Skypiea Arc Homage
Yamato’s Cover Page Series Vol. 29: “Harbor-friend the Carpenter — the daughters are freed!”
Did Harbor-friend build Who’s Who’s hideout? Regardless, Yamato has recovered everything — Harbor-friend, Kouzaburou’s sword, and all the daughters. I’m dying to see how Ulti and Page One react, but the cover page is on break for the color spread… the suspense is real.
The liberation scene of those imprisoned by Who’s Who this week is, I believe, a Skypiea arc homage — specifically the scene after Enel was defeated where the officials loyal to Gan Fall were freed. Up to now there had been scattered Skypiea-reminiscent moments — island clouds, ships running vertically — but with this cover page, the full-scale Skypiea arc homage has begun in earnest.
A Research Facility from Over 3,000 Years Ago
The research facility where Franky was led turns out to have existed for over 3,000 years — an ancient research facility. This makes it a homage to the ancient city on the Moon that Enel discovered. (Enel’s Cover Page Series also counts as part of the Skypiea arc.) The ancient city on the Moon was revived by Enel’s attack — it had run out of power and shut down, but being charged by lightning caused it to start moving again.
By the same logic, the ancient research facility in Elbaf should be set in motion the same way. And what attacked it but a monster in the shape of a thundercloud! An ancient research facility revived by a lightning strike — ancient technology potentially available again — plus the world’s greatest scientific genius on the scene, and Franky, who carries the Pluton blueprints in his head!
There’s only one conclusion: Franky is about to be reborn as the greatest cyborg in history, combining ancient technology and Vegapunk’s genius. I’ve been waiting for this since the very beginning of the Egghead arc. After all, Franky’s strongest technique — his laser — can’t even fire in rapid succession like Queen’s, and it’s weaker than a plain kick from Sanji.
The God’s Game
The Elbaf children’s kidnapping game was ordered by Shamrock, a self-proclaimed “god” Celestial Dragon — itself a homage to Enel, who also called himself a “god,” beginning a survival game to guess how many people would remain alive. The game that lets the subject choose their trial. These four trials were each homaged in the Elbaf arc:
- The Trial of “Swamp”
- The Trial of “Iron”
- The Trial of “String”
- The Trial of “Orbs”
The Trial of Swamp
Saint Kilingam’s ability manifests dreams: he puts the target to sleep and extracts objects imagined from within the cloud-like dream. This is a homage to Gedatsu’s Trial of Swamp. Saint Kilingam also has an airheaded quality reminiscent of Gedatsu’s personality — I believe the overlap is intentional.
The Trial of Iron
The scene where Saul tries to stop the children with a shield is a homage to Ohm’s Trial of Iron — the Iron Wall. Furthermore, in the centerpiece of the Trial of Iron — the “White Barbed Deathmatch” — a cage was formed from thorn-shaped iron clouds. Saint Sommers’ thorns were a homage not only to Kalifa but to Ohm as well.
In the Skypiea arc: “White Barbed Deathmatch.” In the Elbaf arc: “Barbed Death March.”
The Trial of String
After much trial and error, Saul tied up the child at the back of the line to stop them. This is a homage to Shura’s Trial of String.
The Trial of Orbs
The frightening things the children imagined — manifested by Saint Kilingam’s ability — are a homage to Satori’s Trial of Orbs. A clean link to every trial from Skypiea. Chapter 1144 was packed wall-to-wall with Skypiea arc homages.
Loki Is the Giant Serpent
When it comes to Skypiea arc homages, there’s one creature that absolutely cannot be left out. Loki’s bounty is 2.6 billion — in Japanese, 2626 sounds like “nyoro-nyoro,” the wriggling of a snake. Evidence that Loki’s Devil Fruit is Snake-type:
Loki hides his eyes (possibly blind?) — snakes sense their surroundings through pit organs. Loki sticks out his tongue — snakes use Jacobson’s organ to collect scents and detect prey. Loki’s hair is purple — another strong character with the same hair color is Orochi, whose ability is the Snake-Snake Fruit.
My previous theory that “Loki has the Rumble-Rumble Fruit” is off the table. The lightning belongs to Ragnil’s power, not Loki’s. Ragnil is originally a generator for the ancient research facility — an ancient relic. It was probably pounding away like a rice-cake mallet to generate electricity for the facility. If Ragnil is a robot that runs on electricity, it would be a perpetual-motion machine in a sense.
There’s much more evidence for Loki being a Snake user — I’ll compile it in a separate article this week.
And with that, we’re done for today. See you next week.
