One Piece - Chapter 1044 [manga]

[marvelB]

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Ready, guys? As usual credit goes to AP's Redon and co. for spoiler info:

-Chapter title is "Warrior of Liberation". In the ministory, Oven leaves Niji and Yonji to get dissected by his siblings!

-As Luffy regains coisciousness, a strange feeling comes over him. We then cut to various allies who can sense that he is is still alive! Meanwhile, we cut back to the elders at Mariejois. They say the World Government has tried to obtain the Gomu Gomu no Mi for the past 800 years, but has been unsuccessful in doing so. In a sense, it's as if the fruit is intentionally evading them. One of the elders agrees with that assessment, saying that Zoan-type fruits have a mind of their own.... and this particular fruit is named after a GOD.

-Yes, you read that correctly: The Gomu Gomu's true identity is that of a ZOAN-TYPE! Its actual name is the HITO HITO (HUMAN) NO MI: MODEL NIKA (SMILE).... a Mythical Zoan!!! It was named after the legendary Warrior of Liberation, Nika, the Sun God, whose body not only had the properties of rubber, but also had the ability to make people smile wherever he went. He can fight any way he wishes, as his power represents freedom. It's literally the most ridiculous power in the world....!!!

-Meanwhile, back in the castle, Orochi tries to convince Hiyori to spare him by praising Oden, but she won't fall for it. She has a brief flashback of her father, then proceeds to condemn the shogun for his foolishness. As Orochi continues begging for mercy, a miniature version of Kanjurou's flame monster suddenly appears! He orders the creature to burn Hiyori, but.... the beast targets him instead! As Orochi once again begs Hiyori to spare him, she says the dawn will rise... and that the Kouzuki house always keeps its promises.

-Back on the roof, Luffy finally awakens to the apex of his abilities: GEAR 5!!!! After unleashing a huge blast of conqueror's haki that knocks out all of the scrub minions, the newly awakened Luffy grabs Kaidou from the rooftop and resumes his fight with the emperor! He wrecks the King of Beasts (his attacks noticeably being cartoonier in nature), and even when his opponent tries to blast him with his Boro Breath attack, Luffy bounces the fireball back at him by turning the ground into rubber! And all throughout the battle, Luffy's actions are accompanied by wild laughter! Kaidou apologizes for the earlier interruption to their battle, as he didn't want to win that way, either. Luffy, however, brushes it off. He's ready to end this, once and for all....!!!!!!

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[marvelB]

Well.... that's certainly quite a twist there with Luffy's fruit. I imagine many won't be happy about this, but I do find it highly interesting that he turned out to be a Zoan all along. Maybe that means all Paramecia-types are actually Zoans? Anyway, my guess is that the fruit contained Joy Boy's soul and/or DNA. It would definitely tie into the whole Lineage Factor thing, after all. Well, regardless, I'm truly intrigued as to how the story will proceed from here on out....

[grecefar]

well damn...

[Kaz_]

Imagine using a devil fruit for 12 years making up attack names and specific combat upgrades for it...only to realize it was something else entirely.
It still carries old rubber based abilities and doesnt seem to bother Luffy enough to call it GEAR5 so I guess we can live with this.

Also there was this legend character called Nika whom was revered as a Sun God, anything related? A divine Sun-God mythical fruit would also explain fire-based Gomu Gomu moves.

[cyberdemon]

Quite the Monkey King (of the pirates. Double pun too lol) look Luffy has going there

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Why didn't the WG kill Luffy when they had so many chances to do so? That's the problem with this whole development here.

[Kanon]

Well, there we have it. Curious to find out the reactions of those who were strongly against the Gomu Gomu being the legendary DF. As I already stated in a previous thread, I prepared myself for it so I'm not disappointed as a result. I knew it was coming.

Waiting to get a better look a Luffy but the little we see looks good. I like it better than Boundman at least.

Originally Posted by marvelB

Well.... that's certainly quite a twist there with Luffy's fruit. I imagine many won't be happy about this, but I do find it highly interesting that he turned out to be a Zoan all along. Maybe that means all Paramecia-types are actually Zoans?

That's a big stretch. The Gomu Gomu/Nika fruit is simply a Zoan DF that happens to have powers strongly resembling a paramecia, I doubt it means anything for other fruits. This one is just that special. What's really interesting is them saying Zoan fruits have a mind of their own.

This is the third Hito Hito no mi, right? Chopper, Sengoku, and now Luffy. Since Nika is a One Piece only legend/person unlike Sengoku's Buddha, Oda can give Luffy any power he wants now and we won't really be able to say anything about it.

[cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

Why didn't the WG kill Luffy when they had so many chances to do so? That's the problem with this whole development here.

Because Luffy has a tendency to kick their asses when they try. Lol

[Kaz_]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

Why didn't the WG kill Luffy when they had so many chances to do so? That's the problem with this whole development here.

Someone over AP stated that when Shanks secretly met Elders at reverie, he wasnt there to talk about Blackbeard as "certain pirate", but Luffy. Probably revealing Gomu Gomu's true nature for whatever reason to them. They were hunting Nika fruit for 800 years but were most likely oblivious that it was hidden inside Gomu Gomu.

It was the only explanation for me that made sense so far.

[cyberdemon]

That would make sense if they werent aware of the link between the gomu gomu fruit and the nika fruit. A good excuse for why they had trouble obtaining as well for 800 years since it was essentially hiding in plain sight as a paramecea fruit. Shanks may have just have opened Pandora’s box.

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Originally Posted by cyberdemon

Because Luffy has a tendency to kick their asses when they try. Lol

Nope, they could have easily killed him so many times pre-time skip. Send an admiral after him and it's game over.

Originally Posted by Kaz_

Someone over AP stated that when Shanks secretly met Elders at reverie, he wasnt there to talk about Blackbeard as "certain pirate", but Luffy. Probably revealing Gomu Gomu's true nature for whatever reason to them. They were hunting Nika fruit for 800 years but were most likely oblivious that it was hidden inside Gomu Gomu.

It was the only explanation for me that made sense so far.

But they concealed the true identity of the nika fruit by renaming it to gomu. They've known this whole what it really is.

At this point I won't be surprised one bit if the previous user of the yami yami no mi was Xebec.

[marvelB]

Originally Posted by Kaz_

Also there was this legend character called Nika whom was revered as a Sun God, anything related? A divine Sun-God mythical fruit would also explain fire-based Gomu Gomu moves.

I brought that up in the last thread, actually:

Originally Posted by marvelB

BTW, I find it interesting that the original spoiler summaries placed such emphasis on the "Nika" SFX at the end of the chapter. Recall that Who's Who spoke of a mythical figure called Nika the Sun Warrior during his bout with Jinbei. Seeing as "nika" is also the onomatopoeia for smiling, I'd say there's more than a fair chance that Nika and Joy Boy are one and the same, no?

Originally Posted by Kanon

That's a big stretch.

I see what you did there! But yeah, Luffy is probably the sole special case in this situation..... unless it turns out that Teach's abnormal body is the result of a special Zoan too or something.

Originally Posted by Kanon

This is the third Hito Hito no mi, right? Chopper, Sengoku, and now Luffy.

Fourth, actually. Vivre Card revealed that Onimaru (the late Ushimaru's fox companion who stole Shuusui from Zoro) is also a Hito Hito no Mi user! In his case, it's the mythical model Oonyuudou. Looks like poor Chopper drew the short straw for getting the only "normal" human fruit!

Originally Posted by Kaz_

Someone over AP stated that when Shanks secretly met Elders at reverie, he wasnt there to talk about Blackbeard as "certain pirate", but Luffy. Probably revealing Gomu Gomu's true nature for whatever reason to them. They were hunting Nika fruit for 800 years but were most likely oblivious that it was hidden inside Gomu Gomu.

It was the only explanation for me that made sense so far.

While an interesting theory, I'd say that Who's Who getting incarcerated over losing the fruit kinda proves the elders were already well aware of the fruit's true nature even back then. However, I suppose it could be argued that they were unaware of Luffy having eaten the fruit until recently (that is to say, as recently as their meeting with Shanks), but even that's a bit hard to swallow, since there's no way the papers wouldn't have described Luffy's abilities by that point.... especially with the level of infamy he already gained even before the timeskip. My guess, they probably waited for Imu's approval before making a move on Luffy, since it seems their master has the final say on whether or not something gets "wiped from history".....

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Originally Posted by marvelB

My guess, they probably waited for Imu's approval before making a move on Luffy, since it seems their master has the final say on whether or not something gets "wiped from history".....

They want Luffy dead now, so what was stopping them from trying to do that before?

I'll give Oda the benefit of the doubt and wait for an explanation that validates this.

[cyberdemon]

It could be that there is an actual gomu gomu no mi and the elders were trying to assess which one Luffy had rather than risk information like that getting to the revolutionaries or other opportunists.

Now begs the question, what is the true nature and abilities of Luffys devil fruit? Even Kaidou pointed out that Rubber should do what Luffy was doing in their fight.

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Sounds like Kaido is getting wrecked by Gear 5. He's going to need to awaken his ability, otherwise this battle will be one-sided.

Luffy has officially joined the club of the best of the best. Congrats!

[Galaxian]

While I like the look of Gear 5 and the whole situation is hype. Luffy suddenly having the most super special awesome DF will most likely always be a blemish in the One Piece narrative for me.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

Nope, they could have easily killed him so many times pre-time skip. Send an admiral after him and it's game over.

Admirals had Luffy dead to rights twice and he managed to get away. A Shichibukai was sent to kill him, had him dead to rights and he managed to get away. He threw himself into a fight with their crack assassination team and managed to win. They've been trying.

Originally Posted by Galaxian

While I like the look of Gear 5 and the whole situation is hype. Luffy suddenly having the most super special awesome DF will most likely always be a blemish in the One Piece narrative for me.

Luffy has always been super special so it makes no difference.

[Gerard07]

Seen the spoilers, well I admit my mistake, in the end Luffy's fruit was the one that the elders were talking about (I thought it was Chopper's, but at least I hit the Hito-Hito part).
Well, in the end Luffy turned out to have a Zoan fruit, but in the end I think that almost all Akuma no mi are essentially the same in their awakened state, changing the environment with their substance so to speak, well wait for more spoilers.

[Kanon]

Some additional info came out and the power of the Nika fruit is freedom. Luffy can basically do whatever he wants with his body and the environment, and he fights like a looney toon apparently.

Originally Posted by Endscape

Luffy has always been super special so it makes no difference.

It makes a big difference, because him being the second coming of Joyboy (mentioned in a prophecy) and the owner of a legendary fruit now makes it seem like his whole fate was predetermined. Exact same shit as Naruto.

[Gerard07]

The elders say that Luffy's fruit was intentionally avoiding them, maybe the fruit somehow managed to get to Shanks because of the Straw Hat (which is somehow related to JoyBoy) that is now Luffy's?.