Chapter 1167

Five years after God Valley, pirates whisper of a giant ambushing ships under cover of mist: Harald, now serving the World Government to atone for his people. Several former Rocks members rise as Emperors, Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaidou, while only Roger conquers the Grand Line to become Pirate King, whose execution ignites the Great Pirate Era. To counter it, giants are drafted into the Marines, and Harald is made a Devoted Blade of God, receiving a magic circle on his arm. The Elders explain its three tiers, the Shallow, Depths, and Abyssal Covenants, the latter two reserved for thirteen chosen by Imu, and promise Harald will meet Imu upon becoming a full Knight.

Across decades, Harald drinks with King Neptune, who suggests betrothing his future daughter to Loki, and welcomes Saul to Elbaph to open a school. Years later, young Fisher Tiger flees Mary Geoise and meets a Knight, Shanks, who frees his collar and points him to the armory, enabling Tiger to torch the holy land and free slaves like Hancock and Koala. Garling introduces Shanks to Harald; the cold young Devoted Blade dismisses Harald as a peon, deepening Harald's suspicion. That same year Ida falls gravely ill, and Loki later discovers the villagers of Estrid's hometown poisoned her to keep an outsider off the throne. Enraged, Loki torches the village, declaring Ida the only mother he acknowledges.

Five years after the incident, Harald is tasked with destroying pirate ships on the Grand Line, and over a dozen giants are drafted into the Marines as the Great Pirate Era begins. Twenty-four years ago, Harald is named a Devoted Blade of God and learns of the three covenant stages, with full knighthood promised to bring Elbaph into the World Government.

Harald visits Neptune to discuss his coming daughter, and fifteen years ago Shanks returns to Mary Geoise as a Devoted Blade, having secretly aided Fisher Tiger's escape. Ida becomes bedridden, asks Mato to run her bar, and Hajrudin sets out to find a doctor. In Brewers Village, a resident admits poisoning Ida to block her marriage to Harald, prompting Loki to beat the man and burn the village, naming Ida his only mother.

This chapter belongs to the Elbaph Arc and spans a long timeline of flashbacks. The cover grants a request of Genzo and Nojiko gently scolding a book-stealing cat. The reveal that Shanks freed Fisher Tiger reframes a key piece of slave-liberation history at Mary Geoise.