Chapters · Final Saga › Elbaf

Chapter 1190: Those Whose Death Brings Celebration

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

Summary

On Elbaf, the “old man” who saved Luffy is Scopper Gaban — the surviving Roger Pirate (“The Left Arm of the Pirate King”) — and he hauls the beaten Luffy out of the reach of Imu’s monstrous true form, jeering “I’M DISAPPOINTED IN YOU!! / AREN’T YOU ASHAMED AT GETTING SAVED… / …BY AN INJURED OLD MAN LIKE ME?!!” and “ON YOUR FEET, STRAW HAT LUFFY!!” (p5). As Luffy swears “N-NO… I’M NOT GONNA DIE!!”, Gaban turns the scolding into a thesis: “THE KING OF THE PIRATES IS A TITLE FOR THOSE WHOSE DEATH BRINGS CELEBRATION!!” and “ON THIS SEA, THE HIGHER YOU RISE, THE MORE ENEMIES YOU HAVE.” (p6) — if Luffy imagines the crown is “nothing but peace and sunshine and rainbows,” he should go home. Gaban then fights Imu directly with his twin axes — Mantis Axe Style!!! / Mantis Plum!!! (p7), Gate of God!! (p13), and the two-part Yachi… / …Takeru!!! (pp14–15) — apologizing to the tree as he cuts it (“SORRY ABOUT THIS ONE, JEWEL TREE ADAM!!”, p12); Imu answers by drawing an ornate katana, Honebami Toshiro, out of its own black Omen and swinging it down on him (p8). Gaban tells Imu the Roger Pirates are “NOT BLINDLY OBEDIENT TO SOME MAN FROM THE PAST WE’VE NEVER MET BEFORE!!” — “WE JUST WANT TO SEE OUR CAPTAIN’S DREAM BROUGHT TO LIGHT!!” (p9) — names Gol D. Roger (p9), and argues that Imu’s own effort to erase Luffy is the tell (“BECAUSE YOU’RE GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY TO ELIMINATE HIM!! / IS THAT NOT PROOF ENOUGH?!”, p10) that ”…THIS BOY IS THE VERY MAN… …WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!” (p11). Imu does not know him (“WHO ART THOU?”, pp4 & 8) yet concedes “STILL THE PIRATE KING’S CREW, EVEN DECREPIT…” (p14) and resolves “LET US END THAT NOW!!” (p11). The duel rips across The Underworld (p16) and lands in The Sun World (p17), where two Elbaf giants watch a black, polka-dotted limb crash down — “WAS THAT… LUFFY?!” / “NO, IT’S NOT… / THERE’S SOMEONE ELSE UP THERE!! / SOMEONE DEVASTATINGLY STRONG!!” — while Luffy cries out “OLD MAN?!” and the last panel shows Gaban down on cracked ground, both axes scattered.

New reveals

• The chapter title decoded: per Gaban, “THE KING OF THE PIRATES IS A TITLE FOR THOSE WHOSE DEATH BRINGS CELEBRATION!!” (p6) — i.e. those whose death brings celebration are the Pirate Kings (the Roger register: his execution “ushered in this golden age of piracy”). Not a death occurring in-chapter; a doctrine about the crown.
• The “old man” is Scopper Gaban, who rescued and is now shielding Luffy from Imu.
• Gaban names his captain aloud — “GOL D. ROGER!!” / “THE KING OF THE PIRATES.” (p9) — and credits “THE WORDS OF JOYBOY.” (p9; VIZ spells it Joyboy, one word), insisting “BUT DON’T GET IT TWISTED. / WE’RE NOT BLINDLY OBEDIENT TO SOME MAN FROM THE PAST WE’VE NEVER MET BEFORE!! / WE JUST WANT TO SEE OUR CAPTAIN’S DREAM BROUGHT TO LIGHT!!”
• Gaban’s argument to Imu: your very effort to eliminate Luffy is the tell — “AND WHY WOULD THE REMNANTS OF HIS CREW… …PROTECT STRAW HAT LUFFY?! / BECAUSE YOU’RE GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY TO ELIMINATE HIM!! / IS THAT NOT PROOF ENOUGH?!” (p10), landing on ”…THEN YOU’RE TELLING US… …THAT THIS BOY IS THE VERY MAN… …WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!” (p11).
• Roger himself is shown in flashback (p10) delivering the crew’s lament — “SOMEONE WILL BE BORN… …AND EVENTUALLY SURPASS US!!” / “WE WERE JUST TOO EARLY.” — with the Oro Jackson drawn in the adjacent panel.
• Imu does not recognize Gaban (“WHO ART THOU?”, p4 & p8; “DOST THOU RECOGNIZE MU?” and “WHAT DOST THOU KNOW?!”, p8; “WHO IS THIS… CAPTAIN?”, p9) but acknowledges “STILL THE PIRATE KING’S CREW, EVEN DECREPIT…” (p14).
• New named weapon: Honebami Toshiro (p8, lettered “HONE-BAMI TOSHIRO!!!”; short-form “HONEBAMI!!” recurs p14) — an ornate katana drawn out of Imu’s black Omen manifestation and swung by Imu: the hand on the tsuka is Imu’s grey-toned one, and the bottom panel of p8 has Imu bringing the blade down on Gaban (“URG!”), who carries only his twin axes on every page he appears. Matches the eye-studded ceremonial aesthetic of the 19-weapon Empty-Throne arsenal named @1189 (Nemesis, Gram, Fragarach…). (VIZ prints no gloss and no translator note for the name — the 骨喰藤四郎 / “Bone Eater” / “Big 3 of Japanese swordsmiths” reading is a TCB translator note, not on any VIZ page.)
• New named techniques (Gaban’s twin axes): Mantis Axe Style!!! + Mantis Plum!!! (p7 — RTL order: the style, then the strike), Gate of God!! (p13, full-page attack), and the two-part callout Yachi… (p14) / …Takeru!!! (p15). (No translator note appears in VIZ; the Zhuangzi mantis-and-carriage gloss was TCB-only.)
• Luffy, flat on the ground in his white form and panting, growls at Gaban — “OLD JERK… / I DON’T CARE… IF HE IS FRIENDS WITH RAYLEIGH…!!” (p12, visibly Luffy, not an uncaptioned voice) — the chapter’s only naming of Silvers Rayleigh.
• Elbaf geography captioned in VIZ: “THE UNDERWORLD” (p16) and “THE SUN WORLD” (p17) — matching the vault’s name_viz for both realms; the fight spans them.
• Flashback of Imu decreeing the suppression of Roger’s name — “SPREAD NOT THAT NAME!” / “WHY IS THE D ON THE KING OF THE PIRATES?!” / “THIS DISGUSTS MU…”, answered by a kneeling retainer’s “YES, GREAT ONE!” (p10; a throne hall, faces not shown).
• Imu’s decision beat (p11): “INDEED. / WE HAVE BEEN FOOLISH. / PERHAPS WE HAVE MISTAKEN NUMEROUS MERE COINCIDENCES FOR DESTINY. / LET US END THAT NOW!!” — as Luffy charges back in and Gaban shouts “NO, YOU IDIOT, WAIT…”.
• Imu’s eye sheds a black tear (p16) while Gaban retorts “LIKE YOU AREN’T?!!” to “still the Pirate King’s crew, even decrepit…”

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Scopper Gaban · Luffy (his “white form”, per Gaban p5 — VIZ never says “Gear 5” or “Nika” in this chapter) · Imu (true form) · Roger (named “GOL D. ROGER!!” p9; shown in flashback p10) · Joy Boy (named “Joyboy”, pp8–9) · Silvers Rayleigh (named p12; shown twice in the p11 Roger-crew montage — old with glasses and beard, and young/Roger-era) · Crocus (shown in the p11 montage, top-left)
• Locations: Elbaf · Sun World (captioned “THE SUN WORLD”, p17) · The Underworld (captioned “THE UNDERWORLD”, p16) · Mariejois (throne-hall flashback p10 — uncaptioned, Pangaea/Mariejois-coded, provisional)
• Groups / lore: Roger Pirates · Oro Jackson (shown but not named, p10 flashback panel beside Roger) · Treasure Tree Adam (named + cut, “SORRY ABOUT THIS ONE, JEWEL TREE ADAM!!”, p12)
• Weapon (new): Honebami Toshiro (ornate katana drawn out of Imu’s Omen and wielded by Imu, p8; “HONEBAMI!!” p14)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title splash + cover. Reader request: “SHANKS GRILLING FISH FOR BREAKFAST IN A PORT TOWN, SURROUNDED BY CATS” BY KOEDO. Young Shanks wears the straw hat, a windmill behind him (Windmill-Village-coded), grilling fish for a crowd of cats. (Standalone reader-request cover — logged in Elbaf-Reader-Request-Title-Pages.) Confirmed background-symbol recall of the series’ origin emblem-set — see Shanks Cover Restages The Foosha Windmill And Straw-Hat Emblem Set.
• Page 2 — A silent action page (no caption anywhere): Gaban’s twin axes ring off Imu’s eye-studded Omen (“KLANG!!”, “CRMBL…!!”) while Luffy lies pinned by a blade at the top-left.
• Pages 4–5 — Gaban drags Luffy clear (“HEY.”); “AREN’T YOU ASHAMED AT GETTING SAVED… …BY AN INJURED OLD MAN LIKE ME?!!” and “ON YOUR FEET, STRAW HAT LUFFY!!”; Gaban to Imu: “YOU’RE A HIDEOUS SIGHT!! / LIKE NOTHING OF THIS MORTAL WORLD!!” and, answering “WHO ART THOU?”, “ONE WHO KNOWS THE WORLD.”
• Page 6 — The title-drop doctrine over a vista of the great tree: ”…A TITLE FOR THOSE WHOSE DEATH BRINGS CELEBRATION!!”; then “NOW STAY OUT OF MY WAY, BRAT!! / YOU’RE NOT CUT OUT FOR THIS!!”
• Page 7 — Gaban’s Mantis Axe Style!!! / Mantis Plum!!!; bottom row: “IS THIS A JOKE TO THEE?” / “YOU WANT TO KILL HIM, DON’T YOU?” / “I DO.”
• Page 8 — “DOES HE REALLY REMIND YOU SO MUCH… …OF JOYBOY?!!”; the ornate katana Honebami Toshiro is drawn out of Imu’s black Omen by Imu’s own (grey-toned) hand and brought down on Gaban (“URG!”); Imu: “DOST THOU RECOGNIZE MU?” / “WHO ART THOU?” / “WHAT DOST THOU KNOW?!”
• Page 9 — “THE WORDS OF JOYBOY.” → “GOL D. ROGER!!” / “THE KING OF THE PIRATES.” — Gaban names his captain. Imu: “WHO IS THIS… CAPTAIN?”
• Page 10 — Imu’s flashback of decreeing Roger’s name suppressed (“WHY IS THE D ON THE KING OF THE PIRATES?!”, throne hall, kneeling retainers seen from behind); Gaban’s “IS THAT NOT PROOF ENOUGH?!”; Roger shown in flashback — “WE WERE JUST TOO EARLY.” — with the Oro Jackson in the adjacent panel.
• Page 11 — Roger-crew montage: Crocus (top-left), old Rayleigh (top-middle), Gaban (top-right), young Rayleigh (bottom-right), plus two unidentified figures; ”…THEN YOU’RE TELLING US… …THAT THIS BOY IS THE VERY MAN… …WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!” Then Imu’s pivot — “WE HAVE BEEN FOOLISH. / PERHAPS WE HAVE MISTAKEN NUMEROUS MERE COINCIDENCES FOR DESTINY. / LET US END THAT NOW!!” — as Luffy charges back in and Gaban shouts “NO, YOU IDIOT, WAIT…”
• Page 12 — “SORRY ABOUT THIS ONE, JEWEL TREE ADAM!!” / “IT WASN’T MY INTENT TO EAT YOU!!”; “DAMN THESE CREAKY JOINTS!! IT SUCKS GETTIN’ OLD…”; Imu: “STIG…”; Luffy (white hair, straw hat, “HUFF… HUFF…”): “OLD JERK… / I DON’T CARE… IF HE IS FRIENDS WITH RAYLEIGH…!!” Not a double spread — the page’s full-height left column bleeds into the p13 attack image.
• Page 13 — Full-page attack panel: GATE OF GOD!!
• Page 14 — “YACHI…” (left column) and the callout “HONEBAMI!!”; Imu: “THOU ART SO DETERMINED TO BELIEVE?!!” and “STILL THE PIRATE KING’S CREW, EVEN DECREPIT…”
• Page 15 — Full page (“SLICE!!”): …TAKERU!!! — Gaban mid-storm, completing the two-part callout begun on p14.
• Page 16 — Imu’s eye sheds a black tear; Gaban: “LIKE YOU AREN’T?!!”; caption “THE UNDERWORLD”; the mountain range cracks and takes a huge impact (“KRUNCH!!”).
• Page 17 — Caption “THE SUN WORLD”; a black, polka-dotted limb crashes into the mountainside beside two Elbaf giants; “WAS THAT… LUFFY?!” / “NO, IT’S NOT… / THERE’S SOMEONE ELSE UP THERE!! / SOMEONE DEVASTATINGLY STRONG!!”; Luffy: “HUH?” → “OLD MAN?!”; final panel — Gaban down on cracked ground, both axes scattered (“OOOO…” / “BAM!!”). “To be continued!”

Open questions raised

• What exactly is the overwhelming force that lands in The Sun World at the finale, and who unleashed it? (pp16–17: the limb crashing into frame is black and polka-dotted — Imu-coded — while the last panel shows Gaban down with both axes scattered.)
• How does a Roger Pirate know Imu on sight (“YOU’RE A HIDEOUS SIGHT!! / LIKE NOTHING OF THIS MORTAL WORLD!!”, p4 — and he answers “Who art thou?” with “ONE WHO KNOWS THE WORLD.”), while Imu does not know Gaban? What did Roger’s crew learn of “Mu”?
• What is the outcome of the Gaban-vs-Imu duel — the Imu-body-limit / retreat question from 1182 is still unresolved; Imu remains active (Imu’s true form shown panting “Huff… huff…” mid-duel — see Imu’s Weakening Away from Mary Geoise). (GUARD: Imu’s nature.)
• Who is the long-haired blonde onlooker in The Sun World (p17)? She is drawn at giant scale beside a horned Elbaf giant-warrior — not Nami; do not lock the ID.
• Who are the two unidentified figures in the p11 Roger-crew montage (a large hatted figure, bottom-left; a dark-haired shouting man, bottom-middle)?
• Where are Prince Loki and the Niddhoggr-dragon during this Gaban-vs-Imu exchange? (The 1183 Loki-dragon duel is off-panel here.)