Key Takeaways
- Gerd and Goldberg from the New Giant Pirates assist the Straw Hats on Elbaph, bridging gaps and reuniting the crew.
- Characters like Gerd and Goldberg have been introduced before, appearing in past cover stories and events in the series.
- Despite feeling new, the Giant Pirates were introduced years ago, providing a chance for the crew to shine in the story.
One Piece and the Straw Hat Crew’s adventures in Elbaph are well underway. So far, the arc itself has been a joyous soirée into the whimsical and interesting island of giants. With so much build-up to the arc, and so much anticipation for the characters it contains, One Piece’s Elbaph Arc has reintroduced a lot of hype back into the lives of manga readers.
With so many amazing characters being introduced to the story during the Elbaph Arc of One Piece, and with so many characters in the story overall, sometimes, it’s a bit hard to keep up with who’s an established part of the One Piece world, and who’s brand new. This was exactly the case for two giants the Straw Hats met on Elbaph, Gerd and Goldberg, two members of the New Giant Crew. Although for many it feels like they’re meeting the characters for the first time, in reality, Gerd and Goldberg have been in the story of One Piece before.
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One Piece’s New Giant Pirates Return
Back From Cover Stories and Flashbacks
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Gerd’s First Appearance |
Chapter 866, Episode 836 |
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Goldberg’s First Appearance |
Chapter 899, Episode 836 |
During the Straw Hat Crew’s journey through One Piece’s island of Elbaph, the group meets the two giants, Goldberg and Gerd. The two friendly giants are members of Hajrudin’s New Giant Pirates, and important allies to the crew overall. The duo assists the crew in dealing with their kidnapper, Road, as well as bridging the gap between Luffy and the rest of the crew that was on Elbaph, reuniting them before the big reveal of the kingdom itself.
These New Giant Pirates, led by the prince of Elbaph Hajrudin, represent the new generation of Giatn Pirates after those led by the previous captains, Dorry and Brogy. This includes Gerd and Goldberg, who act as the crew’s Doctor and Cook respectively, Stanson, their shipwright, and Road, despite his weird obsessions, as their navigator. These pirates, of course, after the events of One Piece’s Dressrosa Arc, joined the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.
Gerd and Godberg Have Appeared In One Piece Before
From Whole Cake Island and Beyond
The first appearance of Gerd actually came far earlier than many fans remember, occurring all the way back in One Piece’s Whole Cake Island Arc. In Chapter 866, Gerd is shown as one of the young giants who interacted with Charlotte Linlin during Big Mom’s backstory. Here, the future doctor of the New Giant Pirates is incredibly young, only around 7 years older than Big Mom herself.
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After this, in the timeline of One Piece, both Gerd and Goldberg made their first adult appearances in the series. Sometime after the Ohara Incident and before the modern events of the series, Jaguar D. Saul employed the New Giant Pirates to retrieve the books from the Library of Ohara after the Buster Call. Here, although they are only briefly shown, the audience is shown both Goldberg and Gerd retrieving books from the lake.
Next, One Piece’s New Giant Pirates are shown off in full form during a cover story following the events of Dressrosa. In this cover story, Hajrudin reassembles his crew, who had been working for Buggy. In the following cover stories, all members, including Gerd, Road, Goldberg, and Stanson resign from Buggy’s mercenary group and are given names and roles in the crew.
It’s Easy To Forget Characters Like Gerd and Goldberg
So Many Characters So Little Time
It’s interesting to note that while these characters feel completely new, their official introduction to the world of One Piece was so long ago. These cover stories of the characters were released back in 2018, over six years ago. Although many were expecting the New Giant Pirate’s eventual return, over such a long period of time, it’s even easy to forget characters that the audience once thought were important.
Elbaph, Elbaph, Everyone is huge beccause they’re giants! – Usopp and Luffy singing together
In the end, while Gerd and Goldberg have both appeared in the One Piece world so far, the Giant duo were virtually blank slates of characters. Before their introduction into the Final Saga of One Piece, the characters felt more like placeholders waiting for their chance to be developed down the line. Now, it’s the New Giant Pirates’ chance to shine. Hopefully, each member of the crew will have their own moments to shine after their official reintroduction to the story.
