One Piece Chapter 1138 Reveals a 3,000-Year Mythical Zoan Lore Drop

Eiichiro Oda used One Piece Chapter 1138 to drop one of the manga’s most lore-heavy reveals yet: the ancient mural of the Harley. Released on February 3, 2025 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #10, the Harley mural reframed the series’ long-running “three Worlds” idea and tied it directly to the wars of the past—especially the Void Century. The chapter also expanded the pantheon behind those conflicts, introducing multiple “God” figures who helped shape the world’s history, including the Sun God Nika, now back in play through Monkey D. Luffy.

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Among those newly emphasized divine forces, Oda also set up a Mythical Zoan entity dating back roughly 3,000 years, tied to the “First World” of One Piece: the Serpent of Hellfire. At the moment, readers still don’t know who this creature truly is, where it currently resides, or exactly what part it will play in the Final Saga—but its inclusion in the mural strongly suggests it’s only a matter of time before it matters on-page.

One Piece Chapter 1138 connects the First World to the Serpent of Hellfire

One Piece Chapter 1138 may be among the most lore-saturated chapters Oda has written across nearly three decades. The chapter introduces the Harley and, through that ancient artwork, explains that the setting is divided into three separate Eras, or “Worlds.” The “First World” is described as an era that took place over a thousand years in the past. With One Piece Chapter 1144—released officially on March 31, 2025 in Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #18—showing a laboratory located in Elbaf from more than 3,000 years ago, the implication is that this “First World” lines up with the time period referenced by the Harley. It would also align with when the first Sun God, Nika, is said to have come down to the world.

“The narrative is split into three distinct sections. It is said that the Third World refers to our present-day world, meaning it is a kind of prophecy.” — Saul explains the Three Worlds of the Harley, One Piece Chapter #1138

As the Harley tells it, during that earlier age the Sun God Nika descended once cruelty, slavery, and oppression reached extreme levels. The mural connects that collapse to humans discovering a major power source—one whose creation relied on using various slaves. The story then credits the slaves’ prayers with prompting Nika’s arrival. The mural also frames the Earth God as an enemy of the Sun God, and says the Earth God then teamed up with the Serpent of Hellfire to unleash catastrophic destruction across the planet.

That conflict was on such a massive scale that the entire One Piece world was effectively wiped out, creating the conditions for the “Second World”—the era fans now know as the Void Century.

“The Earth God was enraged, and together with its serpent of Hellfire, shrouded the earth in death and darkness. And they will never meet.” — The first mention of the Serpent of Hellfire, One Piece Chapter #1138

Interestingly, the Void Century itself doesn’t reference the Serpent of Hellfire by name, leaving its fate a mystery. The Harley portrays the Serpent of Hellfire as a towering, monstrous calamity capable of spitting fire. Even the question of what the Serpent actually is remains unanswered. However, a potential pathway exists: if readers apply Vegapunk’s explanation of how One Piece Devil Fruits function from Chapter 1169, then the Serpent of Hellfire could be “born” as a Devil Fruit through someone’s imagination. In that case, the relevant fruit may already exist somewhere in the world—currently dormant, waiting for the right person to consume it.

There’s also a wider Elbaf-area build-up happening in parallel. Oda is preparing the reveal of Imu’s “Devil God” form in the Elbaf arc, a concept first teased in Chapter 1085 about three years earlier.

Why the Serpent of Hellfire seems poised to arrive alongside the Earth God

The Serpent of Hellfire feels like it’s being positioned for a late-game appearance, largely because the Harley’s godly figures are being treated as essential pieces of the Final Saga. The Harley specifically names four Gods, and those are:

• The Sun God, identified as Luffy.
• The Sea God, strongly tied to Poseidon—Shirahoshi by association.
• The Earth God, whose identity is still unknown.
• The Forest God, whose identity is also unknown.

Elbaf also introduced a Rain God figure—Zaza—in One Piece Chapter 1182, dated May 10, 2026 in Shueisha’s WSJ Issue #24. While the identity angle remains unclear, the Elbaf mural did more than just hint at Zaza. It also displayed an Ancient Giant resembling Loki, and it showed the War God of Elbaf, Nidhoggr. On top of that, the mural highlighted the Devil God of the One Piece world: Nerona Imu. Taken together, it suggests that the Harley’s named Gods have either already appeared or are in the process of coming to the forefront during the Final Saga—leaving the Serpent of Hellfire as the remaining major “3,000-year-old era” piece with massive destructive potential.

“Appearing to the rhythm of the prayers for rain…Rain God Zaza!” — Saint Killingham explains Rain God Zaza, One Piece Chapter #1182

Just like the other Harley-linked deities in Chapter 1138, the Serpent of Hellfire is expected to show up as the story keeps moving. In fact, One Piece Chapter 287 is described as the first time all four of the main Gods were mentioned together: the Sun God, the Rain God, the Earth God, and the Forest God. The manga has been revealing them one by one since then. And since the Harley explicitly connects the Earth God to the Serpent of Hellfire, it’s reasonable to expect the two to debut together.

“God of the Sun, God of the Rain, God of the Forest, God of the Earth, please take this woman’s blood and save our village from disaster.” – Shandian Elder reveals the 4 Gods, One Piece Chapter #287

The Final Saga is setting up more Mythical Zoans with serious firepower

So far in the Final Saga, readers have already seen a range of powerful divine-style entities come into focus, including the Sun God Nika, the Devil God Nerona Imu, the War God Loki, and the Rain God Zaza.

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More gods are still waiting to be revealed, and the expectation is that Oda will continue uncovering them sequentially as the story pushes deeper into its last stretch. For now, attention is centered on the biggest remaining questions: the true identities behind the Forest God and the Earth God, the arrival of the Serpent of Hellfire, and the real identity of Rain God Zaza. As Elbaf draws closer to its conclusion and wraps up in 2026, Oda is set to keep rolling out these godly figures in turn.

All the new One Piece manga chapters by Eiichiro Oda are available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.