Spoiler warning: this article discusses current One Piece manga events from the Elbaph arc. Anime-only fans, jalan carefully.
One Piece’s Final Saga is getting properly wild now, and the Elbaph arc has just pushed another ancient “god” into the spotlight: Zaza, the God of Rain.
In manga Chapter 1182, the situation on Elbaph gets worse after Imu’s arrival turns the fight with the Holy Knights upside down. Luffy and Loki had briefly given the island some hope, but Imu showing up basically deleted that momentum. The chapter also shows the Holy Knights preparing to leave the island after kidnapping children — already dark enough — before Zaza appears to support the villains.
Here’s the twist: Zaza is not necessarily the real God of Rain standing there in full historical form. The version we see is described as a creation from Killingham’s imagination, tied to his Devil Fruit ability to manifest nightmare creatures. But even as a nightmare construct, Zaza’s scale and presence are clearly meant to feel massive, unsettling, and important.
That is where the anime side gets interesting. According to a now-deleted post from veteran One Piece composer Kohei Tanaka — best known for “We Are!” and loads of iconic One Piece music — Eiichiro Oda apparently wants Zaza’s eventual anime appearance to be both scary and cool. A screenshot and translation of the deleted post were shared by @DawnStussy.
For Malaysian and SEA fans, this is the kind of detail that matters because One Piece’s biggest moments often hit differently once Toei adds animation, voice acting, colour, and music. Gear 5 was already a huge watch-party moment across the region, and if Zaza is being flagged this early as something Oda wants handled with a specific vibe, expect the anime team to cook when Elbaph finally gets there. Not soon, lah — the anime is still far behind — but manga readers now have one more scene to wait for.
Zaza also connects back to older One Piece lore. The God of Rain was first mentioned way back in Skypiea, during Chapter 287, in a flashback involving Kalgara’s daughter and a ritual sacrifice. In that scene, people prayed to four gods: the Sun, Rain, Forest, and Earth.
The Sun God has already become central through Nika, whose legend returned in the Wano Country saga. Luffy’s Gear 5 form carries that idea of freedom and hope, especially through the Drums of Liberation. Zaza now seems to be positioned as a darker parallel, arriving through rainmaking rhythms and nightmare imagery instead of liberation.
There is also a bigger world-building angle here. The source notes that the World Nobles fear the God of Rain in a way that mirrors their fear of Nika. That is extra spicy because Mary Geoise sits above the clouds, where rain does not fall — rain belongs to the “Lower World.” For a series that loves using geography, myth, and oppression as symbols, that detail feels very deliberate.
Elbaph’s ancient mural has already brought the four gods back into the conversation, which strongly suggests One Piece may still introduce or expand on the Forest and Earth Gods before the Final Saga wraps. Whether they are real beings, myths, Devil Fruit echoes, or something even stranger, Oda is clearly not done with this part of the world’s history.
For now, Zaza is another sign that Elbaph is not just a giant Viking island arc. It is shaping up to be one of the major lore arcs for the Void Century, Imu, and the ancient forces the World Government wants buried.
Source: ComicBook Anime