A Single Strike of Thunder
Yamato’s cover story Vol.28: “Return my sword and daughters!! Thunder Eight Trigrams.” It seems we overestimated Who’s-Who — concern that Yamato might struggle turned out to be unfounded; it looks like a one-hit finish. Looking back at Jinbe’s fight with Who’s-Who, that was also basically settled in a single hit. And Yamato’s Thunder Hakke connected on Kaido himself, so it’s overkill against Who’s-Who by any measure.
Meanwhile, the release of Vol.111 (One Piece volume 111) revealed something significant: Ulti and Page One are the children of Hanafuda, a former Warlord of the Sea. Hanafuda apparently had a strong collaborative relationship with Kaido. Yamato allied with Luffy specifically to defeat Kaido — so from Ulti’s perspective, Yamato is the person who killed her benefactor’s boss. But Yamato also saved her beloved brother’s life. A relationship that is simultaneously enemy and savior. How Oda resolves that would make for a great character beat if Ulti ever becomes Yamato’s retainer.
As a side note: it’s remarkable how much story the cover story series packs into a single panel per chapter. The Ulti-Yamato dynamic is as complex as any main-plot relationship.
Kiringam’s Ability
Celestial Dragon Kiringam (キリンガム聖). The name and design point directly to the Kirin (Qilin) — he’s almost certainly a Ushi-Ushi no Mi, Mythical Zoan Model: Kirin user. But what does a Kirin do? Folklore gives us a profile:
- Extremely gentle, abhors killing
- If a kirin appears in someone’s dream, that person will become a great king
- The kirin appears when a ruler governs justly
It’s considered a sacred beast that heralds good fortune. From that base, the ability kit assembles logically: future sight / mind-reading / entering dreams → putting people to sleep to enter their dreams → manifesting dreams as reality. A dream manipulation ability, essentially.
There’s also a physical implication: the kirin is an extraordinarily rare creature that almost never shows itself — which suggests extreme speed. The children’s current state this week makes more sense in that context: Kiringam put them to sleep at superhuman speed, then manifested frightening dreams around them. Gunko’s Aro-Aro ability directed the sleeping children like arrows. And Somorz is still keeping his power hidden.
Loki is Still Franky
Loki is enormous — he might actually be bigger than Oars. And he’s a Haki user. Ragnir (Iron Thunder) controls lightning. He’s an Oars-tier giant who is also a prince, a Devil Fruit user, a Haki user, and carries a signature named weapon. The character design is stacked. If he ends up joining Luffy’s crew, he’d be the answer to Wolf when the Blackbeard Pirates eventually come for a full war.
The logistics problem: how does a being this large board a ship? It’s the same issue as Wolf — potentially too large even for a giant-class vessel. That said, Loki reportedly went to sea alone at some point, which implies he either has his own one-person ship like Mihawk or Ace, or he swims. The mystery of how that worked is itself a setup for something later.
Loki has been a consistent Franky homage and this chapter delivers another: when Franky drinks cola and reaches full charge, thunder roars. His signature punch is the “Strong Hammer.” Thunder + Hammer = Ragnir in all but name. The parallel suggests Loki might have a named finishing move in the vein of Coup de Vent. More Loki battle content would be very welcome.
Norse Mythology is Now Required Study
The image of Thor gripping Mjölnir and the image of Loki firing Ragnir are almost interchangeable. That’s intentional. The Elbaf arc is running on Norse mythological scaffolding, and familiarity with it pays off at every chapter. For quick onboarding, Marvel’s Thor films (Mighty Thor, The Dark World, Ragnarok, Love & Thunder) remain the fastest entry point, with the Avengers films adding context. The parallels between Loki-the-god and Loki-the-prince keep getting richer.