Chapter 1148: Ronja

Steered onto an arrow that runs off the branch, the child Ronja keeps walking until the sheer drop freezes her in place. Gunko, now at the children's spot, reports that their first victim is ready, and Sommers issues an ultimatum to all of Elbaph: if Jarul does not order the school and library burned within thirty seconds, Ronja plunges into the Underworld and dies. The giants are split, weighing a thousand years of recorded history against the children's lives, and arguing over whether to bow to the Knights and serve the World Government at all. Robin steps up knowing she cannot truly harm an immortal, while Nami rages that not even the vilest criminals would murder children. Ripley, Dorry, and Brogy break into two groups to handle the beasts and reach the young ones.

Robin lands Cien Fleur: Craspedia, drawing blood and snapping Sommers' spine, but he resets and resumes the count. She then throws both herself and Sommers off the branch, reasoning that enough distance would lift his thorns from the children, only for him to find he stabbed a decoy. The genuine Robin attacks Gunko's arrows and learns the blade cannot cut them, meaning only Gunko's defeat will free the captives. With ten seconds left, a weeping Ronja tells Jarul she loves her school and library and would rather fall than make everyone sad, calling herself a lucky girl. Jarul reluctantly tells Ange to set both ablaze, and she agrees through her regret.

Robin is brought to tears as Sommers climbs back and pins her with his power. Just as he moves to finish her, his right arm is sliced clean off and, to his shock, fails to grow back. The attacker is Gaban, whom Sommers recognizes an instant before a furious slash opens his chest. The strike landing where Robin's could not, leaving an immortal's wound unhealed, marks Gaban's extraordinary strength and cracks the Knights' aura of invincibility. The cover continues the Yamato pilgrimage serial, and the chapter belongs to the Elbaph Arc.