This article contains spoilers for the One Piece manga
Chapter 1160 of the One Piece manga has officially kicked off the long-awaited and infamous God Valley Incident. However, in the lead up to this legendary conflict between some of One Piece's strongest pirates and marines, the Celestial Dragons have already been running rampant across the land in a desperate attempt to kill as many innocent civilians as possible to reach a high score as part of the brutal Native Hunting Competition. This is without a doubt the most violent and barbaric act the Celestial Dragons have ever committed within the story, and while it does a good job at getting fans to hate their guts even more, it also allows a few key individuals to showcase just how strong they truly are.
Before Rocks, Roger and Garp even arrived at God's Valley to duke it out one final time, there was one particular member of the God's Knights who was already wreaking havoc due to their overpowered abilities and strength. While this individual may have already shown what makes them such a formidable fighter in the Elbaph arc, this recent flashback has proved that this character has always been absurdly strong, to the point where it indicates that maybe there's a lot more to them than some fans may have initially realized.
Gunko Was A Merciless Recruit
She Brutally Killed Civilians With Her Mysterious Devil Fruit Ability
- She was a key player in the Native Hunting Competition
- Her Arrow Arrow Fruit is extremely deadly
- She was relatively unknown by many of the Celestial Dragons at the time
While the Native Hunting Competition presents an opportunity for the weak and feeble Celestial Dragons to showcase their authority over the world in brutal fashion, it also gave the members of the God's Knights a chance to prove their own strength as part of the bloodbath. One particular knight who receives a decent amount of focus in the latest chapter, despite seemingly only being a rookie at this point in time, is none other than Gunko, who first appeared alongside Shamrock to speak with Loki only a few chapters ago in the Elbaph arc.
Before Gunko actually shows up on the page, she is mentioned by two Celestial Dragons who were discussing which hunters they have put their bets on leading up to the tournament. The one mentions that while he had big money on the Shepherds for the family competition, Gunko was his top pick for the individual race. Interestingly enough, his friend comments that while Gunko is clearly very strong, she is still just the "Knighthood's Pet" at the end of the day, indicating that she hadn't yet made a name for herself like her allies.
Despite their concerned remarks, the next page shows Gunko eliminating multiple civilians at once by using her mysterious Arrow Arrow Fruit ability to pierce them through the chest. It's no secret that the God's Knights are some of the strongest characters in The One Piece series, but Gunko, in particular, seems to be especially gifted in terms of her powers, and there's a clear reason why this is probably the case.
The God's Knight Is Imu's Right-Hand
Gunko Clearly Has A Close And Strange Bond With Imu
- Gunko has been by Imu's side for a very long time
- She is able to speak with him without being killed
Another interesting piece of dialogue from the latest chapter which sheds some light on Gunko's true identity comes from a Celestial Dragon who calls her the "Devoted Blade of God". On its own, the statement might sound a little bizarre and hard to translate, but it can paint a clear picture of who Gunko actually is when paired with her recent appearances in the manga. Back in chapter 1155, while it was already shocking enough to see Rocks speaking directly to Imu in his flower chamber, another intriguing detail was that Gunko was also in the room to accompany Imu while the conversation was going on.
"The lives of kings are no threat to Mu" - Imu
It's long been established that Imu is a powerful villain shrouded in mystery, to the point where anyone who looks upon them with their own eyes is usually killed only a few moments later. Gunko, however, seems to be the exception, as it's heavily implied that she is essentially Imu's right-hand who is willing to serve out his every order, no matter how heinous or insidious they might be.
It's also important to remember that Imu was able to completely override Gunko's body during the Elbaph arc, which further proves that the powerful mastermind has a particularly close bond with this specific God's Knight for one reason or another. If we bring this back to the latest chapter of the manga, it starts to explain how Gunko became so strong, despite many of the Celestial Dragons knowing barely anything about her when the God Valley Incident first began.
How Did Gunko End Up Working With Imu?
There Have Been A Few Hints As To Why This Relationship Formed In The First Place
All of this begs the question of why Gunko and Imu established such a close relationship in the first place, and though it's likely Oda will expand on this in the near future, there have already been several key hints that can explain how this unusual bond first formed. It's already been shown that Gunko has some strange connection to Brook, and while it would be easy to assume that this means she is Brook's daughter, it's just as likely that he was once protecting her when she was a young Celestial Dragon, before she decided to give away her own freedom to become a servant to Imu.
As of right now, Gunko is the only God's Knight that Imu has been able to possess, but what's interesting is that they only did this the moment Gunko started remembering who Brook was. Some fans theorize that Imu essentially erased Gunko's memories when she joined up with him, though the exact reasons for why she decided to do so still remain unclear. Whether it was simply an attempt to acquire more power for her own goals, or because she was so depressed after hearing about Brook's death at sea, it seems likely Gunko may have made a rash decision which ended up spiraling out of her own control.
"What is this memory!? Brook? Are...you Brook? - Gunko
What is clear is that Gunko was already a merciless killing machine when she was still an up and comer, to the point where she managed to be a lot stronger than any of the Celestial Dragons could have ever anticipated. When acknowledging how devastating Gunko's abilities were during the tournament, it's no surprise that Nami and the other Straw Hats had such a difficult time fending her off in the current story, considering how severely overpowered she would be by this point.
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
- Creator(s)
- Eiichiro Oda
