Chapters · Final Saga › Elbaf

Chapter 1193: Still Practicing

Arc: Elbaf · Saga: Final Saga · Released: (VIZ Shonen Jump, official localization; translation Stephen Paul, lettering Vanessa Satone)

Summary

The Dawn Thor Bullet that closed Ch. 1192 fires a shockwave straight into a cliff-wall of the Jewel Tree Adam (“ZDOOOM!!”, p.2). The giants watching can’t believe it: a white-haired old man in a floral shirt, riding a giant’s palm, asks “How is that kid doing all of this?! After the way he got impaled!!”, a goggled elder giant cries “The Jewel Tree Adam is shaking!”, and Scopper Gaban admits “I’ve never experienced this before… And I’ve never seen Adam… with such a huge chunk torn out of it…” (p.3). Luffy, panting (“Weez, weez…”), wants to pile on “before he gets back up!!! He’s gonna revive himself soon enough!!”, and Prince Loki agrees (“You’re right about that… Okay, I’m in!!”, p.4). Then Luffy’s Gear 5 gives out. His body deflates (“AAAAH!!!”) and he crashes to the ground (“THWUDD!!”). Usopp yells “Hey, Luffy!!” (p.4). Luffy panics: “Oh no…!! My heartbeat is coming back!!” (“DOOM DUT-DA-DA”). Loki takes the fight off his hands (“Doga ha ha ha! You’re out of stamina!! I’ll take care of him… you just get your rest!!!”). A shadowed, ring-eyed face growls “GRRR… Weez, weez…” from the crater. Luffy begs his own body (“I can’t go back now! If my injuries come back… there’s no way I can keep fighting!!” / “No! Stop…!!” / “At least let me beat him first…!!”) as the drums give way to an ordinary “BA-BUMP” (p.5).

On a caption-marked BRANCH ROUTE, Team Brook feels the tremor (p.5). Someone asks what Usopp was going to do, and the answer is “He went off with Hajrudin because he said he had a plan!!” Then the thawed woman Brook calls “Princess Shuri?!” stirs behind her mask (“Urk… Koff!” / “Huff, huff… Koff!!”). One voice calls her “barely alive”; another readies for a fight: “Is she waking up?! Get ready! Which one is she?!!” (p.6). At the Owl Library (caption: “SECRET CHAMBER AROUND BACK”), Chopper finally translates Biblo: “…there’s a letter and tool passed down… from Biblo’s grandpa’s generation. He wants us to open up this chest and get them out!!” Someone asks “How many centuries old is that…?!”, and Biblo insists on right now, battle or no battle. The listeners are Robin and a huge-bearded giant, read as Saul by design and continuity. In front of them is a locked strongbox with an ornate keyhole, set into the tree (p.7).

In the Western Village, Sun World (caption, p.8), flooding and earthquakes have the giants turning on their dead king. “Was King Harald mistaken in the end?! Was it all a terrible mistake, Chief Jarul?!” “By bowing and scraping to the World Government and withholding combat training from our children, he made our country weak!!” The answer, most likely Jarul’s: “You think that remaining barbaric and despised by the rest of the world was the correct choice…?” (p.8). Brogy (“Gaba ba ba! Stop looking for the material answer!”) and Dorry (“The real cause of the fight… is never found there!!”) shout the grumbling down. Elbaph, they say, “…then it was fated to die” if it can’t brush off “a small handful of demons”. Then the two “Captaaains!!!” hit the Rain God ZaZa with sword and axe from a flying longship (p.9). ZaZa glares and snatches at the giant children (“Catch the children!!”). The giants rally: “The Straw Hat crew and Loki are fighting against those demons as we speak!!! … If we let them abduct the children, then the Straw Hats are fighting for nothing!! So keep that enormous beast at bay, folks!!” One fighter states the rule for the monster: “This one’s the same as those monsters from earlier!! It’s a product of someone’s imagination!! It can’t die… but it WILL disappear if we beat the one who created it!!” (p.10). A bomb-headed Holy Knight, Killingham by design, gloats “Wa ha ha ha!! The light of hope is in a hopeless fight!!” Sanji answers “That… depends on me.” and kicks him into the air (“BOOM!!” / “HURGH!!!”, p.11).

At the port, Sommers loses patience: “Worthless Killingham!! How many minutes does it take… to schlep a couple kids to a boat?!” His black-flamed blade blasts the land beside a dragon-prowed drakkar (“DOOOM!!”), and he gloats to Zoro: “The innocent branch has suffered the wrath of the legendary blade GRAM due to my irritation! You see what happens, you lowborn swordsman?! Giha ha ha ha!! … Yes! That will be your fate!” (p.12). He snaps his fingers. “You can’t see it… but you’re stuck… in a quintuple checkmate!!” Thorns erupt all around Zoro (“BAM!!”): “Like a helpless frog trapped in the viper’s sights?! Oh, you’ll wish it was as cute and cuddly as that!!” They are “harder than iron”, and touching any one drives you into the next (p.13). Zoro ignores the monologue and thinks it through (p.14). He recalls Loki’s words: “For the last blow, Dad said… to ‘hit me right here.’ … And he pointed at his own heart!!” An inset shows King Harald tapping his chest (“TAP”). He sets that beside what “the old man and Loki said” (“if you cut these guys, they heal it right back”) and beside “that steel heart left behind when this guy got bashed to pieces” (a beating mechanical heart, “BA-BUMP”). His conclusion: “So you must need Supreme King Haki to destroy that thing… I can do that, supposedly… but how do I infuse it?! … I need to pierce his heart with a sword infused with Supreme King!!” Sommers shrieks “Hey!! Are you even listening to me?!!” He brandishes Gram (“Gram turns its wielder’s wrath into strength!!”), turns the thorns invisible (“Time to vanish those thorns.” / “Watch out, they’re still there.”), and pronounces “I sentence you to death!!!” Meanwhile Zoro coats his hand black: “Now, the color of armament… I can infuse, but…” (p.15). A burst of Haki shatters the thorn cage (“KSHING!!”). A blade rings off the steel heart (“GCHING!!”), which keeps beating, and Zoro runs Sommers through (“ZMF!!” / “SHUDD!!”, p.16). Sommers howls (“HWAAAAAHHH!!”) and thorns explode outward. Zoro, unimpressed with himself: “Nope, that wasn’t it… gotta try again.” Then, deadpan: “I’m still practicing… sorry about that.” Sommers, sweating and shaking: “Th… This guy’s crazy!!” (p.17). To be continued!

New reveals

• Gear 5 times out. The first on-page Gear-5 collapse in this fight. Luffy’s form deflates (p.4), he crashes (“THWUDD!!”), and his own words give the cost: “If my injuries come back… there’s no way I can keep fighting!!” (p.5). His “heartbeat is coming back”: the drum SFX “DOOM DUT-DA-DA” yields to a plain “BA-BUMP, BA-BUMP” (p.5). This is the payoff-in-progress of 1191’s “If I go out of this form… it’s gonna be… bad news…” The chapter ends before the reversion is shown complete.
• Loki takes over the Imu fight (“You’re out of stamina!! I’ll take care of him… you just get your rest!!!”, p.5). He is shown silhouetted, hammering with Ragnir (“WHUD… WHUD…”).
• The Jewel Tree Adam is damaged. The Thor Bullet’s shockwave tore “such a huge chunk” out of Adam that the tree “is shaking”, something Gaban has “never experienced” (pp.2–3). VIZ letters it “THE JEWEL TREE ADAM”, matching name_viz on Treasure Tree Adam.
• Imu is down but regenerating. It is shown in the crater, growling and panting (p.5: shadowed, ring-eyed face; identification by context). Luffy expects it to “revive himself soon enough!!” (p.3).
• Biblo’s message is delivered (p.7). Behind the Owl Library is a secret chamber with a chest holding a letter and a tool “passed down… from Biblo’s grandpa’s generation”. Biblo wants it opened right now, and a listener wonders “How many centuries old is that…?!” The contents are not shown.
• The thawed woman wakes (p.6). Brook again addresses her as “Princess Shuri”; she coughs and stirs; “Which one is she?!!” frames the question of which identity has woken. “She’s barely alive… she can’t be capable of doing much!!”
• Elbaf doubts Harald’s path (p.8). Villagers blame Harald’s pro-WG pacifism (and “withholding combat training from our children”) for Elbaf’s weakness. A defender, most likely Jarul, asks if staying “barbaric and despised by the rest of the world” would really have been better.
• Dorry and Brogy command the anti-ZaZa line, addressed as “Captains” (p.9). Brogy is identified by his “Gaba ba ba!” laugh (cf. Ch. 1178); Dorry by his fin-crested horned helmet and sword. ZaZa is not captioned this chapter. The bead-curtain-faced water giant is identified by design (the 1182 splash).
• The rule for Killingham’s monsters (p.10): “a product of someone’s imagination… It can’t die… but it WILL disappear if we beat the one who created it!!”
• Sanji vs Killingham (p.11). “That… depends on me.” The kicked Holy Knight carries Killingham’s bomb/mine-shaped head design and a hooked spear wreathed in black flame. He is uncaptioned this chapter, but Sommers names “Killingham” on the next page.
• Gram’s wielder is confirmed by his own words (pp.12–15). The man who swings “the legendary blade GRAM” also commands “my thorns”, which identifies him as Sommers through the Thorn-Thorn Fruit. 1189 had captioned only the Shepherd family as Gram’s owner. The page also states Gram’s property: “Gram turns its wielder’s wrath into strength!!”
• Sommers’ techniques (pp.13, 15): a finger-snap thorn trap, the “quintuple checkmate”, with thorns “harder than iron” that drive a victim from one thorn into the next, plus the ability to make the thorns invisible (“You can’t see it…”; “Time to vanish those thorns.”).
• Holy Knights have a steel heart (p.14). “That steel heart left behind when this guy got bashed to pieces” is a beating mechanical heart with a dial-like fitting. The mechanism was first seen in demonized giants Ch. 1179; this is the first time it is shown in a Holy Knight.
• Zoro’s kill condition (p.14): “pierce his heart with a sword infused with Supreme King.” His sources are “the old man and Loki”; the old man is plausibly Gaban, who told Zoro Ch. 1152 that he uses Supreme King Haki unconsciously (inference). Loki’s memory supplies the rest: Harald said “hit me right here” and pointed at his heart.
• Zoro can infuse Armament but not yet Supreme King (pp.15–17). His first heart-strike fails (“Nope, that wasn’t it… gotta try again.”). He means to keep practicing on Sommers: “I’m still practicing… sorry about that.” (title drop).
• VIZ terms on-page: “Supreme King Haki” / “infused with Supreme King” (Conqueror’s) and “the color of armament” (Armament).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / first appearances

• First appearances: none. No new character, location, fruit or crew is minted. New on-page captions and terms: “SECRET CHAMBER AROUND BACK” (Owl Library sub-area, p.7); “BRANCH ROUTE” (unnumbered; not asserted to be Branch Route 8, p.5); Sommers’ “quintuple checkmate” (p.13); “Supreme King” infusion as Zoro’s stated goal (p.14).
• Shown, Imu battlefield: Luffy (Gear 5 → timing out, pp.2–5) · Prince Loki (pp.2, 4–5) · Ragnir (the hammer, pp.2, 4–5) · Scopper Gaban (pp.2–5) · Usopp (horned Elbaf helmet + fake mustache; pp.2, 4; also named p.6) · Imu (p.5, shadowed face in the crater; identified by context) · unnamed elder Giants (p.2 chorus; p.3 goggled elder) · an uncaptioned white-haired old man in a floral shirt on a giant’s palm (p.3)
• Shown, Branch Route: Brook (p.6) · the thawed masked woman, i.e. Gunko’s body, addressed as Princess Shuri (p.6) · Nami (staff-carrying woman, p.6; design + continuity) · an uncaptioned horned, bearded ally with star-emblazoned pauldrons and banded forearms (p.6; identity not asserted)
• Shown, Owl Library: Biblo · Tony Tony Chopper · Nico Robin · Saul (huge-bearded giant; design + @1189 continuity; uncaptioned) (p.7)
• Shown, Western Village: Jarul (addressed “Chief Jarul”, p.8) · Dorry · Brogy (pp.9–11) · the Rain God ZaZa (see Gods and Divine Figures; pp.8–11; uncaptioned, identified by design) · Killingham (p.11, design; named p.12) · Sanji (p.11) · Sommers (pp.12–17) · Zoro (pp.12–17) · Giant Warrior Pirates (the giants hailing their “Captains”)
• Depicted, memory inset: King Harald (p.14, tapping his chest)
• Named only: Hajrudin (p.6) · King Harald (p.8, “Harald’s fault”, “King Harald”) · World Government (p.8) · Straw Hat Pirates (“The Straw Hat crew”, p.10) · Loki (p.10) · Elbaf (lettered “Elbaph”, pp.8, 9)
• Cover only: King
• Lore / powers: Gomu Gomu no Mi (Gear 5 time-out) · Thorn-Thorn Fruit (quintuple checkmate; invisible thorns) · Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model Kirin (the imagination-monster rule) · Gram (one of the nineteen; Shepherd) · Haki (Supreme King / color of armament) · Holy Knights · Depths Covenant (steel heart, by inference) · Treasure Tree Adam

Notable panels

• Page 1: Title: “Chapter 1193: STILL PRACTICING.” Reader-request cover (no colour spread): “KING TRAINING RACCOON DOGS IN THE ART OF PANTYHOSE WRESTLING,” by Ebi (Romi). King, in winged Lunarian form with a spiked, skull-patched outfit, has a stocking pulled over his head and stretched taut by a tanuki in a tug-of-war, while three more raccoon dogs watch. A standalone reader-request title page in the Elbaf run; logged for Elbaf-Reader-Request-Title-Pages (cover-tracker owns it).
• Page 2: The Thor Bullet’s aftermath as a single diagonal shockwave ploughing into a cliff-wall (“ZDOOOM!!”). Luffy and Loki (Ragnir in hand) in the forest below (“RMBL”, “OOOH…”). Bottom tier: three gaping reaction faces (Usopp in his horned Elbaf helmet and fake handlebar mustache, Gaban, Loki) to a giant’s “WHOA!!”
• Page 3: The crater blown into Adam’s trunk (“GRRRGG…”) under the lines “And I’ve never seen Adam… with such a huge chunk torn out of it…” Gear-5 Luffy grinning and panting (“Weez, weez…”).
• Page 4: Loki in the foreground, hammer cocked (“Okay, I’m in!!”); Luffy’s deflating body (“AAAAH!!!”); Loki as a black silhouette gripping Ragnir; Luffy face-down in a crater (“THWUDD!!”).
• Page 5: “My heartbeat is coming back!!”, with the drum SFX “DOOM DUT-DA-DA” on the panel, later replaced by “BA-BUMP” beside “No! Stop…!!” A sound-effect tell for the form’s end. Loki’s silhouette on the treetops: “Doga ha ha ha!” The ring-eyed, shadowed face (“GRRR… Weez, weez…”). Caption box “BRANCH ROUTE”.
• Page 6: Brook leaning over the thawed woman: “Princess Shuri?!” Close-up of her masked face, eyes half-open (“Huff, huff… Koff!!”). The star-pauldroned ally braces (“RAHH!!”): “Which one is she?!!”
• Page 7: Captions “OWL LIBRARY” / “SECRET CHAMBER AROUND BACK”. Robin and Chopper dwarfed by the bearded giant. The chest: a heavy strongbox with an ornate keyhole set into the root-wall (“DOOM!!”); Biblo flapping (“FLAP FLAP”).
• Page 8: Caption “WESTERN VILLAGE, SUN WORLD, ELBAPH”. The flooded village; the “Was King Harald mistaken?” exchange. A tall left panel frames ZaZa’s bead-curtain face under “If Elbaph can’t brush off a small handful of demons…”.
• Page 9 (mirror candidate): Dorry and Brogy close-ups (“Gaba ba ba!”), then a page-dominant panel: a round-shielded Viking longship arcs through the air while a cloaked swordsman leaps at ZaZa’s veiled face (“ZWA-BAM!!”). “CAP-TAAAINS!!!”
• Page 10: ZaZa’s eye in extreme close-up (“GLARE!!”); a giant child falling past her pearl-strand hand (“AAAAAH!!”); the rally speech; the imagination-rule speech.
• Page 11: The giants charge ZaZa (“We can win this battle!!”). The bomb-headed knight with a black-flamed hooked spear: “The light of hope is in a hopeless fight!!” Sanji, cigarette in mouth, eyes shadowed: ”…Depends on me.” (“BOOM!!” / “HURGH!!!”)
• Page 12 (mirror candidate): Sommers’ black-flame slash (“SSH…!!” / “ZZT”). A wide panel: the dragon-prowed drakkar moored on cloud above the village while the Gram blast detonates beside it (“DOOOM!!”). Sommers raising Gram, its blade wreathed in black flame: “There… you see that?”
• Page 13: “SNAP!” Sommers’ grinning finger-snap; a starburst of crossing thorn-spears (“BAM!!”); Zoro boxed in by thorns, silent (”…”).
• Page 14: Loki’s memory in starburst balloons; Harald’s chest-tap inset (“TAP”); the steel heart beating on the ground (a metal heart with a dial-like fitting, “BA-BUMP”); Zoro thumb-to-chin, thinking, while Sommers rants.
• Page 15 (mirror candidate): Full-height Sommers: long hair, small rectangular glasses, black double-breasted uniform with stars and a rose, a spiked ring at the hilt, Gram raised in black flame (“GRAM TURNS ITS WIELDER’S WRATH INTO STRENGTH!!”). Zoro’s hand going black (“KCHING…” / “VWOOO”). “I SENTENCE YOU TO DEATH!!!”
• Page 16: The thorn cage shattered (“KSHING!!”); the steel heart still beating as a blade glances off it (“GCHING!!”); Zoro’s thrust through Sommers (“ZMF!!” / “SHUDD!!”).
• Page 17: Sommers’ scream and an eruption of thorns (“HWAAAAAHHH!!”). Zoro, blade lowered: “Nope, that wasn’t it… gotta try again.” Close-up of Zoro: “I’m still practicing… sorry about that.” Sommers drenched in sweat: “This guy’s crazy!!” (“DOOM!!”) To be continued!

Open questions raised

• What are the letter and the tool in Biblo’s chest, who left them, and why must they be opened now, in the middle of the battle? How many generations back is “Biblo’s grandpa’s generation”?
• Will Luffy’s Gear 5 fully revert, and what happens when the held-back injuries land? Can Loki hold Imu alone while Luffy recovers?
• How fast does Imu “revive”? Does damage to Adam (Elbaf itself) matter beyond the battle?
• “Which one is she?!!”: which identity has woken in the thawed woman, and is she a threat?
• Who is “the old man” whose advice Zoro combines with Loki’s? (Gaban is the likeliest reading; not stated.)
• Can Zoro learn to infuse Supreme King before Sommers’ thorns or Gram finish him? Is “practicing” on a live immortal his training arc for the rest of the fight?
• Does beating Killingham dispel ZaZa, as the giants claim?
• Who is the star-pauldroned ally with Team Brook, and who is the floral-shirted old man riding a giant’s hand (p.3)?
• Is the steel heart’s dial-like fitting a manufactured part, and if so, made by whom?