of so mysterious all at the same time. And I’ll certainly break down every secret in this epic panel, but first, let’s stick with Loki here for a moment. And forgive me for sounding like a fanboy over here, but I am just IN LOVE with EVERYTHING about this character right now.
From his cocky attitude to his tatted up arms and his just overall BOSS presence. I mean this is the type of introduction I honestly love in one piece. A true feeling of like damn, this character is cool. Because as much as I think Oda is a master of making goofy characters really interesting and powerful, nothing really beats a character who just looks like a monster.
Who is Prince Loki of Elbaf?
Plus, I mean come on, have you seen his covered eyes? You know I am all for that Gojo look, and if Oda is really setting this guy up to be a god-tier character like I think he is, well, I think it is safe to say that he absolutely nailed the introduction. Alright though enough gushing about this guy, now let’s jump in and talk about what we actually know – or think we know – about this so called Cursed Prince.
Because things may not actually be as simple as they seem. Let’s start at the beginning of the Loki lore though because in the chapter we learn that Loki was born sometime in the past one hundred years and is the son of the former King of Elbaf, Harald.
(02:25) But then we got the ABSOLUTE BOMBSHELL when we were told that Loki straight up MURDERED his dad to obtain a legendary devil fruit that is passed down through the royal family. Before we go any further though, I’m just SUPER curious about this whole timeline because there are some major missing parts from what we know. Because keep in mind, before this chapter the only real thing we knew about Loki was that at one time he wanted to marry Big Mom’s daughter, Lola.
How strong is Prince Loki One Piece?
(03:01) What’s even more confusing is that this marriage supposedly would have allied Big Mom’s family with the entire kingdom of Elbaf, so clearly Loki was not always an outcast like he is now. So the big question is: when did Loki become a “Cursed Prince”? Was he always considered this from the start? I kinda doubt it. So does that mean that Loki only recently killed his father and has only been chained up for a short time? There’s even more evidence here though because in this chapter we are told that Hajrudin is also a royal son – which like what? – honestly a little disappointed with that since Hajrudin is
(03:55) pretty weak in the grand scheme of things but whatever. However the important piece is that Hajrudin was required to stay in Elbaf because of the troubles with Loki almost escaping, so I’m wondering if Loki only actually murdered his father very recently which is why Hajrudin had to come back to Elbaf.
(04:28) I mean keep in mind it was only a few months ago that Hajrudin was in Dressrosa and before that he was working for Buggy, so it just makes a lot of sense to me that the crisis with Loki and his father’s murder only occurred recently. Or maybe Loki was pretty well locked up until now and only after he nearly escaped was Hajrudin required to help the giants keep him locked up.
(04:55) Speaking of that though, where are Loki’s guards??? Wasn’t it supposed to take pretty much the entire force of Elbaf warriors to keep him contained? Well, I don’t see anyone around right now, so kinda weird there, but maybe it’s because nobody wants to be around Loki and his strange abilities. And let’s focus on that now because, wow, as soon as I saw this my mind just went wild! Why did cover his eyes? Why do they have this glowing effect? Why
Who did Lola reject to marry?
are eye powers the coolest in all of anime? Seriously, I’m so hyped for this! Like is it some
(05:45) Sharingan like power that allows him to cast illusions or hypnotize people? That would certainly fit with the early chapters of this arc and all the weird hints at illusions. I mean, just how funny would it be to have a Human Human devil fruit Model Sasuke. One Piece fans would literally riot! Let’s focus on some more realistic options though starting with what we actually know.
(06:15) Because apparently, Loki ate a legendary devil fruit that has been passed down through the Elbaf Royal Family for centuries. So going based off the facts. First, it is a legendary fruit. Second, it is heavily tied to the giants. Third, Loki’s introduction had him
wrapped up in chains. So put all that together and we get the Mythical God fruit Model Prometheus.
(06:45) And there’s A TON of reasons why this makes sense, so let me catch you up on some brief Greek mythology. First, Prometheus was a Titan who stole fire from the Greek gods and gave it to humans. On top of that, Prometheus is considered a trickster similar to Loki as well as being a god of fire. So taking that idea of being a god of fire, that fits pretty well with what Loki said about being the god of the sun. So we have Sun, fire, being a trickster, and defying the gods.
(07:20) All that seems to fit pretty well with what we know of the One Piece Loki so far. That’s not all though because as a punishment for stealing the fire, Prometheus is also chained up for eternity, just like how we are introduced to Loki. However, eventually, the hero Hercules came along and freed Prometheus which could easily be what is going to happen with Luffy and Loki very soon.
(07:46) So yeah, Mythical fire god Prometheus fruit is definitely an option, but since we took a devil fruit idea from Greek mythology let’s discuss a few from Norse lore as well. Because there is another ancient god who fits Loki’s introduction even better than Prometheus and that is the fire giant Surtr.
(08:15) Now, in case you didn’t know, Surtr is the greatest of all the fire giants who is basically the biggest threat to gods like Odin and Thor during Ragnarok. So to connect that to Loki, the Cursed Prince LITERALLY tells us that he wants to end the world. Which sure seems like a Ragnarok way of thinking if you ask me. What you might not know though is that Surtr also carries a massive sword and oh what do you know we actually have a stupidly big sword right here on Elbaf.
(08:50) Now obviously this sword is too big for the chained up Loki to use but it just hints at a connection to Surtr from the Norse lore. Of course, there is another legendary figure related to Ragnarok that could very easily be Loki’s devil fruit and that is Fenrir, the monstrous wolf from mythology. Fenrir is often stated to actually be the one who starts the chain of events leading to Ragnarok, so if Loki also wants to bring an end to the world then Fenrir fits with that mindset.
(09:20) Plus, just how cool would it be to see a giant, devil wolf running around Elbaf? Sign me up for that. Just like how you can sign up for my exclusive early thoughts on every chapter by signing up for my patreon using the link in the description. On the other hand though, if we’re talking about legendary fruits we might as well throw out the idea of an Odin fruit since he was the greatest of the gods.
(09:47) Or there’s also the possibility that Odin is actually a person as we discussed in my last review and he could actually be the real villain of the arc instead of Loki. Now, there’s one MIND-BLOWING thing about Loki’s devil fruit that is SUPER important, but also SUPER easy to miss.
(10:10) Because we are told that Loki killed his father so that he could obtain this legendary devil fruit, but we have to ask: How did Loki know that killing his father would let him take the fruit? Just take a minute to think about that. Because as One Piece fans we kind know how devil fruit reincarnation works, but there it has never actually been confirmed that when a devil fruit user dies that their fruit will reincarnate close by.
(10:44) So does Loki know the secret to devil fruit reincarnations, similar to the Blackbeard pirates? Or is it something much darker like how Big Mom obtained her devil fruit by eating Mother Carmel? Which would be horrifying to see that pop up in the story again, but it is a real question that we have to ask at this point because I’m sure it will play a role in Loki’s story going forward. In fact, let’s shift to discussing Loki’s character arc now because I’m actually going to start off with something a bit controversial here.
(11:26) Are you ready for this? I think there is a real possibility that Loki will be an ally and not an enemy. Now, notice I didn’t say “Friend” or even “A good guy” but he could very well go along with the Straw Hats for the events of this arc, similar to how Capone Bege worked with the Straw Hats during Whole Cake Island or even someone like Wyper from Skypeia who seemed like an enemy at first before eventually working with the Straw Hats.
(11:58) And you might be asking why I would even think this? Clearly, Loki wants to end the world and he’s even got the classic Doffy tongue sticking out, which should be a sign he’s a bad dude, but at this point I think I’ve been brainwashed by Oda into always thinking that someone can turn out very different than they are first presented. Because LITERALLY EVERYTHING in this chapter is pointing to Loki being a villain, so it just makes perfect sense to my One Piece theory brain that he will eventually turn out good.
(12:37) And I actually have some reasoning for this. It’s not just completely head canon here because consider this: Why did Luffy approach Loki in the first place? Clearly, Luffy could sense Loki’s presence as soon as they were on the island, but he never outright says that the presence was dangerous or evil.
(13:01) And we all know Luffy is basically a genius at sensing people’s true intentions, so when I first read this scene I felt like Luffy was going to check out someone interesting, not someone giving off evil vibes. Then again there’s the fact that Loki seems to have a somewhat sweet side, considering he was trying to charm Lola here with a flower.
One piece loki design
(13:24) So in my mind, there is definitely a possibility that Loki is not as evil as he is present. Which could lead to the possibility that he was framed for the murder of his father. So maybe he might not really want to end the world but instead just end the current people ruling the island or something like that. So definitely a possibility that Loki turns out to be an ally. Which could actually set up the first major conflict of the arc.
(14:04) Because if Luffy helps Loki escape or teams up with him then the rest of Elbaf is going to paint a giant red target on Luffy’s back. And I’m all for that as it would add a lot of tension to the arc. Of course, Loki could just be genuinely evil. In fact, by saying he wants to end the world he is basically wanting to start Ragnarok.
(14:35) And of course, he won’t just stay chained up forever. I could even still see Luffy freeing him by accident. In fact, it could give us our first real fight of the arc because another classic One Piece arc event is Luffy losing an early fight. So if Loki gets free and has some crazy, mysterious power, then I could pretty easily see Luffy being defeated and even separated from the rest of the crew.
(15:03) This would obviously create A TON of chaos in Elbaf and then the straw hats would have to win back the giant’s trust by bringing down Loki once and for all. In fact, that seems the most likely scenario here because Loki is also calling himself a god of the sun. So at this point, we’ve had two giants calling themselves some version of the Sun God, so I wonder if that is actually a title for the ruler of Elbaf. If that is true then we will certainly have an eventual conflict where Luffy
(15:38) proves himself to be the true sun god, and what better way to do that than an all out battle with Loki at the end of the arc? And who knows, maybe there is a whole pantheon of false gods that Luffy will have to battle by the end of the arc. That would fit with his role as the enemy of the gods. But going back to the rulers of Elbaf, if Luffy does get involved with Loki – either by freeing him by accident or intentionally – then it could definitely cause problems with his friends that are already on Elbaf like Hajrudin. And like I already said, we learned that Hajrudin is
(16:15) supposedly a royal son and you would think that he would be an ally of the straw hats in this arc, but something in this chapter has me thinking more about whether that will be true. Because at the start of this chapter, we saw the straw hats escaping from the false sun god’s prison castle, and before they crossed the bridge to escape they had to hide out from these giants right here.
(16:50) And in case you forgot, these two are Gerd and Goldberg, two giants who are on Hajrudin’s crew. Unfortunately, though I don’t think the Straw Hats knew who they were. They’ve only ever met Hajrudin from that crew before, so it make sense they hid themselves when they heard that trespassing is illegal here in Elbaf. They should have just stepped out though because even if Gerd and Goldberg didn’t recognize the others then they surely would know who Luffy is since he is basically known across the world.
(17:22) But since this didn’t happen, and Luffy is now separated from the crew, I could see a situation where Zoro, Sanji, and the others get in trouble with these giants because as we were told trespassing is illegal in Elbaf. So that’s just another possible point of conflict for the future of this arc. But okay now, I just can’t go any further in this review without talking about the most STUNNING panel from the entire chapter.
(17:52) And that was of course the BEAUTIFUL full reveal of Elbaf and the stupidly enormous tree that dominates the entire island. And there’s just SO MUCH to break down here! First, it’s really hard to even imagine how big this island is. Seriously it has to be by far the largest island we have ever seen in One Piece which is just crazy to think about.
(18:23) But starting at the bottom we have the mountains surrounding the entire tree, which makes me wonder exactly where the village we saw in Big Mom’s flashback was. That place certainly didn’t seem snowy all the time. Then moving up we see the castle where Road kept his prisoners and the bridge up to the middle layer of branches. And this is where things truly get crazy! Because here we have this giant castle up here surrounded by some insane looking cannons.
(19:02) Which is just hilarious because based on the size of these things the cannonballs for these things are probably bigger than most ships. Besides that though I for one just cannot wait to see what this castle town is actually like. Will it be similar to the rural villages we’ve seen before or will it be more sophisticated with technology from the Void Century? I can’t wait to see it, but we also have a rainbow in the background which could be possibly like the Bifrost which connected realms in Norse mythology.
(19:42) But then we get the CRAZIEST thing in this entire panel, which is this MASSIVE SWORD sticking all the way through the tree. Like what is this thing??? Who could even ever use it?? And if you think about that question for more than two seconds you should remember this is not the only incredibly large sword we’ve seen recently in the story.
(20:09) Because remember this katana from Onigashima? Well, it doesn’t seem quite as large as the one on Elbaf, but it’s still way bigger than any character we’ve met can use, so that raises the question of who could ever use these things. And the answer to this may go way back in history to a time before the Void Century.
(20:46) Because remember that the world didn’t used to be flooded, so it is possible that there once existed supermassive creatures like titans that roamed the world. That would explain the giant swords and that means the Onigashima skull could be the remains of one of these enormous creatures. Or could they belong to the mysterious creatures from the Florian Triangle? You didn’t forget about those, did you? But this might honestly be a topic for a whole separate video because one sword in Onigashima could be just a cool environmental design choice but with two of these things
(21:23) now there has to be some reason that Oda is including this intentionally. That’s not all we get from this insane spread of Elbaf because all throughout the top and middle layers we have these strange waterfalls pouring down. Which just begs the question where is this water coming from? Because again just keep in mind the scale of this thing is MASSIVE so this is a TON of water spilling down this tree.
(22:08) It must be coming from the top of the tree or maybe even the Sky Islands because the tree is certainly big enough to connect all the way up to the White Sea up in the sky. Let’s continue though to something I honestly never thought I’d see in One Piece: Inflation.
(22:34) Because with the giant captains Dorry and Brogy getting their updated bounties here going from one hundred million berries each to one billion eight hundred million berries, Robin explains that there has been quite a bit of inflation since one hundred years ago. Which actually made me wonder what someone like Roger’s bounty would be in the current day.
(23:01) Remember it was about five point five billion twenty four years ago so with calculating the inflation for those years his current bounty should be around a staggering twenty six billion or somewhere around there. And that’s your monthly math with Manu! But from math let’s shift to history because we learned the name of Loki’s father in this chapter.
(23:33) It was King Harald, who is actually a figure from Viking History and former king of Norway. What’s interesting though is that he is far from the most famous Viking Warlords, so I really just can’t understand why Oda chose this particular person to be the inspiration for the name of the former King of Elbaf. Harald did have two sons: Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good who both fought against each other for the right to take his father’s throne.
(24:02) So maybe that’s the narrative that we’ll see here in Elbaf with two or more brothers fighting for the throne of Elbaf. Speaking of another royal character, this chapter also gave us the latest hint that Vivi will be coming back into the story very soon. Because as the rest of the straw hats and the giants are reading the newspaper, Robin notices the X drawn on Luffy’s arm.
(24:29) Now of course this X is the same that the Straw Hats and Vivi used to confirm their identities in Alabasta. So this is likely Vivi communicating to the Straw Hats that she is with Big New Morgans. But it makes me wonder, will she be coming to Elbaf soon or is this just a hint for after the arc? We’ll have to wait and see, but at least it is good to see the rest of the crew again and know that they are headed off to wait for the others on Elbaf.
(25:04) But all this does make me wonder about the lies being spread by Morgans in the papers. I mean, we all know Luffy and the crew are good, but the rest of the world certainly doesn’t know that. And the more and more lies that are spread about Luffy the more I feel like there is going to be a moment when the world turns against Luffy and he is going to have to show everyone that he is the one they truly need to believe in.
(25:30) Either that or he will go down as a misunderstood hero just like someone like Roger. Or perhaps the World Government will do something terrible to show the world just how evil they really are. And we could even see that here in Elbaf becaus
e I have to imagine they will have some presence during the arc.
(25:54) I mean they’ve literally been in every single New World arc, so could we have someone like the Holy Knights show up in Elbaf and take part in the conflict? Or will Imu send his Ancient Weapon to wipe out another island? I mean that makes a lot of sense because if Imu now has access to more of the Mother Flame energy that powers the ancient weapon, why wouldn’t they turn it against the most powerful island in the entire world? But that’s just one of the insane possibilities for Imu’s future, and if you want to find out everything we know about Imu and what they could do in the future, you can watch this video right here.
(26:34) As always, Shanks so much for watching. And an extra special thank you to all of my patrons that you can see right here. They really help us make better videos on this channel and allow us to do never before seen projects, so thank you all again so much. You can also join the Patreon squad using the link in the description below.
(26:38) Shanks again, and I’ll see you in the next one.