The Black Cat Pirates?
Yamato’s cover story Vol.23: “Time to infiltrate the suspicious hideout!” The cover story digest is running in sequence — last week was the Loki and Luffy meeting scene. So this week should be the immediate next development: Gunko and company using the magic circle to infiltrate Aulst Castle, where the giant guards are waiting.
But one detail is nagging at me: the three villainous-looking characters in the cover all have cat ears. And Chapter 1137’s title is “Shamrock Appears.” That combination makes me think of the Nyaban Brothers from the Black Cat Pirates — Sham and Buchi. One of them is literally named Sham.
- Shamrock’s father, Garling Saint, has a crescent moon hairstyle
- Captain Kuro is consistently depicted alongside crescent moon imagery
- “Sham” (シャム) in English means fake or counterfeit
- But “Shamrock” (シャムロック) is an entirely different word — it’s the three-leaf clover, the national flower of Ireland
So what exactly is Oda doing with this name? The word-level pun on “sham” (fake) fits perfectly with the theme of impostors and lookalikes running through the arc right now. But the actual word “shamrock” points toward Ireland, Celtic imagery, and the three-leaf motif. Both threads are worth watching.
Does Yarle Have Ancient Giant Bloodline?
Yarle is noticeably larger than the other giants — not by a little, but by a significant margin. A possible explanation: ancient giant lineage. The Ancient Giants (like the ones from Punk Hazard) were considerably larger than modern giants, and traces of that bloodline could produce exactly this kind of size difference.
Supporting this: a sword went straight through Yarle’s head and he survived. A standard giant skull probably wouldn’t handle that. A different cranial structure — inherited from an ancient giant ancestor — would explain why he’s still standing. Look closely at his helmet in the earlier chapters: it appears to have holes built in to accommodate horns. His skull has them.
Harald, by contrast, pulled out his own horns (possibly because horns are a symbol of war, and Harald wanted peace). And Hiluluk appears to wear a horn-free helmet design — possibly out of respect for his father’s choice, or as a conscious statement about his own values.
And one more note: Loki keeps feeling more and more like Water Seven-era Franky. Having a counterpart who holds the exact opposite position — where Franky had Iceberg, Loki has Hiluluk — is very much the same structural DNA. These two were shaped by the same world but ended up on completely different sides of a fault line. Classic Oda.
