The thing that amazes me the most is that oda despite starting working in one poece in his 20s, devoting 25+ years of life and all his waking hours to one piece he still somehow manages to find time to learn what seems an endless amount of history, mythology and all kinds of trivia from all over the world...the man seems to know more about our world than its possible for a single human to learn in a lifetime... Everytime i see someone saying "so i did some research and learned x and y" im reminded why oda is a genius

What is Icarus's least favourite food? Hot wings

I legitimately cannot believe you've never heard of Icarus or the metaphor.

Mother flame revealed on Mother’s Day week. Goda

how dare you merphy for not mentioning the most important character reaction from the most important arc in one piece.. the old man, Tonjit!

I think the title is also a flip on the original story because we have “gods” descending too close to the earth- we even have Saturn turning back into a “human” when he gets too close to the mother flame.

after the impel down arc, Magellan was demoted to Vice Warden. I think he was basically sweeping the floor or something around Doffy’s cell and Doffy just likes to talk at him.

I love how flying too close to the Sun in this case is actually representative of enlightenment instead of arrogance, being that the Mother Flame is most probably related to Joyboy/Nika.

I swear if we see the actual Joyboy in the next few chapters I'm going to do the Nika dance all over the place.

I love that these myths are reused lol. We first saw it used in Fishman Island with Ikaros, the squid Fishman.

I teared up a little when I saw this chapter artwork. Vegapunk to me is a lot like the embodyment of the saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." We already saw it in previous chapters, like his naivety in thinking that nobody would ever put out "fake news" if everybody had free acces to, basically, the internet as we know it. But having him basically saying "I regret this. I didn't think that my ideas could be weaponized. I love the people of the world, I want them to succeed, but they are getting killed left and right because of my ideas." It really struck a chord inside of me. He really is, was, the most intelligent man in the OP world... but unfortunately he wasn't the wisest of them all as well. Great video as always, this time I found the courage of writing you a comment! ^^

Luffy eating Mother Flame when hungry: yay or nay?

It will be interesting to see the reactions of people who met luffy after they hear vegapunk say that joy boy had the ability to stretch. They will make the connection to luffy. Shoutout to rogersbase for bringing this up.

I’m hoping the mother flame is meant to parallel nuclear fission and the world government gets control of it. That would make it so the WG is powered by the act of violently tearing things apart (nuclear fission) while Luffy is powered like the sun (nuclear fusion) which is the act of joining things together.

The biggest twist to come out of One Piece is hearing the most well read KZfaqr I'm subscribed to saying she had to look up the story of Icarus

The importance of that lone Celestial Dragon is the quesion itself. It seems not even the "rabble" of the celestial dragons know how things came to be. They know they have "more value" than others, they know they stand at the top, but they don't know why. It is important to establish how select are those who know, and even then they might not know what happened just a bit of facts, like VP admits.

"CAN WE GET MUCH HIGHER?" Makes sense now💀

I didn't know Dedalus was known as the creator of sails in myth. That's so cool.

Merphy: Magellan is there to protect and watch Doffy. We already saw that in an earlier chapter.

I love all the research work you do for one piece, it truly shows how passionate you are about it 😂😊

I started reading OP in Jan 2023. This is the first week that I've been able to watch your video as it was released. Good to finally be caught up!

Icarus felt like a god = York.

I feel as though this series defines pirates as people who are "free" in the sense that they are not under the governments thumb, or under anybody's control. Like to be declared a pirate you have to do very little the bar is so low, just don't pay the heavenly tribute and your a pirate. we have seen many examples of these "terrible" pirates like Shanks and Whitebeard but they are not evil in any way there just not following the orders of the world nobles.

Merphy should have read more Percy Jackson to get the Icarus reference XD

I don't think the World Government was who labeled Joyboy a pirate unless it was after the fact, since he was born a hundred years before it even formed, and given how tightly they restrict information about the void century I doubt they'd have put that out there.

Wouldn't it be funny if the snail is in the container of the Mother Flame? Thus ensuring that the world government will never destroy it. And hence their own evil plans become the thing that exposes them

The lady CD questioning the void century seems to be Shalria (st charlos' sister) And the fire in the circle calls back to the wall paintings on the moon cus there was a similar power source there

It could be that we are getting references to the myth of prometheus, who stole the fire from the gods to give it to menkind, and was punished because of it to be chained to a rock and be eaten alive by the birds

You mentioning Vegapunk not having much time to tell the Joyboy story gave me the most cursed idea. What if we do start to get something like that, and right at the point we're about to learn the ancient kingdom's name, they find and destroy the snail, cutting Vegapunk off at the exact same point as Clover.

okay wtf! Tissine is so fucking amazing! i am constant amazed every chapter she illustrates something ridiculously good

Worth remembering how far above sea level Dressrosa was. Doflamingo knew his shit.

Koby saying to garp in live action that "luffy always has been a pirate" is so good now! Wonder if Oda recommended this dialogue

We need to promote reading more, we need to do something. The children are getting lost in screens well their eyes are exposed to unbalanced viewings.

I've always felt that the Celestial Dragons exist more as a 'pressure valve' so that if there is ever a legitimate uprising, they will absorb the brunt of it along with the Marines, protecting the Gorosei and Imu. That's why they can do any horrible thing they want, but if they try to be even half decent, they are exiled or executed. Warcury reminds me of Juggernaut from the X-Men comics in that I think once he gets moving it's nearly impossible to stop his forward momentum. Also interesting that Doflamingo knew how many meters it would take to sink most of the cities in the world off the top of his head. And Kuzan's reaction will probably be more and more important as he is one of the few people who can at least slow down the sinking of the world.

Not sure if you realize this but IRL Einstein and his theory of relativity, specifically the formula E=mc² is what lead to the creation of the atom bomb, much like Vegapunk and the creation of the mother flame.

I get more Oppenheimer vibes than Einstein vibes from this chapter Also, my big brain theory regarding the celestial dragons being confused about the void century is that for them, it's not void, they're taught the whole history; it really does seem like doffy knows quite a lot. But for most of them it's something that elevates them and not much else, so the commoners learning it would tick them off

Thank you Tissine for another great art piece, and thank you Merphy for your great reviews.

The thing that amazes me the most is that nobody figured out that the Celestial Dragon girl in that one panel was Charlos’ sister Shalria. The same who put a gun to Camie’s head in Sabaody Arc and would have killed Camie had she not been knocked out by Rayleigh’s Haki.

Honestly, after 1113, I started laughing and had to get in touch with my group of friends. Several months ago, we were in the middle of a TTRPG campaign and we started talking about One Piece to see if everyone had caught up. I don't remember the context, but we all started just joking about what the One Piece could be and I said "What if it is a flush valve?!" We all laugh at the obvious silliness of it. But after 1113, as much as I believe I am incorrect, I can't believe that technically my random joke is closer to a possible solution to the rising water levels lol I just had to share that story lol

Edison sacrifice gives me bon clay vibes 😭💖 (also I like that maybe he's going to shoot York in Egghead lab 😏🖤)

Jiyboy probably called himself a pirate. The WG formed at the end of the void century, it fits that they would try to coopt the label and change its meaning into a word for criminals

I cannot help wondering if Bon Clay is actually the one sitting and having a conversation with Doflamingo in his cell posing as Magellan especially considering the question on how much water and the world will flood (noting the prisoners anxiety with the sea water rising), and after Doffy's answer we might see a jailbreak led by Bon Clay.

The Will of Daedalus lives on 🥹

Fantastic Art Tissine, the multicolored flame had me thinking of Avatar where they realize that fire can bring more than destruction, it can bring life into this world.

she totally channeled the colors used for Joyboys return from the anime.

The Celestial Dragon that's wondering what Void Century is isn't a random nobody, she's the sister of Saint Charlos. We saw her at Sabaody Isle and she's also the one that shot that one slave pirate in the head. She's as cruel as her brother and her father.

I think with this chapter we've visited every single major location in the story during this message, plus a few extras. The only ones I think we’ve yet to see are Skypiea, Little Garden, and maybe Wano but they're all special cases. It's fascinating that Vegapunk makes mention of Icarus' wings because Vegapunk himself could've just as easily been inspired by Daedalus, the inventor of the labyrinth in Greek myth and Icarus' father. Also the creator of the wax wings that killed Icarus. It makes so much sense that Joy Boy would be the first pirate. Now I want to do research on who the "first pirate" in real life is. And I really hope in chapter 1115 we get people who know Luffy to make the connection that Joy Boy's ability sounds like Luffy's powers. Maybe even Luffy going "Hey that sounds like me". I really want the Mother Flame to either be a weird color like green or purple or be constantly shifting colors. But honestly, I think my favorite part of the chapter is Doflamingo making fun of Magellan for wanting to protect his precious prison. Is anyone else suspicious that they focused on Shalria, Charlos' sister? Is the implication with Shalria that the Gorosei are keeping the existence of the VC from the CDs or is the implication that they don't care? Could she turn into another "good" celestial dragon? And I was so happy to see Saul again!

I love the way Oda blends pieces from the real world into one piece. I think that's what draws people to One Piece. They almost get lost in One Piece theories. This is a playground for them.

Vegapunk's admission that he flew too close to the Sun reminds me of the ending of Oppenheimer. A realization of the tremendous destruction wrought by those who intended to weaponize an invention capable of so much progress for humankind. It also made me think of the whole "stare into the abyss long enough and the abyss stares back" metaphor. Vegapunk delved too greedily and too deep and awoke shadow and flame, as was said in Fellowship of the Ring.

I’m here for the feelings and the weekly chapter inspirations of Merphys artist

15:23 re: the A&Mu bit - "and" in Japanese is said "to", hence "A to Mu" > atomu > atom I am terrible at theorizing but have another possible layer to that (maybe it's a stretch lol) A & Mu - mu made me immediately think of "nothingness" (by itself that's what it means) but also of infinity ("mugen" - literally "no limits") since Vegapunk mentions an eternal/endless source of energy. Also, changing it slightly, a&un or um >> "a-un" is how Japanese transliterates "om" from buddhism (alpha & omega as in beginning & end of all things) except with "mu" there, maybe it's "beginning & nothingness"

That coffee cup is really cute!

Magellan is assigned to protect Doffy from potential assassination attempts

My biggest concern is the fact that not even G5th the power to negate defenses still can’t hit that giant warthog. These guys are prepared to deal with Nika and Joyboy.

For a man of science his fighting style is like primitive peoples lol.

Appreciate you going for the origins of icarus. Whoever I am absolutely sure the "wings" and coming to close to the sun is the part being referenced here, not the labyrinth.

The Iron Giant representing the Talos surrounding the island Crete, which is the missing civilization = Minoan Civilization, protecting the people. This is so cool

My favorite detail is that according to Daedalus (or in some instances rando fishers seeing the event) Icarus died smiling, he smiled the whole way down as he plummeted and crashed into the ocean, in some instances his wings dont just melt HE catches fire and keeps flying and Then the wings start melting

When I first finished the chapter, the first thought in my head was: "Ohhh so thats where the eyepatch is!" Dont screw me Oda, give me the eyepatch!

The chapter title could imply that the Mother Flame is Vegapunk's "wings". Especially since his pursuit of the ultimate energy source lead to his research into the void century.

5:21 the idea of defying the laws of man and nature also ties in really well with vegapunks 2 grave sins and the themes of this arc as a whole. from the very beginning with the mechanized sea beasts, we were told that no matter how hard you try, you can’t erase a creature’s nature. this was reinforced with the boa seraphim simping for luffy and with kuma showing up to the island to protect bonney, despite having his entire consciousness erased. all of vegapunks work is in defiance of the laws of nature, culminating in his attempt to create an infinite energy source, which is the first sin he refers to. as for defying the laws of man, he studied the poneglyphs and the void century. he considers this his second sin, and for his crimes, he is being punished by the “gods” i also like to think that because his sins aren’t really evil and only come from a place of wanting to see to the betterment of society and to pursue the truth of the world, he is being punished by false gods, while the true sun god is on his side and will eventually strike down these false gods for flying too close to the sun

In a way, Vegapunk flew to close to the sun in getting to close to revealing the history of Joy Boy, the previous Sun God's Devil Fruit User.

It wasn't super clear, but Saturn was using his club to destroy another snail. He turned human again so he wouldn't do any crazy damage to the facility as he destroyed this snail lifeform.

I loved the breakdown at the beginning. it gave me extra context behind possible inspiration for Oda

Daedalus being the inventor of sails HAS to be relevant. That's just too fucking poetic.

I think Oda forgot his own story when including the Doflamingo/Magellan part. 1. Magellan isn't warden any more so there is no "under your your care", it's under Hannyabal's care, and 2. How could Magellan even have time to chill with Doffy when he works 1/4 of the day and sits on the toilet the rest??? It would have made more sense to be a conversation between Magellan and Hannyabal, but I guess people need their dose of psychotic pink bird on panel sporadically.

10:58 I actually got the impression that the Elders insinuated that they themselves aren't living beings the way talked about eradicating all lifeforms; the "unless it's ours" might be a misassumption by Merphy.

I think it's refreshing for someone to be unfamiliar with Greek Mythology. Even so, a majority of people who do know the myth of Icarus don't know about the "don't fly too close to the ocean" part. Also, the Daedalus being responsible for the Minotaur thing is a bit roundabout: the king of Minos received a beautiful white bull from Poseidon and was told to sacrifice it in the god's name. Minos thought it too beautiful to sacrifice, so used a lesser cow. Poseidon, angered, asked Eros to make the queen of Minos fall in love with the bull, which he did. The bull, however, was uninterested because human, so the queen commissioned Daedauls to make her a cow suit. Nine months later, The Minotaur was born. "Flew too close to the sun" is a fairly common idiom in English to mean "was a too proud and failed because of it" specifically because of the Icarus Myth.

*mentions Iccarus and Daedelus* Urge to quote Brennan's 'I Cannot Win' rant intensifies

The 'author' of the labyrinth made me crease for some reason

That one Celestial Dragon in that singular panel is Charlos’ sister/Roswald’s daughter. To add to what Merphy said before, it is interesting that Oda is choosing her to specifically to be that stand out amongst the Celestial Dragons.

You like avatar tlab, the mechanist and his son are meant to be like Daedalus and Icurus

Great chapter, great video

"nothing burger" whaaat? lmao, that revelation could literally be telling us the shape of the world in the past

Something important to note, Magellan should have some extra time on his hands since he is no longer the warden of Impel Down.

I believe Saturn was destroy the console in hopes of interrupting the broadcast, since they don't know where the signal is coming from. Destroy everything EXCEPT the mother flame is my head canon.

I took a Latin class my freshman year of high school and learned about many old Greek myths. It was nice to see the comparisons this chapter.

Doflamingo in impel down when the world is saved:🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Doflamingo in impel down when the world is destroyed:🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Joyboy could actually be the first one to set sail if the ancient kingdom was a dystopian society that made it taboo to explore or leave the kingdom. Just like the government now outlaws learning about the past, the ancient kingdom could have made it so that nobody could go out and explore; or nobody needed to because the kingdom was so advanced and had everything you could need or want

I think what we’ll get the next few chapters is Vega Punk telling the pieces of Joy Boy’s story over the Straw Hats escape off the island.

icarus is a great tale about getting carried away by your own ambition or hubris. it applies to so many characters in one piece that appear in this chapter: vegapunk, york, the elders, imu, doflamingo and the celestial dragons. i love greek mythology and of all the references to icarus throughout media, this use of it by Oda was the best.

i am with you. didn't know the icaris lore in such detail.

I've had a couple of discussions with people about the part with A&MU Atomu.. but I'm going to put the spin on it that this still ties back to it being another way to include the second meaning Adam. This drop coming alongside Vegapunk telling the world of his first two "grave sins" against their world's God.. his head is an apple which while yes, it is a connection to Einstein.. taking a bite or two out of an apple.. And possibly that the Adam Tree that has the strongest wood is where the Devil Fruits originate from. Anyway, love the chapter, and always fun to see your takes -!

I wanted to note that the people who were laughing were from mock town where Bellamy was introduced. They don't believe anything at all

"I am become death..." -vegapunk probably

Not sure about the geography of Dressrosa prior to Doffy becoming King, but it would have been very easy for the edge of that island being molded to look like that through the use of Pica's devil fruit during Doflamingo's reign. And it could easily be written off as "to better protect against attacking pirates."

Vegapunk is going full Oppenheimer "I am become death" , and I can't help but wonder if Oda had this planned all along or if he watched the movie last year 😂

Shoutout to Merphy's thumbnail artist these things are always awesome

I feel like the shipbuilder Tom and Vegapunk could have an interesting discussion on the responsibilities and relationship between inventor and invention.

Hey Merphy, love your reviews. I noticed, probably am not the first though, that the five elders are each representing a level of impel down (dante’s inferno)! Saturn- Level 1: the spiky grass and poisonous spiders, Mars- Level 2: the wild beast hell (mars looks similar to the basilisk Buggy and Luffy fought, Ju Peeter-Level 3: Sand and desert (he’s a sandworm), Walcury- Level 4: he is boar but it looks like at the end of this chapter he can produce flames/ an inferno like the fires of level 4, and V. Nusjuro- Level 5: he can freeze the pacifistas with his sword similar to the freezing hell. Maybe Level 6 and Imu’s powers have some kind of connection as well? It might be a stretch, but I thought it was interesting at least.

The celestial that questioning the void century is Charlos’ sister! I’d be shocked if oda finds a way to make us like her!

She should 100% read Berserk

Drug D. Ealer Chopper definitely has an antidote for that Gorosei poison stashed somewhere 😂

I think that Big Mom is going to be a big part of the future of the mother flame

I think either one of two things made Joy Boy the first pirate either the whole world was like the grandline and he was the first to use a prototype log pose to explore the seas or he was just the first to break the rules of not exploring the grandline because it was too dangerous and he did it anyway with one of the first log poses.

I don't think he attacked the Mother Flame's control panel but a Den Den Mushi that was in that room?

22:27 The World Government didn't exist at the time though.

Joyboy was Dedalaus, creator of the sail, the first pirate. Will of D. is will of dedalaus. Winged folk and natural enemy of gods can also be incorporated. Keep cooking merph

WAAAAAAAAAIIIT, wait, wait, wait, wait - You're telling me... You, Merphy Napier, a person who literally has a library in their house due to the sheer number of books read, has _never_ heard the myth of Icarus? Arguably _the_ most famous Western myth in history? That you've _never,_ in your _entire life,_ heard of the phrase "flew too close to the sun"? I find this to strain _all_ credulity.

Icarus the foolish son too excited by the taste of freedom to listen to his father's warnings and got struck down by his scorching freedom.