The Elbaph Arc is the thirty-third story arc of the manga and animeOne Piece, the second story arc of the Final Saga, and the tenth story arc of the second half of the series.
Turmoil in the New World: Aftermath of Vegapunk's Announcement to the World[]
The Straw Hat Pirates party and feast with the Giant Warrior Pirates, Lilith and Jewelry Bonney after their successful escape from Egghead, and their partial success in rescuing Vegapunk via Lilith. Dorry and Brogy reveal they left Little Garden in order to go back to Elbaf to obtain new weapons so they can resume their duel. Bonney and her father, Bartholomew Kuma celebrate seeing the horizon together.
The Barto Club is defeated by the Red Hair Pirates.
At Gartel Island, the Red Hair Pirates took revenge on the Straw Hat Grand Fleet's Barto Club for burning their flag on their territory, defeating and capturing them. Hongo explains to Bartolomeo that he will be forgiven if he hands a poison to Monkey D. Luffy that will kill him violently. Hongo gives Bartolomeo one month to do it. However, in order to protect his idol, Bartolomeo drinks the poison. However, despite his resolve to die in place of his hero, it is soon revealed that the poison is a fake, and the Red-Haired Pirates let them go. Shanks is seen smiling and when asked by Benn Beckman, he explains that he is happy to see that someone cares about Luffy so deeply. However, Yasopp asks Shanks to step out of the way, stating that “every action has a price to be paid” and with a shot of his rifle, he sinks the Going Luffy-senpai, leaving it unknown whether the crew survived or not.
Blackbeard returned to Hachinosu after defeating the Heart Pirates where he started scolding Avalo Pizarro for letting Koby escape, explaining that the Poneglyphs have become common knowledge and that a war will brew between the Four Emperors and that the Marines and the World Government were getting involved. Blackbeard claimed Koby was the “key piece to all of that”. When Pizarro let slip that Gecko Moria also managed to escape it brought up a new round of admonishment. Teach's mood eventually improved after seeing that his crew's morale was high and became even more pleased with Kuzan for capturing Garp, and the successful kidnapping of Charlotte Pudding. Blackbeard then contacted Laffitte who had infiltrated the headquarters of Umit Shipping where the Revolutionary Army is blocking food from reaching Mary Geoise. Catarina Devon and Van Augur soon returned to Hachinosu with Caribou.
Arrival at The Land of Gods: Escape the Diorama[]
2 days after the Egghead Incident, the Giant Warrior Pirates’ ship is still on its way to Elbaph. However, after drinking heavily, the ones on board (the Giants, Nico Robin, Franky, Brook, Jinbe, Jewelry Bonney, and Lilith) realize they cannot find the Thousand Sunny where the remaining Straw Hat Pirates were on board.
Nami awakens with a hangover inside a mysterious castle[1] wearing a new outfit she doesn't remember having put on. She quickly reunites with Usopp and both flee from the many giant animals living in the castle, until they are finally saved by Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, who claim to have been fighting and eating many other giant creatures around the castle. All of them are wearing new clothes similar to those worn by the Elbaph giants, but none of them know how they got there, nor the whereabouts of the Sunny and the rest of the crew.[2] After leaving the castle Usopp theorizes that, based on their clothes, which resemble those of the giants, that they were in Elbaph and that they somehow became giants. They soon encounter a person riding a massive grasshopper, who claims that they were in the Land of Gods, and that the various massive animals were all gods. He then warned them against going to the Sun God's temple which was guarded by ferocious guardians, though this instead ignites Luffy's lust for adventure, and he instead races towards said temple, before his crew could stop him. However, he then seemingly collides into the sky itself, causing it to shatter, which throws the land into confusion. They then soon realized that the sky was actually a massive one-sided mirror, and just beyond it was another hobby room, of a giant's proportions, where they soon found and rescued Chopper. [3]
After examining the room, they discovered a giant-sized sewing set and Lego-like blocks, similar to those that make up the kingdom they were trapped in. They quickly came to the conclusion that a giant of questionable tastes had captured them in their sleep, dressed them up like dolls and placed them in a massive diorama. Soon after, they were beset by giant animals who guarded the place, forcing them to fight. The commotion of their battle attracted the attention of the fake Sun God, who was outraged at the damage done to the hobby room and his pets, causing him to pursue the Straw Hats back into the diorama, just after they defeated his pets. As they ran away, they subdued Iscat, the giant cat that can turn into a lion, and had him carry them across the "Land of Gods", which was just a regular-sized room to the giant.[3] Nami, having memorized the schematics of the diorama, directed them to go to the opposite side of the room, where they exit through the wall on the other end. The fake Sun God, who was actually Road of the New Giant Warrior Pirates, pursued them, briefly capturing them with a metal net, though Zoro and Sanji quickly broke them out of it. However, Road remained confident that they would be unable to escape, as the "kingdom" was originally a prison for giants, but he soon learned from his other captives, whom he referred to as "Live-dolls", of all the damage the Straw Hats have done to his diorama, including beating up the majority of his pets and eating Glutbunny. As it turns out, Road was against his captain, Hajrudin, joining their crew to the Straw Hat Grand Fleet and being subservient to Luffy, so when his giant raven, Muginn, brought him the Thousand Sunny with the Straw Hats in it from the Sleeping Mist Zone, he thought he could make them his servants by turning them into "Live-dolls". As Road laughed at the drama the Straw Hats brought to his little "kingdom", Nami, tiring of this perverted giant's pursuit, had Zeus strike him with a Lightning Blast while Luffy broke the wall with a Mini Gear 4: Gomu Gomu no Kong Gun, allowing them to escape the cell.[4]
Adventure in Elbaph, Land of the Giants: Meeting the Accursed Prince[]
At sea, the remaining Straw Hats declared to the Giant Warrior Pirates the search for their comrades was over. Even though they couldn't find their crewmates, they have looked everywhere, and they were confident that they were alive, so they decided to proceed to their intended destination in hopes of finding them, which the giants happily obliged to. They soon received a newspaper, which revealed that Dorry and Brogy's bounties have both shot up to 1,800,000,000 (though Robin stated this was partially due to a century of inflation), and that Luffy was pinned with the murder of Vegapunk. However, as Robin examined the article, she noticed that the picture of Luffy in Gear 5 had an oddly prominent "X" mark on his arm. The conversation soon turned to Hajrudin, with the giants claiming that he had wanted to pick them up, but an internal issue in Elbaph prevented them. As it turns out, the evil giant prince, Loki, escaped his punishment of crucifixion, killed his father, the previous giant king, Harald, and consumed his legendary Devil Fruit, which forced virtually every giant in Elbaph to mobilize to stop and imprison him. The giants dubbed him the "Accursed Prince" and the "Shame of Elbaph", and fear the day he is released would spell the end of the world.[5] Later, Robin has Brook give her a haircut, resembling the way she had it prior to the Timeskip, in hopes of allowing Saul to remember her more easily.[6]
Back with Luffy's group, they find themselves having escaped to a giant-sized castle atop a mountain, with the only route to or from it being a giant-sized rope suspension bridge. Just as the Straw Hats decide to depart, they had to quickly hide themselves, as they saw two other giants crossing the bridge. These giants turned out to be Gerd and Goldberg of the New Giant Warrior Pirates, though the humans remained hidden as they did not know them, while the two discussed Road's shameful behavior. As it turns out, Gerd's pet owl, Piper had seen Muginn bringing the Thousand Sunny to Road, and they decided to confront him about actively bringing intruders into Elbaph. After they walked by, the humans traversed the bridge themselves, though partway through, Luffy decided to enter the forest below, in order to investigate a voice he'd been sensing since he awoke on the island.[5] The rest of the crew kept going down the bridge, until Usopp realized that they were being pursued by an unfamiliar giant with lightning burns, who was in turn being pursued by the two other giants who were carrying the Sunny. Realizing that the burnt giant was probably the fake Sun God, Zoro wanted to fight, but the rest, seeing that the end of the bridge was close at hand, decided to make a sprint to the end.[6]
He soon found a blindfolded and chained up giant who sensed Luffy and demanded to know who he was. Luffy introduced himself as the future Pirate King, and when he asked the giant in turn who he was and where they were, he declared he was Loki, the self-proclaimed Sun God, and that they were in Elbaph.[5] After getting confirmation that they were indeed on Elbaph, Luffy started to chatter one-sidedly until Loki yelled at him to be quiet, before asking the human to free him. He explained he was chained to the Treasure Tree Adam with Seastone chains, in the lowest part of Elbaph called the Underworld for the past six years, and that if he were freed, he would promise to destroy a single rival pirate crew on Luffy's behalf. Loki's massive pets, who were dubbed "Sentinels of the Peaks", then made their appearance, along with some humans who somehow survived after picking a fight with Elbaph, with the prince threatening to have them attack Luffy if he doesn't collaborate. However, both the humans and giants were shocked when Luffy instantly tamed the giant-sized beasts. When the humans mentioned Shanks, Luffy immediately started enquiring about him, but Loki made the bad decision to mock the Emperor as a coward, causing Luffy to immediately enter Gear 4 and attack him in anger. Loki managed to dodge the attack and took back what he said in order to prevent angering Luffy further, but when Luffy continued his inquiry, the prince stated he wasn't going to answer anything more for free.[6]
Elsewhere in the Underworld, Hajrudin had hunted down a "moose" with Stansen, which they then carried away, intending to feed it to the Straw Hats. Somewhere else on Elbaph, someone called for help, claiming Dr. Saul has collapsed.[6]
Luffy can now employ Gear 4 techniques on certain parts of his body without having to transform fully.[2]
According to the newspapers, Luffy killed Vegapunk with the help of the Giant Warrior Pirates. In response, Dorry and Brogy's bounties have been reactivated, with their pictures updated and raised to 1.8 billion each.[5]
1,800,000,000 (though Robin stated this was partially due to a century of inflation), and that Luffy was pinned with the murder of Vegapunk. However, as Robin examined the article, she noticed that the picture of Luffy in Gear 5 had an oddly prominent "X" mark on his arm. The conversation soon turned to Hajrudin, with the giants claiming that he had wanted to pick them up, but an internal issue in Elbaph prevented them. As it turns out, the evil giant prince, Loki, escaped his punishment of crucifixion, killed his father, the previous giant king, Harald, and consumed his legendary Devil Fruit, which forced virtually every giant in Elbaph to mobilize to stop and imprison him. The giants dubbed him the "Accursed Prince" and the "Shame of Elbaph", and fear the day he is released would spell the end of the world.[5] Later, Robin has Brook give her a haircut, resembling the way she had it prior to the Timeskip, in hopes of allowing Saul to remember her more easily.[6]