It is time to properly dive into Elbaph. This is going to be a beefy one for sure as if my memory serves me correctly, there will be a ton of reveals and lore in this volume. Strap in.

We get introduced properly to Saul, Ange and Ripley, the teachers at the local Walrus school. It’s also where we learn that the age of piracy is nearing its end for the giants, as the newer generation is growing up in a much more peaceful country, wanting nothing to do with violence. Luffy and Usopp are a bit saddened by this as is to be expected, but for the direction the country had been headed in the past – we’ll dive into this more in later volumes – it makes a lot of sense that Elbaph wants a peaceful existence. While some of the crew explore the library that has all the books that were saved from Ohara, the others visit other places on the island. We also learn that Vegapunk has a clone of himself that’s more “proper” than the satellites so he can be rebuilt. To make a long story short, he never really died in the truest sense, but since none of the original scientist is left, does that mean he’s still Vegapunk? That’s a philosophical question that’s a bit above my paygrade, I’m afraid.

Elsewhere, we once again visit Loki, who is talking on the phone with someone who is only referred to as “shaggy”. Now as much as I’d enjoy a crossover with Scooby Doo, I don’t think it’s that Shaggy that he’s talking to. There have been some theories online as to who this Shaggy person might be and the one that I’ve found that I like the most is that it’s referring to Shirahoshi. The mermaid princess would fit the bill of a character who went through a very traumatic experience and doesn’t like it when people yell at her, but we have no way to confirm this as of yet. 

While the crew gets ready to celebrate, two intruders make their way to the underworld of Elbaph. We learn here that the person who we sometimes thought might have been Shanks or his twin brother is actually his twin brother. Or at least looks exactly like Shanks. We’re introduced to Shamrock and Gunko, two of the God’s Knights that are going to be playing a major role in the story from here on out. They’re here to get information out of Loki and manage to get to him without any issue. Loki is locked in the underworld because he is hated across the island for many of his deeds, but primarily for his role in killing King Harald, the former king of Elbaph. He’s also responsible for the sword stuck in Chief Jarul’s forehead. He doesn’t seem like a good person, but Luffy seems to think that he is, and Luffy is rarely wrong about this stuff. 

Speaking of Luffy, alongside Nami and Zoro he sneaks out to go visit the big castle that has been abandoned since the fight with Harald all those years ago. While they look for the keys to Loki’s cuffs, Loki is taking a beating from Shamrock and Gunko, who want him to join the god’s knights. He’d rather die than join the trash that they are, which is very commendable. It instantly makes him a good guy in my book. Shamrock uses his weapon, which is a sword that can turn into a cerberus, to attack Loki one final time before the two retreat. We’re then brought to one of the most important moments in all of One Piece, the reveal of The Harley. The harley is a painting made by children of Elbaph during the void century. It tells the story of the three worlds.

The first world talks about mankind succumbing to greed and touching the forbidden sun. The sun god appears which angers the earth god and the two will never meet. The second world speaks about the forest god taming demons and the sun god spreading war. Those of the half-moon and those of the moon dreamed and man killed the sun to become god. The sea god stormed. And once again they will never meet.
And finally, The Third World is where the sun god dances and laughs and guides the world to its end. The sun returns and brings a new morning and now the two will surely meet.
Now, I have some idea about what some of this might mean, but there are a million people on the internet with much better theories that you should look at first. I do find it interesting that the moon is mentioned here. I’ve talked before about how Enel will surely become relevant again before the story ends and this reveal brings some more believability to that claim. Either way, this is a big reveal and will likely have massive impact on the final saga.

But the reveals don’t end here. We’ve had theories about this man for literally decades but he’s finally here. The man that got a child with a giant and is named the mountain eater surely for cutting the trees down on a mountain and not for eating…. You know where I’m going with this, Scopper Gaban is here. The left hand of the pirate king and one of the most legendary figures in the world of One Piece. And to get to the key, Luffy and friends need to first beat him. This happens pretty easily though and Gaban lets them take the key.

This is where the main conflict of Elbaph starts to ramp up. Gunko and Shamrock summon two more holy knights, with Shamrock returning to the holy land to deal with the lack of food. This trio of Gunko, Sommers and Killingham now has the task of kidnapping a bunch of giant children and bringing them back to Mariejois. A lot happens from here on out. The powers of several holy knights are combined to turn the children to sleep and have them walk out of the country towards the beach. Gunko’s arrows move them and the other two knights’ powers make it so no one can touch them and they stay asleep. Not only that, whatever their biggest nightmares are now come true and these monsters start attacking the island. There are several fears there including Nika, a giant snake and even some kid’s mom. Either way, things are bad right now. Luffy and them set out to investigate while Saul and Robin and their group try to save the children. With chaos permeating the island, we are heading headfirst into one of the biggest disasters to face the country of Elbaph in 14 years. I’m going to dive into the fight a bit more with the next volume as this post is already becoming quite long due to the discussion of the Harley. I hope you enjoyed this recap of volume 112 and as always, thanks for reading!