Loki’s heartbreaking truth in One Piece Chapter 1168: He was chained, powerless, and forbidden to see Ida before she died

Fans who know that events are going to transpire in One Piece Chapter 1168 know that Loki was robbed of having one moment with his mother, Ida. In this story, she was one of the only family members who treated him like one; his own biological mother had left him to die. And now, in this chapter, we are shown that he was thrown into a detention center and is now allowed to see his mother during her final moments.

For a character as emotionally starved as him, this wasn’t just a tragedy; it was character-defining cruelty. One Piece fans have only known Loki as the mysterious “Accursed Prince,” an unpredictable and dangerous figure hinted at since the Big Mom arc. But the Elbaph flashback has started, and we are getting more of his story. Fans cannot help but feel empathetic towards his character.

His life in One Piece is soaked in trauma, abandonment, and isolation. From the moment Loki was born, he was treated as a curse. His birth mother, Estrid, literally tried to kill him as an infant, not once but twice, and spread paranoid fear throughout Elbaph that her son was evil. And despite everything, Loki still longed for a mother.

Ida: The only light in Loki’s dark and lonely world

As someone who just needed a loving mother, it was important that he should have been allowed to see Ida one last time. She wasn’t related to him, and she had every reason to fear him, but Ida saw something in Loki no one else did, a lonely child who only acted out because he had never been loved. She invited him into her home. She smiled at him even when he threw insults. Additionally, Ida even treated him like a son, even when he refused to admit he needed her.

Slowly, Loki began to consider her his true mother, even if he hid it behind anger and pride. So when One Piece Chapter 1168 revealed that Ida was dying, fans assumed we’d at least get that final moment, a quiet goodbye, or the chance for Loki to show the love he never got to express. But he was denied this, which led to the fandom feeling stunned.

How Oda in One Piece turned a final moment into trauma

Loki wasn’t even allowed to be next to her bed. He wasn’t allowed to hold her hand. He wasn’t allowed to hear her voice fade. Instead, Loki felt her life slipping away from a distance. That is a level of emotional torture only Oda could write. To know she’s dying, to sense her breath weaken, to feel her heartbeat fade into silence, all while locked away, unable to move, speak, or be with the only person who ever made him smile. No wonder the fandom is crying foul, and it is making people call this one of the “evilest” decisions Oda has ever made.

Grief that shaped a monster

This moment reframes Loki entirely. It explains his rage, his bitterness, his violent worldview. It tells us that beneath the bravado, the titles, the reputation as the “Shame of Elbaph,” he is a child whose entire life has been defined by rejection. He lost his first mother to hatred, and he lost his second mother to distance and duty.

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Ida’s last smile is shown in One Piece Chapter 1168, making it even worse. She died thinking of him, grateful she could care for him, even if he couldn’t be with her. It’s tragically poetic: she accepted him fully, right until her last breath, while he was forced to stay behind bars, powerless.

It’s the moment Loki breaks, but it is not because he lacks emotion, but because he has too much. Too much grief, too much abandonment, too much anger. Losing Ida alone is the final push into the person the world fears today. One Piece doesn’t create villains; it creates tragedies, and Loki is just the latest proof.

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