Chapter 1143 Summary
Short Summary:
Jaguar D. Saul reaches the sleepwalking children, but cannot touch them as they are surrounded with invisible thorns generated by Sommers' Iba Iba no Mi ability. A firefighting svarr crew moves to put out the fire Loki started, but are swiftly knocked out of the air by one of the nightmares manifested by Killingham's Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Kirin mythical power, and the children walk straight toward the blaze.
Down in the Underworld, Luffy moves to fight Loki in response to his threats, only for Loki to collapse from his wounds. Gerd gives him medical treatment, though Hajrudin is inclined to kill his brother to avenge their father; however, Loki throws doubt on the narrative that he committed premeditated murder on King Harald.
Detailed Summary
Saul runs over to the sleepwalking children and tries to wake them up as Robin warns him to be careful, reminding him that Wolf warned him not to touch the children. Saul says he does not see anything wrong with them and tries to grab Ylva, but when he reaches out to her, he gets stabbed by invisible thorns surrounding her. Ange contacts the partying giants and informs them about the bizarre situation going on and that the sleepwalking children are following Branch Route 8, which is where the fire Loki started is. The fire-fighting Svarr immediately mobilizes to stop the fire, but on their way, they get attacked by one of the nightmares, knocking them out of the sky, to everyone's shock.
While the Knights of God are enjoying a meal while watching the chaos, Sommers laughs at how shocked the giants were when they got stabbed by the invisible thorns he created, as he has eaten the Iba Iba no Mi which allows him to generate them. Sommers describes it as a representation of the phrase "even love has its thorns", but Gunko reacts with indifference. Sommers explains to Gunko that love is what will draw in the people who care about someone despite the thorns surrounding them, and the best part about this game for him is imagining the parents attempting to hug their children only to be stabbed by his thorns and the children breaking down in tears over watching their parents scream in agony. Gunko, however, still shows no interest, to Sommers' chagrin.
Killingham asks Gunko which route she picked and she explains she picked the one that would lead straight to the village's sea clouds, with Sommers adding that it stands out well enough that the giants can see their futility in trying to stop them. Killingham then tells Sommers he needs more salt, causing him to imagine it. Killingham then lulls Sommers to sleep and extracts the salt from his dream, as he had eaten the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Kirin, which allows him not only to transform into the mythical being, but manifest people's dreams as well, explaining the monsters that suddenly appeared. Sommers then wakes up and asks about the "Sleeptids" he extracted from the kids' minds, and Killingham explains he can do both at the same time. Gunko then says all they need to do is take one of the giant's boats back to Mary Geoise and their mission will be complete, causing Sommers to complain about how easy this game is. Gunko tells Sommers that trouble will definitely brew since the Straw Hats are in Elbaph too, but the three then notice the kids heading towards the fire, though they decide if they burn to death they can just find more children.
In the Underworld, Loki tells Hajrudin he cannot possibly stop him since he cannot lift Ragnir himself, and he once again orders the last cuff be undone before he kills all of the weaklings in the Sun World. Hajrudin agrees to stand down but Zoro warns him not to as Luffy prepares to attack Loki, knocking him down with a rather weak attack due to his injuries. After Loki collapses, Luffy and Zoro climb his body as the latter figures Loki was bluffing the entire time just to find somewhere he could collapse safely in secret. As Road suspects who it was that attacked Loki, Luffy begs Hajrudin to not let Loki die regardless of what he has done.
Gerd starts treating Loki's wounds and says it will take a few months until he is fully healed. She knows that if he is to make a full recovery he cannot stay in the Underworld, but she also knows the people of the Sun World will kill him if he is taken there. Luffy is surprised to see that the horns on Loki's head are real, which they say is a remnant of his ancient giant blood that he inherited from Harald. Saying that makes Hajrudin think back to his childhood and how Harald called both him and Loki his sons and how he hopes they work together to support Elbaph after he dies. Unfortunately, Loki looked down on Hajrudin for being weak despite being older than him and insulted him and his mixed heritage. This causes Hajrudin to draw his axe and attempt to kill Loki himself for his parents, but Loki tells him to either get over it or stop wallowing in his personal drama and see the situation for what it is.
At that point, Loki asks Hajrudin if he truly believes he killed their father purposefully like everyone says he did.
