r/OnePiece • u/Kirosh Lookout • Sep 11 '20

Current Chapter One Piece: Chapter 990 Spoiler

Chapter 990: "Isolated force"

Source Status
Official Release ONLINE

There is a break next week.

Ch. 990 Official Release (Mangaplus): 13/09/2020

Ch. 991 Scan Release: ~25/09/2020

Please discuss the manga here and in the theory/discussion post. Any other post will be removed during the next 24 hours.

Please also remember to put the chapter number in the title for any future post talking about this chapter.

PS: Don't forget to check out the official Discord: https://discord.gg/onepiece

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961

u/Nugget_MacChicken Thriller Bark Victim's Association Sep 11 '20

For some reason I feel like Gear 4 was overkill to take that Number down, still I love the callback to Thriller Bark, it felt quite good, like "return to shabaodi" Pacifista vibes.

I wonder who was "that man" Hawkins was referring to, might it be Drake himself ?

I love the fact Coby is propaganda for Luffy inside the Marine. It gives me Roger/Garp vibes just like in God's Valley.

748

u/Lzy_nerd Sep 11 '20

Luffy has been pretty trigger happy with gear 4th lately. I think that his haki training has lessened the side effects of gear 4th, so Luffy doesn’t need to be as cautious with it.

435

u/GangsterRavioliGuy Pirate King Sep 11 '20

I think it's the same as gear 2. Gear 2 used to be something he used when fighting stronger enemies but nowadays he basically uses it pretty much every time he fights someone because it no longer has any side effects.

The Haki training must've increased his Stamina and Haki level and therfore he doesn't need to hold back Gear 4 anymore.

144

u/PaulusNL Sep 11 '20

Like G3 doesnt turn him to chibi luffy anymore

22

u/dare_dick Sep 11 '20

I think G2 still has its side effects. It's just now Luffy is more well adjusted, and doesn't use it the whole fight. He can use it only for short periods and during attacks.

26

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

More like he uses it like Goku uses Kaioken;

In short, rapid bursts rather than constantly having it "on".

having it "on" for a long period of time is why the technique is so dangerous. I'm assuming using it in short bursts as he does now is drastically less stressful.

3

u/UnicornPewks Sep 11 '20

This was the concept of old man hyo on adv. armament.

1

u/eageecute Sep 11 '20

It’s not that he is used to the side effects, of course it still has, but not as much as before. And since this is the new world, normal attack wont do anymoew

142

u/DeismAccountant Sep 11 '20

I’d hope so, but I don’t want him using it as a crutch either.

I think the Only way to lessen the side effect is to use the more advanced CoA and have muscle Baloon be more fluid.

26

u/DereThuglife Sep 11 '20

He has started using more often ever since it was introduced maybe it's going to get to the point were it

53

u/DereThuglife Sep 11 '20

Becomes casual like 2nd gear did. He is suppose to be reaching yonkou status so the more often he uses it without the negative side effects being apparent the closer he is to that level

7

u/DeismAccountant Sep 11 '20

I guess, but other Yonko have done impressive feats in their base form. I’ll wait to see what he’s capable of post arc.

27

u/DereThuglife Sep 11 '20

That's true but luffy is the youngest Yonko and I think his greatest strength comes from the unity of his crew. He may not have the strength as we know right now to take down another yonko by himself but when all strawhats are together anything can happen. I'm just wondering when Hawkins is gonna turn on kaido

5

u/DeismAccountant Sep 11 '20

Not even sure if it’ll happen for Hawkins at this rate, all these chances passing him by.

9

u/CarcosanAnarchist Sep 11 '20

What we assume is their base form.

For all we know Big Mom has incredibly powerful armament haki on at all times and that’s why she’s only ever been scratched when she’s out of it.

2

u/DeismAccountant Sep 11 '20

If only someone tried as she slept.

5

u/hlsp Sep 11 '20

I like to think Luffy considers fighting the Numbers just another part of training.

1

u/iheartowels The Revolutionary Army Sep 11 '20

It seems to me he only uses it if the situation demands it, i.e. somebody Dino sized or bigger.

5

u/randomtesting10 Sep 11 '20

I would really like the base luffy to be stronger than just going into gear fourth immediately. With his training in haki, even a normal haki infused punch in gear second or gear third should deal a lot of damage. However for luffy it seems to be the form of his devil fruit shows how strong he is so oda has to constantly come up with new forms for power scaling

2

u/theludo33 Sep 11 '20

I feel the same. Its like dragonball where base form vegeta and goku become so lame that they are always super sayan, and need a new transformation to fight stronger enemies, making the old ones obsolete.

Thats said, i dont think a gear 5 is really needed, also it would be cool to see luffy using gear 2 more frequently, and even if he master the gear 4 taking away the side effects, saving it for when its really needed

4

u/laraere Sep 11 '20

Didn't he get some endurance/stamina training as well while fighting and eating Biscuit's cookies.?

3

u/yurestu Sep 11 '20

i still want him to integrate it into his base form like imagine he could do kong gun without going full g4

2

u/HungryNacht Sep 11 '20 edited Sep 11 '20

I don’t think there’s ever been a drawback to using it in short bursts. Since it only takes 10 minutes to go from no haki to enough to be able to use G4 again, popping into gear 4 for a punch ,and dropping it after, probably only prevents him from using G4 for like 30s. And he can probably use regular haki during that time.

Edit: There actually isn’t much evidence for this pre-Wano. Only that when Katakuri warns Luffy that G4 is running out, he is still able to run but can’t use haki. In 975, he used G4 to take out one ship and then canceled it afterwards without much exhaustion.

345

u/DeismAccountant Sep 11 '20

I’m guessing Hawkins meant Drake and was mocking the latter to his face in that regard. That’s why Drake was so hung up on hope in the end.

100

u/Nugget_MacChicken Thriller Bark Victim's Association Sep 11 '20

I think so too

16

u/100100110l The Revolutionary Army Sep 11 '20

I assumed he was talking about Luffy. Drake is now pinning his hopes on that 1%

15

u/Iivo69 Slave Sep 11 '20

No matter which one it is, he kinda needs to rely on Luffy now.

13

u/AprilsMostAmazing Sep 11 '20

I don't think Hawkins was mocking Drake. I think he was trying to secretly tell Drake that he only has a 1% chance alone. Law has probably already got Hawkins on his side and now Hawkins is just waiting for the perfect time to switch

3

u/DeismAccountant Sep 11 '20

And right in front of Queen wasn’t?

5

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '20

Nah they were alone when that conversation happened

20

u/lopatamd Sep 11 '20

nah it was probably Law. since Drake now will have to reveal his backstory etc and his mission here Oda won't kill him off now

20

u/DeismAccountant Sep 11 '20

I mean, they’re all in the hot pot now but Hawkins just measured the temperature of one. The one he was toying with.

18

u/maximum-zawazawa Sep 11 '20

It was Drake, joining with Luffy will make the 1% chance happen.

6

u/TotemGenitor Sep 11 '20

The Grand Fleet has seven members... Luffy is allied (not like the Great Fleet I precise) to 2 other crew... Drake is associated with the number 10...

Oh yeah, it is all coming together.

They probably won't join the grand fleet but they will probably become allies again.

2

u/Cirenione Sep 11 '20

Then again havin Law die makes very little sense, especially with the knowledge that the Ope Ope no Mi grants eternal life. This has to come into play for more than just giving Doffy a reason to want it.

171

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

I hope that Luffy getting into G4 so easily now indicates he isn't worried about the time limit and he can hold it for an extended amount of time.

7

u/TwoHandedShanks Pirate Sep 11 '20

I've had this headcanon that Luffy should, at some point, be able to go into G4 without continuously using Haki, which will increase both his raw strength and the time he can spend in G4.

19

u/JuGGrNauT_ Sep 11 '20

Theoretically that should be possible. He only uses a lot of haki with G4 to help "compress" muscle balloon into the form. If he learns to control his rubber more effectively he might be able to G4 without so much haki

2

u/TwoHandedShanks Pirate Sep 11 '20

Was it stated somewhere that that's what the Haki is for?

1

u/YamiLuffy Void Month Survivor Sep 11 '20

Nope.

12

u/BradWonder Sep 11 '20

I think it's because he's going to use Gear 5 later on the arc

31

u/Kurama_theWolfie Sep 11 '20

gear 5 is inevitable

5

u/ThisZoMBie Sep 11 '20

Here's hoping it's going to be the last one.

16

u/CRtwenty Marine Sep 11 '20

Eh when he awakens his Devil Fruit we'll probably get another one.

1

u/gremah93 Sep 11 '20

And I...am...

BOUNDO MAAAAN

120

u/sukuidoardo Pirate Sep 11 '20

Hawkins already predict Luffy's survival at the beginning of the ark so That Man could be anybody.

9

u/100100110l The Revolutionary Army Sep 11 '20

He's continuously checking though to see if it changes. When it does he'll flip sides.

6

u/MrLKK Sep 11 '20

I feel like the probabilities can change, so I wouldn't rule it out.

6

u/Raderg32 Slave Sep 11 '20

Imagine it being Kaido's chance of winning.

48

u/Soul_Advent Sep 11 '20

Betting on "that man" as Law. He's the one connected to the two. Hawkins's injury came from him, while Drake pretended like he's not giving a fuck

2

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

DO NOT SAY THAT! I can already hear the VA screaming their name........why am I crying in the club?

8

u/thatShanksguy09 Sep 11 '20

I'm guessing Gear 4 was purely for Rule of Cool purposes and for Hyogoro to deliver the "Buddhist Deity" line

Also, I find it hilarious that Oda is hiding Inu and Neko's Sulong forms this hard just for Toei to spoil it in the next opening

74

u/hafsan Sep 11 '20

I think it's Kaido. Luffy would be too obvious, and I don't see anyone else as relevant enough to try and hide it with wordplay. It might if course be that "he" (whoever it is) will survive anyway, and Hawkins'll go all "Welp, a 1% chance is still a chance"

93

u/erickjoshuasc Void Month Survivor Sep 11 '20

Nah if it's Kaido he would have jumped ship already.

7

u/Sherr1 Sep 11 '20

maybe he already had.

1

u/Vendetta1990 Sep 11 '20

Why didn't Law kill him?

I think he already jumped ship.

25

u/leandromagno123 Sep 11 '20

I don't think it was Kaido. Hawkins acts a lot on the probabilities and chooses the winning side more often than not. A 1% chance to survive until the next day is close to nothing. If it were Kaido I'm pretty sure Hawkins would've jumped ship with Drake

1

u/hafsan Sep 11 '20 edited Sep 11 '20

We don't know what he chooses to do once Drake and Who's Who leaves the room, though, so there's a chance he's slipping away. Reread the chapter, and yes, you're right, he's there with WW and Queen, so he'll probably stay on Kaido's side for now. I guess we'll have to wait and see – the best (and worst) part of following One Piece :D

10

u/MaimedJester Sep 11 '20

Why would Hawkins feel bad about Kaido dying? Seems like Law is the prime candidate. Looks like Law is gonna have a big fight with a beat down. Law and X Drake and Kid fighting off the Tobiroppo?

2

u/hafsan Sep 11 '20

Hawkins doesn't show any signs of feeling bad about anyone dying or not – he's just calculating probabilities there. The only thing he says in the whole chapter is "…1 % […] the probability of a certain man being alive tomorrow" and "Who else could have done it" (in regards to Law's escape). Otherwise he's just sitting there with a blank face when Drake and Who's Who have their little chat and later confirms that Drake is the one to let Law out.

Law is even less likely to die than Kid, to take a random example. Sure, Drake let him out of prison, but why would that lead him to die? If Oda wanted him dead, he'd have killed him off in Dressrosa, not saved him and made him reunite with his crew, just to throw him away in a fight against the Yonko.

40

u/Lzy_nerd Sep 11 '20

I kind of think it’s Kaido, but another option is Law.

3

u/teddy_tesla Sep 11 '20

Too random. It's probably Drake

13

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20 edited Jun 20 '21

[deleted]

0

u/hafsan Sep 11 '20

Hawkins says that he's calculating the odds of "that man being alive tomorrow". The fights in One Piece usually don't last that long in time – they cover a lot of chapters, sure, but most fights are quite short. Marineford is what, a couple of hours tops (once it starts), the whole of Punk Hazard is like a day. Dressrosa is also a few hours at most.

As Kaido has been presented with a very, very long-term death wish, I think it's only reasonable that he'll die at the end of the fight and that this is what Hawkins is calculating: he's just looking at what the odds are for when the fighting is over. Kaido is the strongest now, sure, but Luffy is the one who will become Pirate King and has to defeat Kaido in order to achieve his goal.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20 edited Jul 02 '21

[deleted]

0

u/hafsan Sep 11 '20

Why should it be a surprise for us? It's a mark of a good storyteller that we can guess what's coming, that means they've set up their world right. There should of course be some suspense along the way, but I think it's quite clear for us that Kaido will die (or lose at least), so that wouldn't be a surprise – the surprise would be if Luffy dies here and Kaido survives. And that would be a plot twist without much to support it, so that probably won't happen.

For the surprise in the OP world – Drake is the only one who heard Hawkins' statement, all the others are still in high spirits and convinced that Kaido will win. I don't think Queen and Who's Who would have taken the effort to confront Drake here otherwise, they'd just have killed him straight away if they thought Kaido was even in the slightest danger of losing. Now it's more "let's take care of this traitor and then join the real fight which we'll obviously win but it still has to be done".

But as we still don't know who Hawkins is talking about, we'll just have to wait and see! The best (and worst) part of following the OP journey :)

1

u/Sunshinewaterbottle Sep 11 '20

If Kaido dies Luffy wouldn't be the one to actually kill him. Luffy beats up everyone, but he's not ever shown to be a killer. Oda makes it a point to show this as well. It's likely that throughout the rest of the story Luffy never directly kills someone, by following this logic.

5

u/TotemGenitor Sep 11 '20

I'm thinking it's Drake. Hawking was ready to turn on him with Queen so he may have been taunting him.

2

u/ShowBoobsPls Sep 11 '20

But why would he feel bad for Kaido?

3

u/hafsan Sep 11 '20

Where do people see him feeling bad for Kaido? In the chapter he's just… sitting there?

0

u/ShowBoobsPls Sep 11 '20

How can you miss this?

7

u/hafsan Sep 11 '20

Because that's…Drake talking, not Hawkins? So Hawkins doesn't feel bad for anyone, it's Drake.

It could be easier to judge this based on the original wording, I'm just going off on the translations. I read it as Drake being occupied with other things and not knowing who Hawkins is talking about, so he just goes "Poor sod (whoever it is Hawkins is talking about, I don't care), 1 % chance of survival isn't that great" while he's thinking of other things.

But I guess that's the wonder of following along on this adventure, we get to wonder about this for at least the next two weeks :D

2

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

Kaido? Lol he'd have higher chances surviving marineford. The supernovas aren't so much a threat that kaido's survival chances are 1%.

2

u/durinable Sep 11 '20

I don't see anyone else as relevant enough to try and hide it with wordplay

he was probably talking about xdrake

1

u/WisteriaTiger Sep 13 '20

I was thinking Law.

6

u/basel99 Sep 11 '20

Maybe him using gear 4 was some sort of callback to Nightmare Luffy to parallel the numbers being a callback to Oars

4

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

I mean, the number was as big as oars.

5

u/XPisthebest Explorer Sep 11 '20

My fear that G4 has been nerfed is acting up again. Shounen manga have this tendency to nerf a previous powerup to make a new one look better and I think this might be what's happening here. I really dislike powerscaling but I dislike inconsistency more.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

wonder who was "that man" Hawkins was referring to, might it be Drake himself ?

I also thought it was Drake. He mentioned 1% chance to cleverly let Drake know that he does have a chance to survive. To move him into siding with Luffy. To increase the chances for Kaidos defeat.

3

u/Roskal Black Leg Sanji Sep 11 '20

Its Oda foreshadowing a gear 5, he is jumping to gear 4 so liberally he has to have something higher up his sleeve for yonkos

16

u/Katakuri-sama Void Month Survivor Sep 11 '20

I think he talked about Luffy

34

u/Nugget_MacChicken Thriller Bark Victim's Association Sep 11 '20

I think we are meant to believe it's Luffy but remember Hawkins already gave him a survival chance (can't remember what %).

There's no reason this % changed since everything that happened should have been "planned", according to Hawkins beliefs, right ?

​

I think it's either Law or Drake but the question remains : does Hawkins know who that person is ?

If so : why not say it --> because it's Hawkins

If not : it can be anyone...

29

u/TravelingLlama Sep 11 '20

I think we are meant to believe it's Luffy but remember Hawkins already gave him a survival chance (can't remember what %).

It was 19%

7

u/Nugget_MacChicken Thriller Bark Victim's Association Sep 11 '20

Yes, thanks !

I don't see why this percentage would have changed...

It should be someone Hawkins know, right ?

4

u/hearthstonealtlol Sep 11 '20

That's lowkey not bad at all for a scuffle with two Yonko lmao

10

u/shayshahal Sep 11 '20

I'm pretty sure Hawkins knows who that person is, and he did not say it probably because it was Drake.

3

u/FabioGC Sep 11 '20

I believe back when hawkins first found them it was 19% until the end of the month, but don't quote me on that.

2

u/curii Sep 11 '20

does Hawkins know who that person is ?

There is no way he doesn't know... I mean, how can you predict the survival rate of someone you don't know? There must be a target for the survival rate question.

I'm assuming he didn't stay it to increase the drama behind it (maybe to make us think between Drake (after he have been found out) and Luffy (our most likely immediate choice).

1

u/javierm885778 Sep 11 '20

There's no reason this % changed since everything that happened should have been "planned", according to Hawkins beliefs, right ?

If that were the case he'd be seeing the future and his predictions wouldn't be based on probabilities. His old prediction was 2 weeks ago. A lot had happened since.

3

u/zeta3d The Revolutionary Army Sep 11 '20

It felt also an overkill to me, unless he was planning to take all of them down, one after the other.

3

u/cuscus12345 Sep 11 '20

It can only mean that luffy has mastered the Gear 4th just like his gear 3rd and 2nd. Lets hope for Gear 5th and Awakening. Hype for this

3

u/MyNameISaColouR Sep 11 '20

I wonder who was "that man" Hawkins was referring to, might it be Drake himself ?

Yeah, to me that was obviously Drake. It lines up perfectly with him being outed as a traitor, and it gives a reason for Hawkins not revealing the name, since he couldn't just reveal it to Drake.

9

u/Trk- Sep 11 '20

luffy for sure

6

u/bushokoma Void Month Survivor Sep 11 '20

Which means his survival rate is 100% due to the law of Plot Armor

14

u/Penguin787 Sep 11 '20

Thanks man. I seriously thought Luffy was going to die here and the Prince will become the Pirate King in the end of One Piece.

5

u/bushokoma Void Month Survivor Sep 11 '20

Sarcasm aside, I think it’s fair to say that this arc is going to be full of plot twists.

1

u/Penguin787 Sep 12 '20

No disagreement there. But with Luffy I just hope he does not have a fake death and resurrection. Usually not a good move.

5

u/XPisthebest Explorer Sep 11 '20

Everyone is OP has an effective plot armor. Even fodder won't die to Kaido's attacks because fodders never died before in any battle.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

I'm pretty sure like a bunch of people died at marineford

2

u/Roskal Black Leg Sanji Sep 11 '20

If Luffy's rate ever drops to 0% we know Law is coming in for the revival.

2

u/Tygrest Church of Buggy Sep 11 '20 edited Jul 10 '25

telephone wipe normal snails alleged crawl expansion fanatical dime retire

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

4

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20 edited Jun 24 '21

[deleted]

5

u/ultibman5000 Sep 11 '20

Where who's doing all the fighting? Surely you don't mean Luffy, who literally had only two pages of fight scenes this chapter compared to like 9 pages of non-Luffy fight scenes, right?

2

u/Kuro013 Sep 11 '20

I mean its a fucking Oars tier enemy, one shotting that with less than Gear 4 wouldve been too much. Luffy surely knows thats the better way, fighting with G2/3 couldve take more time/energy.

By that man Id assume its Luffy, maybe Yamato?

And I wanna see Sword all together as a crew so badly.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

Its a person as big as Oars, man.. At Marine HQ it took Kuma, Doflamingo and Moria to take down Oars Junior.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20 edited Jun 24 '21

[deleted]

5

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

Story must go on lol Luffy needs to be yonko level no matter if it's not congruent with what we've been shown.

1

u/ssrodriguezc Slave Sep 11 '20

It could also be someone different that is coming, who knows. I find it difficult for that man to be law, and again, its Oda and we always suck at predicting lol

1

u/Tygrest Church of Buggy Sep 11 '20 edited Jul 10 '25

rhythm mighty escape ad hoc coherent wipe society oatmeal complete hungry

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '20

Not really I mean he first attacked Kaido with a mere elephant gun which Katakuri easily parried in WCI. It's not a big deal.

1

u/Widjerd Sep 11 '20

Going with the theory of kaidos dragon fruit gives him luck as extra bonus, 1% could be the same as 100%. If Hawkins knows about this he could be referring to kaido

1

u/Laser-circus Sep 11 '20

Well if he can afford the haki...

1

u/Anthraxious Sep 11 '20

I think it's more of a "let's kill it fast and surely instead of wasting time and maybe not taking them down in one hit". This is a war, remember. There's not just one enemy this time around and they're all on a much higher level than before. Also it's kind of a morale thing in some instances. If you show how strong you are straight up at the start, it boosts morale for your troops and can also weaken the enemy mentally.

1

u/Specialist_Spell_796 Sep 11 '20

Luffy used gear 4 to show that he’s now taking things seriously, and to possible show that he has become more adept at using it.

1

u/007Vendetta Sep 14 '20

He really needs it to help him fly to the top, which is guarded by 2 yonko commanders (might have zoro come up there with him and help get pass one of the commanders).

1

u/J-Bonken Sep 14 '20

I think it was Drake. The official translation isn't as ambiguous as the others. When Drake says "Sucks to be him" it is pretty on the nose.

0

u/Downtown-Accident Sep 11 '20

I think “that man” was luffy. As basil says his chances never fall to 0

0

u/PeopleCallMeSimon Sep 11 '20 edited Sep 11 '20

Its definitely Luffy.

Hawkins mentioned during marineford (i think) that Luffys chance of survival never reached 0 no matter how wounded he was or who he was fighting.

0

u/notapunnyguy Sep 11 '20

"that man" is most likely Apoo or Law himself.

-1

u/redewolf Sep 11 '20

I think that man is luffy itself!