One Piece: First hints for chapter 1123 all but confirm Gorosei traitor heading to Enies Lobby

Modified Aug 31, 2024 18:03 GMT

One Piece: First hints for chapter 1123 all but confirm Gorosei traitor heading to Enies Lobby (Image via Toei Animation)

As author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga series returns to serialization from a forced publication break, so begins the spoiler process for the upcoming chapter 1123. The first portion of this spoiler process is typically marked by lead series leaker and X user @Mugiwara_23 (Redon) starting the “hints” portion of the process.

This hints portion typically sees Redon post GIFs or images that are used to communicate, in an abstract way, various aspects of the upcoming One Piece issue. This can include the setting, characters involved, major developments/reveals, and more. Likewise, the hints for chapter 1123 suggest a return of the Puffing Tom seatrain, and further imply that one of the Gorosei is riding it towards Enies Lobby after being discovered a traitor.

One Piece chapter 1123 hints tease that Kuma may ask Bonney for his death following Egghead arc’s events

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Redon’s first hint was posted to X on Sunday, August 11, 2024, at 4 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST). The hint in question is a GIF that features a puzzle of a train being seemingly completed. While not indicative of much in and of itself, the second hint seemingly adds further context. Posted at 5:53 am EST on Monday, August 12, this hint featured a GIF that showed a steam train puffing out clouds of smoke from its chimney.

In the world of Oda’s One Piece manga series, there exists only one train as far as fans know as of this article’s writing. Coincidentally, or rather not so, this train’s name is the Puffing Tom. With this in mind, the first two hints from Redon seemingly suggest that the Puffing Tom will have some sort of role to play in the issue. Likewise, one of the most notable locations the Puffing Tom leads to is the judicial island of Enies Lobby, which also gives access to Impel Down and old Marineford.

Redon’s third hint, which was posted at 8:20 am EST on Monday, August 12, offers further clarity here. The third hint is a GIF that sees a man with seemingly gray hair, or at least a gray beard, shouting “traitor” at the camera. Likewise, combined with the above hint, it suggests that the issue will see some sort of traitor ferried to the judicial island of Enies Lobby on the Puffing Tom.

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Two of the most likely candidates include Gorosei members Saint Jaygarcia Saturn and Saint Marcus Mars. With Saturn’s failure at Egghead Island, Imu could use the opportunity to eliminate and permanently silence him. As for Mars, there has been significant previous evidence that he could be a legitimate traitor amongst the Gorosei’s ranks.

One other possible interpretation is that One Piece’s Gorosei aren’t the ones being accused of traitorism, but are the accusers instead. The most likely explanation for this interpretation is that Saint Saturn, who is still on Egghead, is threatening other Marines and World Government agents also there of being traitors. Likewise, he could be promising to see them taken to Enies Lobby on the Puffing Tom to be tried for their crimes, explaining the first two hints.

The fourth hint was posted at 12:41 pm EST on Monday, August 12, 2024, and seems to be very straightforward as it’s a GIF of a sleeping baby smiling. This is most likely referencing Luffy resting after the battle, with the character being infamous for eating and sleeping immediately after a massive fight ends.

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The fifth and final hint was posted at 7 pm EST on Monday, and very simply features a GIF of an old man with the caption “I beg you, let me die.” With this being fairly straightforward, all that remains is deducing who says this. Bartholomew Kuma and Vegapunk Lilith are the most likely answers, each either having reasons to long for death or having lived their lives satisfactorily following the Egghead arc’s events.

One other possible interpretation of the fifth hint is that Dr. Vegapunk himself is asking Luffy and the others to let him die. However, this seems unlikely given that the start of his broadcast was confirmed to be a result of his physical body’s death. Furthermore, the use of an old man in the GIF is likely meant to throw fans off the true answer. In any case, fans shouldn’t have to wait long for answers, with initial spoilers typically coming soon after the hints process.