounding prefixes. It's not just Dawn Rifle or Thor Rifle. It's Dawn Thor Rifles.

[Zach]

To be fair, it wouldn't be the first time we were compounding prefixes.

[Sam]

But like. Like, how far can we go? Like, is the final attack of the series going to be like a giant Dawn Thor? Jack.

[Zach]

By the time he's done saying the attack name, the series would have already been over. You know, like, that's.

[Ken]

That's how you know all the Nika attacks have been dawn something too. We saw a lot of dawn moves in Egghead.

[Zach]

And there's a pun with it, which I forget what it is now.

[Sam]

It's romance Dawn. The dawn sound effect.

[Zach]

The sound effect too. I think there was.

[Sam]

Maybe. Maybe it's what D stands for.

[Zach]

Well, we'll see.

[Sam]

I like that. Luffy needs to aim at all.

[Zach]

True. That. That part makes no sense. The rest of this makes complete sense with that part.

[Sam]

Like, this needs to be really precise as I throw a fist. That's 10 times.

[Zach]

Well, you'll see. Why. Why don't we finish out this attack before we have a discussion?

[Ken]

Because this is a massive, massive attack which just literally. So, continuing on from the last page, Summers is being obliterated.

[Ed]

His teeth are all fucked up. I love it.

[Ken]

Like, the punch. At first I thought it was just lightning coming off the punch, but he's literally being split. Like severed into multiple pieces.

[Zach]

The teeth are the least of his concern right now, though. Artistically, my number one concern.

[Ken]

Yeah. Teeth are broken, eyes are bugging out, bloody as all hell. Top of his. His scalp is off. Middle of his head is broken. Like, it's just completely.

[Zach]

Sorry, Ken. It answers the question, what if Enerub were getting punched and split in half while getting. While giving The Enaru face. We now have that answer.

[Ken]

Just like the tongue is going completely, like, horizontal out of his mouth too. It's such. It's one of the best. I think we were talking about this in the Discord earlier. It's one of the best punches we've ever in the series.

[Zach]

I think that's the best fallout.

[Sam]

Certainly I'm imagining the meme with, like, the thick book and the thin book. Like one piece and one piece of floofy just fucking killed. Guys.

[Ed]

It's all. The best punches are when Celestial Dragons get punched.

[Zach]

Agreed, agreed, agreed.

[Ken]

We can save this for later. But I think it's safe to say that if this man here couldn't regenerate, this would be a pretty killing blow from Luffy.

[Zach]

Well, yeah, I have questions about that, but we're.

[Ken]

Okay, we'll talk about that later. So the punch connects, and all the giants are celebrating Straw hats. And with Summers now out of the picture, all the vines are falling off the children. And I think this is Ilva here saying, oh, it came off. Mommy, look. And we see Mommy. I'm a big kid now.

[Zach]

Mommy, look. The invisible thorns are gone.

[Ed]

Mommy. Wow, I'm a big kid now.

[Zach]

It gives her a hug while holding. Yeah. Anyway, go ahead.

[Ken]

And we have Colin and Ripley looking up at Luffy in the air. And I think this is Colin saying, I finally got to see Luffy all in white.

[Zach]

No, no, this is Ripley, isn't it? I thought it was.

[Ken]

Is it Ripley?

[Ed]

That's her on the bottom of the first half of the page.

[Ken]

Okay, so, yeah, whoever is. If it's Ripley, then it's Ripley. Believe it or not, I finally got to see White. I can't believe it. He looks just like Nika. I think he really is the warrior of liberation. Okay, that makes sense. And then I guess Ripley collapses as soon as she sees Luffy in the sky.

[Zach]

And also, it makes sense. It's a good joke. It makes sense that Ripley would be the one saying it, because the giants did have, like, they knew about Luffy and the. You know.

[Ken]

Right. Yeah, it makes more sense.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken]

And then Summers, as he's, like, still in pieces and kind of like falling to his demise. He's like Nika, a bedtime tale for children. As he's falling.

[Zach]

What happens to him in this second panel? Like, I'm genuinely. Is he there or is he, like, exploding? Is it supposed to just be that we're zooming out or.

[Sam]

I think we're just zoomed out very far?

[Ken]

I took it as he's like. Cause that's Loki's claw coming down. So I took it as, like, Loki's, like, stomping on him.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah. He goes. And then it goes splat at the end.

[Ken]

That's how I took it.

[Zach]

Oh, that's excellent. Oh, he better be dead. I'm fine with him being dead. He does not need to still be alive after this. Will he still be alive? Probably. Does he need to be? No.

[Ken]

He's gonna regenerate. There's probably gonna be a little more slow.

[Sam]

He's still talking. Even when with. With this dome.

[Zach]

Yeah, he's like. Yeah, but that wouldn't be the first time. He's already, like, Kaban already, like, messed up free.

[Ed]

He's scoffing at the punch.

[Lucas]

Does every.

[Ken]

It's merely a flesh wound.

[Lucas]

Does every. Luffy attack when he's in Nika mode. Does that have Conqueror's Haki in it?

[Zach]

Yeah. Well, so probably we see the black lightning here, so certainly in this attack, but I think almost always.

[Lucas]

So then he might not be able to recover. Summers might not be able to recover from that. Yes.

[Sam]

Is it a devil fruit? I don't think it's a devil fruit that's making him recover.

[Lucas]

I.

[Zach]

Okay, that's also true. But it's the same. I agree with Lucas in that we saw with Harold that Conqueror's Haki given. Given enough of Conqueror's hockey, it will, you know, stop the regeneration process in these people. We also don't know if these people are, like. There was also the. The five Elders and Egghead at the end, when Emmett has the tie that, you know, blasts that insane Haki, it blasts them back. It re. Astral projects them back into the Mario

[Ken]

through the Abyss circles.

[Lucas]

Yeah.

[Zach]

So, like, is that how this would work here? Since, like, I mean, I assume it's like, Piccolo rules.

[Sam]

Like, if the brain is intact, then the rest of it can not.

[Zach]

Cell rules. Yeah, that's why. Or Boo rules, which are no rules.

[Sam]

Well, Cell gets his rules from Piccolo. Let's be real.

[Lucas]

No, that Buu Saga. Yeah, no, Piccolo came back from, like, his head when he was a statue

[Zach]

specifically. But whatever.

[Lucas]

There's a lot of regeneration in Dragon Ball.

[Sam]

And in wonderful parody, as long as your nucleus is intact. Yeah, I don't think Boo has a brain. I think he's just has, like, an original Cell somewhere in there.

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't think Boo has a brain either.

[Ken]

Ken, continuing on. Now that Summers has been splat by Loki to the ground, we have more giants commentating. Ah, it's Nidhoggar. Is that what saved us? Let's go, Gyaa. So just more mass chaos happening. Then from afar we have Chopper and Gabon kind of watching the action from the safety of, I guess another branch somewhere. And Chopper's like, what's that? And Gabon responds, it must be Loki. I've never seen that before. Then we have Gabon flashing back a little bit to the the day that Harold died. And someone asks, what's the treasure of Elbaf? And I'm assuming it's Sha' Rule saying, a devil fruit, a forbidden one. Sam, Sam, you're up.

[Zach]

Oh, take us back all the way back to the flashback which we're back in.

[Sam]

Jarl explaining that it is the dragon. Dragon fruit, mythical type model Nidhoggar. No matter who eats it, they will transform into the largest dragon in the world. And the maximum size of the beast corresponds to the one who eats it. In other words, if a giant eats it instead of a human or an ancient giant instead of a giant, the potential power of the fruit is extracted in greater measure. It is said that the obsidian dragon breathes lightning and is so vast that the day falls into the night when it flies.

[Zach]

By the way, I know Sai was hoping for purple or pink, which maybe we'll get, but obsidian makes me think it is definitely black. Yeah, yeah.

[Ken]

I do like this little chart they're using to explain the sizes with the adorable Nidhogger. The friendliest figment, the imaginary dragon Loki there is out there.

[Zach]

Well, this is actually very similar to the one that the Dream Cryptid.

[Ed]

Yeah, Maybe that's why they were hoping for purple, because figment was purple.

[Ken]

Yeah, we didn't talk about this.

[Zach]

Maybe it was from Jarl's stream, the Nidhogger.

[Ken]

We didn't talk about this, but just the Loki design. Now that we're seeing a little bit more, he has Loki's fur coat kind of in his, like, skin. So it looks like the dragon's wearing a coat. So that could be where we get

[Zach]

the purple, pink accents. That's interesting. You also get his helmet thing. Like it's very interesting how his horns. Yeah, yeah. Well, like he has the bandage around his horn and then like the plate above at the top of his head on the previous page.

[Ken]

Metal there.

[Zach]

But Sam, please continue. We got so distracted and we have

[Sam]

the young Gaban and Shanks are listening to this and Shanks is saying, and due to the danger this power poses, you've been making sure no one can eat it. And Jarul says not Quite. If anybody tries to eat the fruit, the guardian hammer Ragnir blocks their attempts. In Elbaf, we have a legend about a warrior God. He wielded a weapon known as Ragnar Iron lightning. And turned into an enormous dragon to fight off against the sun God. He fought alongside a trusted, loyal ice squirrel known as Ratatoskr. In other words. And we have a little diagram of this ancient Nika and ancient giant.

[Zach]

Interesting that they were enemies. I think that. Yeah.

[Ed]

With the ancient giant wheel eating the hammer.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sam]

In other words. Did you have something to say, Zack?

[Zach]

No, I didn't. Okay.

[Sam]

In other words, without its master, Ratatoskr chose to inhabit his weapon instead and waits for its owner to return. So says.

[Ed]

Because that's just something he can choose to do.

[Sam]

And we return to the present with the voice carrying over. And now Ragnar, after an eternity of standing guard over the fruit. And we just got, like, Chopper with his eyes popping out and Gabon looking stern and stoic. After an eternity of standing guard over the fruit, he is finally chosen. And we turn the page.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken]

Ed Loki.

[Ed]

And he's hovering there, his tongue wagging, lightning crackling everywhere, and mouth open. And he starts to fire his laser and sort of looks like it's balling up in his mouth. And the laser is about to explode. And it does. And Gunko is looking over it.

[Zach]

Yeah. I love seeing the scary. What a cool page. This is such a cool page. The sleep tids are horrified. Oh, yeah. Poor bear. And that skeleton. I forgot the name.

[Ken]

I don't remember the draugr.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ed]

For a second there, I thought that was Brook. Like, what's he doing here? Shit.

[Zach]

I mean, you're not wrong to think

[Lucas]

that that is a very Brook skeleton face. Yeah.

[Zach]

I mean, to be fair, most skeletons look kind of similar, not so generalized.

[Ken]

But I love the sleep tit Nidhogger. And running away. It's like when a little dog tries to yell at a big dog, immediately regrets it and starts running away. And Loki's just chasing after them like a happy dog. Tongue out. The dragon keeps Loki's tongue out, which I really like a lot. He just looks so happy to finally get to kill a bunch of monsters.

[Zach]

Finally.

[Lucas]

Maybe this is the point to bring this up.

[Ed]

Can you hear him howling? Like,

[Lucas]

as far as we're aware, this is Loki's first time transforming into a drag. A full Zoan transformation. Right. I don't think we saw enough in the flashback to that we've seen.

[Ken]

After he gets the fruit, he does leave to the sea for a couple years. So I'm assuming he used this power and that's how he got around and whatnot. But this is the first time we've seen it anything real capacity. And he's not been able to transform since Shanks locked him up.

[Lucas]

I forgot he had time. I forgot he did a semester abroad. You know, traveling around, figuring himself. I thought he was, oh, justifiably killed his dad and then was immediately locked down.

[Ken]

But he had a couple wild college years until Shanks brought him home.

[Lucas]

Understood.

[Sam]

He proposed to Chiffon.

[Zach]

That's true. Yeah.

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Awesome. So we go to the next page.

[Ed]

Was it Chiffon or Lola?

[Ken]

It was Lola.

[Zach]

Lola. Yeah.

[Ken]

And then they tried passing Chiffon off as Lola.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's right.

[Sam]

That's right.

[Ken]

And he could tell, Lola, turn this down. When you're the biggest dragon in the world, how do you turn this down?

[Zach]

I mean, maybe you don't want to live with the biggest dragon in the world. Is that unreasonable? I am speaking for myself. Anyway, here is Loki's attack. Thorheim. And what an attack. As it. Yeah, as it booms. But you see, the sleep did carnage. I don't know what other way to put it. As the. The false Nidhogger head is. Is off. Just like the skeleton guy whose name you just mentioned that I forgot again.

[Ken]

Draugr.

[Zach]

Thank you. I love this top left panel of Loki. Just looking, you know, slightly bemused, but Luffy like imitating. Yeah, Go get him. And then the squirrel, the ratatasker squirrel, just jump in like. Yeah, look at you. Good job.

[Ed]

Remember, he's giving like a peace sign or something. Like Sonic the Hedgehog or something like that.

[Zach]

Yeah, we're just like. I thought it was just jumping up and down. But it's funny because you remember that these two are the size of like a skyscraper. And they're just like acting like cute little guys here on top of the insanely sized Loki. Meanwhile, Gunko sees. And by Gunko, I mean Emu, who is peering through her eyes. I see. So, Nidhogger, that's where thou were. I knew I left you somewhere.

[Ken]

Like some lost car keys.

[Zach]

Shit. That's where I left the Nidhoggar fruit. Damn it.

[Ken]

I left the Elbaf root in Elbaf. God damn it.

[Ed]

To be continued. It will be back next week.

[Zach]

It'll be back next week.

[Ken]

Hell yeah.

[Zach]

Ed, do you want to give your thoughts?

[Ed]

That's really cool. Honestly, I haven't been following the manga so much so closely I don't have a great understanding of what's been happening the last few chapters, but this is very impressive. Yeah, I wish Loki was more focused. He's just sort of going off here, but he looks very cool doing it. And very satisfying to see Summers get wrecked. That's the best part of the chapter overall. Very enjoyable chapter. Loki has many, many possibilities going forward. He has lots of potential. Would like to see him join the crew. But you would have to ride in a sidecar like we said.

[Zach]

I think at this point he should just be the boat. Just ride on the back of Loki. Like, he's like Zo Zunesha. Drive a whole city on his back.

[Ed]

Fun chapter.

[Zach]

Yeah. Lucas, thoughts?

[Lucas]

I. Okay, so I am a little bit of two minds on this one. On the one hand, I think this is a really great. Not introduction isn't the right word, but like, Loki is now like establishing himself and like the role he can play in this story. The effect he has the payoff of the Nidhogg as a creature not only just being huge and intimidating, but also like this huge destructive force that was. And also the.

[Ed]

IMU has opinions about Nidhog.

[Lucas]

Yeah. And this is why IMU wanted that. I presume that. I presume that maybe this was confirmed. I presume that Emo's plan was that she was going to have. I don't know if gender for IMU was confirmed, but I think strongly implied female. IMU wanted to have Loki's dad eat this devil fruit as he was under her their control. And I would see why, because this is terrifying and awesome. And Loki is all the more scary being juxtaposed against silly guy Luffy and a squirrel. That is amazing. And of course, love seeing Sommers get a shitrock. That has been a long time coming. And that is terrific. And I struggle to remember the last time a one piece villain. I know y' all compared him to Spandom, but like got off on this kind of torture and violence. And it's really great to see him get wrecked. But also, like, man, would have been cool if the less combative Straw Hat Pirates had more of a time to engage with this situation. Try to do anything to address the situation. Use their power sets in the coolest

[Ed]

chapter, which I love to see. It's my favorite.

[Lucas]

Zoro's cool every other chapter. And like, I love to see it too. Big Zorro fan over here, but it.

[Ed]

Yeah, that's my boy.

[Lucas]

Yeah, I. I don't know. I. I'm getting a little bit into that vein. Of criticism that's like, oh, well, I wish it had been this other thing. But no, for what we did yet, it was terrific and phenomenal.

[Zach]

Ken,

[Ken]

this was great. I kind of get what you're saying, Lucas, how it wasn't like, not a lore heavy chapter per se, but like, hey, here's a bunch of action. You saw Loki last week. Now let's see what he can actually do this week. Show a couple more attacks. I love the way Loki.

[Ed]

What does Loki want to do now?

[Ken]

I love the way that Loki looks. I'm so impressed with the design and the scale of it all. It feels like we're just cleaning off the board really quickly and getting rid of all the sleep tids and whatnot.

[Ed]

Yeah, it's like the question of what does a 30 ton dragon do next? Whatever he wants.

[Ken]

Whatever he wants. Loki doesn't want to eat. He wants to hunt. I do worry, though, because it seems like Loki is so overpowered. Like, okay, is this arc getting wrapped up next week? Because at this point, I can see anything stopping Loki. So I feel like something horrible has to happen on the horizon to balance things out. But that could just be me being a little bit of a downer about things. The only thing I really want to talk about was the stuff with Ratatasker and what we learned about Nika and this ancient warrior God. Because I was. We were talking about this a little bit earlier. Me sai a couple of the other folks. Like, this seems to imply that. I don't know. How do I put this? So we see the God fighting Nika, and so it raises the question, is Nika. Was Nika an actual entity in this world? Or are we seeing like, oh, this is the first user of the Nika fruit versus the first user of the Nidhogger fruit way back when. And you can either say, okay, these are both gods. Like, all right, so, Niko, all sorts

[Ed]

of legends can become devil fruits. We don't know exactly why or how.

[Ken]

Well, yeah, well, if we're going off,

[Sam]

but is he a legend?

[Ken]

Yeah, it's the theory that all devil fruits are born from wishes. So, okay, people wanted Nika to exist, and that's why the fruit became a thing. But this is an actual Nika fighting actual God. So is this a story they told? Or was there an actual Nika at some point in time? Or is this just the first he used? Like. That's right. I keep going in a circle in my head.

[Sam]

This is Joy Bo.

[Ken]

Yeah, well, Joy boy, we think was the second user then Because.

[Zach]

No, yeah. At least.

[Ken]

Yeah, because then we.

[Zach]

Nika might not have even. I mean, like, is Joy Boy the

[Sam]

origin of the Nika legend?

[Ken]

Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing, though. We know that Loki's fruit has not been eaten now since the original owner passed. Because it says here that Ragnar never deemed anyone worthy to eat the fruit until Loki. So this fruit has been dormant. Like even Harold said the fruit has been laid dormant for centuries. So that means that this warrior who fought, quote unquote, Nika. That's either him fighting Joy Boy or him fighting someone else. Again, I'm getting too lost into the weeds here, but there's definitely something weird here with. Okay, we need these timelines in order. And how does this work exactly? And then the fact that Rataskr just. He's an ice squirrel. So does that mean he's a giant squirrel that ate an ice fruit or just ice squirrel by nature? So he has ice powers and then he chose to inhabit the hammer. Like, is that just a power of ice squirrels?

[Zach]

Oh, if you try hard enough, you could inhabit anything.

[Ken]

Anything's possible. Like, does he have a possessed. Possessed fruit and possess the hammer? Like, I don't know how you get this. How do you get the squirrel into the hammer? Is what I'm trying to figure out here.

[Lucas]

And also, how is the squirrel immortal?

[Ken]

Yeah, like when we first saw that.

[Zach]

Because if you believe in yourself enough that you. That you're a hammer.

[Sam]

What if this. The original Ratatusker was a squirrel devil fruit user who died and then the weapon ate the squirrel fruit?

[Ken]

Yeah, that's another logical thing. Like when we first saw the hammer,

[Sam]

I thought that's very logical that

[Zach]

the

[Sam]

human that ate a squirrel became a squirrel.

[Ken]

Well, when we first saw the hammer, I thought it was a hammer that ate the Ratasker fruit. That's why he can live forever. Because it's a hammer. The hammer can't die. And then. Okay, we know that when a item eats a devil fruit, it gains the personality of the fruit. Like if it's a dog, the gun becomes a dog kind of thing. So, okay, so did Rataskr then turn into a fruit and then the hammer absorbed it? Made it sound like he chose to go into the hammer. And so that. I have a billion questions and I'll move on from this, but that was the part that had me the most.

[Ed]

Not even Oda, probably.

[Ken]

Well, yeah, it's like. This is going to be an SBS question. Like, how did the squirrel get into the hammer? It's probably. Oh, there's a little door on the side. And he goes in. Like it's going to be some dumb answer. Probably.

[Lucas]

But one thing I would also like to say while we're on this panel, I believe previously we categorized this as whoever ate the Nikanika fruit at the time was an enemy to the Elbaf figure of legend who ate the Nihog fruit. But they were.

[Ed]

Who gave Nika a sword?

[Lucas]

Come on.

[Ed]

It's a bad idea.

[Lucas]

There were warrior culture for most of their history. And then I guess within the past, like 20 in universe minutes of one piece now, I don't know. That might not be. Yeah, there might not be enemies there. I don't want to paint it that way quite yet.

[Sam]

Well, they're enemies who are probably about to become friends. Is kind of the story reads to me.

[Lucas]

This is a Shonen.

[Ken]

That's a good point, too, because there are the people on Elbaf who think. Half of them think Nika is a force of bad, and half of them think Nika is a force of good. So if everyone's like, oh, yeah, he fought our warrior God. He's bad. Like, no, no, no. They were sparring. They were friends. Like, I could see it going, but

[Zach]

it sounds like I'm Like, I'm reading it. And in Elbaf, we have a legend about a warrior God. He wielded a weapon known as Ragnar. Iron Lightning. I'm glad we get confirmations as to the powers here. And turned into an enormous dragon to face off against the sun God. He fought alongside a trusted, loyal ice squirrel known as Ratataskr. In other words, without its master, Ratatuskr chose to inhabit the weapon. To me. Sorry. To me, there's. So. There's a lot of suppositions here, but one is that this ancient warrior God, if you need a lot of adjectives there, died or was done. Was done in. In some capacity, to the point that Ratatoskr felt like he needed to inhabit the weapon. So, by the way, for those keeping score at home, the weapon, Ragnar has iron lightning powers. The squirrel Ratatasker has ice powers.

[Ken]

No, no, Zach, I think you're confused. The Ragnar.

[Sam]

No, I think he's right.

[Ken]

The name Ragnar is Iron lightning. But lightning's coming from Loki because it's a lightning dragon. He's channeled the lightning dragon.

[Zach]

He's a weapon known as Ragnar. Iron lightning.

[Ken]

Ragnar means iron lightning when translated.

[Ed]

Oh, from Elbafian.

[Zach]

Okay, I think it's probably from Norse if anything, but. Right, but. Well, that's confusing.

[Ken]

Well, yeah, no, because this giant that's fighting Nika has the Nidhogg fruit. And the Nidhogg has, like, he breathes

[Zach]

lightning is what the. This is actually confusing me now.

[Ed]

So if he eats lightning, he craps thunder.

[Ken]

It's a better. And a roofruit.

[Zach]

Let's just take a step back. Nidhogg breathes lightning is so vast that the day falls into night when he flies. So he's the dragon of the Dragon Ball series. Obviously.

[Ken]

Yes. Except he doesn't grant. Loki.

[Zach]

He doesn't grant wishes. He kills people.

[Ed]

He's one of those GT dragons. Loki, Shenron.

[Zach]

But then Ragnar. Ragnar. So what did. Before Ratataskr inhabited it. Did Ragnar do anything?

[Ken]

No.

[Zach]

You're saying. No.

[Sam]

It's a powerful weapon.

[Zach]

Except that it was called Iron Lightning. But it was the fruit that had the lightning. Right.

[Sam]

The iron lightning may be like Steven, just like. Just like, hinting at the kanji. I can almost guarantee this is what happens. Right. That Ragnar is written in kanji with furigana pronouncing rag. Ragnarok.

[Zach]

But wouldn't that be a Katakana word? Ragnar. Because that is a.

[Sam]

Well, because what they often do is they'll. They'll use kanji, and then they'll use the. They'll write the pronunciation out on the side. And they can be different. Like, they can be. There's creative liberty there.

[Lucas]

That.

[Ken]

In Japanese kanji, ragnar means Iron Thunder.

[Sam]

Yeah, like. Like Red Hawk is pronounced Red Hawk, but the kanji is the same as Firefist.

[Lucas]

Yeah.

[Ken]

And then we saw a couple chapters ago, when Loki used the hammer, he did an ice attack. That's because that's the squirrel in the hammer using the ice powers through the hammer.

[Lucas]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Cause that would make sense that the hammer itself is not both lightning and ice.

[Ken]

Correct. It's just ice.

[Sam]

Because it has.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And before it was ice, it was

[Ken]

just a hammer that he used to channel his thunder powers.

[Zach]

Since we're stuck on this panel anyway, first I want to say I thought it cleared a lot up. It cleared nothing up and made it more complicated. This conversation. I feel like.

[Ken]

I understand.

[Sam]

I feel like I'm. We have the clear story here.

[Ken]

I just want to know how the squirrel got in. The hammer

[Sam]

is a. I think Ratatusker is a devil fruit, like Nika.

[Ken]

Okay. I would. Yes. I would be okay with that.

[Zach]

No, no, no, no, no, no. I disagree with several. Okay, first of all, there's definitely to go back to the Nika thing.

[Ken]

Okay.

[Zach]

There definitely was a Nika before Joy Boy. I want to remind everyone Joy Boy existed a thousand years ago. Oh, that's so long ago.

[Ken]

Wait, you think there was a physical? Nika had the idea of Nika. It's like. Because, like, we have Zeus, and Zeus

[Zach]

isn't a real yes to both. Yes. Okay, so I will say joyous boy is yes. I don't like that. It sounds really gross for some reason. But Jarl, what is only 500, he is one or two generations removed from someone who would know Joy Boy, like, potentially, he is saying, in Elbaf, we have a legend. You don't have legends from something from a generation or two back. That's not a legend. That's maybe like a story I heard from my father.

[Ken]

Yes, the legend of movie.

[Sam]

Because Lilith. Lilith and Bonnie are in, like, a house that's said to be like. Like, way older than even the correct void century.

[Zach]

Right, right.

[Sam]

So it's probably, like, from that time.

[Zach]

And. And we know the painting depicts things from much earlier. Like, one of the interesting things about one piece taking even another step back is that it is, you know, it makes you think the stuff of God Valley, you know, 20 years, 20 something years ago feels ancient. But then you realize, oh, no, there's even more to this world.

[Ed]

A thousand century was 800 years ago, right?

[Zach]

Yeah, it was 800. But I mean, a lot of the stuff happening is between, like, I think a thousand and eight hundred or nine hundred and eight hundred.

[Sam]

There's always another legend. There's always another level of legendary.

[Zach]

And I'm sure, you know, this is several generations, if not more back before that, that, you know, Nika, in some form or shape or form probably existed before that. And we know that we have gone through, like, the three worlds and that the world has sunk before. Right. Wasn't there like a whole thing?

[Ed]

It's like the thing of saying, like, when. When Caesar conquered Egypt and he saw the pyramids, he was as far away in time from the building of the pyramids as we are from him today.

[Ken]

Right, That's a good point.

[Zach]

Yeah. There's something about the depth of history and time that one piece does manage to capture. And I think when we're. That is like, a very difficult thing to capture because, like, we're both connected to people of thousands of years ago and also completely, like, living in our own little, like, succinct moment in history here today. Not a good moment, but a succinct moment. And seeing this kind of thing in fiction, it's really hard to convey and humanize because it's so distant from us in time. And I think that when I read One Piece, it is like the one piece of fiction that I could really think of where I have to remind myself about that kind of depth that exists.

[Ken]

That's scale.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's scale. Like, he has a scale. We see scale here in size with the Nidhoggar versus, you get this. I didn't even notice on that page with the very cute Nidhoggar, you have a human that is like the size of like a nail there. It is tiny. Then you have a regular giant who looks normal sized. And then you have the ancient giant who's, you know, relatively large.

[Ed]

And there's Jarl over there with the sword in his head.

[Zach]

I mean, there's always Jarl there with the sword in his head, but it's just like this. Very interesting discussion, but all that to be said. The Nika of legend. The Nika that's imagined by the children of Elbaf. The Nika we see here fighting with an ancient warrior. I think that is millennia back. More than one.

[Sam]

But what's your point of confusion, though?

[Zach]

Oh, no, my point of confusion is in all the who's what and why is Ragnar named after Lightning if it has nothing to do with it? And how did.

[Sam]

Because it's a cool name.

[Ken]

It's based off, like, Mjolnir. It's another name.

[Sam]

Are you mad that Lightning McQueen doesn't do lightning?

[Zach]

Yes, actually, yes.

[Ken]

Ciao.

[Zach]

I am. I am angry about that.

[Ken]

Loki McQueen.

[Zach]

Okay, I'll write it down, but I don't like it.

[Sam]

It's the one. It's our title.

[Lucas]

Cool.

[Sam]

I'm done.

[Ken]

Someone else can go next.

[Zach]

I was just going to say one last thing. Why? This was up to Oda. To me, it doesn't need to be a cool name. That it's like, it's not like Lightning McQueen having lightning powers. It's like, you know, if I had lightning powers, but I also had a card named Lightning McQueen that had nothing to do with lightning. I don't know, it just seems very like, hat on a hat.

[Sam]

Like, you can't imagine having a lightning themed set of accessories and vehicles and weapons.

[Ken]

It's just a name. Like, it's just.

[Sam]

Just because you've decided lightning is your

[Zach]

identity as a story writer, you want

[Sam]

that to reflect it.

[Zach]

I am saying as a story writer. This is needlessly confusing.

[Ken]

I don't know. It doesn't faze me as a fan of Norse mythology. Ragnier makes sense to me.

[Lucas]

So I love the. I love referencing oda's writing conventions here because there is actually a great instance of oda's writing conventions that I love on this very same page. I think that, like, this is the first time the dragon. Dragon fruit, the Ryu Ryu fruit has been applied to something that I in my mind, would immediately ascribe to being a dragon in the Nidhoggar. Previously, that was used for dinosaurs, I think almost exclusively, which is terrific. It was.

[Ken]

It was dinosaurs and we all also killing hands, so.

[Lucas]

But that was Corrine, the mythical dragon. Yes.

[Zach]

I think someone on our Discord pointed that out too.

[Ken]

That was Joey.

[Zach]

Joey. But also for.

[Lucas]

For various reasons. Mostly because they're like, this is an entertaining little bit of history. When I think of Corinne, I think of. I imagine a giraffe because some Japanese emperor forever ago, like, got a giraffe and tried to convince people that it was a Corrine as a real story. And that's why the beer is.

[Zach]

That's incredible.

[Lucas]

Yeah. But I think it was. Oh, God. And I'm terrible with proper nouns. It was villain of the Wano arc. Why Kaido. Kaido. Thank you. Oh, my God. I am terrible at.

[Zach]

I mean, Orochi. Technically, too. Yeah.

[Lucas]

It always got a laugh out of me that Kaido's devil fruit was technically the fish. Fish fruit model.

[Zach]

My theory related to that. I don't know, Sam. If it's.

[Sam]

We might have the same theory.

[Zach]

We might have the same theory. We'll find. I think that dragon in the One Piece world is a Western dragon. I think it's. That's. That's my theory here. And that the reason. Because a dragon. The. The Japanese, like, mythology of a dragon. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I really don't know enough about this to say anything, but probably has different origins than the Western mythology. I'm just gonna take a big, you know, leap.

[Sam]

Or the Magikarp. Yeah, my theory is different.

[Zach]

I think it's not right then.

[Sam]

So I think devil fruits can change over generations with the different users who, like, awaken them and use them for different things that kind of gets inherited in their future users. So I think if the fruit was originally the fish. Fish fruit Koi model and a user in the past awakened it and that there's a possibility that we would get an update and say that that same fruit's modern name is now Dragon Dragon Fruit Seiru model or whatever.

[Zach]

I don't think that's incorrect. That's impossible. I just.

[Ken]

Just jumping off.

[Sam]

And that's. That's the same reason why the human Human fruit Nika model can become the Gum Gum fruit.

[Ken]

No, because the Gum Gum fruit was a name.

[Sam]

I mean like it's all. I mean it's all semantics either way.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Sam]

I think the name like for the same reason that like a user can just like eat a fruit and then they'll kind of instinctively know the name or the how to use the powers. Sometimes I think. I think. I think that there is like a generational transformation of like the soul of the fruit itself can change and its identity changes and its usage changes.

[Zach]

10 what were you going to say?

[Ken]

I took it as almost like a power level thing where we saw in this chapter where if a human ate the Nidhogg, it wouldn't be as big as an ancient giant. I bet if someone weaker than Kaido ate the fruit, they'd be a fish. They'd probably be a carp. It's only because Kaido ate it and Kaido, even as a young age was strong and indestructible.

[Zach]

No, but Momonosuke had it and well, Momonosuke did look like a carp. Yeah, I mean, but I really. I don't know. I feel like the. Sometimes. You know, it's been criticized that Oda even kind of leans on Western. I mean maybe more in Japan as this coder says, but he leans on like western stuff like 3D 2Y like the. I mean even the use of D there. There are lots of like Western or Latin Alphabet or you know, like influences here that make me wonder with Wano aside, at least like okay, maybe like the naming. Maybe there's like not an Anglo centric but like something akin to that in the one piece world. Like the person naming these.

[Lucas]

But.

[Zach]

Or. Or it's what Sam said and it's just like they evolve over time, which is also possible.

[Sam]

I definitely think that the original. That there was a previous user of the fish Fish fruit who awakened it into a dragon and that's why it's a dragon. One cut and I think that's probably going to be like maybe a thing we see in a voice.

[Zach]

I think that's a really cool aspect. I actually think that is a really cool idea. I don't know if it's actually a really good way for Oda to retcon things too potentially. Like if he likes the corner, it's.

[Sam]

You know, a devil fruit is as strong as how you use it. A Devil fruit is a representation of humanity's desires.

[Zach]

Well, I think of it like you're almost like transforming a fruit itself into something. Like when you make apples into an apple pie and you really transform its original apple essence.

[Sam]

Human imagination transcends the limitations of any given fruit's powers. I think.

[Zach]

I guess that would be a fish pie, though.

[Lucas]

That's a thing. So I like the idea of evolving devil fruit as well. Like, that is fun creatively. My only pushback against that is that within one piece, there are weaker versions of devil fruit. I forget if it's canon or not, but like the. The Heat Heat fruit is functionally a weaker version of redundant firefight fruit. And then the. I forget who's head of the Marines right now. His name. But then the magma bag of the magma fruit. Thank you. Is.

[Zach]

Well, there's also the Miss Valentine, since we're about to see her in the live action. Yes. And then there's a dressrosa Ton Ton versus Kilo.

[Ken]

Kilo.

[Zach]

Yeah. Or something like that.

[Ken]

Stupid.

[Zach]

There are just plastic and Oda did a thing on that. There were just classes of that kind of fruit.

[Sam]

Yeah. I mean. Yeah. He just wanted to reuse some ideas because there's only even coda. There's only so many. Or he forgot.

[Ken]

Even for him, there's only one evolution.

[Sam]

It all comes back to convergent evolution. It's like how everything eventually becomes a crab.

[Ken]

That's a good one. Yeah.

[Zach]

I don't know what that's a reference to, but that's true evolution.

[Ken]

Those are my thoughts.

[Zach]

Thank you, Ken. Same.

[Sam]

There are many species of crab that evolved independently of each other. They don't have shared ancestors. I like the chapter a lot. I like the chapter a lot. I enjoy indulging in a bit of ultra violence. Like with Summers getting his head blown off. That is very cool and very exciting. I do like seeing. I mean, I wasn't here last week to talk about how cool Loki's design is. I love that it's both, like, cool, but there's like, still a little bit of dopiness to it that just sort of like offsets it to just make it even cooler.

[Lucas]

Which fits really well for Loki, I think, who, whether he knows it or not, is trying really hard to be cool.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Sam]

I mean, it's the. It's the classic kind of one piece thing of like the. The coolness cannot exist without some dopiness to, like, you know, undermine it.

[Zach]

Yeah, I like. Which. Yeah.

[Sam]

Which just kind of like humbles it and makes it more Relatable and more. More appealing.

[Zach]

That's why he's the squirrel.

[Sam]

I do really, really wish that like. Like in pages four and five, like that's the. The big Loki panel. That's the kind of panel I wish could just been a whole two page spread by itself. I wish he had real estate.

[Zach]

Those though. And that could have been that too. But I agree, that is,

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

you know,

[Sam]

even something just as simple as that. Just. Just get the establishing shot of like damn, he's big.

[Zach]

I agree. But he did do that. He actually did that at the end of the previous chapter. Like that was a full two page spread. I don't know how many times he could do that in a series where he wants to fit every little thing in every little page.

[Sam]

There's. There's. Yeah. There's not enough he can do that.

[Zach]

I don't think I. I do agree with that sentiment. Anything else, Sam?

[Sam]

That should do it.

[Zach]

Yeah. I mean the panel I really want to talk about. We talked about. So the Summers thing was great. How wonderful. Like this is when you need to have ultra violence. As Sam pointed out. Like that the teeth, it hurts to look at, but it should like perfect. And that his literal head splits. And this is not the first time he has had body. I don't want to say mutilation because it's completely ripped into pieces. So I don't know. It's worse than that. Step beyond that. But really great. Like very. As I think Steve put it when we were talking about it, big punchies.com a domain that we actually have. Yeah. Wonderful stuff. Yeah. This chapter is also just gorgeous. Like art wise. I think this might be one of my favorites in a while. Like I think it just really hits on all cylinders throughout. Someone pointed out Luffy having. Yeah. On page six. Having the tiny hat even, you know, though he's giant. But also he has cartoon logic. Why can't he have a giant hat to like give the boy a giant straw hat and then put it in a basement in Mary Joa somewhere. Yeah. We'll probably get an explanation of that someday. Yeah. This is. And the one thing that we didn't talk a lot about. First of all, where's Brooke? Is he okay? I hope he's okay. Second, the Emu Nidhogger connection is also interesting. So we talked about this. Like brings up more questions about Cam, what we were talking about with like the depth of history. So if Emu knows Nidhogg or how far back does do they go or did he hear about it? Or did she. Or they hear about it from a legend as well? Like, what is the connection there? Also, does Imu just get to hang out in his butterfly garden while he's. While they're, like, inhabiting Gunko's body? Or, like. I don't know. I feel like they should be in some sort of chair sitting down or something.

[Lucas]

I don't know. It just occurred to me this. The aesthetic connection between. Well, I think Loki plainly, but especially looking at Loki in his Nidhogg form. Very devilish design there. And then that Panel in pages 16 and 17, EMU in the silhouette looking very much like a devil. I do wonder.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Lucas]

How far does that back. How far does that go? Is there more of a. I described it like, Imu just wanted that power, but is there, like, any kind of connection? Does IMU know whatever motivated the creation of the. But Nidhogg Fruit?

[Ken]

If.

[Lucas]

If that Dream Theory, Devil Fruits or Dream Theory is. Is accurate, it soft confirmed. Like, I think that's being flagged at. That's being very heavily implied right now. But yeah.

[Zach]

And just like, what role did Nika play? What role did Joy Boy play? What role did. Did Emu play? And this ancient giant. And what time periods are we talking about in all these? Like, it's. I don't know. There's. There's, like, a lot here. There's a lot that we don't know that Oda actually seems to have some structural idea about. And I'm wondering what we're supposed to grasp from that. And we might know next week and. Or we might know in, like, six years. It's. Either way is completely possible at this point. One very last thing. I love that he is keeping the aesthetic for Loki with the eye flame looking thing. It is the coolest, and I love it. And Ratataskr, one of my new favorites of this arc. Love a giant animal who reeks. Reaps destruction. I think that's the right word. Did we talk about Thorheim, or is that just two words that are kind of Norse? Ish. That we assume? Because when I look it up, it's just some Norwegian politician or something.

[Ken]

Well, it's like. It's Thor and Helheim together.

[Zach]

Yeah, I just assumed it was. Yeah, I just assumed it was like.

[Ken]

It's more Norse mythology being mashed together. That's what Ragnar is too. It's Mjolnir and Ragnarok smashed together.

[Zach]

Oh, still makes no sense. I do love the answer. He just entered through the door.

[Ken]

There's a door in the Hammer. He just walked in.

[Zach]

There's a door in the Hammer.

[Ken]

He's a keeper elf.

[Zach]

And somehow it makes you immortal when you stay in the house. Why would you ever leave? No. But we know he transforms because it was moving and stuff.

[Ken]

Grant Tasker's working from home in the Hammer.

[Zach]

This could also be remote work. This is what it does. It keeps you living.

[Ken]

Yep.

[Lucas]

We're also getting all of this information from characters as the story is playing out. So this could be an instance of like.

[Zach]

Oh.

[Lucas]

We're getting the information that the characters have. What is not necessarily accurate information. Like I. Yes.

[Zach]

What's important is that Loki slash a squirrel Slash the hammer. Have an ice lightning. Iron lightning. Lightning breathing lightning. Farting devil fruit. And that's really what matters.

[Ken]

The ice comes from the squirrel who is in the Hammer. The lightning comes from Loki who's the dragon.

[Lucas]

The hammer comes from being a hammer.

[Ken]

Yes.

[Zach]

The hammer.

[Ken]

I love how confused you are about this concept.

[Lucas]

I would actually just love it if it were a normal hammer. And like it's just involved in so many stories over the course of this culture's life.

[Zach]

That's what I was kind of saying.

[Lucas]

Yeah. That's terrific.

[Ken]

No.

[Lucas]

I love it actually. Yeah.

[Zach]

No. Because you said the.

[Ken]

The hammer has special powers. It was a normal hammer that he channeled his own lightning powers through. Then he had to.

[Zach]

But why was that then?

[Ken]

And then the squirrel went into the hammer.

[Ed]

So now.

[Zach]

Is it such a great hammer Then?

[Ken]

But Loki can channel because it's cool.

[Sam]

Why are Zoro swords specials?

[Zach]

Why is Zoro Sword special? They each have like a freaking backstory to them. What are you asking me that Ragnar does too.

[Sam]

We just don't know about it. We just. We just know that somebody el.

[Zach]

That's what. I get it. I'm just saying that. But Ken is saying it's just an ordinary hammer.

[Ken]

It is.

[Sam]

It's like the Wato Ichimonji.

[Lucas]

This hasn't.

[Sam]

Of hammers.

[Lucas]

I was just about to say of

[Sam]

giant hammers that can conduct electricity.

[Ken]

The hammer did not have electrical power is what I'm saying. That's all.

[Zach]

The hammer had no intellectual powers. Okay. Okay.

[Ken]

Not electrical.

[Sam]

Not intellectual. You're saying hammers aren't smart. Now you're saying hammers don't have brains to everything.

[Zach]

Everything is a nail to them. Maybe they shouldn't generalize so much. That's all I'm saying.

[Lucas]

We're now getting a little bit of benefit. But this lore hasn't mattered in a minute. But I was just. Thank you, Sam, for reminding me of. Oh, yeah, there are like tiers of swords in the one piece world. Like that is. And I now love the idea of that being true of hammers. And maybe all instruments of warfare like it. Okay, why not?

[Zach]

Usopp's repairing the mirror, you know, early on, it's like, oh, you're using a grade one.

[Ken]

All right, let's do the Elbaf hammer tier list.

[Zach]

Yes, right here.

[Sam]

Was created by an expert, Hammersmith.

[Zach]

Can someone please go through all 28 years of one piece and find pictures of hammer. Every single hammer and rank them power scale them Internet. I know you could do it in water.

[Ken]

7. The wooden mallets they used to build the boats are not as good as Ragnarok.

[Zach]

We call it hammer scaling.

[Ken]

Hammer scaling.

[Zach]

Okay, we're done. That's the chapter. We'll see you on the other side. Bye, everyone. Bye. We'll see you in the next segment.

[Ad Host]

This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking, maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home with agents who close twice as many deals. When you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get [e-mail], own the dream.

[Lucas]

This episode is brought to you by White Claw Surge. Great podcast pick, friend. No surprises there. After all, you're all about finding the tastiest flavors out there, just like White Claw Surge. And with big, bold flavors to enjoy, like blood orange, BlackBerry, cranberry and more, it's time to go all in on taste. Unleash the flavor. Unleash White Claw Surge. Please drink responsibly. Hard seltzer with flavors 8% alcohol by volume. White Claw Seltzer Works, Chicago, Illinois. Your little one grew three inches overnight.

[Sam]

Adorable.

[Lucas]

Also expensive. Sell their pint sized pieces on Depop and list them in minutes with no selling fees.

[Zach]

Because somewhere, somewhere a dad refuses to

[Lucas]

pay full price for the clothes his

[Zach]

kids will outgrow tomorrow.

[Lucas]

And he's ready to buy your son's entire wardrobe right now.

[Zach]

Consider your future growth Bird budget secured. Start selling on Depop, where taste recognizes taste.

[Lucas]

Payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details.

[Zach]

This is the piece together where we take your questions, comments, theories, and decide whether or not they're ice related or lightning related. Our first by the way. If you want to get your questions in guaranteed. The way to do that is become a Patreon subscriber. Patreon.com One piece of podcast and you could get into Dispeace our discord. Questions, Comments?

[Ed]

Comments?

[Zach]

Theories? Sam, why don't you take us there?

[Sam]

All right. Our first diss piece this week comes from Pongzilla, who says, I just think you are all awesome. That's it.

[Zach]

More of those comments I love.

[Lucas]

I am so glad I was on this episode. I needed that. That's gonna get me through the week ahead. I appreciate that message.

[Zach]

It was on purpose, I'm sure, but I'm glad that'll do that for you, Sam.

[Sam]

Our next disc piece comes from Gekwa Moria Parentheses Slay. Hello my I don't hello my fellow sleeptid Eaters. Loving today's chapter, with one of the great parts being the lore about Loki's devil fruit. I'm also excited about the upcoming live action season and what lore they could add into it, especially considering both this arc and the upcoming season feature giants. My question is, knowing the live action isn't one to one and they can remove things and add some lore earlier than its source, are there things you wouldn't mind being added or removed? For instance, would you be okay if Pel actually died in season three? Like how Greg. I mean, Mary died in live. Died in the live action.

[Zach]

Don't say that. Or.

[Sam]

Or would you want to make Beloved Onesie or Satori be more prominent? Be curious to know your thoughts. Have a great week. And fuck Sommers and fuck ice.

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Oh yeah. We need a Luffy doing that. Yeah, go ahead.

[Lucas]

I'm very much riled up by this. Is it okay if I pop off for a second?

[Ken]

Please do.

[Lucas]

Yeah.

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Lucas]

That's terrific. Oh, so I think one that is phenomenal that the One Piece live action series is very clearly like inspired by not even the anime. I think I would like ascribe some of the choices made there to the manga. I think that makes it such a stronger adaptation instead of trying to, I don't know, modern it trying to be an expansion of the work rather than trying to get this as close to a TV medium, a live action television show medium as possible. Which I think was like ultimately the underlying issue with the cowboy bebop live action series that was just trying to translate like the anime into a live action series. And they just decided that like making it as Buffy, like as possible was how to do that. Yeah, no, there were a lot of issues there. So I think that that is really cool. And how One Piece Live Action has consistently built upon not only just like, materially, like, expanding things we know about the manga, things we know about the anime, like Zorro's encounter with one of the Baroque Works members whose name escapes me. The original Mr. Something. Mr. Seven. Yes, the first Mr. Seven. That was terrific to have that in the introduction of the show. But then also just how it was kind of reframing some of these items as some of these events with added cultural context too. This is. I'm a white guy, so, like, I can't go too hard in the opinion, in defending this point, but I found it really, really interesting that Arlong was essentially calling Jinbe an Uncle Tom in the live action version of the series and how him being essentially a privateer is like him selling out the fishermen people. That is. Yeah, that is a really great iteration and taking the themes that were always present in one piece, making them a little more surface text, making them a little more accessible and digestible in this new format. I really admire the One Piece Live Action series as a work of adaptation.

[Zach]

I 100% agree with that. To be.

[Ken]

Yeah, I couldn't agree more.

[Zach]

The one thing I'm not sure about, like, more with this question, I think is like, okay, we know what happens in a thousand chapters, so let's place little hints all over the place. Like, sometimes I like that I've. But sometimes I've heard.

[Sam]

I don't know, I've heard some spoilers about some of the things that they are doing. Of that. I'm guess guessing Slayer King is maybe even referring to some of this. There are examples in the. The first episode that people have been able to see. There are. There are examples of that, yes. Of them doing that.

[Zach]

I mean, I heard that.

[Ken]

I have no idea they did that.

[Zach]

I can see them doing that more in this season. I. I haven't heard anything specific, but that sounds right.

[Sam]

It's interesting because it raises the question of, like, are they continuing? Are they Preparing for season 10, when certain people got to come back later?

[Zach]

I think it's fan service. I think it's fan service.

[Sam]

Is it fan service with the expectation that, like, some of that stuff may even get cut from future seasons later? Anyway,

[Zach]

I feel.

[Sam]

Or that the series can only go for like four, five, six seasons tops, before it has to come up with its own Fullmetal Alchemist ending.

[Lucas]

I feel like One Piece Live Action is. It feels like it's being written that, like, hey, we're gonna get through Alabasta and everything after that is gravy. Like we. Yes, yes, but gravy.

[Zach]

That's Netflix for you. Yeah, that sounds right.

[Lucas]

I think that. I mean, I imagine like in the season ahead, we're going to get more illusions. Like, I would be floored if the laboon episode. It's probably just gonna be an episode. If the laboon episode plays out without like some kind of musical cue referencing bink sake and sake bink sake. Thank you. And making that connection to Brooklyn more immediate as the story is playing out temporally than what we got in the manga, which is. Oh, that connection wasn't established until Brook actually showed up as a character. I don't believe Brooke was foreshadowed at all.

[Ken]

Do you think they'll cast someone as Brook for season two?

[Zach]

Yes.

[Ken]

And like, oh, here he is.

[Zach]

Well, to be fair, he won't be a skeleton.

[Ken]

Yeah, I know that they could always change.

[Zach]

It is the good thing he won't be a 90 year old skeleton.

[Ken]

True. But do you think they picked a voice actor then for Brooke?

[Sam]

Or is that the voice actor they're locking in for later?

[Zach]

First of all, I will eat my hat of which I'm not wearing if they actually get that far in the series, like without skipping something substantial.

[Ken]

I think they will.

[Zach]

Netflix you think is going to get to Thriller Bark?

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Sam]

Do you think they'll skip skypiea or Water seven to get there?

[Ken]

No, no, they can't skip Water seven.

[Zach]

No, they would never.

[Sam]

How old will Inaki be when get to Thriller Bar?

[Zach]

I don't think it's even like feasible for the maybe Thriller Bark, but like, certainly not much past that. Like that would really be like. I don't know how they would do that. They would also have to kind of change the story to Sam's point because they're going to get older and these are all younger kids or, you know, they're all in their 20s.

[Ken]

I don't know. I can see them doing it for some reason. I can see.

[Sam]

I don't know, I guess it kind of works because like before the time skip, I remember like reading the manga and it felt like you're with those characters for years before the time skip even happens.

[Ken]

Like a few months.

[Zach]

This all to be said to take a step back where I was originally going. It kind of is eye rolly to me. Sometimes when they like do like a. This is a nod to something that happens. Like, I don't know, like usually I enjoy fan service like that.

[Sam]

But yeah, yeah, I mean, like, I. Because I see the. I see what. What Lucas was saying, where there are. There are things that that weren't hinted of on. Ahead of time that, like, could have been, like, had. Had they hinted at it, then. Then we'd be like, oh, my God, go to. He's the master of foreshadowing on that example too. Like, the Brook example would be a good one.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Sam]

I. Is there equal opportunity. Opportunity to do stuff like that with like, the one Piece, the. The Netflix?

[Zach]

Yes, and they probably will. I, Like, I don't know how I feel about that. Like, I'm torn because, like, okay, you might as well take advantage of having this voluminous thing that has existed for almost three decades. Like, I get that. But like, writing wise, it feels almost like a cheat. Like you're using a cheat code or something. Like.

[Sam]

Yeah, it's more about. It's more about the. The fans pointing and going, like, I know that reference. And it is about, like, actually enriching.

[Zach]

That's. Sam. That's a good way, I think, of expressing my. I don't wanna say frustration.

[Ken]

It's always the debate, though, of hesitation. It's like people who watch the live action knowing the story and those who don't know. Cause, like, we'll see it and go like, oh, look, that. That's there.

[Sam]

It's not gonna be a detraction for people who don't recognize it.

[Ken]

Correct, Exactly.

[Lucas]

It's like a lot of meta humor and stuff where I am usually I can appreciate that and find a lot of value in that kind of writing when something creative, something interesting, something building is being done with it. But if it's like a reference, that's like, I. Okay. I mean, sure. All right.

[Sam]

I'll say it gets cheaper the more you do it.

[Zach]

So you could skip ahead like two minutes or a minute if you don't want to hear. So, like, I know the song that came out, like, has a slight flight in the little garden one that Sonia. And we interviewed them in season one of Opla. But it references like, dawn or something referring to a sun God or something like that. That kind of feels like that, like, okay, I get what you're doing, but is this really serving any sort of purpose? Or you're just doing this so people could leo. Point at the screen. Screen. But I think that's like the difference between good writing and popular writing maybe, you know, like, will people love that generally and eat it up? Sure. Yeah. Anyway, that's. That's all I got there.

[Lucas]

Go ahead to the other part of this question, though. So I am firmly in the camp that Pel should be dead, like, in every version of the story.

[Zach]

I'm sure he will be dead in this version.

[Lucas]

Yeah. No, I think that they should commit to that. And while I do appreciate how. Yeah, I'm going to be one of the people who says this, who makes this comparison, how Tolkien esque one piece is, I do think that one of Oda's shortcomings as a writer is that he does not like to write characters out. He likes to keep all the pieces, as many pieces as possible on the table. But that's not. That's not always effective. And I think that Pel actually having lived apparently at the end of Alabasta was a little. Oh, that's undercutting the themes of that story arc a little bit. But, yeah, I doubt. I don't think we'll get to that in this upcoming season. That seems like season three of live action. One piece, but yeah, death to Pel, I guess. Cool character, cool design, but nah, death to Pel?

[Zach]

I so like when that happens. I'm gonna say when, because that's definitely happening. He will die and it will be brutal, and you'll see his guts everywhere, probably. But, like, okay, good. It's like you're giving us what we want, but you're doing it because you're giving us what we want.

[Sam]

Yeah, exactly. Like, like, like, at that point, like, I almost want him to survive just because it's funny.

[Zach]

Sam, that is your sense of humor in a nutshell right there. Sam, what's the next question? We should move on because this is.

[Sam]

I want to answer. I want to give my. My. I want. I want Kara to join the crew.

[Zach]

Crew.

[Sam]

She should show up and she should stay permanent.

[Zach]

Just randomly.

[Sam]

They should bring her into the story earlier if they have to.

[Zach]

Okay. Okay. Thank you. Sam, what's your.

[Ken]

Bring Yamato in earlier. Start the wano arc early.

[Zach]

Netflix is gonna listen to the two of you because these. Yeah, yeah, they will.

[Ken]

They won't.

[Zach]

They will. They're both very popular.

[Ken]

Oh, goodness.

[Sam]

I love that I get to be the tastemaker.

[Zach]

You do. Sam, Everyone said this.

[Sam]

Our next. This piece comes from the colors of a Cram. Apologies if that's not how that word is pronounced. Who says the Slayer King has a Gekwa name? Colors of a Cram has a Geka icon.

[Ken]

I got that.

[Sam]

Yahoo. Yahoo. Opp Banger chapter. As always, I'm so glad that Oda is taking advantage of the immortality to allow Luffy to beat the shit out of Summers in more brutal ways than we're used to. And wow. Loki is high key big. Where's Rook at the end though? Did Loki kill him? Is all that's left a skeleton skull joke? Anyway, my question this week is, was Barney the dinosaur someone who ate the Nidhogger from fruit? Have a great week.

[Zach]

Eat a dragon fruit. We know that for a fact.

[Ken]

The mythical dragon Dragon bottle. Barney.

[Sam]

I think it'd be really funny if like, you know, like, if. If mythical creatures can be their own models of devil fruit could like like just like fiction, popular fictional characters from pop culture become.

[Zach]

I love that. That's a great idea. Sam.

[Sam]

Dinosaur Dino for free fruit. Mythical type Barney model.

[Zach]

I always talk about spin offs for one piece. I want this. What Sam is describing fictional characters as devil fruits were regular people. It's like an isekai but for just, you know, with one piece devil fruits instead.

[Ken]

So it sounds like Tim Allen's the Santa Claus. He eats the Santa. Santa fruit.

[Sam]

Kinda.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah. It's that concept.

[Sam]

And the previous Santa had to die for him to get it.

[Ken]

It's like.

[Sam]

It's like somewhere between cutting the fruit.

[Zach]

For those who've seen that Comedy Central movie from a long time ago. What's. What's next?

[Sam]

And also the. This person says, PS what an amazing Akane chapter this week too.

[Zach]

Yeah, I really like this week's Akane. It was good.

[Sam]

Our next disc piece comes from Wispy who says. Hey Opp, Long time no see. So was it the Nidhog? So it was the Nidhogger after all. Do you think that that may be what the design on the sale of the new giant pirates warriors ship was this whole time? Yes, actually. Yeah. You're showing it to us. The masthead is kind of blocking the. The graphic on the sails. But the. Their. Their on the sails is.

[Zach]

When was this from? What Shadows.

[Sam]

I don't know where this is from.

[Zach]

It looks like Buggy on the right there. Like in a.

[Sam]

This might be a cover story.

[Zach]

It does. He has the helmet on.

[Ken]

It's when Hardin quits Buggy's.

[Zach]

Oh, it looks like a Hieridan helmet but with like a dragon of some sort.

[Sam]

But it could totally be the masthead. And then behind it is like. Yeah. What I think is probably very likely a Nidhogger graphic.

[Zach]

We're similar. Dragon. Dragon.

[Sam]

I mean, at this point. Why? Why? What's the point of making it any other dragon?

[Zach]

Guys, there's more than one type of dragon. I don't know what they are. But there, there are many. They're diverse. Mythical anyway.

[Sam]

Like, some are fish.

[Lucas]

Some of those dragons are fish.

[Zach]

Some of those dragons are fish. Do we talk about that?

[Lucas]

I do like that. I do like that. If it is like, well, not the nidhogger as in Loki, but like a nidhogger as a cultural that we know

[Sam]

the giants think about because their children draw.

[Lucas]

Right?

[Sam]

That would be about it actually.

[Lucas]

That would actually be really fun if that is like, no, it's Herodigan's helmet on this thing that kids think are cool. A giant drag. Or scary in this case. But yeah, that's nice.

[Sam]

Our next dis piece comes from Sailor Karna who says, hey Opp, I really hope that Steven is on because these names made with a few vowels are hard to say in English. I wonder how hard they are in Japanese.

[Zach]

I hate to say Steven is. Does not speak Norwegian. As far as we know. As far as we know.

[Sam]

At least in. At least in Japanese you remove the ambiguity of like how you're supposed to pronounce it.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. English sucks just generally as a language.

[Sam]

Our next dis piece comes from Big Mike, who says, hey Opp, I hope you're prepared for an unforgettable question. O egads, my dis piece question is ruined. What if I asked a World of Warcraft question and disguised as a One Piece question, delightfully devilish Big much with the Midnight expansion pack for One Piece just releasing with a straw hat heading to the Elven kingdom of Quel' Thalas to deal with the Xalatath. I mean Emu and the threats of the Void to engulf Azeroth in darkness. Since the Demon Hunters are going are getting the Devour spec, do you think Illidan is going to return soon? I remember. I remember Oda hinted that his at his return in an interview, saying that Illidan's catchphrase, you are not prepared for the moment. For the moment we. Sorry, Illidan's catchphrase, you are not prepared for that moment when discussing the 13 step process of removing the giant sword.

[Zach]

I am so lost.

[Sam]

Sargeras. What are you even saying? Illidan is what I call Yamato. It's a regional dialect.

[Zach]

Does anyone know what this.

[Ken]

It's a Warcraft Parallels to One Piece. I kind of.

[Sam]

I come. I come to you for your World of Warcraft. No. Why are you.

[Ed]

Why.

[Sam]

Why do I have to answer questions for you?

[Zach]

What's the next question, Sam?

[Sam]

Our next question comes Luke did you?

[Lucas]

Yeah. So I can't contribute to this because the extent of my World of Warcraft knowledge and I can't believe I get to tell this show on this story on the One Piece podcast. I played World of Warcraft for a week in college because a girl I liked was into World of Warcraft.

[Zach]

Best reason to.

[Lucas]

And then that relationship kind of fizzled out as soon as it started. And I've never gone back.

[Zach]

It's because of World of Warcraft.

[Sam]

Because of World of Warcraft, which I

[Lucas]

actually think might be. You know what? That's all the World of Warcraft. That's all the wow I need. That is the best way to play WoW and the best for me.

[Sam]

At least I don't play wow because I am not a nerd.

[Zach]

What's next?

[Sam]

Our next dis piece comes from Tyler who says the close up panel of Summer's face made for a very satisfying bigpunchy.com I am just curious.

[Zach]

Bigpunchies.com bigpunchies.com make sure.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah. You don't. You don't want to find out what bigpunchy.com is?

[Zach]

I don't want to find out what that is.

[Sam]

I'm just curious and excited to see as to what aspect exactly of Luffy as Nika and Loki as the Nidhogger play in relation to the larger plot threads. In the background is Loki the Nidhogger, an ancient giant who can maximize the full potential of the dragon Dragon Fruit, who may also have a possible connection to Shirahoshi Parentheses, Harry Den Den, Mushi, Uranos and the Uranus. I'm guessing. And the laser beam ship from Punk Hazard. Could be something else else. Probably wrong here, but just spitballing the idea. Luffy, the same as Joy Boy, has been naturally collecting the three ancient weapons. Hirahoshi, Momo to unleash Pluton and now Loki. Then all the powers and abilities with Imu is something totally new that Joy Boy could not overcome. But Luffy can with, well, you know, his luffiness. That was longer than I thought. Have a happy week, dads of Opp. That includes you, Sabo. Sabo?

[Zach]

Yeah, the apostrophes.

[Ken]

Oh.

[Zach]

Well, I don't know if he's gonna be happy when he hears about that koala's gut biome.

[Sam]

I feel like Uranus should be like different than a ship and different than a person.

[Zach]

Yeah, I agree with Sam.

[Ken]

Yep.

[Zach]

I would. That would be id. It's probably something flying because isn't the.

[Sam]

Yeah, the moon is Like a Death Star.

[Zach]

Yeah. But also, Uranus revolves around giant legends. So if we hear about Uranus, I hope it is in this arc for the first time. We really haven't heard anything beyond that.

[Sam]

We really have so many arcs left to hear about it.

[Ken]

So, you know the thing that took out Lulucia was Uranus and they used the mother flame that got stolen by Yor.

[Zach]

No, we did not know it was Uranus. That was just guess that it was.

[Ken]

Okay, but the thing that took out Lulu Sia was powered by the mother flame.

[Zach]

Yes, but we don't know whether the mother flame is doing. I think probably related, but we don't know. We just put two and two together because it's flying and it's giant.

[Sam]

Yeah. Well, I was thinking that the mother flame would have to be like a. Basically a fourth ancient weapon. But maybe, maybe it is.

[Ken]

Well, the motherflame just the battery powering.

[Zach]

Yeah, you don't know anything about your Uranus. So it could be a dark. So yeah, it would be.

[Lucas]

I don't know, as we are talking about in this episode of the podcast, how one piece is acting on such a scale. It would be a very kind of biblical illusion which I think would be in line for the epic that the story is to have like, oh, one is sea connected, one is land connected, one is sky connected. Forgive me, fake fan. What is the status of the ancient. Like we know Shirahoshi is confirmed to be one of them.

[Sam]

Shirahoshi is Poseidon. The ancient weapon ship Pluton is what Franky had blueprints for a copy of. And the original one is in Wano.

[Zach]

Correct.

[Lucas]

It's stuck at the bottom room of Wano.

[Ken]

Yes.

[Zach]

No, that's not Fake fan. That's easy to forget. Yeah. And Uranus we really know nothing about. That's like kind of the. I'm actually surprised I don't see more Internet stuff about that. Maybe because they're afraid to pronounce Uranus as well.

[Ken]

We do know that Uranus is the ancient weapon. Is.

[Zach]

The

[Sam]

ancient weapon is called Uranus.

[Ken]

Vegapunk said that every time an ancient weapon is used, the sea rises.

[Sam]

When does he say that?

[Ken]

Didn't he say that in his speech? Like, oh, the use of the ancient weapons caused the sea to rise?

[Zach]

He might have, but again.

[Sam]

Yeah, well, Vegapunk says that

[Zach]

there's still suppositions, like, I think they're good ones, but they're not.

[Sam]

I guess this is. This is. This is the. The hair split on like whether we're considering the. The Mother Flame usage to be itself one of the three ancient weapons. Or if it's like a different thing.

[Ken]

No, no, no. I think the Mother flame was the battery to power Uranus because IMU had Uranus got the plane from York and tested Lucia and the sea rose and they. Oh, someone used Ancient weapon the Cetus Rose.

[Sam]

I. I did not get the. I was. I did not have the impression that. That we. We are saying that that power is Uranus.

[Ken]

Okay.

[Sam]

I think it's plausible. Like I don't like, that's definitely realistic.

[Zach]

That's definitely in the.

[Ken]

Gotcha.

[Zach]

Now we're splitting hairs.

[Ken]

I'm just being okay. I get some jump conclusion, I guess like maybe.

[Sam]

I think we all agree there is a line.

[Zach]

Probably is, but we don't have. What we're trying to say is no one has said that.

[Ken]

Correct.

[Sam]

Yeah, like maybe I'm wrong and Vegapunk does literally say Ancient weapons caused the sea to rise.

[Zach]

Normally I would look this up, but I'm no. Let the fans know

[Sam]

specifically that it

[Lucas]

would fit the right. It would fit the actions, the character writing of members of the World Government EMU.

[Zach]

100%.

[Lucas]

If like if they got one of the. And they are terrified of anyone else getting one of the other two.

[Zach]

I know they did express their interest in getting them.

[Lucas]

Yes.

[Zach]

I'm just trying to remember.

[Sam]

I guess to me it's dramatically less interesting if Vegapunk did not create a new weapon, but instead just enabled the use of an old one.

[Zach]

Yes, I agree. And I think that is probably what happened. And that's probably the thing we saw over the Lucian. Like they probably use the Mother Flame, which is the thing that powers Uranus. Yeah.

[Sam]

Well, no, I'm thinking. Because I'm thinking the Mother Flame or whatever the Marvel Flame is being used to power. Like I feel like that's a. That's a new technology that Vegapunk gets to die feeling guilty he created like Oppenheimer and Einstein.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah. I think.

[Sam]

Which is less true if it's just an accessory to the already existing Ancient weapon.

[Zach]

Agreed. What's the next question?

[Sam]

But, but you know, it's all definitely like it's. I. I wouldn't say that that's. The other interpretation is unlikely.

[Zach]

No, I. Either way. What's the. What's the next question?

[Sam]

Yeah, our final dispiece comes from Reverse Nidhoggback. Who says Boss.

[Zach]

Boss. False.

[Sam]

False Banger Thorn launcher as always. So now that we know Loki's fruit. Why the hell would he think he was Nika at least according to Jarl Elbaf. Slash, the Nidhogger fought against Nika. Also, Steven or Steven Sung Long need to keep playing Final Fantasy 6. They didn't even get to the train part. Steve, you didn't do the train. Maybe. Maybe they did do the train and they. They're just sitting on the recordings. But I don't. I don't know what their schedule is.

[Lucas]

Like, oh, Loki would think he's Nika because he's a pun punk. Because he is like, oh, yeah, I got the. Because he's a punk who doesn't know his culture super well actively, like, was raging against the culture, the new culture his father was trying to create. So I can totally see him in his mind compressing this mythos. And, oh, I got this super important devil fruit, this. Yeah, I must be the shit in every facet of. Of our culture, of our legends now.

[Zach]

And also, since his whole kind of thing is justifying his own existence because he was so, like, he was so rejected as a baby, it's interesting

[Lucas]

there's a much kinder reading of that than what I just read. That also that. Yes, yes, yes.

[Zach]

I'm saying that is the reason he thinks like, that I think you were right. Right. And that is because he's trying to, like, I'm psychologically parsing down why he's acting like an a hole in this situation. That was it. Right?

[Sam]

That's it for this piece. Yep.

[Zach]

Let's. Let's check some of the other ways that we get it, including Reddit. Let's go to the subreddit archipelago. Oh, my God, here we go. Go. This one's made just for me. This comes from Electric Dynamite, who says, since Zach is so upset about the missing volume cover box. Now, before I even read this question, I should explain why I'm so upset about this and what it is. So, on the last week's episode, which please listen to. It's a very interesting episode with Stephen talking about the One piece magazine number 20. We also were talking about the new volume to come out and how if you look at every volume that Oda makes, makes, there's a little box. Often they pop out of the box. But he's just recently started phasing the box completely out and as a design feature anyway, it says, I think I should pop his bubble. And me my bubble, and list all the volumes that already were actually missing the box. There are more than you think. I won't count the times when the box is broken into separate panels since it's still giving the same effect. Thank you. Because I would also count that. But it would double the count. Yeah, I don't count that. That counts. I think when the box is split, I'm gonna add before this starts. I understand. There are times when all the characters are in front of the box. Mm, the box.

[Sam]

I understand your problem, Zach. I understand.

[Zach]

Sam. Thank you. This is why. This is why you're here. Anyway, they said 45. Where the boxes of circle. Okay, again, that I think counts. It's still the same, but I know which one you're talking about. That's a great cover. That's the one with. That's the post NEAS lobby 1. 48 has none. They say that, I think. Is that the one with Luffy and. Or screaming 50. If I remember these off the top of my head, this is 51. His box is a curved diamond. That one. Oh, that's the supernova one, I think. But again, if it's a different shape, it's still doing the same thing though. Anyway. 53, he says has none. That's an impel down one where he's literally busting out of the page. If I recall 62, that one is a weird one. I thought there was some box there. I gotta look. 65. I'm gonna go through these faster. 70, 72, 76, 77, 103 and 110. 10 and then 112 through 114. Still though, shows generally a trend of it happening more recently.

[Ed]

I.

[Sam]

And I think most of those examples may very well be the boxes just covered by.

[Zach]

By people. And I think. Which I'll look but like the box

[Sam]

is definitely there in 43. It's. You can't see it in the. In 50 or no, in 53. You can't see it. But I think it. I think it's there in spirit. Like, I really think it's just covered.

[Zach]

I mean, earlier on, it's very front and center. But I kind of like the fact that it does kind of. It's there, but it takes a back seat. And when it's different shapes, it's still like it's.

[Sam]

It's Definitely there in 52. It's definitely there in 52.

[Zach]

50. 52. It definitely is there. Yeah, but he didn't say it wasn't there. He said 51 and 53. 51. It is correct. But I think he's just playing with the formula. 53 is.

[Sam]

53 is covered. It's just covered 53.

[Zach]

It's there, but it's. He did something weird with it. And I think it's also covered.

[Sam]

There's just not a tiny inch that you can see it.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's. Yeah. Which other one? 70 is. That's the newspaper one, I think. Yeah, that one I remember annoying me at the time for the same reason. Anyway, we can talk about this.

[Sam]

Yeah, I guess. I guess that one's missing it. But that one's also like one of the ugliest covers he's ever done.

[Zach]

It is a not a good cover. I agree. Sam and I.

[Sam]

Apparently, I'm still mad about it. Like, what a nonsensical composition.

[Zach]

Yeah. 69. I don't like that much either, which is weird because the two before that are some of my favorites. Those are great. The Caesar clown one with them, like walking through. And the one where everyone is swapped is an excellent one. Those are both excellent. Anyway, more. Brad Wonder says, I have a theory about Summer's fate and the climax of this arc. Emu seemed rather unthreatened by the situation, so I think. I don't know about that, but. So I think they have a way to power up by taking away the powers of Summers and killing him to strengthen Gunko's vessel. Vessel? This means that the other knights will be vulnerable to be defeated more easily. Summers, who is currently in pieces, will die on the spot if he loses his immortality powers Right now. Some people seem to misunderstand that Summers has aged normally since the God Valley flashback. So it can't be simply deleted like with Emu and Saturn. Sorry. He would just remain very old without immortality now that he's been hit by a very powerful attack. That would take a while to regenerate from. He could go through one of the more gruesome deaths in one piece while literally in shambles. That's all reasonable. I. I'm still a little bit torn about Summer's aging.

[Ken]

But yeah, we talked about this. It probably is tied to the tattoo rank because there's three levels of the abyss, the shallows, the depths. I think the elders have the highest one that stop you from aging.

[Zach]

I'm also unclear if he aged or if he just changed his hairstyle. But on the other hand, what's his face garland?

[Ken]

Yeah. All of them have aged but Gunko. So Gunko is definitely something more.

[Zach]

That's true.

[Ken]

That's the others.

[Zach]

Yeah. And Ice Fisher 10 has our last one saying that the archipelago lives again. Speaking of which, I've also been curious about the status of the One Piece podcast magazine, which I could. I could leave up to can, but I'm not going to. They also. They may call Loki the Nidhogger, but my heart, in my heart, he's more than that. He and Ansel and Salagon the Black. I know Zach has no idea who that is since he said he doesn't read Tolkien on Quest for the Best. But some. Someone else may get that. Also, props to Steven for using the term obsidian such a creative adjective. Sorry, there's something in my throat. But obsidian. That's also why I love DS9. They have the Obsidian Order on that. Anyway, thanks for the questions and for calling out my being a fake Tolkien fan, even though I've never claimed to be a Tolkien fan before. I know you weren't saying that.

[Ken]

I just, you know, not to extend the convo more, but can we cap off with one little thing?

[Zach]

Yes, please.

[Ken]

I looked it up. I went back and found Vegapunk's speech.

[Zach]

And in the speech, I'm glad you're dead. I'm glad you're dead.

[Ken]

He confirms the flame that I created was used to activate an ancient weapon. And that's what was used on Lulucia. So it all but confirms that.

[Zach]

All but confirmed.

[Ken]

Yeah, that that thing is Uranus. You know what it looks like or we don't know if it's a living thing or a machine or what it could be, but the mother flame powered it. And that means IMU has it.

[Zach]

We have it has all but been said I think is probably the worst.

[Ken]

Not by name, but an ancient weapon was used on Lulu.

[Zach]

C Like I would put a lot that that was. Yes, Sam.

[Sam]

Ken was right. I was wrong.

[Zach]

Wow, Sam. Magnanimous again. Yes. That'll do it for piece together. That's round off the show.

[Lucas]

There's a world where legends race across city skylines. Romance blossoms in glittering ballrooms. And there's mad magic around every corner. It's a world known to many as Great Britain. You've seen the action on screen. Now visit the real star of the show. Visit Great Britain. To discover more, go to tripadvisor.com Great Britain Disney wants to know, are you

[Zach]

ready for Marvel Studios? The New Avengers now streaming on Disney plus.

[Ken]

Let's do this.

[Guest or Sponsor Voice]

One of the best Marvel movies of

[Lucas]

all time is now streaming on Disney plus.

[Zach]

Hey, you weren't listening to me.

[Lucas]

I said thunderbolts. The New Avengers is now streaming on Disney plus. Meet the New Avengers.

[Zach]

That's cool, man.

[Lucas]

Marvel Studios Thunderbolts. The New Avengers.

[Zach]

Rated PG 13. Now streaming on. You guessed it, Disney Plus. This has been episode 908 of the One Piece podcast for March 2nd. Thank you all for joining us today. Thank Ed. I want to thank Ed also for coming on the show. Lucas, where could people find you?

[Lucas]

Yeah, you can read most of my writing nowadays on Anime News Network. Do a lot of reviews over there. Currently reviewing Golden Kamui and the current season of Jujutsu. Kaiser and I also regularly contribute to their this Week in Anime column. But to stay up with stay up to date on everything that I'm doing, please follow me on Blue sky at

[Zach]

Lucas de Writer I'm still so impressed that your last name describes your profession. I that's why they don't no Pogan no, that doesn't make sense. No. Ken where could people find you?

[Ken]

You can find me anywhere online under kindking01, whether that be Bluesky, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, YouTube. I am the same name everywhere. I'm very easy to find. Please stalk me if you so choose to. And also check out the One Piece art collab on Blue Sky Op Collab. It was a giant project we did two years ago now at this point where we got hundreds of artists to draw hundreds of one piece characters from Post Dressrosa through Egghead. And if you follow us on Blue sky, we're doing a character a day. We've posted about 300 of 800 characters so far, so it's like a daily One Piece character. You can see every day like a little calendar, which is nice.

[Zach]

I did accidentally skirt by the last Piece Together question asking us about our magazine, the OPP Atlas, which we are still working on. These things take a lot of time.

[Ken]

That's still in the works. We just want to find the best way to do it and get the the right people in order to make it happen. But it's still in our mind. We have not forgotten about it. It just.

[Zach]

It's not as soon as it's like mostly there, I think.

[Ken]

Yeah. Part of why Zach calls me Archivist is because I've personally collected all of the one Piece art episode art icons like you name it. I pretty much have the history of the One Piece podcast now on my desktop and in various Google Drives.

[Zach]

So.

[Ken]

So content wise we got all this stuff together. We just need to put it all together and then put it out in a way that we're all happy with physically. So I can't promise you when it's gonna happen, but it is still on our minds and I'm still keeping a weekly record of everything. So when it comes out, believe me you will know about it.

[Lucas]

If y' all don't mind me sneaking in one more plug. If you need an anime focused magazine, please do. If you need an anime focused magazine to read in the meantime, go check out the Anime Herald magazine. I contributed to that as well. It is. Yeah, it's really good. And also a print anime focused magazine in the year of our Lord 2026.

[Zach]

Nice.

[Lucas]

Incredible. Yeah, no, I contributed. I wrote about Delicious and Dungeon and how that is engaging with a lot of tabletop fantasy, video game fantasy tropes.

[Ken]

Oh, that's so cool.

[Zach]

I was hoping you were going to say chefs for a second there. Possible. Possible. Yeah. I got. As a. As a young and anime fan, magazines were very important to me. New type anime. I'm trying to remember all of them. There were a lot. Beckett, obviously. Yeah. Which Grego. For as we found out.

[Ken]

But I'm actually in a Beckett magazine. I wrote a letter as a kid and they published my letter in one of the Beckett magazines.

[Zach]

Okay, well, now I gotta find out that because I think I have.

[Ken]

I'll try to find it. I. I have that somewhere. I'll post it somewhere.

[Zach]

I used to love those covers as a kid. Now as an adult, I'm like, I don't know, Maybe. Anyway, Sam, where could people find.

[Sam]

People can find me on Blue sky lcsam playing through some Resident Evil requiem.

[Zach]

You could. Yeah, you could find me@zack logan.com or you can find us@one piece podcast.com one piece podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts, you could find us. Also, please subscribe to us on [e-mail] One Piece podcast. Subscribe like and review there. Subscribe rate and review wherever you get your podcasts elsewhere. And follow us on all social media, including the ones that we don't frequent, but follow us please. Including a Blue sky, as I mentioned. Is there anything else happening? I'm trying to think that I could

[Ken]

talk about probably not our big march event.

[Zach]

Yes, let's talk about our. That was actually going to be my second. Okay, I really did forget. But our little surprise at the end. Ken, do you want to talk about what we're working on in our big march event?

[Ken]

Sure. So if you are listening to this podcast right now, this is already live. If you join our One piece podcast discord, we are doing Zach, who came up with the. The Arc Madness idea of crossing out the March Madness.

[Zach]

Stephen. I think I'm gonna give Steven that. Yeah, I think it was Steven.

[Ken]

So we are doing our own version of March Madness. We're calling Arc Madness, where we are on the one piece podcast, Discord. We currently have a brackets of consequence channel or category with two channels where we are going through every arc and we're doing them bracket style and putting them against each other. Other seated, of course, for the month of March.

[Zach]

And every course is not. It is not. That's not assumed.

[Ken]

Well, it's not discussion. These have. These have been seated. Zach was gracious enough to see these for us.

[Zach]

Our arcs of consequence from 2019, I think was when we did correct.

[Ken]

Minus the ones that aren't only two since 2019. Yeah.

[Zach]

And one is still.

[Ken]

Anyway, join the Discord. Look for the brackets of consequence category. There's two channels, one with the polls, one for discussion. And the idea is that these polls will last a week. We will talk about them at the end of each podcast until basically it ends, or it should be the month of March. So, yeah, go vote, Go discuss. Go debate. We want to hear your opinions. I'm looking at the polls right now. We already have seven votes in as a time of recording. So people have already found the channel before the podcast and are already voting. So please.

[Zach]

Is it. I didn't even know it was public yet.

[Ken]

Oh, yeah, it's public. It's going. So if you listen to this, it's live. Please join our Discord, get your vote in, and let's have some fun, some arc madness.

[Zach]

Yeah, the first. The first round. Did you publish the whole bracket already?

[Ken]

Yeah, everything's there.

[Zach]

It's going okay. So, like, you could see the whole bracket, which myself and Ken did help put together. Together. I will say we are not entertaining discussions on what counts as an arc and what doesn't, because we have done that enough. I am done.

[Ken]

We talked about that last episode.

[Zach]

Yes, we did. We did.

[Ken]

Yeah. So last week, if you enjoyed our little lightning round at the end of last week.

[Zach]

Yes, that's a small taste.

[Ken]

Now we are experimenting on bringing this to a bigger scale for all the listeners of the podcast.

[Zach]

We have to do arc March.

[Ken]

We gotta do it.

[Zach]

This is probably gonna take more than just March. I haven't done the math, but the amount of rounds. No, it's a week each, you said. Right. So this is gonna be.

[Ken]

It'll take five weeks. We'll finish in probably April.

[Zach]

Oh, you're doing. Wait, you're doing all the preliminaries right now?

[Ken]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

Okay. So right.

[Ken]

Right now there are 10 polls to vote on. You have one week to vote on all 10 polls.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Ken]

And so, yeah, it'll Be about a month.

[Zach]

So I'll go through them very quickly right now just so you know. And you could get your anger and frustration out when you're. When you know it doesn't go whatever your way might be. Davey Back Fights vs. Egghead Sabari Archipelago vs. Orange Town. Amazon Lily vs. Whole Cake Island. Fishman island vs. Baratie Elbaf vs. Logtown. Romance dawn vs. Zo. There's one if you. I know people believe that both of those are not arcs. I don't care. We're not having this discussion anymore. Thriller park versus Little Garden, Drum island versus Syrup Village, Twin Capes Slash Whiskey Peak versus Impel down. And Punk Hazard versus Dressrosa. Again, these are seated based on where we, and I think fans also ranked them that year. I can't recall exactly. I'm not trying to be dismissive. I mean, I am, but I'm not trying to be dismissive when it comes to, like, what counts as a arc. It's just that there's no perfect answer there. And at one point you kind of just like got to have your own rubric and see, and I think I posted my rubric and I'll post it again in that channel. But I think these are generally. I could feel okay with all of these, even if they're not perfect. I think that's pretty good.

[Ken]

It's fine for what we do.

[Zach]

Alex didn't like, have an issue with it.

[Ken]

Yes, I ran it by Alex too, because he was very, very wanted to make sure this was done right.

[Zach]

So yes, I know Alex has opinions about it, probably more than me. So yes, yes. So as Steve says, let's see how Water7 wins this. That'll do it. We'll see you next week for our recap of chapter 1176. And as always, fuck ice. My name is Zach. We'll see you next week, everyone. Goodbye.

[Ken]

Bye bye.

[Lucas]

Bye bye.

[Sam]

Monster Energy.

[Zach]

Everybody knows White Monster Zero Ultra, that's the og it kicked off this whole Zero Sugar energy drink thing.

[Sam]

But Ultra is a whole line up now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise, and Vice Guava.

[Zach]

And they all bring the Monster Energy punch. So if you've been living in the

[Sam]

White can branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe, and every single one is Zero Sugar.

[Zach]

Tap the banner to learn more. Close your eyes. Exhale.

[Ad Host]

Feel your body relax.

[Zach]

And let go of whatever you're carrying today while I'm letting go of the

[Ad Host]

worry that it was I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts.

[Zach]

Oh, my gosh.

[Lucas]

They're so fast.

[Zach]

And breathe.

[Ad Host]

Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order.

[Zach]

Oh, sorry. Namaste.

[Lucas]

Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order, 1-800-contacts.