Warning: Contains manga spoilers for Chapter #1138 of One Piece.After the absolute whirlwind of revelations that was the Egghead Arc, it seemed like One Piece would not have any more big lore drops in store, at least for a while. However, the Elbaph Arc is proving to be anything but a relaxing adventure. Right from the get-go, the Straw Hats were separated by Road, and now the Holy Knights have descended on Elbaph as well, further complicating things.
The previous episode of One Piece already dropped one major surprise with the introduction of Shamrock, Shanks’ twin brother. That said, this is only the beginning of the big revelations to come. In fact, the series’ biggest lore dump yet is coming in the very next episode, and fans aren’t nearly prepared enough.
One Piece’s Anime Is Gearing Up For Its Biggest Reveal in Decades
As seen in the preview, Episode #1168 of One Piece, titled “Ancient History – The Harley Passed Down by Elbaph,” will finally be introducing the mysterious Harley texts of Elbaph as well as the ancient mural on Jewel Tree Adam. The upcoming episode is set to adapt Chapter #1138 of the manga, which sees Ripley lead Franky to a mural presumably from the Void Century that was drawn by children on the Jewel Tree Adam at the center of Elbaph.
One Piece Is Officially Too Dark For Shonen Jump
Eiichiro Oda continues to explore One Piece’s darkest corner’s in a flashback that’s begun to further explore the Celestial Dragon’s darkest deeds.
At the same time, the episode will also see Saul show Robin the Harley, an ancient text telling of the history of One Piece’s world itself, divided into three distinct eras dubbed the First, Second, and Third Worlds. The Harley and the mural presumably go hand-in-hand to tell the secret history of One Piece’s world, including the Void Century, and may even foretell the future and what’s to come in One Piece’s final saga.
Even with later revelations in the Elbaph Arc such as the Xebec and God Valley flashback and Imu’s true appearance, the Harley remains the arc’s biggest lore dump, if not one of One Piece’s biggest reveals in decades. The revelation famously sent the entire fandom into a frenzy when Chapter #1138 initially dropped, especially given the sheer volume of easter eggs and intricate details stashed in the mural. What’s more is, even over a whole year later, fans are nowhere near deciphering the truth.
One Piece’s Harley Texts Explained: Everything We Think We Know So Far
Although revealed at the same time, fans have yet to come to a consensus regarding which part of the Jewel Tree Adam mural corresponds to which of the three worlds mentioned in the Harley. As such, there has yet to be a completely satisfying fan interpretation of the two. One popular interpretation is that the First World refers to the era wherein the Sun God Nika first emerged. Humanity likely discovered the power source that Vegapunk’s Mother Flame was attempting to duplicate. The Red Line is also implied to have been created during this time, with whatever disasters that accompanied it destroying the technologically advanced civilization that existed during the First World.
The Second World is commonly assumed to be referring to the Void Century. The Forest God created the devil fruits, the new Sun God, Joyboy, and his faction warred against the allied twenty kingdoms, but was defeated, thus giving rise to the Celestial Dragons and the World Government. As Vegapunk stated, the warfare during this time also raised sea levels by 200 meters, submerging much of One Piece’s planet.
Lastly, the Third World is presumed to refer to the present or future, alluding to Luffy’s battle against Imu and the World Government. Many of the figures backing Sun God Nika in this part of the mural are easily recognizable, including an Ancient Giant like Loki, a giant robot like Emet, Shirahoshi, the Tontatta, the Mink tribe, the Samurai of Wano, and many more. With the mural set to appear in the anime soon, spotting these easter eggs will surely be even easier, and hopefully One Piece’s manga will also shed light on the Harley and the mural soon enough.
One Piece
- Release Date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Writers
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)