Slowly, all the straggling players which Egghead has set up are coming up to bat. The Straw Hats and their allies could be leaving pretty much any chapter now. But there was one major player we all really wanted to hear more from before they left, and now, we have.
The decades-awaited Elbaf arrival might not be long off. But how long will it be until we know?
Freedom is tiring
The action of chapter 1119, “Emet,” was a delight. After the epic reveal that Bonney could distort her Age-Age Fruit to also turn into Nika, I wasn’t expecting anything less. But I guess I was expecting more of a tandem fight.
Instead, Luffy invited Franky, Sanji, and the Nika-fied Bonney to wail on him as hard as they could, so he could transfer the hit via Ye Olde Gum-Gum (Dawn) Balloon to knock Saint Marcus Mars right out of Egghead’s skies. Bonney’s incredulity that Franky and Sanji would be so ready to strike a hit on their captain was hilarious. But like Sanji said: captain’s orders!
I’d also like to point out that we got confirmation that Bonney—who, again, is 12 years old—can use Haki. She is truly a badass.
But that hit, which was orchestrated by and tranfered through Luffy, is the only hit Bonney got in before holding the Nika form tired her out. In many ways, this makes sense—allowing Bonney to immediately hold “Gear 5” for as long as Luffy could make her and her Devil Fruit feel overpowered. It also makes sense that it would be a form that Bonney could hold longer with more practice.
But dammit, I really wanted to see two Nikas punching the everliving sh*t out of an Elder. Or see what kind of absurd Looney Toons antics a double-Nika could provide. We got some really good facial expressions from Bonney. But I want something like Bonney shaping herself like a slingshot and sending a bullet-shaped Luffy forward. Hopefully, that opportunity isn’t over yet. But it feels a bit anticlimactic.
At least as she tired out, Bonney delivered a damn good line: “Freedom is tiring.” Girl, just wait until you graduate from college.
ROBOOOOO!!!!
Despite my disappointment that Bonney’s Nika was so short-lived, the chapter had other delights in store. For one, the transmission is back! It seems like we missed a chunk of what Vegapunk was trying to say about those who bear a “D.” in their name. But since it’s back, that means from a storytelling standpoint that Vegapunk’s going to give us one more bombshell bit of information.
Plus, I guess getting knocked around inside a giant metal robot and getting submerged underwater for god knows how long did not kill the transponder snail. Hooray! Vegapunk must have built some kind of protective enclosure around it, assuming that the Five Elders would give the Iron Giant a tough time. Like me, Vegapunk’s apparently always thinking about the snails.
But the snail being okay is the subheader to the actual headline of the chapter: the Iron Giant is back and is finally fighting the Five Elders head-on! And is also finally in view of Luffy in Gear 5. The Giant’s just in time, too—Marcus Mars might’ve been knocked out of the sky, but the Dune Worm and the freaky boar both came to say hello. Just one punch from the Iron Giant was enough to break the boar’s tusk. Let’s go.
What—or who—the hell is “Emet,” though? And what does the Iron Giant mean by double-guessing if the “time is right”? Somewhat ironically, only time will tell.
When will we see more of the robot’s revenge?
After having an uncharacteristically irregular schedule in the spring, One Piece is back to its “three weeks on, one week off” schedule. And we just had three straight weeks of chapters. Unfortunately for our cliffhanger-handled brains, that means One Piece is off next week.
Chapter 1120 will be out the following Sunday, July 14, 2024. As always, it will be available on the Shonen Jump app starting at around 11 AM ET / 8 AM Pacific. Any versions of the chapter that appear online before Sunday are unofficial leaks. Even if you engage with the leaks, please do not post the spoilers!
