After a break week, the One Piece community has had plenty of time to marinate on where things are headed following the jaw-dropping events of chapter 1174. And honestly? There's a lot to unpack. Between Loki's grand entrance, Imu lurking in the shadows, and a cast of Straw Hats who were almost completely absent last chapter, One Piece chapter 1175 has every reason to be a massive one.
Imu Finally Does Something — And Brook Pays the Price
Let's start with what feels like the most likely development heading into 1175: we're almost certainly going to see Imu make a move.
Chapter 1174 ended with the Elbaph storyline exploding open Luffy and Loki showed up, and Imu was right there, staring into the void like they'd seen a ghost. The thing is, Imu is the only person on this island who truly knows what's going on. It would be borderline absurd for them to just... stand there again and do nothing.
The more interesting question is what happened to Brook. We know he was clashing with Princess Shi when we last left off a big reveal moment and then the chapter just cut away and we heard nothing more. The most natural conclusion is that Brook lost that fight, but the hope is that he didn't walk away empty-handed. Maybe he picks up a piece of crucial information some lore about Imu, or a weakness, or even just a fragment that Robin can piece together later. Think of it like that classic film trope where a character finds the hieroglyphs that don't mean anything yet, and then suddenly everything clicks into place three scenes later. Brook losing but learning something feels like very much on-brand for Oda.
Somebody Finally Hits Saint Sommers
Saint Sommers has been standing around laughing like a maniac for long enough. Chapter 1175 feels like the moment when the tide turns on him not necessarily a full defeat, but at minimum, someone lands a hit.
He's right in the middle of everything. Luffy and Loki just showed up. The giant parents are closing in. Sanji is in the area. Someone is going to throw hands with this guy, and when they do, expect him to take some damage and immediately regenerate, which only raises the stakes further. Sommers was visibly scared of Yonko-level threats when Luffy first arrived on Elbaph, which is telling he knows exactly what he's walking into, and yet here he is. That recklessness is either about to look incredibly stupid or genuinely terrifying depending on how Oda plays it.
Loki and Luffy Clean House
This is the prediction that feels almost too exciting to believe, but hear it out: Loki and Luffy show up and proceed to deal with the majority of Elbaph's problems in one fell swoop.
Not the God Knights those fights are too important narratively to be brushed aside but everything else. The nightmare monsters, the fires, the general chaos? A dragon the size of Loki, paired with Luffy in Gear Fifth, could feasibly bulldoze through all of it like it's nothing. If anything, it's almost thematically necessary. Elbaph has been in a state of absolute crisis, and the arrival of these two should feel like the first exhale the island has had in chapters. That moment of relief, where you see the strongest show up and just handle things, is a classic Oda beat.
There's also something poetic about Loki specifically using the weather to help. He had lightning before. Maybe he brings snow to snuff the flames. It doesn't have to be elaborate just a show of force that reminds everyone why this guy was considered a threat to all of Elbaph on his own.
We're Getting a Dragon Breath Attack
This one feels close to inevitable. Oda has a giant dragon on the page. He is not letting that go without showing us what comes out of its mouth.
The boring answer is fire, and sure, that's on the table. But Loki has already shown lightning, which means Oda is clearly willing to get creative here. An ice breath would be visually stunning. A soul-based attack would be wild. Even something completely absurd a gag breath attack would still technically count, and honestly, Oda loves that kind of subversion. Either way, we're getting something. Loki is too cool a design to be holding back.
One concern worth noting: Loki is massive. If he starts breathing fire indiscriminately, he's going to hit allies just as easily as enemies. The counterargument? We already saw him use pinpoint lightning strikes earlier, which suggests he has enough control to not just incinerate everyone around him. So either Oda has thought this through, or we're about to get a very awkward panel where Loki accidentally roasts half the cast.
The Straw Hats Regroup
Chapter 1174 was almost entirely devoid of Straw Hats which, given that it was technically a Luffy re-entrance chapter, felt genuinely strange. Think back to Wano: when Luffy showed up to save the day, everyone's eyes popped out of their heads. Here, we got... nothing from the crew.
That makes it feel all the more likely that 1175 corrects course and gives us a proper Straw Hat regroup. Not Luffy he's busy with Loki and probably not Zoro, who's currently falling somewhere between Dory and Brogy after his big plan. But the rest of the crew? Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Frankie, and the others are all scattered and need to find each other.
The really interesting wildcard here is Bonnie and Lilith. If either of them show up during this regroup, it suddenly becomes a much more meaningful scene. Lilith in particular has been absent for a concerning number of chapters, and given that she might hold the key to figuring out the Do Reversy situation, her return would carry actual plot weight.
Oh, and Nami is going to have to deal with the Loki situation eventually because she's the only Straw Hat who knows about Lola and Loki's connection. That conversation is coming. Maybe not this chapter, but soon.
No Hybrid Loki (Probably)
As much as fans want to see Loki shift into his hybrid form, chapter 1175 probably isn't the chapter for it. Oda has a habit of drawing out these reveals, and we don't even know Loki's Devil Fruit name yet. When the fruit name drops, that's likely when the hybrid arrives. Until then, expect full dragon Loki dominating the page real estate.
That said, if Oda is in a mood to move things along quickly, this could absolutely happen. The hybrid form was teased when Loki grabbed his father's face earlier, and the chapter transition could easily pick up right there. It's just not the safe bet.
The Giants React to Nika
Somewhere in all of this, a random giant is going to look up at Luffy, feel that heartbeat, and say something about the Sun God. It sounds like a small thing, but Elbaph has been building toward this moment for a long time. The island worships Nika. The drumbeat has been referenced over and over. Having a giant or even Gunkko, who apparently has a fear of Nika that might not apply to her real self react to the pulsing of Loki's enormous dragon heart feels completely in character for Oda.
It won't be a lore dump. It'll probably be two lines of dialogue. But it'll land like a full circle moment given how many chapters have been spent setting it up.
The Wildcard: Yarl and the Third Creature
Here's one to file under "probably not chapter 1175, but worth keeping in mind."
The Elbaph mythology has given us Nidhog and Ratatusker as visual reference points, which means there's a third creature in that world tree mythological structure traditionally, an eagle at the top. The interesting theory making the rounds is that Yarl, the ancient giant with a mysterious past and a reputation as the strongest to ever sail the seas, might actually be that eagle in Devil Fruit form. It would explain his age, his power level, and potentially why Imu was targeting him specifically.
Is this happening next chapter? Almost certainly not. But it's the kind of seed Oda plants long in advance, and if Loki ends up in trouble, it might be the moment this theory starts looking a lot less crazy.
Final Thoughts
Chapter 1175 is set up to be a momentum chapter one where Oda takes the dramatic entrance of 1174 and starts converting it into actual forward movement. Loki and Luffy are on the field, Imu is watching, Saint Sommers is right there asking to get hit, and the Straw Hats need to find each other before everything gets even more chaotic.
After a break week, the payoff better be worth it. And given where things are sitting right now on Elbaph, there's every reason to believe it will be.
