REVIEW: One Piece Chapter 1111 Packs the Egghead Island Arc to Exploding Point

One Piece finally awakens Egghead Island’s iron giant as the battle keeps heating up. But there’s not much room for more of this in the manga.

The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1111, “Sun-Shield.”

Like the chapters before it, Chapter 1111 of the One Piece manga is a busy affair that juggles many different characters, combat moves, and ongoing plot threads. It is almost certainly the climax of the Egghead Island arc — the first arc of the Final Saga, where all of One Piece‘s most important characters will converge to fight one final war. The story’s scale is greater than ever, but more is better only up to a certain point.

The previous chapters were stuffed with many key fighters and characters on both sides of the final war, including the Straw Hat Pirates, the Devil Fruit-using Five Elders, Dr. Vegapunk’s group, CP0, and even the Giant Warrior Pirates and the mysterious iron giant of Egghead Island. Chapter 1111, “Sun-Shield,” pushes all this to the limit. Ideally, this arc won’t introduce any more characters or plot threads, because it needs room to actually resolve things before viewers lose track of who’s who and what’s what.

One Piece Chapter 1111 Brings the Iron Giant Into Play

The Iron Giant Is Utilized as a Cliffhanger

Nearly a decade on, Eiichiro Oda delivers a stunning double-page spread worthy of a monumental reveal in One Piece Chapter 1110.

The One Piece series has tantalized fans with a variety of ongoing mysteries for years, from the giant Ark ship found in Fish-Man Island to the enigma of the Void Century and the true nature of Imu — the shadowy being who rules the World Government from the supposedly empty throne at Marijoa. One of the more recent mysteries surrounds the origins and purpose of the iron giant that rests on Egghead Island: a mechanical titan that runs on a mysterious power source. At first, the iron giant was inert and just a piece of background lore… but Chapter 1,111 brings the it to the on in its final page. As the heroes scramble for the Giant Warrior Pirates ship, the iron giant abruptly awakens and speaks.

This is another excellent example of exciting cliffhangers that keep the One Piece story flowing, even if the iron giant’s emergence only lasts for a single panel. Story arcs like these are often defined by last-minute game-changers, such as Luffy’s transformation to Gear 5 in Wano or Doflamingo’s sudden use of his birdcage technique in Dressrosa. With One Piece‘s Final Saga underway, it’s the appropriate time to explain all of the series’ greatest mysteries. Most likely, the iron giant will take immediate action to affect the plot, then reveal its own mysteries in good time. For example, the iron giant apologizes to Joy Boy when it stands, but it’s not clear why. Perhaps it’s sorry for taking so long to leap into the fray.

Luffy Expands Gear 5’s Repertoire Yet Again With Baseball

Addition Continues a Fun One Piece Trend

Before the final One Piece saga reaches its end, there are several powerful villains the Straw Hats must take down.

One Piece Chapter 1111 continues a delightful trend that started in the Egghead Island battle: expanding on Luffy’s moveset with Gear 5. Luffy used cartoon physics to defeat Kaido in Wano as he tested out his new power, and now that Luffy is getting used to Gear 5, he can explore more creative ptions with that power. Luffy previously used a new move called Dawn Cymbal to squish the deadly, terrifying Admiral Kizaru and Jaygarcia Saturn into paper — and Chapter 1111 ups the ante with a baseball move. Topman Warcury uses his boar-like form to spit large balls of poison… only for Luffy to uproot a palm tree, chew it into a baseball bat, and knock the poison balls back at their sender.

With the One Piece chapters having become so crowded, there’s not much space for Luffy to show off his new moves, so it’s fortunate that Chapter 1111 expands upon Gear 5’s power yet again. Luffy’s baseball defense is his only meaningful move in Chapter 1111, but it’s so creative and memorable that it’s sufficient. It’s also so like Luffy to pop in, make an outrageous move to excite and delight One Piece readers, then back off so the other power players can keep the story moving. That said, One Piece ought to focus more on Luffy soon and make him the real star once again. Chapter 1111 should be the last time Luffy only has one contribution to make.

One Piece Chapter 1111 Continues the Theme of Unity vs. Discord

Is This Chapter Helping Shape the Ideas Behind the Final War?

One Piece hero Luffy battles some truly evil villains. So why doesn’t he use lethal force against those who would likely kill him?

A subtle but meaningful subtheme in One Piece Chapter 1111 is unity vs. discord. Recent trends in One Piece‘s story suggest that while Luffy’s crew and the Revolutionary Army have more and more allies bound by friendship and a common goal, the World Government is wracked by discord and division. One example is the disbandment of One Piece‘s powerful Seven Warlords of the Sea, as the Navy willingly dispensed with some of its strongest allies. The Seraphim were meant to replace them… but at this rate, the Seraphim might not help the Navy at all. Then there’s ex-Admiral Kuzan/Aokiji, who recently joined the Blackbeard Pirates after quitting the Navy. If the Navy can’t keep its best men from resigning and joining pirate crews, the World Government may be in trouble.

Chapter 1111 expands upon this idea when Marcus Mars goes on the hunt and ignores Rob Lucci’s request to spare Kaku. Marcus simply doesn’t care if injured CP0 members end up as collateral damage, and that may not be surprising to One Piece fans. Shonen villains rarely value each other’s lives, especially if their allies are defeated or weakened. There is no power of friendship among One Piece‘s strongest villains — only survival of the fittest. In contrast, Luffy greets the Giant Warrior Pirates warmly in his Gear 5 form, and the giants are glad to see Joy Boy/Nika in their midst.

Luffy and his crew have created many alliances before in One Piece, such as Luffy’s post-Dressrosa fleet and the coalition that fought Kaido and Orochi in Wano, and now the Giant Warrior Pirates are rallying under Luffy’s Joy Boy banner as well. That kind of unity will help tip the scales against the powerful but barely-united World Government and Navy. Chapter 1111 is smart to keep this subtheme going and give viewers hope that the heroes will win in the most inspiring ways possible.

Chapter 1111 Fills One Piece’s Current Arc to the Brim

The Manga Should Go No Further if It Wants to Keep Fans’ Interest

From Luffy to Doflamingo Donquixote, these fan favorite characters helped establish Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece as an iconic anime series.

Chapter 1111 also continues the trend of the Final Saga throwing practically every important One Piece character onto the battlefield to see what happens… and it generally works. Several major One Piece arcs reached their climax when a huge melting pot of characters shared the scene, from the Marineford battle to the final battle for Dressrosa to the memorable raid on Onigashima. Still, readers can only juggle so much, and if the series crams in too much, each character feels less special and less impactful. Author Eiichiro Oda has yet to break the story with such antics — but the battle for Egghead Island feels fully saturated as of Chapter 1111.

The iron giant’s sudden awakening is welcome, yet it would be best if the Egghead Island arc concluded without adding anyone else on either side. The story has more than enough pieces on the board to provide some entertaining fight scenes and deliver major plot twists, from the Five Elders’ terrifying Zoan forms, to Vegapunk’s pending message, and the race to escape Egghead Island alive. One Piece Chapter 1111 is as full as an arc like this can get, and it’s already struggling to give everyone the time they deserve. Fans might even say that this final battle has a few characters too many when looking at Kizaru and Rob Lucci, who failed to make a serious impact with or without the Five Elders around.

Chapter 1112 will ideally start thinning out the cast to make room for serious plot developments, because One Piece Chapter 1111 gives itself no room to do that. Chapter 1,11 does a fine job keeping the battle going at the expense of plot, but it’s time for the Straw Hats to flee Egghead Island, regroup aboard the giants’ ships, and take a moment to catch their breath as they listen to Dr. Vegapunk’s much-anticipated message to the world.