Chapters · Final Saga › Elbaf

Chapter 1189: King of the World

Arc: Elbaf · Saga: Final Saga · Source: official VIZ release (translation: Stephen Paul · lettering: Vanessa Satone), 17 pp · Released:

Summary

Luffy is left gasping and depleted under Imu’s assault (p2); on the surface Usopp senses that “there’s no doubt that Luffy’s Haki suddenly grew much weaker…” and the crew (Nami, Usopp, Hajrudin’s group) argues over whether he’ll be fine (p3). Elsewhere, Brook thaws and recognizes Princess Shuri — “It IS you, isn’t it?!” (p4) — while Ratatoskr chatters at them (“KURI RI! KURI RI! GEK GEK!!”); Chopper’s Guard Point cushions the crash-landing of Hajrudin’s group (Nami, Usopp, Hajrudin, Gerd) before he turns to Loki’s wounds — “There’s no time to waste!! Loki, show me your wounds…” (p5). Imu impales and pins Luffy to the tree — “That sword devours thy vitality.” / “Thou canst not move now…” (p7) — addresses him as “MONKEY D. LUFFY!!” / “A hateful name…”, taunts him about his “two brothers of different names” (one “slaughtered by the Navy”, Ace; the other “prominent within the Revolutionary Army”, Sabo), and strikes with “BLADE OF THE SEA GOD— FRAGARACH!!” (p8) and later ”…AXE OF XINGTIAN!!!” (p13). In a grey-toned Shanks flashback (pp.9–11), an enraged Loki demands revenge for Harald; Shanks explains the WG’s motive (“The government was trying to take control of Elbaph!! … That’s not their end goal!! It’s preparation…for a war!!!”, p9) and names the culprit — “The man who manipulated Harald… …WAS THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!” (p10) — a hidden sovereign whose “power is impossible to measure,” and whom nobody has ever reached: “If it were that simple… …someone else would have done it already!!!” Loki confirms his own failure — “I never did find my way to him!!!” (p11) — and in the present resolves that “if that’s the King of the World right there… …I’ll never get a better chance!!!” Hajrudin asks for his own share — “Give me a chance… …to avenge my father too!!!” (p12) — Ratatoskr is revealed (via Chopper) as the one who froze Shuri, Brook calls her “like a daughter to me!!!” and insists “she was being controlled!!”, and someone asks “If there’s a King of the World, then what are the Five Elders for…?” (p12). Robin, Saul and Chopper reunite briefly (p13). A hard scene-change caption — “SEA CLOUD PORT, WESTERN VILLAGE” (p14) — hands the arsenal reveal to the Holy Knights fighting Zoro and Sanji: the founder-weapons are driven into the ground around Zoro (“CLUNK…”, “KSHUNK…”) while a Knight lectures him, “You see, Roronoa Zolo…?!” — “LONGINUS! STIGMA! MURAMASA!!” / “BLADE OF CHAOS, TOHU! VOHU! NEMESIS!” / “THEY ARE THE 19 WEAPONS OF THOSE… …WHO BROUGHT THE WORLD TO HEEL!!!” — the arms the 19 kings thrust into the floor around the Empty Throne 800 years ago as an oath of equality, and “The Great One used OMEN to bring them back and grant them to us!!” (p15). Gram is named the Shepherd family’s blade and Longinus the Rimoshifu family’s spear (p16). The chapter closes on Imu — “Thou shouldst be honored to die… …by the weapons that created the world!!” — as a wild-haired old swordsman (Scopper Gaban, uncaptioned here) physically blocks the killing blow: “GA-CHING!!” (p17).

New reveals

• Luffy is spent, then pinned (pp. 2, 7–8). Luffy gasps “AAH…” / “URGH…” / “HUFF…” / “AA… UH…” (p. 2); Usopp feels from afar that “there’s no doubt that Luffy’s Haki suddenly grew much weaker…” (p. 3) and the crew debates whether he’ll recover. Imu then runs him through and pins him to the tree — “That sword devours thy vitality.” / “Thou canst not move now…” (p. 7).
• Imu addresses Luffy by full name — “MONKEY D. LUFFY!!” / “A hateful name…” (p. 7) — and knows his family: “Thou hast two brothers of different names…” (p. 7), “One brother slaughtered by the Navy…” (Ace) / “The other, prominent within the Revolutionary Army…” (Sabo) (p. 8), closing “In any case, a set of most uncouth brothers…” (p. 8).
• Imu’s own named strikes here are just two: “BLADE OF THE SEA GOD— FRAGARACH!!” (p. 8 — the thrust that pins Luffy) and ”…AXE OF XINGTIAN!!!” (p. 13), framed by “This will do more than slash thee.” and “Alas… the third will be…” (p. 13). Imu never names Nemesis, and the blade it holds is never identified on-page.
• The founders’ 19 weapons — revealed by the Holy Knights to Zoro, not by Imu (pp. 14–16, after the hard scene-change caption “SEA CLOUD PORT, WESTERN VILLAGE”, p. 14). A Knight roll-calls “LONGINUS! STIGMA! MURAMASA!!” and “BLADE OF CHAOS, TOHU! VOHU! NEMESIS!” — “THEY ARE THE 19 WEAPONS OF THOSE… …WHO BROUGHT THE WORLD TO HEEL!!!” (p. 15) — while the weapons are driven into the ground around Zoro (“CLUNK…”, “KSHUNK…”), a deliberate mirror of the Empty-Throne panel on the same page. “You see, Roronoa Zolo…?!” / “This is the power… …that conquered the world!!” (p. 15).
• Payoff of the Empty-Throne oath: “EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS AGO… THE 19 KINGS WHO CREATED THIS WORLD… …TOOK AN OATH OF EQUALITY, THRUSTING THEIR WEAPONS INTO THE FLOOR AROUND THE EMPTY THRONE!!!” (p. 15). And Omen brought back the weapons, not the Knights: “The Great One used OMEN to bring them back and grant them to us!!” / “There are no lies among the legends each family passed down!!” (p. 15).
• Holy-Knight families wield the founder-weapons: “From the Shepherd family… …GRAM!!” (p. 16; wielder carried as Sommers — personal name not captioned this chapter) and “This spear has been passed down through the Rimoshifu family.” / “LONGINUS!!” (p. 16; wielder carried as Killingham — personal name not captioned this chapter). VIZ says “family”, never “House of”; Longinus is explicitly a spear, not a greatsword. The Gram strike is called out on p. 14 as “King of Hell, Three Sword Serpent! 103 Mercies…” / ”…DRAGON DAMNATION!!” / “GRAM!!!”, swung at Zoro.
• Shanks names the culprit behind Harald (flashback, pp. 9–11): “The man who manipulated Harald… …WAS THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!” (p. 10) — a hidden sovereign above the World Government, treated as an unbelievable secret (“Careful, Shanks…” / “It’s fine. No one will believe it.”, p. 10; an elder giant protests “The entire concept of the World Government is that there is no one king who—”). Shanks also explains the WG’s motive: “The government was trying to take control of Elbaph!!” / “That’s not their end goal!! It’s preparation…for a war!!!” (p. 9), and urges “It’s not yet the time to fight!!!” (p. 11).
• NOBODY has ever reached the King of the World. Shanks: “The King’s power is impossible to measure! Go to the Holy Land and the mystery will only deepen rather than come to light!! If it were that simple… …someone else would have done it already!!!” (p. 10) — reinforced by Loki: “I left home and spent a few years abroad… In the end… …I never did find my way to him!!!” (p. 11).
• Loki’s target set: “I want vengeance for these crimes!! That’s all!!!” (p. 10); “Ha ha!! So I guess that King is the culprit!! I’ll take his head… nice and simple!!” (p. 10); and in the present, “So if that’s the King of the World right there… …I’ll never get a better chance!!!” (p. 11).
• Hajrudin enlists as a second avenger: ”…I’ve got no problem with it!! Give me a chance… …to avenge my father too!!!” (p. 12) — answered with “A simpleton’s idea of a plan.”
• Ratatoskr is the one who froze Shuri. Chopper translates the squirrel — “He says, ‘I froze her because she’s dangerous.’” → “What?! You’re the one who froze her?!” (p. 12). Brook counters: “You see, this girl… …is like a daughter to me!!!” and “Yes, she was dangerous!! WAS!! But I’m certain that she was being controlled!!” (p. 12) — a mind-control claim about the frozen Celestial-Dragon attacker. He had already thawed and recognized her on p. 4: “It IS you, isn’t it?! What happened all those years ago? What happened to you after that?” / “Princess Shuri?!”
• The Five Elders are named as a puzzle — “If there’s a King of the World, then what are the Five Elders for…?” (p. 12) — with “This is quite an absurd story…”
• The Elbaf-takeover order did not come from the Reverie: an elder giant is pressed — “…came from the decision-makers at the Reverie? Do you really think that this plan to rule over Elbaph… Even if you save the children, it is only a temporary reprieve.” / “But…the children!!” / ”…Then go to Loki instead!!” (p. 6).
• The closing beat: Imu — “Thou shouldst be honored to die… …by the weapons that created the world!!” (p. 17) — and a wild-haired old swordsman physically intercepts the blade, “GA-CHING!!” (p. 17). The figure is uncaptioned; the vault carries him as Scopper Gaban.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy (pp. 2, 7–8, 13, 17) · Imu (pp. 2, 7–8, 13, 17) · Prince Loki (p. 5 treated by Chopper; pp. 9–11 flashback + present) · Shanks (pp. 9–11, flashback) · King Harald (mentioned, pp. 9–10) · Nami (pp. 3–5, 12–13) · Usopp (pp. 3–5) · Hajrudin (pp. 4–5, 12) · Tony Tony Chopper (pp. 5, 12–13) · Brook (pp. 4, 12) · Gerd (p. 5) · Princess Shuri (thawed and named, pp. 4, 12) · Ratatoskr (SHOWN and speaking, pp. 4, 12 — “KURI RI! KURI RI! GEK GEK!!”; revealed as the one who froze Shuri, p. 12) · Nico Robin (p. 13) · Saul (p. 13) · Zoro (pp. 14–16, addressed “Roronoa Zolo”) · Sanji (p. 16) · Scopper Gaban (p. 17 — shown, uncaptioned) · Sommers (p. 14 top-left + p. 15 “GIHA HA HA HA!!”; carried — personal name not on-page) · Killingham (p. 16; carried — personal name not on-page) · Ace (mentioned, p. 8) · Sabo (mentioned, p. 8)
• An unnamed elderly bearded Elbaf giant has a substantial speaking role (pp. 6, 10, 11, 12) — “But…the children!!”, “The entire concept of the World Government is that there is no one king who—”, “Don’t be foolish, Loki!!”. He is not named on any VIZ page of this chapter; no identity is assigned here.
• Groups / lore: Holy Knights · Empty Throne · Omen · Five Elders (named p. 12) · Reverie (named p. 6) · Shepherd (“the Shepherd family”, p. 16) · Rimoshifu (“the Rimoshifu family”, p. 16) · Roger Pirates
• Locations: Elbaf (VIZ letters it “Elbaph”) · Western Village (captioned “SEA CLOUD PORT, WESTERN VILLAGE”, p. 14) · Aurust Castle · Owl Library
• Named weapons: Fragarach (p. 8) · Xingtian (p. 13) · Longinus (pp. 15–16, a spear) · Stigma (p. 15) · Muramasa (p. 15) · Tohu (p. 15) · Vohu (p. 15) · Nemesis (p. 15) · Gram (pp. 14, 16) — “the 19 weapons of those… who brought the world to heel”
• Named techniques: Guard Point (Chopper, p. 5) · Blade of the Sea God — Fragarach (Imu, p. 8) · Axe of Xingtian (Imu, p. 13) · “King of Hell, Three Sword Serpent! 103 Mercies… …Dragon Damnation!! Gram!!!” (p. 14; the wild-haired, fur-collared Holy Knight carried as Sommers) · Longinus (p. 16)

Notable panels

• p. 1 — Cover: “READER REQUEST: ‘NAUGHTY SEE-NO-EVIL, SPEAK-NO-EVIL, HEAR-NO-EVIL MONKEYS GETTING SCOLDED BY NAMI’ BY TOSHIKA ZOO” — the three proverbial wise monkeys sit in seiza as Nami lectures them. Not story canon.
• p. 2 — Luffy, in Nika-form silhouette wreathed in smoke: “AAH…” / “URGH…” / “HUFF…” / “AA… UH…”, then “HRRGH!!!” as Imu’s blade comes down.
• p. 4 — Brook, in the melting ice: “It IS you, isn’t it?! What happened all those years ago?” / “Princess Shuri?!” — with Ratatoskr chattering “KURI RI! KURI RI! GEK GEK!!”
• p. 5 — “GUARD POINT!!” — Chopper cushions Hajrudin’s group’s crash-landing (“Awww, thank you, Chopper! You’re so cute and helpful!”); then “There’s no time to waste!! Loki, show me your wounds…”
• p. 7 — Imu, coiled in Omen black flames: “MONKEY D. LUFFY!!” / “A hateful name…” / “How many will it take to end thee?”; Luffy already pinned — “That sword devours thy vitality.” / “Thou canst not move now…”
• p. 8 — “BLADE OF THE SEA GOD— FRAGARACH!!”: the barefoot Gear-5 Luffy run through and pinned to the tree. Imu: “In any case, a set of most uncouth brothers…”
• p. 10 — Shanks close-up: “The man who manipulated Harald… …WAS THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!” (the chapter’s central reveal), and the counter-beat “If it were that simple… …someone else would have done it already!!!”
• p. 14 — Hard scene-change caption “SEA CLOUD PORT, WESTERN VILLAGE”; the fur-collared Holy Knight in a blade-in-mouth three-sword stance — “King of Hell, Three Sword Serpent! 103 Mercies…” → ”…DRAGON DAMNATION!!” / “GRAM!!!” — against Zoro. (Digits confirmed at zoom: 103.)
• p. 15 — Right column: the Empty Throne with the founders’ weapons driven into the steps, “EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS AGO… THE 19 KINGS WHO CREATED THIS WORLD… …TOOK AN OATH OF EQUALITY, THRUSTING THEIR WEAPONS INTO THE FLOOR AROUND THE EMPTY THRONE!!!” Left: the same weapons driven into the ground around Zoro (“CLUNK…”, “KSHUNK…”) as the Knight says “You see, Roronoa Zolo…?!” and “The Great One used OMEN to bring them back and grant them to us!!”
• p. 16 — “From the Shepherd family… …GRAM!!” (carried as Sommers; only the family is captioned on-page) and “This spear has been passed down through the Rimoshifu family.” / “LONGINUS!!” (carried as Killingham; only the family is captioned on-page); Zoro’s face top-left, Sanji’s bottom-left.
• p. 17 — Imu: “Thou shouldst be honored to die… …by the weapons that created the world!!”; a wild-haired old swordsman intercepts the blade — “GA-CHING!!” — uncaptioned. Footer: “To be continued!”

Open questions raised

• Who wields each of the 19 weapons, and which family holds which? (Only Gram/Shepherd and Longinus/Rimoshifu are captioned this chapter.)
• If Omen “brought them back,” where had the founders’ weapons gone — and what does “bringing back” a weapon mean mechanically? (“The Great One used OMEN to bring them back and grant them to us!!”, p. 15.)
• If nobody has ever reached the King of the World (p. 10), what makes Loki’s “I’ll never get a better chance!!!” different — is it only that the King has come out to Elbaf?
• If there is a King of the World, “then what are the Five Elders for…?” (p. 12) — the question is asked on-page and left unanswered.
• Who was controlling Shuri (“she was being controlled!!”, p. 12), and how does that square with Ratatoskr freezing her “because she’s dangerous”?
• How badly is Luffy’s Haki depleted, and can he move again after the pinning blade “devours thy vitality”?
• Does Gaban’s immortality-negating blade change the fight against the founder-weapons?