A Thunder-Clap Strike
Yamato’s Cover Page Series Vol. 28: “Return the sword and the daughters! Thunder Eight Trigrams.”
I seem to have overestimated Who’s Who. I worried Yamato might struggle, but it looks like one strike settled it. Reading back through Jinbe’s fight too, it was basically one hit. And Yamato’s Thunder Eight Trigrams worked against Kaido himself — more than enough to take down Who’s Who.
In Volume 111 (released March 4th), it was revealed that Ulti and Page One are children of the former Warlord Hanafuda, who was apparently in a very cooperative relationship with Kaido. Yamato, who helped Luffy defeat that very Kaido, is therefore the enemy of Ulti’s benefactor — and yet also the one who saved her beloved little brother’s life. I really want Ulti to become Yamato’s retainer, but the situation is complicated. The cover page series advances only one panel at a time — yet somehow manages to be this complex and entertaining.
Saint Kilingam’s Ability
True to the name and appearance, Saint Kilingam is almost certainly a user of the Ox-Ox Fruit, Mythical Model: Qilin. But asked “what exactly does a Qilin do?” I drew a blank, so I looked it up. According to legend:
- Extremely gentle and kind; abhors killing
- Those to whom the Qilin appears in dreams will become great kings
- Appears when a king governs justly
Its appearance is an omen of good things to come — a sacred beast. From this, abilities like future sight, reading minds, and entering people’s dreams seem plausible. And to enter dreams, he first puts people to sleep — which matches exactly what we saw this chapter:
- Saint Kilingam puts children to sleep at blinding speed and then manifests their fearful dreams
- Gunco uses the Aro-Aro ability to make the sleeping children walk in the direction of the arrow
Loki Is Still Franky
Isn’t Loki enormous? He seems even bigger than Oars. And he uses Haki?! Ragnil (Iron Thunder) controls lightning?! A giant on Oars’ scale, a prince, a Devil Fruit user, a Haki user, with a dedicated weapon — he’s incredibly cool and strong. I want him to join the crew!
If he does, they’ll have someone to face Wolf when the all-out war with the Blackbeard Pirates begins. The only problem is how he’d get on the ship — the same dilemma as Wolf: too big to board. He’d probably hang over the sides of even a giant’s ship. Since Loki apparently went out to sea alone in the past, maybe he has a one-person vessel like Mihawk or Ace?
Even so, Loki keeps mirroring Franky. This week’s Franky homage elements:
- When Franky drinks cola and is fully charged, thunder rumbles
- The punch technique he unleashed is called “Strong Hammer”
Thunder and hammer — a perfect match. That means Loki might also have a finishing move like Coup de Vent?
Time to Study Norse Mythology
The person in that image is Thor, the Norse god of thunder. The hammer he holds is called Mjolnir — a name that sounds like Ragnil. Learn the Norse mythology behind the Elbaf arc through Marvel’s Thor films:
- Thor
- Thor: The Dark World
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Thor: Love and Thunder
And fall into the Avengers rabbit hole while you’re at it.