REVIEW: ‘One Piece’ Episode 1164 — “Saul’s Resolve — The Inherited Will of Ohara”

After One Piece Episode 1163 delivered one of the Elbaph arc’s most emotionally loaded installments, One Piece Episode 1164, “Saul’s Resolve — The Inherited Will of Ohara,” takes that momentum and puts it to work. Rather than letting the reunion between Robin and Saul settle into pure afterglow, Toei Animation builds outward from it into the island’s history and the first real sign that Elbaph’s peace is already running out of time.

One Piece Episode 1164 picks up right where the reunion left off, and the first thing it does is let the rest of the crew into the moment. Monkey D. Luffy thanks Jaguar D. Saul for protecting Nico Robin during the Buster Call on Ohara. He does it while talking way too formally, completely unprompted, and his crewmates have no idea what to make of it. Robin has to step in and handle the introduction herself, but Saul waves it off. He already knows Luffy by reputation.

The exchange is short enough that it never oversells itself, which is exactly why it works. Luffy doesn’t give a speech or make promises. He just says what he feels in the most Luffy way possible and moves on. Robin calls the Straw Hats her true friends, and the crew’s reaction lands because the series has spent over a thousand episodes making that statement mean something.

One Piece Episode 1164 builds on the emotional momentum of Episode 1163 and carries it forward.

From there, One Piece Episode 1164 opens up. Ange, Saul’s assistant, and Gerd give part of the Straw Hat crew a tour of the Walrus School, where giant children study history and biology instead of combat drills. The teacher, Ripley, explains that King Harald’s reforms reshaped Elbaph from a nation of raiders into one that prioritizes education and trade. Eiichiro Oda’s writing makes this work by grounding the history in a specific person rather than delivering a textbook lecture.

Ripley identifies herself as part of the last generation of warriors, which adds real stakes to just how recent this cultural overhaul actually is. The moment she asks Luffy about his “white form” and connects it to a legendary warrior from Elbaph’s past is a carefully placed bombshell. It ties Nika to the giants’ own mythology without stopping to spell out the connection.

The centerpiece of One Piece Episode 1164 is the Owl Library, and it’s where the weight of One Piece Episode 1163 hits its hardest. Saul brings Robin, Chopper, Lilith, and Jewelry Bonney to the library and reveals what he’s been protecting: every book the giants salvaged from the lake after the World Government destroyed Ohara. Robin breaks down. Seeing the knowledge that her mother, Nico Olvia, and Professor Clover died to protect, still intact, preserved in a place the World Government never reached, is one of those moments One Piece Episode 1164 is smart enough to let breathe.

The Owl Library is where the emotional weight hits hardest in One Piece Episode 1164.

But the scene does more than give Robin closure. It reframes the Owl Library as something worth fighting for, and by the time One Piece Episode 1164 ends, it’s clear why. Earlier, Lilith introduces herself to Saul as “Vegapunk” and shows him a clone of the original scientist, the same one that visited Elbaph twenty years ago. Bonney presses Lilith about restoring Kuma’s mind, and Lilith says she plans to. None of this is filler. One Piece Episode 1164 is closing one chapter of Robin’s story and cracking open the next at the same time.

Loki’s conversation with the mysterious Shaggy is One Piece Episode 1164‘s strangest and most interesting detour. For a character defined almost entirely by patricide and imprisonment, Loki comes across as reflective and almost lonely. Shaggy pushes back on his violence but starts to notice that Loki’s harshness might not be the whole picture.

If one scene in One Piece Episode 1164 runs a touch long, it’s this one. A line or two of the exchange could have been trimmed without losing anything. But as a foundation for Loki’s larger role in the arc, it gives the audience just enough to start questioning what they think they know about him.

The inclusion of Loki in this episode sparks questions, as the character keeps viewers on their toes.

One Piece Episode 1164 saves the sharpest punch for last. A bolt of black lightning cracks into a castle, a magic circle burns into the floor, and two hooded figures step through. The summoning circles echo the Five Elder’s arrivals during the Egghead arc. Toei lets the image do the heavy lifting. No narrator spelling out the danger, no dramatic score swell. Just two figures stepping out of the dark and the sense that Elbaph’s peace is about to come to an end.

One Piece Episode 1164 never treats Saul and Robin’s reunion as a box already checked, choosing to build on it instead. Ohara’s legacy stays at the center of every scene, and it’s the reason the world-building hits as hard as it does. When the Holy Knights step onto Elbaph, the audience already knows what’s at stake.

One Piece Episode 1164 is available now on Crunchyroll.

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