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One Piece Chapter 1147 Review/Recap

Of all the enemies that the Straw Hats have faced over the years, the God’s Knights might be their most dangerous to date. Despite only three of them being present in Elbaph, they’ve managed to nearly cripple the nation of Giants. Their children have been captured and are being marched towards slavery. Half of the crew has been beaten by Gunko alone. And to make matters worse, the adults either have their hands full with Sommers or Qillingham or their nightmare monsters. In their arrogance, though, they have managed to make an enemy out of the last people they would ever want to tick off. Immortality or not, the Straw Hats are not going to let the God’s Knights get away with their heinous actions!

Recap

Despite wanting to get out and help Saul, Robin and Chopper obey his orders to stay hidden inside his hair. Elsewhere, Gunko and Sommers have captured Nami, Usopp, Jinbei and Brook. The former Knight even demands that Brook only make her music from now on, and when he refuses, she proceeds to beat him up. As this is happening, Summers begins to broadcast a message to Warland. They announce they have kidnapped ten children, now including Colon, and are marching them back to Mariejois as their hostages. Elder Jarul must decide if his people will bend the knee and serve the World Government, or refuse and allow the kids to die one by one. Furthermore, the Knights order the Giants to destroy their schools, their libraries, and everything about their history, or each kid will die.

Everyone is outraged at these demands, but none more so than Gaban and Robin. Immortality or not, the former will not allow let his son be enslaved by the evil Celestial Dragons, and the latter will not let the knowledge of her people be destroyed. Separately, the two take a stand and prepare to fight to protect Elbaph!

Review

You know, it’s funny. As bad as things are looking for Elbaph right now, and they are bad, I cannot help but laugh at what’s going on. Yes, the God’s Knights might share the Five Elders’ immortality and will no doubt be some of the strongest enemies the Straw Hats will ever face. Yes, they have taken the kids hostage to blackmail their families. And yes, they have taken half of the Straw Hats captive. Yet I still can’t help but laugh at how things are going. And it’s all because they’ve managed to do the one thing that they shouldn’t have done. The one thing they weren’t supposed to do: they picked a fight with Luffy.

For all their posturing as gods, the God’s Knights are as arrogant as they are ignorant. They want to avoid angering Luffy, one of the Four Emperors, yet every single one of their actions thus far has done exactly that. They attacked his crew; they took kids hostage, which is something that none of the Straw Hats loathe. They are trying to force their friends to do something they don’t want, which is also a big mistake on their part. Lastly, the God’s Knights openly declared their intent to burn the knowledge of Ohara, Robin’s destroyed homeland, to ash. It is for all these reasons and more that the Straw Hats are going to fight them. And when Luffy arrives with Zoro and Sanji, they are going to regret their immortality.

Immortality won’t save the God’s Knights

We saw during the Egghead Island Arc that Luffy and others near his level are more than capable of putting beings like the Five Elders down. If they didn’t possess some sort of immortality, it’s likely the Straw Hats would make sure they stayed down. Even then, though, Luffy and Bonney proved that this immortality doesn’t stop someone from being knocked out of a fight. In other words, Luffy and the others need to hit so hard, they will be down for the count. And given all the pain the Celestial Dragons cause, this will end up being absolutely cathartic to watch.

Sadly, we won’t get to see how the protagonists attempt their counterattack for another two weeks. With Golden Week set to kick off in Japan, Shonen Jump will be on break for a week. However, it will be worth the wait to see karma catch up to the so-called gods soon!

I Give “The Things We Find Scary” a 4/5

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One Piece Chapter 1146 Review/Recap

The Straw Hat Pirates are in trouble. In the middle of trying to help save the giants of Elbaph, Nami, Usopp, Brook, Jinbei, and Colon managed to run into Gunko of the God’s Knights. As strong as the Straw Hats are, no one outside the Monster Trio might be able to take them on in a fight. What’s worse is that the Celestial Dragons’ plans to blackmail the giants are starting to come together. If they are not stopped, then when the final war begins, the giants could be fighting on the wrong side! And if that happens, there may not be any hope left for the world.

Recap

The Colon Pirates are shocked by the sudden arrival of Gunko aboard the ship, realizing she was one of the intruders. In response, Gunko goes on a tangent saying how she is one of the gods, and that they were kidnapping the children to bring them back to Mariejois. Outraged by this attempt to enslave the children, the Straw Hats hit Gunko with all they’ve got. However, they discover that she can regenerate from even their worst attacks, and that her powers allow her to strike at them from anywhere. Worse, she can use her arrows to even redirect their attacks onto each other. Before the Straw Hats know it, they’re all down for the count.

As she takes Colon hostage, Gunko monologues about how the God’s Knights are doing all of this to blackmail the giants of Elbaph. They had hoped to keep the world in the dark about the impending Armageddon, but now that their hand is forced and war is imminent, they want the giants to fight for them. And with their kids about to be taken hostage, the adults may not have a choice. Elsewhere, the other God’s Knights have subdued the Giants. Qillingham is getting ready to broadcast to the entire country, and worse, Sommers has just beaten the daylights out of Saul, much to the horror of Robin and Chopper!

Review

As expected, the God’s Knights are nothing to sneeze at. Then again, given how much One Piece loved the concept of serial escalation, it makes sense that the enforcers of the World Nobles would be this powerful. What’s worse, though, is that they are every bit as black-hearted as the majority of their brethren.

Thanks to Gunko’s decision to monologue, the heroes now know that the Celestial Dragons plan to annex Elbaph. They’re going to use the kids as blackmail to force the giants to do their bidding in the final war of Ragnarok. If that happens, and the giants are forced to serve them, then there would be no hope left for the world. Everyone who doesn’t live on the Red Line would eventually die. And what’s worse is that now that they know the Straw Hats are in Elbaph, the God’s Knights could force the giants to hunt them down.

All is not lost, though. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji are safe in the underworld for the time being. And with Loki having eaten plenty of food, the giant prince might be strong enough to get back on his feet soon. While he might not be wholly trustworthy, the Straw Hats might not have a choice but to work with Loki to kick the God’s Knights out. Meanwhile, Franky, Ripley, Lilith and Bonney dealt with their own attackers, so they could join the counterattack.

Harald Had Horrible Timing

There was one other detail that stood out st the end of this chapter, though. It was what Sommers said about the giants of Elbaph growing soft. He complained that King Harald had screwed things up for them, and that got me thinking. The big fan theory is that Harald was secretly a puppet for the World Government and weakening his people from within. But what if he was actually trying to disarm the Giants so that they would be a non-factor in the coming Ragnarok? If that’s true, then Harald was doing it to prevent countless people from dying in the final war that is to come.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: now is not the time for the giants for pursue the path of peace. The World Government and the Celestial Dragons represent an existential threat to the entire world. They will not stop until they destroy what’s left of it and rule what remains! They have made war inevitable, they need to be brought down, and the Giants need to be the ones to help!

Having managed to catch One Piece fever in the wake of the anime’s return, I can honestly say I’m looking forward to the next chapter. I want to see the God’s Knights be out in their place!

I Give “Motion in Silence” a 4/5

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