Scopper Gaban just blocked an attack from Imu. That sentence alone should tell you where his power ceiling sits.
Here at Shonen Vortex, we’ve been tracking the Elbaf arc chapter by chapter since Loki’s cage first cracked open, and Gaban has gone from background trivia to one of the Final Saga’s most important living weapons. As of Chapter 1193, he’s standing in the wreckage next to Luffy, watching the same explosion that sent Imu flying through the Adam Tree. That’s not a cameo. That’s a statement.
Table of Contents
- Who Is Scopper Gaban?
- Gaban’s Role in the Roger Pirates
- His Fighting Style and Weapons
- What We Know About His Haki
- Gaban and Elbaf: The Real Connection
- Gaban vs Imu: What Chapter 1190-1193 Actually Showed Us
- Is Gaban Luffy’s Next Mentor?
- FAQs
- Final Verdict
Who Is Scopper Gaban?
Scopper Gaban is the former navigator of the Roger Pirates and the left hand of the Pirate King, the counterpart to Silvers Rayleigh’s right hand. He fought beside Gol D. Roger all the way to Laugh Tale, then quietly retired to Elbaf, where he’s lived for decades as a husband, a father, and, until recently, a man most fans only knew from Buggy’s flashbacks.
- Real name: Scopper Gaban, nicknamed the “Mountain-Eater”
- Former role: Navigator of the Roger Pirates
- Position in the crew: Third-most significant member behind Roger and Rayleigh
- Weapon: Two axes
- Current home: Elbaf, with his partner Ripley and son Colon
- First real appearance: Chapter 1139, after years of flashback-only cameos
- Confirmed opponents: Kozuki Oden, Saint Sommers, Imu
Gaban’s Role in the Roger Pirates
Oda confirmed the full Roger Pirates roster through the SBS, and it reads like a proper crew, not a pile of legends thrown together. Roger captained, Rayleigh served as first mate, and Gaban held the navigator’s post. That’s the same three-name structure fans have argued about for years, and it’s the reason the gold-silver-copper naming theme actually lands: Gol D. Roger, Silvers Rayleigh, Scopper Gaban.
If you’ve read our breakdown on why Blackbeard has no Haki weakness, you already know Oda loves burying power structure inside names. Gaban is the clearest example in the entire cast.
His relationship with Roger wasn’t just professional loyalty. Flashback panels show him fighting at Roger’s side during the Edd War and standing near him when his illness started catching up. Gaban knew exactly what he was signing up for, and he stayed anyway. That’s the same loyalty Zoro shows Luffy, and it’s part of why so many fans keep drawing the parallel discussed in our Yonko power rankings, where crew hierarchy tends to mirror strength almost perfectly.
His Fighting Style and Weapons
Gaban fights with two axes, no devil fruit, no gimmick. The nickname “Mountain-Eater” comes from a story where he defended an ailing Roger by cutting down an entire mountainside of enemies and the trees around them in the same motion.
That’s a brutal, physical fighting style built on raw cutting power and control, closer to Zoro’s swordsmanship than to anything flashy. When he clashed with Luffy and Zoro over Loki’s key earlier in Elbaf, his axe swings threatened both of them without any visible Haki coating at all. Regular swings. No enhancement. Still dangerous enough to worry two Straw Hats simultaneously.
If raw physical output interests you, our piece on how strong Shanks really is covers the same generational gap Gaban represents against the current cast.
What We Know About His Haki
Here’s where Gaban stops being a fun side character and starts being a genuine Final Saga piece.
Reading the raws this week, one detail keeps getting skipped: Gaban imbued Loki’s key with Haki without breaking a sweat, treating advanced Haki application like a party trick instead of the exhausting effort it is for Luffy.
That single panel tells you more about his ceiling than any flashback does. Advanced Conqueror’s Haki users don’t casually coat objects with precision. They train for it, or they’ve had decades to make it automatic. Gaban has had decades.
His confirmed Haki résumé so far includes:
- Precision object-imbuing (seen with Loki’s key)
- Weapon-based Haki application through his axes
- Physical durability that let him fight Kozuki Oden and survive
- Enough presence to visibly unsettle a World Noble like Saint Sommers on sight
For the full mechanics behind these terms, our complete Haki guide breaks down every type in play right now, and the devil fruit power rankings piece is worth reading alongside it since Gaban is proof that raw Haki alone can rival fruit users at the top tier.
Gaban and Elbaf: The Real Connection
Gaban didn’t just retire to a random island. He settled specifically in Elbaf, which means Oda planted the Pirate King’s left hand in giant territory decades before Luffy ever set foot there. That’s not coincidence, that’s architecture.
His connection runs deeper than geography. He’s the one guarding Loki’s key, the one who provokes Luffy into a fight to test him, and the one who’s now standing shoulder to shoulder with Hajrudin watching the aftermath of Luffy and Loki’s combined attack on Imu in Chapter 1193. If you haven’t caught up on how we got here, our Loki backstory breakdown and the piece on what makes Loki’s devil fruit so powerful fill in the pieces Gaban’s story runs through.
Manga readers will fight us on this, but Gaban testing Luffy wasn’t hostility. It was an audition.
Gaban vs Imu: What Chapter 1190-1193 Actually Showed Us
This is the freshest, most important part of the whole story. In Chapter 1189, Imu impales Luffy, pins him to the Adam Tree, and moves in for a finishing blow with the Xingtian Axe. Gaban appears out of nowhere and blocks it.
Chapter 1190 escalates fast. Gaban goes toe to toe with Imu directly, and per the raw scans, the fight proves harder for Imu than either Luffy or Loki managed alone. By Chapter 1193, Gaban and Hajrudin are watching the aftermath of Luffy and Loki’s combined assault, an attack so strong it sent Imu flying through the Adam Tree, and Gaban is visibly stunned that Luffy is still standing after being run through earlier in the fight.
That reaction matters. This is a man who fought beside Roger. Gaban doesn’t get shocked easily, and he’s shocked here.
| Fighter | Key Chapter 1189-1193 Moment | What It Reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Scopper Gaban | Blocks Imu’s finishing blow, fights him one-on-one | Physical and Haki output rivaling a Yonko-tier threat |
| Luffy | Stabbed, collapses from exhaustion after the combined attack | Gear 5’s Nika power still has a stamina ceiling |
| Loki | Prepares hybrid form after the joint attack | Hybrid transformation still unrevealed, teased only as silhouette |
| Imu | Sent through the Adam Tree, fate unclear | First time Imu has visibly lost ground in a fight |
For more on how Luffy’s power holds up under that pressure, check our breakdowns on why Luffy’s powers make perfect sense and Gear 5’s full power ceiling. And if you want the bigger picture on who Imu even is and why this fight matters, our Imu identity breakdown and Imu vs Luffy truth pieces connect directly to this arc.
Is Gaban Luffy’s Next Mentor?
The mistake most power scalers make with Gaban is treating him purely as muscle. He’s not just strong, he’s experienced in a way nobody currently sailing with Luffy is. Rayleigh taught Luffy the basics of Haki after Ace’s death. Gaban has the résumé to teach him what comes after the basics: Conqueror’s Haki refinement, weapon-based imbuing, and the kind of control that turns brute strength into precision.
Trending across the fandom this week is the theory that Gaban is being set up as a Sanji mentor too, mirroring the Zoro-Rayleigh dynamic through Sanji-Gaban instead. It’s a fun angle, but the Chapter 1189-1193 stretch points somewhere more urgent: Gaban stepping in for Luffy specifically, at the exact moment Luffy needed someone who understood what fighting a god-tier threat actually costs.
If this pattern holds, expect Gaban’s next appearance to come with a direct lesson, not another flashback. Our episode 1174 prediction breakdown digs into what that could look like on screen, and the Elbaf giants breakdown covers who else in Elbaf might factor into that arc.
FAQs
- Is Scopper Gaban stronger than Rayleigh?
No confirmation exists either way. Gaban is described as being “at par” with Rayleigh during their prime, and both are treated as the two strongest Roger Pirates below Roger himself. - What is Scopper Gaban’s devil fruit?
None. Gaban has no confirmed devil fruit. His power comes entirely from raw physical strength, Haki, and his axe technique. - Why is Gaban called the Mountain-Eater?
He earned the nickname after cutting down an entire mountainside, trees included, while defending an ailing Roger from a wave of enemy pirates using only his axes. - Did Gaban fight Imu?–
Yes. Gaban blocked Imu’s finishing blow on Luffy in Chapter 1189 and fought him directly through Chapter 1190, proving to be a tougher matchup than either Luffy or Loki alone. - Does Gaban have Conqueror’s Haki?
It’s unconfirmed in the text, but his casual Haki-imbuing of Loki’s key and his ability to unsettle a World Noble on sight strongly suggest Advanced Conqueror’s Haki.
Final Verdict
Scopper Gaban isn’t comic relief and he isn’t a nostalgia cameo. He’s the left hand of the Pirate King, and Chapters 1189 through 1193 finally proved it on the page. His Haki control outpaces where Luffy currently sits, and his fight with Imu says more about the Final Saga’s power ceiling than a dozen flashbacks could.
Where does Gaban rank against Rayleigh for you? Drop your tier list in the comments.
