One Piece Teases the Shocking Truth About Elbaf’s King

One of the central emerging mysteries of One Piece’s Elbaf Arc so far is the mysterious circumstances surrounding King Harald’s death and Loki’s involvement in the matter. Fans continue to speculate about Loki’s innocence and his true motives for murdering Harald. At the same time, many have theorized that Harald may not have been the benevolent ruler everyone has made him out to be, and that he may have even betrayed Elbaf to the World Government. The plot continues to thicken with every new chapter, and the latest chapter of One Piece may have given fans a major clue to unravelling the truth about Elbaf’s king at long last.

In Chapter 1146 of One Piece, St. Sommers, while fighting Saul, mocks Elbaf’s schools and libraries, bemoaning that the Giants who were supposed to be warriors have embraced such “peace-loving nonsense.” Sommers then goes on to claim that the Giants were supposed to use their power that once terrified the entire world to serve the World Government as their mercenaries, curiously addressing King Harald as he does so. More interestingly, St. Sommers then outright states that King Harald went ahead and messed up this supposed arrangement, hinting that the late king may have potentially double-crossed the World Government after making a deal with them and suggesting that Harald may not be as evil as fan theories have lately pictured him to be.

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One Piece Fans Have Long Suspected Harald of Being a Traitor

So far, all that One Piece’s Elbaf Arc has told fans about King Harald is that he desired to connect Elbaf with the rest of the world and wanted the Giants to leave behind their violent, barbaric history that revolved around waging wars. Harald advocated for peace and was behind many major reforms in the land of the Giants, which many, including Loki, strongly disagreed with. Harald went so far as to rip out the horns on his head, signifying his Ancient Giant blood, because, according to him, they were a reminder of Elbaf’s wartorn history.

Even though many like Road and Jarul have referred to Harald as the greatest king in Elbaf’s history, this hasn’t stopped fans from suspecting him of being secretly evil. The fact that the abyss pentagram spawned in the throne room in Aurust Castle and the mention of visiting Harald’s grave by the Holy Knights have fed suspicions that he may have been colluding with the World Government, which is why Loki ultimately killed his own father.

One Piece Hints King Harald May Have Betrayed the World Government, Not Elbaf

All that said, Chapter 1146 suggests things may not be as black and white as they may have seemed at first, and that there may be much more to King Harald’s death and history than meets the eye. In the very same chapter, Gunko also curiously talks about a vast approaching war that will soon engulf the world, claiming that the side that the Ginats end up on will greatly influence the outcome of the war. This statement by Gunko, together with St. Sommers’ pointed statement about how the Giants were supposed to be mercenaries for the World Government until King Harald intervened, suggests there may have been a prior arrangement or agreement in place between Harald and the Government that Harald’s pacifist reforms then ruined.

It is clear that the World Government has anticipated this war for quite some time and hoped to have the Giants on their side this time around, unlike the Void Century, when the Giants most likely sided with Joyboy and the Ancient Kingdom. While the Giants’ allegiance in the past is yet to be officially confirmed, their reverence for Sun God Nika and the depiction of Giants among Nika’s forces in the ancient mural on Jewel Tree Adam are undeniable proof of this being the case. Clearly, the truth about Harald is slowly but surely presenting itself to readers, and now all that remains to be seen is the official flashback itself, which, knowing One Piece, is likely very close on the horizon.

One Piece is available to read on Manga Plus and Viz Media.