Chapters · Final Saga › Elbaf

Chapter 1174: The Strongest Thing in the World

Arc: Elbaf · Saga: Final Saga · Released:

Summary

The Holy Knights’ atrocity reaches its climax on Elbaf. The Domi-Reversi arrow still drives the abducted giant children forward, and now they march straight for the cliff-edge over the Underworld; because Great Imu is “inside” Gunko’s body, even Gunko cannot call off the arrow. Sommers’s thorns keep every parent at arm’s length, so the giants are forced to watch their children plummet — a “deliciously depraved way to die” that Killingham devours as pure “emotion.” Rather than let their children die alone, the parents, grandparents and siblings ram themselves through the thorns to embrace the kids and fall with them — “martyrs for love.” As the children beg and recall every scolding they ever resented, the whole line goes over the edge. But far below, Luffy — in Gear 5 — was passing by and catches them all on his stretched belly (“Gum-Gum Tummy Cracker”); everyone is alive. Then the drums sound. The giants recite Elbaf’s oldest prophecy: with the drums of liberation, on an exceedingly rare day when lightning and snow combine, a vast beast will blanket the sky — and the Sun God will appear. The whole world-tree ripples, Elbaf itself shakes, and the laughing Sun God (Luffy, Gear 5) rises out of the abyss atop a colossal beast. (To be continued.)

New reveals

• Imu is operating Gunko by proxy. “Great Imu is inside of her now!!” / “if anyone’s at fault here, the great one is who’s controlling Gunko’s body!!” — Gunko herself would stop the arrow if she could (“If you could stop it, I would’ve done so already!!”), but her body is not hers to command (pp. 3–4).
• The children are marched off the cliff. The Domi-Reversi arrow keeps them walking toward the drop into the Underworld; there is no way to stop them “as long as that arrow doesn’t disappear” (pp. 2–6).
• The thorns weaponize the parents’ love. Sommers’s steel-hard thorns hold the adults just out of reach so they can only watch — and when they force through anyway, the thorns impale them (pp. 3, 6, 9).
• Killingham feeds on the grief. “This is emotion!!! This is the real stuff… Call their names!! Scream your family love to the heavens!!!” — he treats the mass death as a delicacy (“martyrs for love!!!”) (pp. 4, 13).
• The parents choose to fall with their children. Mothers and fathers push through the thorns to hug their kids and go over the edge together rather than let them “die alone” (pp. 9–13).
• Luffy catches everyone. In Gear 5 he cushions the falling giants on his stretched body (“Gum-Gum Tummy Cracker”); “everyone’s alive!!” (p. 14).
• The Elbaf Sun-God prophecy is stated and fulfilled in one beat. “With the sound of the drums of liberation… on an exceedingly rare day when lightning and snow combine… a vast beast will blanket the sky with its presence… the Sun God will appear!!” — realized as Gear-5 Luffy rises atop a colossal beast (pp. 15–17).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy (Gear 5), Killingham, Sommers, Gunko (body controlled by Imu), Imu (named, acting through Gunko), Oimo, Collun, Ronja, Bjorn, Johanna, Ange, numerous unnamed giant parents/children; Prince Loki (implied — the prophecy’s “lightning,” cf. his Nibelheim Ch. 1171); Roger (cover only)
• Locations: Elbaf, The Underworld, Mariejois (“the Holy Land,” the abduction destination)
• Groups / races: Holy Knights, Giants
• Devil Fruits (referenced): Arrow-Arrow Fruit (Gunko’s Domi Reversi), Thorn-Thorn Fruit (Sommers)
• Lore: Sun God Nika, Drums of Liberation, Elbaf’s Legendary Monsters
• Techniques: Gum-Gum Tummy Cracker (Luffy), Domi Reversi (Gunko’s arrow)

Notable panels

• Page 1 (cover): Reader-request illustration — Gol D. Roger going on a walk with a Tyrannosaurus he tamed like a puppy, requested by “Tokomon.” A standalone reader-request cover, not a serialized cover story.
• Pages 3–4: Reveal that Imu controls Gunko’s body; Killingham savoring the “emotion.”
• Pages 9–12: The parents force through the thorns to hug their children and fall with them; recurring question “What’s the scariest thing in the world?”
• Page 14: Luffy’s “Gum-Gum Tummy Cracker” catch below the cliff — everyone alive. (Ambiguous p.14 dialogue: a “destroyer” who needs riders off his back before he fights — possibly Loki or the beast/mount.)
• Page 15: Giants recite the Sun-God prophecy as the world-tree ripples and Elbaf shakes.
• Pages 16–17: Gear-5 Luffy (the Sun God) rises out of the Underworld atop a colossal, sky-blanketing beast. To be continued.

Open questions raised

• What is the vast beast that appears with the Sun God? A named Elbaf legendary monster, a Sea King, a summoned/allied creature — or connected to the freed Loki?
• Who is the p.14 “destroyer” who carried the rescued up “once we’re up there” and needs them off his back to fight?
• How far does Imu’s remote body-control reach — only Gunko, or any Holy Knight / any body? (see Imu Identity)
• Does the fulfilled prophecy mean the giants of Elbaf will now recognize and rally behind Luffy as their foretold Sun God?