One Piece‘s messy battle for Future Island/Egghead concluded in Chapter 1123 — and as Franky noted, the Straw Hats and their allies faced a were lucky to escape alive aboard the Thousand Sunny.

The fact that they did throws open the doors to all kinds of reactions, new revelations, and the excitement of sailing to Elbaf. Chapter 1124 does a fairly good job capturing the spirit of a new story arc, and is a strong start to the next adventure.

Chapter 1124 keeps its joy and tension balanced, while also teasing fans with mysterious cameos, getting them excited for future secrets and plot twists. It offers enough developments to keep fans reading, and while most of them aren’t total game-changers, they represent the official first steps of the Elbaf story arc. And that’s all they need to be, because thanks to Lilith, there’s one particular development that could upend everything in a positive way.

One Piece Chapter 1124 Saves a Major Character

Vegapunk Might Cheat Death With Some Hard Sci-Fi

The biggest and most intriguing development in Chapter 1124 arrives when Lilith — the first Vegapunk whom the Straw Hats met at Future Island — awakens. After a few panels of processing her emotions after such an ordeal, Lilith collects herself and drops a shocker on the Straw Hats crew: that Vegapunk is still alive, which at least includes all the other Satellites. Manga readers saw Satellites like Pythagoras and Atlas meet their fate one way or another, but this seemingly changes that. (Except for York being a traitor who’s working with the villainous World Government.) If the Straw Hats can reunite with the full Vegapunk team, then the Pyrrhic victory at Future Island may have a brighter silver lining than anyone expected. It’s even possible that the “main” Vegapunk, Stella, may be alive as well.

This development has mixed to positive results for the story, with the good outweighing the bad. The good is that Dr. Vegapunk may soon resume his work, supporting the heroes in their increasingly perilous battle against the World Government with his advanced research and forbidden knowledge. Bringing him back reinforces the theme that a highly diverse set of people are uniting to free the world from Imu’s reign of terror, and it wil be great fun to see what other high-tech marvels a revived Vegapunk has. Fans just met him, after all — and now they can imagine how the world’s greatest scientist cheated death!

Lilith: The truth is, in short, they’re all alive!

It’s one thing for heroes like Mr. 2 to survive off-screen to fight another day with plot armor, but surely Dr. Vegapunk will have a fancier trick up his lab coat sleeve. With Vegapunk being such a careful planner and master of technology, there are hard sci-fi possibilities, like transferring his mind into a waiting clone body or performing a memory upload to support the heroes from a computer mainframe. Future Island is centuries in the future, hence its name, so a lot is plausible.

The downside is that this is yet another example of One Piece being reluctant to kill off anyone, which has a habit of deflating the tension and stakes too much. Eiichiro Oda has made it clear that characters must survive, and Luffy always spares his enemies so they can pursue their dreams. The manga wants to create a sympathetic narrative — such as Wapol surviving to launch a toy-making company. It’s great that Dr. Vegapunk has survived, at least according to Lilith, but the story must make it feel organic and worthwhile, and not just another case of plot armor being handed out like candy. One Piece has at least earned the benefit of the doubt.

Morgans Shows the Other Side of Villainy in Chapter 1124

The Pen is Mightier Than the Devil Fruit

While One Piece is largely a shonen action series, this manga also does a great job depicting an oppressed world by other, less violent means such as propaganda and twisted media outlets. Information is just as powerful as Haki and Devil Fruits. It’s on that note Chapter 1124 begins, with Morgans determined to manipulate what what happened at Future Island/Egghead. Not only does this scene feel refreshing because it shows a different type of villainy, it allows two characters to meaningfully clash with words rather than force.

Nefeltari Vivi, who recently lost her father, is the same strong-willed and idealistic princess whom fans met back in the Alabasta saga. This noble young woman is determined to fight the World Government on her own terms, and pressures Morgans to at least mix some much-needed truth into his propaganda. To that end, Morgans agrees to print articles about the sinking world phenomenon — though he can’t help adding more lies about non-existent pirate battles. It’s entertaining yet grim to see the lying Morgan play off the honest, idealistic Vivi, giving Vivi something meaningful to do while reminding fans that there’s more than one way to fight. This is what One Piece needs more of as it moves into its next story arc.

One Piece Encourages Fans to Feel Sorry for Admiral Kizaru

He Doesn’t Seem to Enjoy His Murderous Duty

One Piece Chapter 1124 wants readers to feel a little sorry for Admiral Kizaru/Borsalino — a gutsy move that actually has some impact. No one is going to cry for him like they did for Mr. 2, but the manga is weirdly effective at showing Kizaru’s regret over killing Dr. Vegapunk in cold blood at Future Island. This is the whole reason Chapter 1124 is called “Close Friend,” with an unusually emotional Kizaru reminding Fleet Admiral Kizaru/Sakazuki that Dr. Vegapunk had been like a friend to him.

There’s not enough backstory or personal depth to make fans believe this is a major turning point in Kizaru’s arc, even with a micro-flashback sequence featuring Kizaru and Dr. Vegapunk. It does help humanize the lightspeed Admiral. Readers have gotten used to Kizaru being the casual yet deadly wielder of the Glint-Glint Fruit, but there’s a grieving man under those powers, and it’s refreshing to see the manga at least try to make him emotionally connect with readers. Even though it’s a modest scene and there’s much further to go, this comes as enough of a surprise that it makes the audience pay greater attention to his character.

One Piece Chapter 1124’s Final Pages Effectively Tease Elbaf

Fans Have Reason To Be Excited About Luffy’s Future

Chapter 1124 ends on a moderately strong note; Luffy cheers up and starts partying with his crewmates and the friendly giants aboard their mammoth ship en route to Elbaf. Post-battle partying is a familiar activity for the Straw Hats, and the dialogue here is forgettable. That said, no fan can deny that the heroes deserve a chance to have fun while they still can. And after all that fighting on Egghead, it’s absolutely time for the manga to lean harder into the Elbaf theme, starting with this beer-soaked party that feels like a true Viking festival. For now, that’s good enough, and gets readers hyped for Luffy’s arrival at the land of Norse-style giants.

Best of all, One Piece Chapter 1124’s final panel has an enticing cliffhanger. A silhouetted figure is drinking while waiting for Luffy’s arrival, saying “Come on,” as if to ask, “Come on, Luffy, aren’t you here yet?” Fans will have fun theorizing on who that impatient drinker may be. One candidate is Red-Haired Shanks — a fellow Emperor and a man known for his love of booze. Since this is the Final Saga where all chips are on the table, it’s only appropriate that a friendly Emperor might be right around the corner. Between that possibility and Lilith’s massive reveal, One Piece offers plenty that could shake up the manga for a long time to come.