Episode 1121 of the ONE PIECE anime was released on Sunday, and we got another spectacle for the fight and backstory of Garp and Kuzan. Garp made his grand entrance onto Beehive Island in Episode 1114, where we first saw the animators showing the Navy hero love in his initial clash against his former student. This week’s episode started with showing us how they trained using “Battleship Bags,” which already proves their strength is not comparable to the average Navy soldier.
Sanjuan Wolf is the first to appear before him, and he quickly gets the Don Chinjao treatment. Garp one-shots the Huge-Huge Fruit user, leaving the mob pirates shocked and confused as to how to pull him of the water before he drowns. Vasco Shot then follows, leading Garp to debut a new goofy move quite typical of ONE PIECE, “Pirate Fireballs,” which is basically using the pirates as a meat shield and then throwing them. The episode looked great up until here, but it was still only the build-up.
Looking at the corresponding manga chapter (1087), the cover illustration featured an illustration of Ace. It seems incredibly fitting that Koby made us remember the tragic scene as his honest-to-a-fault character led him into a trap immediately after warning others to watch out for the top members of the Blackbeard Pirates. He tried to help a crying girl in what was a clear set-up, with Garp having to jump in to take Shiryu’s attack.
Unlike Ace, who ended up paying with his own life for his inability to ignore Akainu’s insults of Whitebeard, Koby ended up probably costing Garp the chance to win the fight. It’s clear that this is the final thing Garp can do for the new generation, with Koby entrusted the Navy’s future. The parallel with Shanks and Luffy is also there, and we know Koby will make the best of this and do great things. It still stings to see a character accidentally getting their mentor injured due to their own mistake, but Shiryu’s attack did begin what was the best part of the episode.
Garp makes quick work of him too despite the injury, but the mob pirates still think they can take Garp down and earn his bounty. It means Kuzan finally decides to step back into the fight, showing his respect both to his former mentor’s strength and their history. He says they wouldn’t be able to take Garp down even if his feet and hands were tied, and we get into the main sequence of the episode.
Modern ONE PIECE has made it a standard to feature love letters from animators to the source material. This episode was no different, and you can easily see the appreciation the people working on this at Toei Animation have for ONE PIECE. Besides the obviously flashy animation that is impossible to miss, there are several frames you would probably not see on a regular watch. You would have to pause at the exact right time to see, but you can see some of the most important ones below. They include the young versions of their opponent reflecting in their eyes, as well as some goofy shots.
The episode concluded with the two knocking each other down, and Garp telling Koby not to give up as justice will always prevail. It seems to be time for us to see what the young Navy hero can do, and we know Toei will deliver another treat for his own impact.
ONE PIECE Episode 1121 Staff:
Storyboard: Toshinori Fukuzawa, Sho Matsui
Direction: Sho Matsui
Animation Directors: Masahiro Kitazaki, Tu Yong-Ce
Art Director: Dhavee Morato
Toei Animation also shared the keyframe animation for the beautiful flashback scene of Garp and Kuzan.
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Images via Crunchyroll
© Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha, Toei Animation