There is not other arc in One Piece that has been
anticipated by fans as hard and as long as Elbaf, the country with the strongest
warriors in the world, home of the Giants and territory of the Emperor Shanks. And so today, we are talking about everything that
could and should happen in this long awaited arc, starting from the things that are absolutely
100% going to happen like Usopp leading an army of giants or Luffy finally reuniting
with Shanks and moving to the most insane Elbaf theories ever conceived like how God Enel
is going to return to attack the Land of Giants. Since Dr. Vegapunk has given us the intel
that Jaguar D. Saul is alive and well, hiding the remains of the Ohara library
on Elbaf, it’s almost guaranteed that it’s the Straw Hats’ next destination. Not to
mention this note from Oda at Jump Festa that all but says we’re getting some
giant sized One Piece action in 2024. During the Egghead Island arc, Oda treated fans
to a detour to check on what all of the other Yonkou besides Luffy are up to. And most of them
have been spending their down time absolutely obliterating Luffy’s supernova allies, Kid and
Law. When Eustass Kid threatened the weakling pirates that call Shanks their friend, the
superior Red-Haired pirate wiped out the master of magnetism with just a single slash of
his sword. Our old friends from Little Garden Dorry and Brogy also wiped out Kid’s ship with
their signature technique Hakoku Sovereignty. But thanks to this cutaway to Shanks and the
Giant Pirates, we know that Luffy’s touchdown in Elbaf means a reunion with some old friends.
Usopp is sure to be excited to reunite with his heroes Dorry and Brogy, who the crew hasn’t seen
since Little Garden in the Alabasta Saga. However, Usopp might also get to see his other giant
comrades like Oimo and Kashi who were guards at Enies Lobby until Usopp revealed that the
government had tricked them into service. And while we’re meeting all of these giants
again, maybe even Hajrudin will show up along with the rest of the Grand Fleet depending
on what kind of mortal threat emerges on the land of Elbaf. And I’ll be talking about who
the big bad of Elbaf will be in just a bit. Of course, the reunion with the giants is
nothing compared to the reunion we’ve been waiting for since Chapter 1 of the series: that’s
right - Luffy will finally meet Shanks once again now that he’s become a powerful pirate,
a Yonkou in the same class as his mentor. How will this play out? Well, Luffy is
sure to shed tears just like he did when he met with Sabo again, however, we don’t
think the tears will come first. Instead, before Shanks gets to mutter much at all,
he’ll get a Gum Gum punch to the face, with Luffy finally proving that his
punches are as strong as a pistol. But there’s no guarantee that the reunion
will be totally friendly - at the end of Wano, Shanks declared that it’s finally time for
his crew to seek out the One Piece. We’re not sure how many road poneglyphs Shanks has already
claimed, but Luffy and the Straw Hats have three of them and it’s unlikely that Shanks has the ones
from Zou or Wano since those were well hidden by their respective people and only shared them with
the Straw Hats after they saved their countries. Does this mean that just like Kid got wrecked,
Luffy will also find himself at the end of Shanks’ sword? Will Shanks reveal his true colors
in order to get his hands on the poneglyphs? Well, he probably doesn’t need to since he likely
retrieved all of the poneglyph etchings from what little remains of Kid’s crew. They did
offer them to him in order to try and save themselves, after all, just before their
ship was demolished by Dorry and Brogy. Speaking of which, we are going to have to
find out exactly what became of Eustass Kid. Luffy will probably be surprised to see that his
rival, who helped take out Big Mom and Kaidou, has been decimated by his old mentor. Of course,
we know how bad Oda is at killing off characters, so is Kid actually dead? Or will he show back up
on Elbaf with even more metal body parts - enough that he could straight up be mistaken for a
Franky creation. Will he finally give up on trying to defeat Shanks, or will he crawl
his way back onto Elbaf only to give us a Shocked Enel face when he sees Luffy and
Shanks palling around eating giant hunks of meat together? And that’s only one of the Enel
faces we’ll get this arc…but more on that later. Shanks would make for a hell of a twist
villain. Just imagine Luffy’s mentor and hero who inspired him to become a pirate
from the very beginning ending up being the ultimate obstacle preventing him from his
dream would be devastating. But as popular as the Evil Shanks theory is…I just don’t see
it. He has an entire fleet of weakling pirates who he defends even though they’re not strong
enough to make it in the New World. He stopped the Marineford War to prevent further bloodshed.
He inspires young people like Luffy and the young giant on Elbaf to become pirates. He just
doesn’t seem that evil, as mysterious as he is. Maybe we’ll even get an answer to some of the
mysteries that surround Shanks in this arc - is he a celestial dragon? Why was he found in a
treasure chest on God Valley? It only makes sense that we’d get answers to these questions
and more in this Shanks -centered arc. However, Shanks doesn’t seem to
have a way to read the poneglyphs, so maybe there’s another way besides force to
get something he needs. Instead of going all out in a battle against the Straw Hats, maybe we’ll
see a return to the Davy Back Fight. After all, Long Ring Long Land is one of the few One
Piece arcs that doesn’t appear to have much foreshadowing or connection to other
arcs - which makes many One Piece fans speculate that the Davy Back Fight will play
an important role at some point in the story. Just imagine a footrace between Sanji and
Lucky Roo, the supposed fastest character in the series. A musical matchup between Soul
King Brook and another rockstar…Rockstar - even though Bonk Punch is their actual musician.
And the ultimate game of darts between father and son when Usopp finally gets to show
Yasopp how much he’s grown as a marksman. Oh, and speaking of Usopp - if Whole Cake Island
gave us the year of Sanji and Wano gave Zoro a ton of focus…then welcome to the Year of Usopp.
No character has dreamed of visiting Elbaf more than Usopp. He’s been the one to make
friends with all of the giants the crew has met along their journey. Well, except Hajrudin.
Hajrudin just started worshiping Usopp as a God. It’s just fitting that on this
island of brave, powerful warriors, Usopp will also finally be able to
reunite with his father, Yasopp. However, this is sure to be the arc that Usopp finally
lives out his dream of becoming a Brave Warrior of the Sea. Most One Piece fans know that
Usopp’s lies have a tendency to come true, which also means that in this arc it’s likely
that Usopp will lead an army of 8,000 men. And not just any men - an army of giants. Who exactly
will this army be fighting? Only time will tell. Usopp is also due for a major powerup. And while I
can definitely see him using Vegapunk tech to get the most technologically advanced slingshot of
all time, Elbaf will be the arc that Usopp taps into a new haki ability. He’s already had one
of the greatest observation Haki feats in the series when he took out Sugar on Dressrosa from
super far away. But this might just be the arc when he taps into Conqueror’s Haki. After all,
somebody fit to lead an entire army of 8,000 giants seems like the perfect candidate
to have the Color of the supreme King. Speaking of Conqueror’s Haki users, we might
just get the return of a former Yonkou: Big Mom, albeit with way more lava scars.
I already mentioned with Kid how bad Oda is with killing off characters,
so will Big Mom crawl her way out of the lava beneath Wano to seek revenge
against the Straw Hats and their allies? Even if Big Mom is actually dead, she’ll be
sure to affect the Elbaf arc. Her flashback with Mother Carmel is the first time we actually
got to see Elbaf in the manga. It also felt like certain plot threads in Whole Cake Island
went unresolved with Big Mom seeking to ally with the giants and add Elbaf to her forces,
enabling her to finally claim the One Piece. We’re certain to meet Loki, the Prince of Giants,
who was arranged to marry Big Mom’s daughter Lola. Maybe while we’re at it, we’ll even get to
see Lola again as well as her twin sister, Chiffon along with Capone Bege and Pound. It’ll
be a bonafide Whole Cake Island reunion. While we’re at it, if Blackbeard shows up as the
arc’s villain, it would make sense for the remnants of the Big Mom pirates to face him
down since he’s kidnapped Pudding. Katakuri and Luffy could join forces to make the
stretchiest team up in all of manga. And while I’m talking about Big Mom - will the
giants kind of recognize Zeus and freak out once Nami shows up on the island? Given their history
with Mother Carmel and Big Mom, a lot of them are sure to recognize the concept of homies, and some
of them might even recognize Zeus specifically. And Zeus isn’t the only lightning user who we’re
bound to see on Elbaf. If there’s a Loki, we need a Thor and El Thor happens to be a signature
attack of the one and only God Enel. Now, for anyone who’s been skipping their cover stories
- you’re missing out - because one cover story has confirmed that Enel survived Skypiea and ended up
flying his Arc Maxim all the way to Fairy Vearth: The Moon. That’s right - it’s time for Moon Piece.
On the moon, he found the remains of an advanced civilization and used his electricity to awaken a
literal robot army of automatons. Oh, also he met actual space pirates…There’s no way that all
of this doesn’t become relevant in the story. With the Final Saga well underway, we’re running
out of time to bring Enel back into the fold, so it’s only a matter of time before this wannabe
God shows back up. In fact, we’ll probably learn a lot more about Sky Islanders in general: The Mad
Monk Urouge is the last supernova that has yet to play a pivotal role in one of the story arcs. It
just so happens that Urouge is also from Birka, the same Sky Island that Enel destroyed before
moving on to Skypiea with his priests. It’s very much possible that Urouge even used to be
one of Enel’s priests before they parted ways. Elbaf will likely treat us to more lore
about Sky Islands in general. When the Straw Hats went to Skypiea, the Sky
Islanders were shocked that they’d used the Knock Up Stream to arrive there
since it’s an extremely dangerous route. They referenced that the more common
way to travel to Skypiea is by taking something called the High West Road - could
this be connected to the Treasure Tree Adam? During Big Mom’s flashback, we see a giant
black mass rising completely perpendicular to the land. It’s so big we only get a sliver
of its total size from the panel. However, most fans speculate that this is actually
the Treasure Tree Adam - the legendary tree known for having the strongest wood in the
world, which the Thousand Sunny is made out of. Could climbing this tree be the secret
to reaching other Sky Islands? After all, the Giant Warriors of Elbaf are based on
Norse Mythology, which features the World Tree Yggdrasil which stretches all the
way up to Asgard, the realm of the Gods. Of course, if the moon does become relevant
and the Straw Hats need to learn more about the ancient civilizations of the One
Piece world, they might need to go even higher than sky islands. Luckily, they have now
befriended the greatest scientist in the world, and if anybody is capable of
space travel - it’s Dr. Vegapunk. Of course, the Moon is just the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to the wild lore reveals Oda’s probably going to give us in Elbaf. In Egghead
Island, we learned that Robin’s favorite giant Jaguar D. Saul is alive and hiding on Elbaf. That
means it’s extremely likely that he’s uncovered the secrets that the scholars of Ohara learned.
We might finally get to hear the words that Professor Clover was killed for threatening
to reveal: the name of the Ancient Kingdom. We’ll probably at least learn the location of
the Final Poneglyph and who could be guarding it, if it’s not on Elbaf itself. Jaguar D.
Saul is one contender to be revealed as the man with the burn scars, since he
survived the burning of Ohara. However, since the Man with the Burn Scars is
supposed to be hiding on an all black ship surrounded by whirlpools, Saul
doesn’t quite fit the bill. However, Elbaf will likely give us a clue as to
where this mysterious figure can be found. Speaking of the Adam Tree, we might finally
learn more about the Treasure Tree Adam and its counterpart the Sunlight Tree Eve, which
grows in Mariejois. And what grows on trees? Fruits - like…devil fruits. So, while
we already got a lot of new information about devil fruits on Egghead, we might
learn even more of their secrets in Elbaf. Along with the Norse mythology that’s
inspired characters like Shanks, Loki, and the other Giants who take after Vikings,
maybe we’ll learn even more. All the way back in Little Garden, when Dorry and Brogy use
their Hakoku Sovereignty technique to defeat the Island Eater Fish, they mention that
the only thing their attack can’t pierce is the Serpent Soaked in Blood. Norse Mythology
features a creature called the Jormungandr: the giant snake that wraps around the entire
world. Hmmm…What’s something that wraps all the way around the One Piece world and is also
red- the color of something soaked in blood? That’s right - the Red Line itself. Maybe we’ll
even get to learn the history of this expansive geological structure - along with another winged
race of people who lived there: the Lunarians. Will we even see an apocalyptic war on the
level of the Norse Myth of Ragnarok? Well, we’ve already seen weapons with apocalyptic
power in the series: the ancient weapons. The three islands that have had the most
buildup in the series were Fishman Island, Wano, and Elbaf. Fishman Island, which was first
mentioned during Arlong Park, ended up being the hiding place of Poseidon, AKA Princess Shirahoshi.
Wano, which was first mentioned in Thriller Bark, is the hiding place of the battleship
Pluton. So will Elbaf, which was first referenced all the way back in Little Garden,
be the place where we see Uranus in action. Since it’s likely that Uranus is the weapon
that was used by Imu to destroy Lulusia Kingdom, we may have already seen it - but Elbaf could be
the place where the World Government tries to use it against the Straw Hats themselves. Of course,
that’s not the only possibility. Maybe the real Uranus is whatever hatched from the giant egg
on the back of Roger’s ship, the Oro Jackson. Most important of all, though, is more lore about
Sun God Nika. Thanks to Mother Carmel during Big Mom’s flashback, we already know that the giant of
Elbaf worship a Sun God. This means that Elbaf is the perfect place to learn more about the original
Sun God Nika and the original Joyboy and their actions during the Void Century. In fact, since
Imu is guarding a giant Straw Hat within Pangea Castle, it’s likely that the original Joyboy was a
giant or at least a member of the Bucaneer Tribe, like Bartholomew Kuma - and the person who’s
inherited his will has retained the same fashion sense. What better way to learn about this
ancient giant than from the giants of today? But even more than Lore Piece, what fans are
really craving from the Elbaf arc is some non-stop giant sized action. We want to see battle axes
the size of buildings flying around and super sized conqueror’s haki clashes. So who will
be the ultimate villain of the Elbaf Arc? Will another Gorosei or even Imu-Sama descend on
the island after Saturn gets stomped on Egghead? That would be a good reason for Uranus to show
up as well as a good reason for the Straw Hats to call on the help of the Grand Fleet.
After all, the world government has been trying to use science to recreate giants for
ages - maybe this time they’ll come straight to the source. Will God’s Knights leap
into action - resulting in Shanks having to reconcile with his past when his probable
father, Figarland Garling sets foot on Elbaf? What if Prince Loki is unlike the rest
of the kindly giants we’ve met so far and more like his trickster namesake from
Norse mythology? Maybe the Straw Hats will actually find themselves at odds with the
Giant royalty. Or perhaps there will be an even greater twist where someone we assume
is a friend is actually an antagonist and the Evil Shanks theory will come true after
all. Maybe we’ll even get a completely anti-climactic Enel rematch with him leading
a robot army against the Land of Giants. But more than all these, there’s one
villain more likely than any other: Blackbeard. Shanks has been a rival of
Blackbeard throughout the series. Teach gave him his signature scar across his eyes and
Shanks took the time to warn Whitebeard of the threat the wielder of the darkness fruit posed. At
Marineford, Blackbeard stated that it wasn’t time for his crew to face Shanks…yet - which implies
the two will fight before the end of the series. Blackbeard could roll up to Elbaf in
search of the remaining poneglyph, either to steal whichever ones Shanks might have
or to gain clues from Jaguar D. Saul. After all, Oda’s stated his primary hobby is archaeology, so he’d love to get his hands on the remains
of Ohara’s library. As he approached, he’d lay waste to the weakling crews that are
allied with Shanks, succeeding where Kid failed. He’d have an epic matchup with Shanks,
making for one of the greatest duels in One Piece history. Shanks, the greatest
Haki master in the series vs. Blackbeard, the only character to wield multiple devil
fruits. Perhaps we’ll even get the reveal of Blackbeard’s long-rumored third devil
fruit, which many fans think is a Cerberus or Kraken fruit - a mythical zoan to
go along with his logia and paramecia. The worst and most likely outcome of
this fight is that Shanks would lose before Luffy is able to arrive. Imagine the
heartbreak every One Piece fan would feel is Luffy was finally able to reunite with
Shanks and return the straw hat to him, only for Shanks to give dying words of
how proud he is of Luffy and leaving the One Piece and the title of King of the
Pirates in the hands of the next generation. I absolutely don’t want this to happen
because Shanks dying at the hands of a coward like Blackbeard would be criminal.
However, the resulting rage that Luffy would fly into in facing down Blackbeard, who
was now responsible for the deaths of the two most important people in his life, would be the
most intense scene in the entire series so far. Elbaf is sure to deliver one of the
craziest arcs in all of One Piece, finally letting us know more about the culture
of the giant race. Of course, there are still many people in One Piece we still need to
learn more about like the Lunarians and Sky Islanders. Here’s to hoping we get more answers
in Elbaf - but for now, you can get a reminder on everything we know so far by checking out
this video covering all of the One Piece races.
