Chapter 1183

Imu tells Ragnir it has waited ages for a foe who could fight back, a claim the weapon seems to confirm even as Loki, baffled, focuses only on his brutal opponent. Declaring that neither Luffy nor Loki can be corrupted to his cause, Imu resolves to destroy them both, just as he once did to someone named Douzan. Loki lashes out with Ragna Jinheim, Imu counters with Gram, and another vast explosion erupts. In the Western Village, the Zaza monster snatches seven children, a count Killingham deems enough, while the giants choose death over surrendering their young despite Chopper's unfinished transfusions.

Brook and Usopp regain consciousness, and the crew presses Brook about his link to Gunko and what should be done with her. He explains she is no enemy of his, yet seeing her again unsettles him: if she truly is Shuri, she should be seventy-seven years old. Brook reveals Gunko briefly freed him from her arrows and whispered for him to run, only for Imu to seize control of her again moments later. He suspects three separate personalities inhabit one body, and Nami reasons she is being controlled, a theory the crew finds plausible after watching their giant allies turned against them. Jinbe presses Brook to decide her fate soon.

To explain himself, Brook recounts his life before piracy in the now-vanished Esperia Kingdom, a land devoted to music and instrument-making. There he led the Raider Squad of the realm's battle convoy and grew close to Princess Shuri, while harboring deep affection for her mother, Queen Candelle, wife of King Reuven. After a half-joking threat of execution from the king, Brook used his "Quick-Draw" technique to cut down a Moulon Family gang whose blows landed only after they reached the opera house. Candelle, revealed as a former convoy captain, and Brook were Esperia's two biggest stars. The color spread shows the Straw Hats flung skyward by a water-spouting elephant.