The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1124, “Close Friend,” available now via VIZ.
A pieceThe dirty fight for Future Island/Egghead ended in Chapter 1123 – and as Franky noted, the Straw Hats and their allies were lucky to arrive alive on board the A Thousand Suns. The fact that they did opens the doors for all sorts of reactions, new revelations, and the excitement of the crossing to Elbaf. Chapter 1124 captures the spirit of a new story arc quite well and is a strong start to the next adventure.
Chapter 1124 balances joy and suspense while teasing fans with mysterious cameos and keeping them excited for future mysteries and plot twists. It offers enough developments to keep fans reading, and while most of them aren’t complete turning points, they do represent the official first steps of the Elbaf story arc. And it doesn’t have to be any other way, because thanks to Lilith there is a special development that could turn everything upside down for the better.
One Piece Chapter 1124 saves a main character
Vegapunk could cheat death with some hard science fiction
The biggest and most intriguing development in Chapter 1124 occurs when Lilith – the first Vegapunk the Straw Hats met on Future Island – awakens. After spending a few panels processing her emotions after such an ordeal, Lilith pulls herself together and surprises the Straw Hat crew with a surprise: Vegapunk is still alive, that includes at least all other satellites. Manga readers have seen satellites like Pythagoras and Atlas meet their fates in one way or another, but this seems to change that. (Except for the fact that York is a traitor working with the villainous World Government.) If the Straw Hats can reunite with the entire Vegapunk team, then the pyrrhic victory on Future Island might have a brighter silver lining than anyone expected. It’s even possible that the “main” Vegapunk, Stella, is alive as well.
This development has been a positive for the story, with the good outweighing the bad. The good is that Dr. Vegapunk will soon be able to return to work and assist the heroes in their increasingly dangerous fight against the World Government with his advanced research and forbidden knowledge. His return reinforces the theme of a very diverse group of people coming together to free the world from Imu’s reign of terror, and it will be very entertaining to see what other high-tech wonders a revived Vegapunk has at his disposal. After all, fans have only just met him – and now they can imagine how the world’s greatest scientist cheated death!
Lilith: In short, the truth is, they are all alive!
It’s one thing to have heroes like Mr. 2 survive off-screen to fight another day with Plot Armor, but Dr. Vegapunk sure has a fancier trick up his lab coat sleeve. Since Vegapunk is such a careful planner and master of technology, there are hard sci-fi possibilities, like transferring his mind into a waiting clone body or performing a memory upload to back up the heroes from a computer mainframe. Future Island is set centuries in the future, hence the name, so a lot is plausible.
The downside is that this is another example of A piece one hesitates to kill someone because this often reduces the tension and stakes too much. Eiichiro Oda has made it clear that the characters need to survive, and Luffy always spares his enemies so they can pursue their dreams. The manga wants to create a sympathetic narrative – like Wapol surviving to start a toy company, for example. It’s great that Dr. Vegapunk survived, at least according to Lilith, but the story needs to feel organic and worthwhile, and not just be another case of plot armor being handed out like candy. A piece has at least earned the trust.
Morgans shows the other side of villainy in Chapter 1124
The feather is more powerful than the devil fruit
While A piece While it is mostly a shonen action series, this manga also does an excellent job of depicting an oppressed world through other, less violent means such as propaganda and twisted media. Information is just as powerful as Haki and Devil Fruits. Chapter 1124 begins on that note, with Morgans determined to manipulate the events on Future Island/Egghead. Not only is this scene refreshing because it shows a different kind of villainy, but it also allows for two characters to meaningfully clash with words rather than violence.
Nefeltari Vivi, who recently lost her father, is the same strong-willed and idealistic princess that fans met in the Alabasta saga. Determined to fight the World Government in her own way, this noble young woman urges Morgans to mix at least some much-needed truth into his propaganda. To that end, Morgans agrees to print articles about the sinking world phenomenon – though he can’t help but add more lies about nonexistent pirate battles. It’s entertaining but also grim to see the lying Morgan outplay the honest, idealistic Vivi, giving Vivi a meaningful task while also reminding fans that there’s more than one way to fight. That’s what A piece needs more of it as it moves into the next story arc.
One Piece encourages fans to feel sorry for Admiral Kizaru
He doesn’t seem to enjoy his murderous duty
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A piece Chapter 1124 wants readers to feel a little sorry for Admiral Kizaru/Borsalino – a bold move that actually has an impact. No one will cry for him like they did for Mr. 2, but the manga is oddly effective at showing Kizaru’s regret for killing Dr. Vegapunk in cold blood on Future Island. For this reason, Chapter 1124 is called “Close Friend”, with an unusually emotional Kizaru reminding Fleet Admiral Kizaru/Sakazuki that Dr. Vegapunk was like a friend to him.
There’s not enough backstory or personal depth to make fans believe this is a major turning point in Kizaru’s arc, even with a micro-flashback involving Kizaru and Dr. Vegapunk. It helps humanize the lightspeed admiral. Readers have grown accustomed to Kizaru being the casual yet deadly wielder of the Glint-Glint fruit, but underneath those powers lies a grieving man, and it’s refreshing to see the manga at least attempt to create an emotional connection between him and readers. While it’s a modest scene, and there’s a lot more to it, this is surprising enough to make audiences pay more attention to his character.
The last pages of One Piece Chapter 1124 effectively make Elbaf curious
Fans have reason to be excited about Luffy’s future
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Chapter 1124 ends on a moderately strong note; Luffy cheers himself up and starts celebrating with his crew members and the friendly giants aboard their mammoth ship on the way to Elbaf. Post-battle parties are a familiar activity for the Straw Hats, and the dialogue here is forgettable. Still, no fan can deny that the heroes deserve a chance to have fun while they still can. And after all the fighting on Egghead, it’s absolutely time for the manga to focus more heavily on the Elbaf theme, starting with this beer-soaked party that feels like a real Viking feast. For now, that’s good enough, and it gets readers excited for Luffy’s arrival in the land of the Nordic giants.
And the best part: A piece The final panel of Chapter 1124 has a tantalizing cliffhanger. A silhouette drinks while waiting for Luffy to arrive and says “Come on,” as if to ask, “Come on, Luffy, aren’t you there yet?” Fans will have fun theorizing about who this impatient drinker could be. One candidate is Red-Haired Shanks – a fellow emperor and a man known for his love of alcohol. Since this is the final saga where all the cards are on the table, it’s only fitting that a friendly emperor could be just around the corner. Between this possibility and Lilith’s tremendous revelation, A piece offers a lot that could shake up the manga for a long time to come.
One Piece releases new chapters on VIZ on Saturday.
One Piece Chapter 1124
Vivi convinces Morgan to tell the truth, while Lilith reveals that Vegapunk somehow survived. Elsewhere, a mysterious figure with a drink in hand awaits Luffy’s arrival.
- author
- Eiichiro Oda
- artist
- Eiichiro Oda
- Release date
- July 22, 1997
- Chapter
- 1081
- Volumes
- 105
- Adjustment
- One Piece (1999)
- editor
- Shueisha, Madman Entertainment, Viz Media
- The survival of Vegapunk could lead to some fun theories about hard science fiction.
- The chapter humanizes Admiral Kizaru a bit.
- The mysterious drinking figure invites exciting theories.
- Vegapunk’s survival is another example of over-the-top plot armor.
