Oda Just Answered One of the Oldest Mysteries of One Piece! One Piece Chapter 1167 Added Spoilers!

The early spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1167 explore how Harald and Shanks met, how Shanks liberated Fisher Tiger as a masked figure and

However, there is so much to talk about before the full spoilers arrive.

Harald is the Florian Triangle Monster

Harald gets tasked by the World Government to assist Marines by stopping a pirate ship drifting through thick haze, which later sparks talk of a huge shape haunting the Florian Triangle.

It seems that Oda might have given an answer to the Florian Triangle Mystery.

With the last chapter highlighting Rocks’ final words to Loki regarding the Galleila Ancient Giants, who are three times bigger than normal Giants, it is possible that these Ancient Giants are the ones being sealed in the middle of the Florian Triangle.

Perhaps what Charlotte Lola and the others saw were either the frozen Ancient Giants, whose shapes were exaggerated by the conditions of the fog, akin to the phenomenon on Skypiea that applies the Brocken spectre effect, a real-life an optical illusion where your shadow gets projected onto clouds from a high altitude, making it appear gigantic and haloed by rainbows.

However, these Ancient Giants would have been sealed on the island and could potentially be responsible for sinking the ships that come close to them, which is strange behavior from a group of engineers and marauders who were sealed by ice.

Shanks and Shamrock are Mirrors of Each Other

Within this chapter, Oda makes the effort to put both Shanks and Shamrock together

In Mary Geoise after his mission, Harald meets up with the Figarland twins.

Harald tries to recognize Shanks and that is because he likely witnessed the attack on Mary Geoise and saw the mysterious masked Holy Knight that freed the Fishman slave, Fisher Tiger, and caused all of this.

However, Shanks snaps at him, saying he is a nobody.

On October 25, 2025, it was revealed that Eiichiro Oda stated to his editor Junya Fukuda that Figarland Shamrock’s debut was “extremely important”, such that to understand the character, Fukuda had to know the secret of the One Piece treasure.

We are now at the point where we are seeing more and more of Shanks.

In a 1998 interview at Nakano Sun Plaza, Oda has stated that when Shanks appears more frequently in the manga, that means One Piece has entered the Final Saga and fittingly enough, Shanks appears during the epilogue of the Wano Country arc to stop Admiral Ryokugyu from proceeding further into Wano to kill Luffy.

Especially during the Elbaph Arc, we are seeing more and more of Shanks as his own lore is revealed, from his twin brother to origins.

With the twins compared and put side-by-side, this seems to imply that Shanks’ saber, Gryphon, also has a Devil Fruit just like Shamrock’s Cerberus, revealed in Chapter 1138: “The Harley”.

The anime seems to hint at this when Shanks’ Divine Departure showed the image of a Gryphon in Episode 1112: “Clash! Shanks vs. Eustass Kid”.

Holy Knight Ranks Explained

Now we learn about the Holy Knight ranking system.

Shanks received the Shallow Sea seal, the first step fo the three-part system of the Holy Knights.

This seal is for God Blades like Gunko and Garald.

That is because even though he is a new arrival to the Holy Land, Shanks has proven himself to match his twin brother Shamrock’s, who is also a rising star just like their father Garling was in the old days, such that Garling became Supreme Commander of the Holy Knights as a younger man.

The three levels of the Holy Knight seals correspond to the depth of the sea:

Shallow

Deep

Abyssal

However, this also could correspond to the depth of access a person can have, as the depth of the sea also ties to how deep a person can be within an organization, such as Imu’s inner circle.

If the seal is a link to Imu’s power, it is more than likely that the Abyssal seal enables full possession, such as what happened with Gunko when she became a full-fledged Holy Knight of God and Saturn, an Elder, during the God Valley Incident.

As established, the mark Shanks showed in Chapter 1152: “A Horrible Day” is different from Sommers, who is a full-fledged Holy Knight.

Why did Imu possess Gunko but not the other Holy Knights?

What common trait do Gunko and Saturn share? Longevity.

While all the Holy Knights are confirmed to be immortals that share Imu’s power, likely via a demonic contract, it is possible there are limitations, whether due to limits imposed upon Imu’s powers or to prevent the truth of these powers from being exposed to the outside world.

Is it possible for Imu to possess Shanks while in possession of the Gomu Gomu no Mi? It could be.

Even without possession, the alternative could be that the seal acts as a communication or homing device, allowing Imu to figure out what is going on within the marked one’s vicinity.

By removing his left arm from the equation, Shanks was not only saved from the demonic contract but also prevented himself from compromising his loved ones’ safety.

This also explains why Shanks’ arm could not regenerate unlike the other Holy Knights, because the Shallow Seal is not the complete package.

There is no immortality or possession involved but the seal is still just as dangerous and had to be removed so that Shanks could protect Luffy and the Devil Fruit he ate.

Without the Shallow Seal that he chose to reveal for the sake of his mission to infiltrate the Holy Land, Shanks became a free man, free enough to become an Emperor of the Sea, a balancing force in the world of One Piece.

Anyway, after Roger’s death, the world plunges into the Great Pirate Era, and Marines begin recruiting giants to strengthen their forces.

At the God Knights’ domain, Harald meets Garling, who gives him a creature used for instant contact.

It seems that all the tools for the infiltration of Aurust Castle in the next year are set.

Is Mosa Shirahoshi?

During a visit to Fishman Island as part of his efforts to build peace between Giants and the outside world, Harald declined a proposed engagement between Loki and Neptune’s future daughter, Shirahoshi.

Based on the wording, this could have taken place at least 16 years ago since Shirahoshi is 16 years old.

If you recall also, Loki had a friend called “Mosa”, which is Japanese for “Hairy”.

Notably in this spoiler, it was said that Harald refused to marry his son off to King Neptune’s “hairy daughter”.

This use of the word “hairy” is similar to Roger’s when Roger assured his friend that he will not kidnap his “hairy” daughter but Neptune insists that she will not be hairy.

For context, this was 26 years before the start of the story because Shyarly (Arlong’s fortune-telling half-sister) prophesized her birth would happen in 10 years.

Loki had also proposed to Charlotte Lola, daughter of the enemy of Elbaph, Charlotte Linlin, but

Let us see if Oda will remember this plot point as it is a key reason why Elbaph and Big Mom have a negative relationship.

If Loki had true feelings for Lola, what does that make Shirahoshi?

Perhaps it is due to their shared fate as being gigantic royals trapped and hidden away from the world.

Loki was imprisoned for being the assigned culprit of King Harald’s assassination while Shirahoshi had to be locked up because a creepy pirate named Vander Decken IX was trying to get her.

Furthermore, Shirahoshi and Loki are not far off in age, if we speak by technicality.

Although still a minor, Shirahoshi is essentially only 5 years younger than Loki, whose Giant age makes a 21 year old adult, the same age as Sanji and Zoro.

They might be thought of as kindred spirits instead of a potential ship since perhaps Loki still harbors feelings for Charlotte Lola.

Either way, it will be fascinating to see who this Mosa is.

Is Shanks the Eyepatch Pirate?

Ever since the latest hints, some have wondered if Shanks was the eyepatch pirate Oda waited to draw since starting One Piece.

That is because of the description that Shanks wore something to cover one of his eyes, leading to fans concluding it was an eyepatch.

However, according to Scotch the Informer, this may not be the case and could just be a clothing or bandaid to cover up both the eye and the scars since Shanks has just healed from his encounter with Marshall D. Teach.

As to why Shanks encountered Blackbeard that recently in the timeline, it is not yet disclosed although considering that Shanks was working for the Holy Knights, perhaps by this point Imu had caught wind of the hidden figure of Blackbeard this early but chose to not act as he did not see much of a threat, which is contrary to how Imu always acted regarding the Davy Clan, who committed a great offense against him.

We also do not know how long the Five Elders knew about Blackbeard’s true lineage as the son of the erased legend, Rocks D. Xebec.

If Shanks was the eyepatch pirate, maybe it would not be as exciting since Oda specified that this was an eyepatch, indicating the loss of an eye and we have characters in this series lose eyes, like Zoro’s right eye, Fujitora’s two eyes, and so on but no one wore an eyepatch and there must be significance behind it.

The figure Oda drew in the One Para (short for One Piece Paradise) Volume 5 is Luffy with an eyepatch on his left eye, the same area Luffy scratched as a young boy to prove himself to Shanks.

If Oda was incredible excited to draw this figure, it is most likely Luffy himself as that would be the final development he would take on, the loss of an eye similar to Zoro’s right eye.

They match.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE ANIME EXPLAINED WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT NOW!