Chapter 1173

Granted Hajrudin and Stansen's reluctant blessing to strike their old comrades, Zoro vaults onto the heads of the demonized giants to avoid being trapped between them, then drops a sweeping slash that carves through the lot. Hajrudin and Stansen flank the pack to clear his path, and when Dorry and Brogy lunge at the swordsman, they end up cutting each other instead. Elsewhere, Brook drags himself to the Imu-controlled Gunko and addresses her as Princess Shuri, reasoning she cannot be the woman herself but must share her blood given the matching hair, mismatched eyes, ties to Mary Geoise, and love of his music.

Brook's bitter memory of the father-killing princess jolts Gunko's buried self awake, and she briefly throws off Imu's hold, loosening her arrows and shouting for him to run before the possession clamps down again. The freed Straw Hats, minus the thorn-bound Robin, scatter just as Sanji arrives. At the port, Sommers nears the slave ship while Ripley's warriors, mostly the captives' parents, charge through a Nika MMA sent to stop them. Goldberg, Gerd, and Road blast the beast from a distance, punching a hole clean through it, and the falling MMA, deflected by Sommers, crashes into and sinks the escape vessel.

Zoro's aerial technique is named as a Santoryu Ogi attack, while the three young giants finish the MMA with a combined San Sho assault. Brook claims the real Shuri would be roughly eighty now. Imu, still wearing Gunko, presses Brook to explain how he knows her. The cover request shows Usopp luring rhinoceros beetles with honey on his nose. The chapter is part of the Elbaph Arc.