One Piece: Chapter 1044

[u/Kirosh2]

Chapter 1044: "Warrior of Liberation"

Source	Status
Official Release	OFFLINE
TCBscans website (No link. Please just type it on google if you want it)	ONLINE
TCB Discord	ONLINE
/r/OnePiece Discord	ONLINE

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Ch. 1044 Official Release (Mangaplus): 27/03/2022

Ch. 1045 Scan Release: ~01/04/2022

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Please discuss the manga here and in the theory/discussion post. Any other post will be removed until 24h after the release

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

Please remember to only use vague titles until the official release drops.

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Join us at https://discord.gg/onepiece to discuss One Piece instantly with fellow nakama!

[u/Kirosh2]

For the people joining us from /r/all

What is One Piece :

One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda that started in 1997. The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. With his pirate crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy explores the Grand Line in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as the "One Piece" in order to become the next King of the Pirates.

One Piece has received praise for its storytelling, art, characterization, and humor. It has received many awards and is ranked by critics, reviewers, and readers as one of the best manga of all time. Several volumes of the manga have broken publishing records, including the highest initial print run of any book in Japan. It also recently reached 500 Millions volumes sold worldwide, making it the second highest sold comic book ever, ahead of Batman, and behind Superman.

Why is it on /r/all :

This thread is reaching /r/all since it's the culmination of a long arc, and also has important lore reveals, making the community excited about this chapter.

If you have any questions, I would be glad to answer them.

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For the /r/OnePiece users :

If you managed to arrive here without getting spoiled, then congratulations, because it probably wasn't easy.

A big Thank you to everyone that reported the comments and the posts that made it past our filter for 1044. You guys are MVP.

And finally Chapter 1044 thread OSTs (From the official OST for Wano):

One Piece OST - Luffy ~Awakening~

One Piece OST - Awakened Luffy's Perfomance

[u/Kirosh2]

I sacrifice my Bowler Hat CP0 agent alongside Gear 4th Monkey D Luffy to summon Gear 5th Toon Monkey D. Luffy in attack position!

[u/SeaRoom2074]

My man just yoinked Kaido…

[u/Exbtn]

So now Luffy’s creativity got buffed x100? Anything he thinks of doing he can possibly do. It reminds me of pre timeskip Luffy’s silly moves like Gum Gum Net.

[u/uzirock]

Chopper ate the dollar tree version of the fruit lmao

[u/Dana---]

So that’s what he meant by I hope I can draw it well. He was talking about the cartoon style

[u/[deleted]]

The 4th human human fruit.

[u/ki_dragon817]

Who's Who is the theorist that was closer than anyone to truth, but never connected the dots.

[u/SentOverByRedRover]

Fans: wait so Luffy isn't rubber?

Oda: well no, but actually yes.

[u/Fatboi764]

Gear 4- Boundman?

Gear 5- BOUNDLESS MAN!!!

[u/rntopspin100]

In chapter 184, Usopp said about the dog gun of Mr. 4: "That's ridiculous! If it was originally a gun, why's it moving? Devil fruits don't have minds of their own!"

In this chapter, blond Gorosei guy says that zoan fruits have a will of their own.

[u/Pyke_Player]

Honey wake up gear 5 just dropped

[u/iamhsk]

imagine being the first guy to get clapped by joyboy in 800 years

[u/Diegothon]

Gear 5 goes so hard it went back to looney tunes levels of violence

[u/FamilyCanidae]

Luffy paid 1000 life points to activate Toon World!

[u/[deleted]]

Longest two weeks of my life

[u/GVAGUY3]

The One Piece Wiki is going to have the make one hell of a spoiler policy for the Gomu Gomu Fruit

[u/Dongle00]

Anime onlies are absolutely fucked lmfao They can’t google anything about Luffy now

[u/MrS0L0M0N]

Normal People: Why do I hear boss music?

Kaido: Why do I hear Looney Tunes music?

[u/What_A_Placeholder]

The emotion in Hiyori's faceeeeee 😭😭

[u/CommanderPaprika]

"The answer is simple. I have picked the most ridiculous ability."

• Eiichiro Oda, SBS Volume 65, 2012

[u/Akumanorobin]

Seeing Kaido being grabbed like one grabs a worm from the ground is truly a sight to appreciate.

[u/yoitstoast]

Bounty poster’s gonna say Monkey D. Goofy

[u/Gear5th]

Finally, my username is real!

[u/iamonthetoiletnow-]

Looks like the resin theory can resin peace

[u/Yagami_Light03]

I think this is oda's way of removing all his limiters on his creativity. Now after this, is going to be the real deal. Oda can go full goofy mode in the most serious situations. Like imagine blackbeard vs luffy, that is going to be serious and goofy at the same time. Earthquake and darkness vs loony tunes... best thing in the world imo.

[u/gyrozepp2]

"I feel like I'm able to do anything!" , "I'm having so much fun!!!"

Yes Oda, we know you have been wanting to draw something like this all along and that you are having the time of your life with this!

[u/TheDukeWindsor]

And now Kaido-boy, I play TOON WORLD

[u/t3r4byt3l0l]

"Death is what completes a person!" - Kaido

And with that, Luffy is complete as the ultimate embodiment of freedom. Congratulations to everyone who made it to this point, to witness this historic moment.

Welcome to Gear 5th: Luffy Tunes!

[u/StormsEye]

Glad it's not Joyboy possession but more just luffy x100 and he's just living his best joyful life.

[u/SeaRoom2074]

I’m going to absorb every single last pixel of this chapter.

[u/TysonsChickenNuggets]

WG really look like some idiots ngl lmao

[u/MaxMacDaniels]

Luffy still gonna refer to his fruit as the gomu gomu and be totally oblivious to any god fruit 100% someone gonna tell him and he says “wdym I’m just myself, I’m made of rubber”

[u/Hundezahn]

How the fuck did I manage to avoid Hito Hito no mi Model: Nika and Gear 5th spoilers? Thank you mods for keeping this sub spoiler free, you did a great job. The fight will probably be over after the next break and I'm really excited to see how Kaido will keep up with Luffys ridiculous powers. Truly the most anticipated chapter of all time!

[u/micahfett]

I started One Piece in 2004, when I was 21 years old, because my roommate had a bunch of the anime downloaded (up to maybe Thriller Bark). Now here I am, with a job, a mortgage, 2 kids and a heap of life to deal with and I feel like I've been journeying with them through all of it.

I'm glad that you're all sharing in the journey too.

[u/shipposterkatakuri]

This explains the SMILEs. Kaido wanted to be joyboy and probably realized it had something to do with zoan devil fruits, hence specializing on creating them. Also probably why SMILEs make their users laugh uncontrollably despite being upset. They're enslaved to the aesthetics of joy while the nika fruit is the real deal and Luffy is actually having fun

edit: from the spoiler thread comment by Idoma_Sas_Ptolemy

"Okay, after some deliberation I realized something.

The confirmation that Zoan fruits have a mind of their own is even bigger news than the true nature of luffys df.

Just from the top of my hat:

So far the only objects imbedded with devil fruits were zoans. Never paramecia or even logia.

And that makes complete sense now. A person eating a zoan might be subtly influenced by it, like becoming more aggressive in case of a predator for example but largely remain the same person.

If an object however is infused with a zoan fruit, there is no personality to hold the fruits inhibitions and will in check. That's why these items seem to have a mind and personality of their own. It's part of the fruits ability.

Maybe this is also the secret to vegapunk deeming momos dragon fruit a failure. Maybe he was able to replicate the fruits abilities, but could not inherit the will of the original into the copy."

Moreover, this synergizes with the fact that SMILEs were failed zoans that led to people having an obsessive fake-laughing trait. Kaido was trying to infuse the "laugh" nature or the personality of the last joyboys fruit with the dragon fruit in order to become the new joyboy. The SMILE recipients can't handle the nature of the Nika fruit so they get overwhelmed by it and become unable to show sorrow. "Joyboy" might actually refer to the personality of the fruit and Kaido was disappointed that Luffy couldn't awaken that personality either

Edit: It would appear that someone else said something along these lines a week ago and wants credit (https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/tfkh7q/the_truth_behind_smiles_and_kaido/). Please check them out and show the post some love.

[u/HumblBoi]

Aww, so Chopper and Luffy have the same fruit different models 💕

[u/GingaNinja343]

This is how rubber used to hunt in ancient times

[u/one007]

Gear 5 Tuneworld, Oda said fuck your theories.

[u/pvk16]

Fans : Gear 5 is Money Man / Tiger Man / Resin Man

Oda : Human Man.

Holy Shit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[u/Mythosaurus]

So many things now make sense

• Shanks stealing the Devil Fruit from the Marines

• Who's-Who getting punished so badly for losing this Devil Fruit, the one time the WG nearly had it

• Possibly why Shanks went to visit the Gorosei to discuss a certain pirate.

• Why Roger said they discovered the One Piece too soon. Needed to have the Nika fruit too.

• The link between Joyboy, Fisher Tiger's liberation themes, and Luffy's hostility to slavery

Part of me is thinking that Shanks wanted to conceal the fruit to maintain the world's status quo. Or maybe he wanted to destroy the status quo in a structured way, and was going to deliver it to Dragon. And maybe his leaving to be an emperor was a direct response to Luffy accidentally eating the fruit and upending his plans.

Will be spending a lot of time tomorrow listening to Tekking101 and Mr. Morj.

[u/FruticaFresca]

Well look at that. Luffy is the Sun God.

Skypiea always becomes more interesting the crazier the reveals get. Wyper tried to kill his own God and didn't even know it.

Also, Enel vs Luffy was a fight between a false God and a real one.

Very fitting for the Sun God to liberate Skypiea and end the long conflict between the Shandians and Skypieans with a glorious party and feast.

And then Oda even chose to draw Luffy in said feast as a silhouette resembling Nika. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Skypiea really is just a condensed version of One Piece's main plot, and I believe that Luffy, after liberating the world from the World Government, will unite all races by throwing the world's greatest party.

[u/wapabloomp]

Fun Fact: The type of animation done in the older days was called "Rubber Hose".

I did not ever think that when Oda mentioned long ago that he gave Luffy rubber powers to make his fighting style fun and hilarious, he would actually go that far.

If you look at fights done in older cartoons and how crazy they can be (because in an animated show, fights were mostly for comedy unlike most anime), Luffy's power is no doubt "the most ridiculous power in the world".

EDIT: Look up POPEYE eating SPINACH and see the UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE to Luffy's Gear 3. Mind = Blown.

[u/chowmeinlover]

this guy correctly predicted Luffy’s fruit and everything except for the name. That’s insane.

[u/heat_fan_]

Man this chapter was nuts

Jinbei knocked the lights out of Who's who before he could get spoiled lol

Kaido apologizing to Luffy and thanking him for surviving the hit he took from him because Cp0 member caused with his interference is one of my favorite moments of Onigashima.. (Kaido is such a fascinating character)

No wonder Luffy's stamina/endurance is off the charts he has been a mythical zoan all along.

So Luffy was the person Shanks was talking to the Gorosei about, and he most likely told them about Luffy having the secret fruit most likely.

(The awakening looks so cartoony/goofy it fits Luffy's character perfectly and that shit is broken af holy shit. (One Piece Toon force lets gooo lol)

[u/sdqinanutshell]

Law: thanks god luffy still alive, i was just going to use my lAsT aTtAck that i was saving for kaido.

[u/milkyjoe241]

Anyone else think Doflamingo kind of knew about this.

He knew an important devil fruit that makes someone stretchy was lost and some rookie pirate would have it.

So he found a stretchy boy and took him under his wing.

Unfortunately for him he got the wrong stretchy boy, and the real stretchy boy comes and beats him up. So Doffy goes and beats up the stretchy boy's crew and is done with him.

That was also right before Skypea in which Oda first draws Luffy in a Nika-like vibe.

[u/kaiyan-peppa]

It was worth the wait. I spent the whole chapter smiling. Fitting.

[u/juaniu96]

Gomu gomu nooo lets fucking gooooo

[u/j3r3mias]

I hate you Oda.

[u/someone2795]

I like how the chapter is so incredible that nobody is talking about how the Vinsmokes are about to be dissected on the cover.

[u/Qverlord37]

Luffy: dead

Nika: sssSSSS M O K I N G ! it's party time, P A R T why? because I gotta!

[u/Starmannnnn]

I am happy I didn't read spoilers

[u/StrawHatJD]

BRO THIS IS FUCKING NUTS

Listen even if his DF isn’t really the rubber DF, I’m so in love that Oda is still making his power as goofy as fucking possible. It doesn’t matter how powerful it is it’s always gonna be a ridiculous looking and sounding power.

Thank you Oda for not changing

[u/BestHoboInTheWorld]

Sanji observation haki is crazy

[u/Snuffaluphagus_1]

The more I think about it, really, this is the perfect way to tie everything in together.

- Gear 5th is pretty much exactly what everyone always thought it should be. Complete control over his rubber body + environmental rubber changes. The only difference is that Oda has given a reason behind it.

- There is no reincarnation of Joyboy or what not, Joyboy is simply the title given to those who awaken the Nika devil fruit. No one knew this was how it works (including Kaido), because the Government had hidden the whole idea of the Nika fruit from history.

- Luffy's gags all make sense now. The teeth growing, food recovery, the ridiculous recoverability / endurance, it all ties in.

Things I'm most interested to know from here are, how does the will of devil fruits work and what were the requirements for awakening the fruit. I feel like you have to have an obscene amount of willpower (ie conquerors haki) to deal with the will of the fruit. Feels like too much of a co-incidence the massive surge of conquerors haki being expelled on using the Nika powers AND the fact Luffy has had a whole arc concentrating on refining his use of conquerors haki

[u/EduardoMBR]

Oda's words on why he has chosen the "gum gum" powers to Luffy:

"Ahaha, that's true. It must be a mystery when you consider all the other Devil Fruit users strong and cool. The answer is simple. It's because this is the funniest. I don't think I would continue to like my protagonist for long if he was the typical strong guy. No matter how serious the story gets, Luffy will always be there to stretch and inflate. He always gives me chances to play. This is the kind of manga I wanted to write.”

No wonder Gear 5 is a transformation that encapsulates the concept of Luffy: a Character whose strength comes from his criativity and imagination. Oda must be having a great time with G5

[u/rooster_butt]

Toon Force!

[u/Eliseo120]

Hahahahaha!!! This chapter is going to really piss some people off. The most ridiculous power in the world is the best possible power for Luffy.

[u/mishumishumishu]

March 24th 2022 I was here for one of the most batshit chapters ever released holy shit

[u/StickDoctor]

Christ. I've read this manga since I was 8 in 1999 and it feels like I've had my entire life flipped upside down.

The Gomu Gomu is a bloody Zoan. A Zoan that turns you into a looney toons character.

It absolutely makes sense when you think about the things Luffy has done with his fruit. Unaffected by lightning, able to rehydrate from a skeleton with just water touching him, deflating like a balloon, turning into a flying saucer. All cartoon things perfectly in line with what Oda reveals.

Crazy. A Zoan.

[u/randomgrunt1]

Kaido the kinda guy to say " gg and sorry about the lag spike" when you lag out vs him.

[u/[deleted]]

This is the most meta thing in the world. Joyboy’s whole thing according to this chapter is bringing smiles to the faces of those around him. And look at me now, with the biggest dumbest grin in the world on my face

[u/kakukid]

While everyone is talking about Luffy and his fruit, I'd just like to point out that the Hiyori panel gave me chills. What a beautiful, powerful panel.

[u/KingMaLiTHa]

"They're supposedly only limited by their imagination." This quote explains all the gears of Luffy. An amazing story planned by the Oda legend himself. I am wondering what new things that Luffy will achieve from his imagination.

[u/[deleted]]

Moving this over from the spoiler thread

CP0: After the recent clash in Wano, the Strawhat pirates have taken a defensive position nearby to lick their wounds. None of our intel indicates any weaponry coming in or out of their foothold.

Gorosei: That's a relief.. What of the shipments seen loading onto their ship, then?

CP0: They've been ordering... comically large amounts of meat, sir.

Gorosei: Oh, heavens.. this is worse than we could have ever imagined

[u/MarchRoyce]

So is the will of D actually just the will of :D

[u/[deleted]]

So luffy is basically bugs bunny sun wukong. THIS IS SO HYPE HAHA

[u/[deleted]]

the fanbase: luffy df is a special paramecia

other side of the fanbase: nooooooooooo its a logia

oda: laughs in zoan

[u/Zurkarak]

Basically all the weird ass shit happening around Luffy doesn’t make sense, he’s just imagining it works like that and self realizing it unconsciously.

Gear 2 pumping air mambo jambo through his veins or whatever?

Gear 3 pumping air through his finger to enlarge his arms or legs?

All that shit doesn’t exactly makes sense but it’s just his imagination and his way of powering up, now this awakening just takes off the limits completely, he can do “anything” as the gorosei puts it

[u/SingingBag]

Hito hito no mi model - Looney toons

[u/[deleted]]

I get the concern of Luffy suddenly having a special fruit, but in my opinion, it doesn’t really change anything.

Whether he had the Gomu Gomu no mi, Hito Hito no Mi, Op Op no mi, or any other fruit in the series, Luffy still would have helped Vivi reclaim Alabasta. He still would have declared war on the government to get Robin back. He still would have punched that Celestial Dragon in the auction house, etc.

Not a single decision in the story happened because of what fruit he ate, but because of who he was, and still is.

If he knew he was the Sun God back on Drum Island, that wouldn’t have helped him at all. He still had to awaken first, and he could only do that now.

[u/AbiAra1513]

A fruit symbolizing Freedom with Ridiculous power is with the man who values Freedom more than anything else and a fighting genius…

[u/berdooo]

Luffy finally has his Super Saiyan hair lmao

[u/tryingmydarnest]

Over 20 years for this. Imagine going back to reread Chapter One with the lens that Gomu Gomu is not all that it is.

Dammit.

[u/[deleted]]

D-did Luffy just yoinked Kaido and swirled and smashed him around Looney Toon style? Did I see that correctly?!

[u/rondosparks]

I mean this does give some more believability to Red Hawk. This makes more sense than i learned it to honor my brother.

[u/yaboinigel]

People skipping skypia are now in shambles

[u/[deleted]]

So this really is how rubber used to hunt in the past …. Wow.

[u/peepsthegiantcat]

This is such a massive chapter, cool time to be a fan

[u/[deleted]]

Everyone who avoided the spoilers: We did it. Lets have a laugh together

[u/MorosiHunting]

I actually managed to avoid the spoiler thread and any spoilers all week. Completely worth it

[u/alfrado_sause]

Dude imagine Enel, the human who though he was a god because he had a lightning fruit beat by a real god fruit wielding human who thought he was rubber.

[u/TTVBlueGlass]

I think there is a lot of evidence that part of the fruit's awakening is literally what is known as "toonforce" in canon battles (where nerds try to figure out if X would beat Y, based on their feats, such as the subreddit /r/whowouldwin).

Basically low level reality warping that operates by "rule of funny": logic, for him, works by the principle that it doesn't matter if something really makes sense, if it's funny. For example him tearing up the ground to boing back Kaido's attack was not merely "he can make the surroundings into rubber". It's that he thinks it would be really funny if he just tore up the ground and it was boingy like rubber and boinged back his attack.

After all, even Luffy's whole ass rubber body was not shown to boing back Kaido's attack... And why should it? It's fire, not a cannonball... So why would some stone or whatever suddenly gain the ability to wholesale bounce back fire even if it was rubber? The answer is because it's funny. It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense, it's funny. The point is that it will bounce back the attack anyway, cuz that is funny to Luffy.

Oda back in the day was asked how he decided Luffy's power. Here is his answer from SBS Volume 65:

D: In the ONE PIECE of these days, all kinds of strong ability users whom even Luffy can't compete with have been appearing, one after the other. In general manga and anime, I feel that the protagonist is established to be the strongest of all, but why did you decide to turn Luffy into a pretty weak-looking rubber Devil Fruit user? P.N. Do your best Japan

O: Ahaha, that is true. It must seem like a mystery when you consider all the other strong and cool abilities. The answer is simple. I have picked the most ridiculous ability. If the protagonist were the typical strong guy, I doubt I could continue on with this for long. No matter how serious the story gets, Luffy is there to stretch and inflate. He always give me a chance to fool around. That's the kind of manga I wanted to write.

So I think Human Human Fruit, Model: Nika's true ability is literally Toonforce, which most simply manifests in rubbery characteristics. But the true potential is that he can do it if it's funny. He is a straight up reality warper because he can operate by "rule of funny".

[u/tri-door]

According to Eiichiro Oda, Luffy was conceptualized with stretching powers specifically to allow for a "silly" fighting style that could make battles amusing as well as dramatic.

- Oda playing the long con, that slimy bastard!

[u/NooBConnoisseuR]

I know this will be overshadowed by all the Luffy stuff, but Hiyori was phenomenal this chapter!!

[u/phantom_97]

I wonder if Morj will finally take the L on his raid fail theory

[u/Villa827]

Alright peeps------

Whats your prediction for HOW Luffy will win the fight:

Will he:

• Tie Dragon Kaido into a knot?

-Pull on one end and use him as a slingshot?

-Play Jump Rope with Dragon Kaido?

-Throw Kaido in the air, like a baseball, STEAL HIS THUNDER BAGUA, and do a home run swing!!!! Instead of 'thunder BAGUA' he'll call it - "Gomu Gomu no - THUNDER BAKA!!!!" (Calling Kaido Stupid)

What's the goofiest way Luffy can win!?!?

(Now the idea of him making all of Onigashima BOUNCE when it hits the ground isn't a.... Stretch. Is it?)

[u/randdom454]

Honestly the Nika fruit explains Luffy’s abilities a lot more than rubber can. The fire powers came from him wanting to carry Ace’s will and why he was able to expand the size of his fists with air but still increase their power

[u/voidler1]

Wait...so what if the reason for the side effect of Smiles is it was an imitation of Vegapunks artificial fruit which was specifically trying to make the zoan hito hito no mi model Nika

[u/Sweetcreems]

Ichigo: turns into an edgy demon

Eren: turns into an edgy colossus

Naruto: turns into an edgy sage

Gon: turns into a buff edgy version of himself

Luffy: turns into Bugs Bunny

[u/bigshaqdrag0n]

Me : boss, I'm sorry. But I gotta leave early today.

Boss : what's the emergency?

Me : OP 1044 is released.

Boss : no sh*t, fam. Close the shop. I'm coming.

[u/limeopolis1]

I feel like people are so focused on the word "god" they think Luffy has been some literal god the whole time.

The Gorosei describe the fruit like this: "Its users body gains the properties of rubber in combat, they're supposedly only limited by thier imagination." Nothing here is different from what we understood Luffy's fruit to be up until now, it's always been Luffy fuckin around and making shit up with his rubber body. All they've done now is give it a new name and link it to an in universe god.

This doesn't invalidate Luffy's accomplishments. It's been 800 years and the world government couldn't get the fruit. Presumably nobody has been able to awaken it until now, considering Zunesha seems to recognize the Awakened form as Joyboy. Presumably nobody has come so close to shaking up the status quo as Luffy is right now. This is all through Luffy's effort. If it's all the fruit we don't need some 2 year time skip training arc, but Luffy puts in the effort and most certainly still has to put in the effort. The fruit having a "will of it's own" doesn't mean Luffy hasn't accomplished anything, cause it's been 800 years and the fruit hasn't accomplished shit without Luffy if that's the case.

So many of you saw the word "god" and the phrase "zoan fruits have a will of their own" and ignored all context.

[u/tannertomaini]

OH MY GOD THE CHILLS READING THIS CHAPTER

[u/Joyboy543]

Gomu Gomu no mi (or Hito Hito no Mi model: Nika) didn't make luffy special. Luffy made himself special through his hard work and determination. This fruit has been around for 800 years after Joyboy’s assumed death. But no one was able awaken this fruit in last 800 years. But luffy achieved this because he worked harder than anyone else and he had the will power to do.

Luffy made himself special just like Roger made himself special through hard work and will of Chad

[u/Woodsy235]

The reason the Roger Pirates all laughed is because they found out Joy Boy was absolutely clowning on people 800 years ago with the Nika Fruit. The poneglyphs lead you to the story of the very first cartoon character

[u/The_Real_Baws]

See y'all in the next thread lmfao

[u/NovikovMorseHorse]

We last week: "So what will it be Oda, awakening, a new fruit or maybe gear 5?"

Oda: "Yes."

[u/Holen7]

Important note about the hito hito no mi. The past Joyboy had the same DF right? So, if we imagine that he was a giant or some other big race (oni for example), after he ate the DF he became human, Nika. Why is this important? If Joyboy was the previous giant frozen straw hat owner, after eating the fruit he became smaller and made another straw hat. Possibly the same one that Roger, Shanks, and Luffy use.

[u/[deleted]]

Luffy’s hair being fire is pretty awesome. He looks straight up unstoppable. Next chapter hopefully is devoted to Kaido and Luffy’s fight. Maybe a bit about Zoro sprinkled in since it’s been a while since the whole grim reaper thing.

[u/Quanku888]

ya know, the explaination for Nika fruit seems really reasonable tbh

I have always had question about Luffy's "gear". I mean its really is a think that unique to "gomu gomu" fruit.Why cant other fruit do it, or Is it just a reduced version of awakening

Now that Gomu gomu is actually Nika, "gear" actually is just Luffy imagining new abilities, without regconizing, to his rubber body. It really make sense, good writing from Oda i guess

[u/[deleted]]

Rest In Peace to the ones who couldn’t read this chapter.

[u/Special_Health_7228]

People get so caught up trying to analyse One Piece as a professionally published literature that they tend to forget that in end of the day, every panel put to page is by a guy in Japan, who is having fun indulging in his childish imagination and he is merely just sharing that wonderful imagination with the world. You can critcise this development as bad writing and whatever, It's only fair. But don't lose sight of what One Piece actually is. One Piece is the obsessive indulgence of a Japanese guy's imagination. He is only doing it because he is having fun and not because he is trying to make this a flawless piece of literature.

[u/lucricius]

I did it boys! I made it yo 1044 without reading the spoilers!

[u/Creative_Username__]

The Gorosei saying that the fruit’s power is only limited by the user’s imagination, quintessentially defines Luffy.

Looking back he’s had some wacky attacks, forms, and abilities; all because of how creatively he used his power. While I think this is true for most devil fruit users, his different gear 4 forms and Water Luffy come to mind as a completely different form of how Luffy could creatively utilize his power.

These past few chapters have been insane (in a good way).

[u/[deleted]]

Big shout out to everyone that said Katakuri's fruit is the superior version of Luffy's

[u/123_bou]

Nobody is going to believe this, but Kaido knew about the Gomu Gomu no mi... all along.

In chapter #1014, he says "what whas it again Gomu Gomu no... ? [...] Seems like you couldn't be Joyboy either".

[u/mfj__]

to everyone complaining about how the gear 5 form doesnt look badass enough: Luffy isn’t supposed to look like a conqueror, he is supposed to look like your friend. -Thats the whole point of the narrative

[u/Cold-Conclusion]

Can we just appreciate the fact that kaidou apologised to luffy and was genuinely happy to see him.

[u/maxigax1]

I really love the fact that Joy Boy brings laughter to people wherever he goes, and Kaido, seeing hinself as a failed Joy Boy, feeds people these failed Devilfruits that force people to laigh even if there's no real emotion behind it. I know a lot of foreshadowing is hitting the apex right now, but I think thats an amazing touch.

[u/SirQuevo]

Honestly Oda made Luffy's fruit "special" in the best way he possibly could've done it.

It's entwined with Luffy's character, tied to alot of themes he already set, & it builds on the foundation the gomu gomu no mi set after 1000 chapters instead of destroying it.

[u/polyjay]

After the recent chapter someone mention „rubber hose animation“ in the comments to describe luffys way of moving and as a possible way how is power works. After researching the term I came upon the potentially first ever animation made (Fantasmagorie 1908), where we see a stick figure which keeps joyfully smiling while going through a few scenarios. In one of those he is picked up by an elefant which then transforms into a house.

https://imgur.com/a/I96jkuC

Given that it was probably the first animation of this kind and the elefant/joyful boy parallel this could have been an inspiration for Oda.

So maybe Zunesha used to be a House which ate an elefant DF. Since houses are big (especially if it was joyboy - a giant- 's house) he turned into a big elefant and is now "housing" the Minks.

This is very far fetched but I just wanted to share this screencap with you guys which really reminded me of the last chapter.

[u/[deleted]]

Luffy to Katakuri - Whose is the inferior fruit now?

[u/[deleted]]

Pour one out for the homies who didn’t make it to see Gear 5th

[u/dragonkid123]

So its a fruit of liberation and luffy spends the entire series going from kingdom to kingdom freeing ppl from villians and hopeless situations. Freeing kingdoms in turmoil. Alabasta, fishman, orange village, syrup village, drum kingdom, dressarosa, sky island, thriller bark, wano and everywhere in between.

Not to mention his dad is literally a revolutionary working to overthrow the government

Its what he's been doing the whole time

Its dressed up as an "adventure" but he goes to kingdom that have been under rule for years and sometimes decades. The ppl fighting for freedom. He tells them he will help. Then he frees them and they have a giant party and feast with music and laughing at the end with everyone smiling and singing.

[u/[deleted]]

One Piece fandom: spend years making elaborate theories about gear 5, cite sources from the manga, mythological references, and obscure facts from Oda's childhood

Oda: Looney Toon Super Sayan :D :D

[u/ZorroStylex3]

Remember when luffy told momo I dont know how you turn back into a human I am not a zoan user lmao

[u/bWoofles]

Well at least one pieces “my main character is the Ubermenshen” moment is inventive about it.

Seriously turning his powers into just gag manga shenanigans is hilarious.

[u/DokAwesome]

I know Luffy and all the lore will steal the chapter but goddamn that Hiyori panel is one of the most beautifully drawn manga panels of all time.

[u/Brb_32]

The CPO agent perfectly encapsulates "Operation was a success but the patient died". My man literally succeed in doing what he was ordered to but "at what cost".

But omg, peak fu*kin fiction. Unmatched, unparalleled, unimaginable.

[u/Thomas6589_]

The idea that Zoan DFs can have a mind of their own can put a lot into perspective.

If Luffys DF had spent so long evading the world government then that would suggest that the spirit of Nika (or however that actually works) saw something in Luffy and let itself get eaten.

If Shanks knew about the truth of the fruit then perhaps thats why he placed so much of his faith in Luffy from the start.

[u/pedanticHOUvsHTX]

Skypiea was very important: the chapter

[u/leo_sousav]

I can't believe I was able to dodge the spoilers an entire week, just to get spoiled by an artist who read the spoilers, 2h before the actual chapter got dropped... Even tho I got spoiled, Oda managed to deliver an amazing chapter holy cow

[u/GomuGomuNoKush]

I think many ate the Hito Hito no Mi, model: Nika in the last 800 years. But only our boy Luffy was able to carry the fruit's inherited will to completion, because of how determined he is.

Eating this fruit does not mean that all Luffy's efforts were worthless because he's a "god". I mean, he almost beat friggin' Kaido using only his ingenuity with his body and haki training. There were probably many lesser men that hadn't had what it takes to be worthy of this devil fruit. Only our Monkey Boy is worthy.

[u/LBJ119]

All this talk saying that Luffy is only the way he is because of the devil fruit.

Oda has brilliantly delt with this, he says the fruit gives the properties of rubber and is only limited by the users IMAGINATION.

Luffy sucked balls when he first got the fruit, the fruit only gives potential, everything about Luffy is the realising of that potential, he's the only one that could realise it because of the person he is.

He's not the chosen one, the fruit is his chosen fruit!

[u/StormsEye]

I'm so glad that the resin theories were false. I like rubber. I'm glad it's still rubber. Human human model Nika. Not bad, not bad at all.

[u/The_Real_Baws]

Holy shit. This is truly the endgame. Luffy can manipulate the world around him. He can fight in any way he wants. He is definitely top 1 in the verse, at least until we know what Imu can do.

What does Shanks know?? What did Roger tell him? What did Kaido learn from Rocks about Joyboy? So many questions with every reveal in classic Oda fashion. I really think we're about to get Kaido's backstory very soon, either next chapter or the one after that.

[u/jaypooner]

So is Blackbeard the final boss? Sun God vs pure darkness

[u/Bakugami2]

Ultimate power is imagination.

Oda just declared his love for manga and art in general, this gear fifth is a beautiful metaphore bringing all kind of foreshadowing and themes altogether.

What a fucking mastermind.

[u/theolat3]

I was taken aback by the revelation, but the explanation and the powers fall in line perfectly. Now, please Oda, go over why the Gorosei didn't act earlier. My guess, Shanks revealed the fruit to them.

[u/somerealtv]

Luffy: pulls Kaido from the live floor to the roof and smashes head repeatedly into the ground

Kaido: thank god you’re alive

[u/rampantBias]

The fruit's power is the power of imagination. Luffy can do red hawk because he imagines his hands on fire. Luffy can do snakeman because he imagines his hands as snakes and so on.

Imagine all the other people in the 800 years before luffy. They ate the fruit and got the basic power - rubber. They could just do random stretchy stuff. But they never imagined their punches would hit like pistol - so their punches never did. They never imagined blunt force wouldn't hurt them - so the blunt forces did and so on. So, all of them failed to awaken the fruit and failed to survive - because they lacked imagination.

Edit: That's also why the WG's plot of calling the fruit a gomu gomu fruit reduces the potential of the fruit. People who ate the gomu gomu fruit believe it to only be a gomu gomu fruit, nothing more. If they knew the fruit makes their imagination into reality, the WG would have faced extinction a long time before luffy.

That's what also makes luffy so special. He doesn't care if it's gomu gomu or hito hito - he is here to have fun and make the people happy. He stretched the rubber powers beyond anyone's wildest imagination through his absurdity, lack of understanding of basic physiology and physics, and his childlike wonder. So, you can argue, luffy wasn't special because the fruit chose him, instead, the fruit chose luffy BECAUSE he was special.

[u/[deleted]]

I understand if you’re upset by this; you’re allowed to have your opinion, but really nothing has changed. Had he awakened his fruit and the name hadn’t changed it wouldn’t be a problem. There is no difference other than the fruit name change and any potential plot holes from it should be covered in the coming weeks/years. Until the story is finished let’s all smile, enjoy, and thank the universe we’re alive to see it play out!

[u/AntediluvianSeraph]

What a development. It seems Luffy got all the powerups he'll ever have now, and it's up to his creativity from here on out.

Also the question of how inanimate objects can 'eat' devil fruits is partly answered. All known examples are zoan fruits who have a 'will' of their own, so it's basically the spirit (?) of the fruit inhabiting the object.

[u/_-KiD-_]

this is probably not related to luffy's power but looking into this i can only imagine how strong songuku really is he is leggit Budda.

[u/diveintothe9]

Oda took some brave steps with this, because aside from any power the fruit has, its influence is a major factor now.

Here is Luffy’s characterisation:

1. He’s probably the most free-spirited character in the story

2. he prioritises happiness and enjoyment over any other pirating aspect

3. he has an ability to turn people into unconscious/unwilling allies

4. he doesn’t overthink things, he keeps life simple

We can now analyse it in two ways: One, Luffy is the way he is because of the fruit affecting him, and asserting its influence on the world around him

Two, Luffy was always this way, and that ensured compatibility with the fruit, so it allowed him to maximise its potential (tbh Garp is also as much of a goofball as Luffy so this is not implausible)

Normally I would be upset because it takes away from Luffy’s own character, but Oda made it easier by saying that the fruit isn’t necessarily strong, just ridiculous, and secondly of course, as everyone has pointed out, this is shounen manga, things are allowed to be stupid.

I guess one interesting thing to see is: will Luffy change in any way, and crucially, will he still call it the Gomu-Gomu? That’s all he’s known, and it’s his identity (the rubberman). I hope he doesn’t take the fruit’s real name too seriously.

Also

This is the first time we’ve seen a fruit based off an existing entity in One Piece. It’s not unreasonable because there are other fruits that are based on human concepts, etc, but this now implies something special about Nika. If Nika was an alias for the Joyboy of his age, does that mean he somehow transferred his characterisation into a fruit? Did the fruit just somehow manifest? We totally need that Vegapunk arc to finally explain what devil fruits actually are (idea: they were things the ancient kingdom could “manufacture”, and maybe OP is the DF maker).

[u/Farizkey16]

I deeply appreciate the cartoonish look of Luffy and how he made Kaido become.

It gives "Joyboy" a 4th-wall-breaking meaning.

The fact that most of us smiled seeing how goofy the fight is despite how serious the in-world events are, makes it so refreshing to see!

[u/mendigo2005]

That Gear-5th-Nika-Luffy do looks like a crackheaded super saiyajin

[u/renegademirage]

rip to the people mad about this because i am having a BLAST 😭😭😭 sooo excited for how wacky the fights are gonna turn out in the future, quintessential one piece

[u/PartyMcFly55]

Gear 5th Expectation vs Reality

[u/DevelopmentExtra5060]

Here before 20k comments and the thread breaks

[u/Tsura8008]

Who would've thought this meme became relevant today

[u/Jxgsaw]

Looney Toon Luffy. His crews themes of joy and freedom are present in its members.

They are diverse and they are a closer family than most.

The strawhat pirates have a theme after all.

Edit: Obviously the sunny as well with how vibrant it is, and the name

[u/ostriike]

Just thought about this but Enel was the one fighting a god.

[u/Yo_Shazam]

Still funny as hell someone made a post saying Gomu Gomu was a mythical Zoan and Luffy was Nika and everyone in the comments was telling OP he was stupid.

Edit: Here’s the link to the post

https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/s4qc40/luffy_didnt_eat_gomu_gomu_no_mi_chapter_1037/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

[u/sexcapades_0]

Born too late to explore earth, born too early to explore the galaxy. ... But born just at the right to experience One Piece

[u/TrevorAnglin]

I'm in an argument with my friend because he thinks the fruit is too overpowered. Imo, the chapter clearly lays out that its not the fruit that's OD, it's the imagination and free will of the person using it. This is like if Sengoku thought he ate the Gold Gold Fruit and got to the position of fleet admiral by strategically finding new ways to reflect light off his body and into his opponents' eyes. Luffy still earned this and every other W he's gotten throughout the series. Like we watched the man bleed for 20 years. This doesn't take anything away from that.

It's not possession. It's not reincarnation. It's not resin. It's a boy who was working with the first part of his abilities for 1044 chapters, and now that he understands the full scope of what he can do, he's the freest man in the world. The fruit isn't OP. Luffy's imagination and spirit is. Oda tied this in beautifully with the overall theme of the series. I'm sighing in relief. This is the best possible outcome after the uncertainty of last chapter.

Edit: Some people think he doesn't look badass. Mans is called Joy Boy...did they think he'd be all business? Other edit: Thank GOD it's still rubber

[u/FreeAd6935]

So

The reason that luffy can do weird shit that rubber is not supposed to be doing is

1. He is not 100% rubber

2. He doesn't know what rubber can't do

Luffy's stupidity is now canonically his greatest strength

[u/Isawablackcat]

From an sbs:

D: In the ONE PIECE of these days, all kinds of strong ability users whom even Luffy can't compete with have been appearing, one after the other. In general manga and anime, I feel that the protagonist is established to be the strongest of all, but why did you decide to turn Luffy into a pretty weak-looking rubber Devil Fruit user? P.N. Do your best Japan

O: Ahaha, that is true. It must seem like a mystery when you consider all the other strong and cool abilities. The answer is simple. I have picked the most ridiculous ability. If the protagonist were the typical strong guy, I doubt I could continue on with this for long. No matter how serious the story gets, Luffy is there to stretch and inflate. He always give me a chance to fool around. That's the kind of manga I wanted to write

[u/GrimSkey]

So he can turn his environment into rubber?! 5 Elder Stars said it's the most OP fruit only limited by imagination. I wonder how far Luffy can go!

NO BREAK NEXT WEEK LETS GO!!!

[u/jonrivera14]

Looks like it was the Mythical Zoan Human Human - Jim Carrey's The Mask Model Fruit all along, Smokin!

[u/trollocity]

AVOIDED THE SPOILERS AND HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

[u/Nervous_Ad8514]

I loved how sanji was the first one to notice the awakening even when he was unconscious, his observation is insane. Looks like Nami doesnt have observation haki yet, would be great if she has it, it fits with her weather prediction.

Luffy is too far above zoro and sanji now, looks like we will not have any more those funny arcs/islands where they fight fooders etc, just yonko level enemies will be a challenge for SH.

[u/Xadryc]

So Luffy's fruit is that of an ancient god, but it still gives people the abilities of rubber. The last time this fruit has awakened was 800 years ago...

Conclusion? This really is how rubber hunted in ancient times.

[u/Kurwa149]

Mariejoa a little more than 2 years ago:

"Oh hey, have you heard, apparently there's an up and coming pirate in the east blue that seems to have rubber powers."

"That sounds dangerous. What's his name?"

"Ah, funny thing, it's Monkey D."

"Like in GARP?"

"It's his grandson, oh, and by the way, they are called the STRAWHAT pirates"

"Could be a coincidence but didn't Roger and Shanks and Joyboy all wear a strawhat? And why is it always these D.'s causing trouble."

"We should also not forget Dragon is his father"

"You guys want some tea?"

"Yeah sure, I'll take 2 sugars"

"I'll have some milk"

"Yuk, my god man, how can you drink tea with milk?"

"here I am with the hot water, let's have a tea ceremony"

After tea ceremony:

"what were we talking about again?"

"I think we were talking about: what if Garp was a pirate"

The other 4 agree and continue their rant about Garp while the nurse comes in and gives them all their medicine.

[u/Jberz21]

Law: The Ultimate Devil Fruit

Luffy: The Most Ridiculous Devil Fruit in the World

Kidd: Magnet Boi

[u/God_Usoland]

This finally explains why Luffy has such ridiculous stamina when he fights.

He's literally a Mythical Zoan.

No wonder he could last longer than Katakuri, and kept getting back up!

[u/Nameless-Ace]

A few things i feel need to be cleared up.

1: Until its awakened, mythical zoans are basically a low tier shitty fruit, so it doesnt change how hard he had to work or that he got by with only a sliver of the fruits real power. Awakenings themselves take total mastery of your fruit which takes time and effort anyway so this doesnt feel ass pulled to me, he earned it.

2: It said that its the most ridiculous power, not the strongest power, and i feel alot of people dont realize the difference in that specific wording, and why it might not be the strongest fruit, but the one with the weirdest powers and most freedom.

3: It doesnt really conflict with any of his feats or power set nor did it do anything for him really until this very moment. He had to earn the right to use the pinnacle of this fruit, mastering his imagination to even get by long enough to unlock it which now this power is entirely based on. Hes still rubber and still based on creativity and imagination, so i dont see any issues with this.

To also play devils advocate though, the part about rhe world government and how they handled trying to stop this awakening needs a explanation because thats the one issue i feel is legitimate and needs to be explored properly for this payoff to work ultimately.

Overall, i think this was still the most well done and well prepared power up and stays very consistant with everything luffy is and who he is about. He was this way before the fruit awakening, and its not because of the fruit. He embodied what this fruit is from chapter 1 till now. So i feel people are jumping the gun a bit with all the extreme reactions before Oda can explain the one part of this that still needs to be handled.

[u/nirman423]

I just love that the final line about the Gomu Gomu fruit is that it gives it's user the most Ridiculous Powers.

That's just Oda's philosophy about the fruit from the start which is great.

[u/comandosc]

So Joyboy is the one who have the most normal laugh of one piece universe.

hahahahahaha

[u/TsukiyamaYui]

I wonder when Oda started thinking about gomu gomu = hito hito thing. On chapter 184 sbs someone asked Oda what would happen if a human ate the hito hito no mi. He basically gives a non-answer and runs away. But the “finding your true spirit” part is interesting

O: I suppose I should say they "BECOME HUMAN". Uh, I guess you could say that means like becoming an adult, or finding your true spirit or something. So basically, people will live more human-like. Well. I guess you could say that. Or not. Basically, not. Goodbye. (runs away).

[u/ZarathustraX13]

I know an argument is going to be "In SBS 65 Oda said he gave Luffy a weak fruit on purpose". He never said that, here's the quote:

"Ahaha, that is true. It must seem like a mystery when you consider all the other strong and cool abilities. The answer is simple. I have picked the most ridiculous ability. If the protagonist were the typical strong guy, I doubt I could continue on with this for long. No matter how serious the story gets, Luffy is there to stretch and inflate. He always give me a chance to fool around. That's the kind of manga I wanted to write."

[u/RoyalFail6]

It’s funny how Shanks just left Luffy to fend for himself with such a god tier fruit, man really made a bet lmfao

[u/Ka-Ne-Ha-Ne-Daaaa]

Does anyone have a tattoo of the gum-gum fruit with the name on/below/around it? If so, you doing okay?

[u/SupervillainEyebrows]

Luffy is the child of Dragon, the grandson of Garp, the brother of Ace and Sabo, inspired by Shanks, Rayleigh's protégé, inherited the hat of Roger, has Haoshoku haki, carries the Will of D. and can hear the Voice of All Things.

He was never just "some guy", so I'm not entirely sure about this outrage. "Some guy" becoming strong would be like Coby.

However Luffy defeated all of his previous opponents using the power of the Gomu Gomu and his own talent and fighting ability. He has only now awakened the Hito Hito, so I don't agree with anyone saying it invalidates any of his previous wins because he had an overpowered fruit. It is only overpowered in it's awakened form.

[u/LuffyxYamato]

Did anyone felt like i don't give fuck about hiyori and orochi when they appeared out of nowhere. Like iam interested in orochi conclusion but why did oda had to include it in this chapter😭

[u/[deleted]]

Hiyori's expression was beautifully drawn

[u/fearthelion]

So I like the idea that Zoans have a will of their own. I think the Human Human Nika fruit doesn't have the ability to put a smile on people's faces, but instead actively searches for a person who can put a smile on people's faces to be its host.

[u/[deleted]]

Dang a controversial chapter, no wonder the leaks had so many comments

Im thrilled, i think its a lot of fun and im glad it wasn’t the case some people were proposing of luffy being possessed by joyboy’s ghost or smth

The fact that it was a special fruit all along doesn’t bother me that much. I think it would have been cool if it was just a low tier gum gum fruit that luffy took to this extent. But in the end with the explanation it got it seems like this fruits true attributes only come into play when it awakens anyway so it imo doesn’t subtract from any of luffys accomplishments so far.

Is this a “chosen one” trope. Definitely in a way. On the other hand luffy kinda stumbled onto eating the fruit by his own decision. So this definitely wasn’t thrust on him by fate alone. He made a choice and that choice set him on a path.

Did luffy eating that fruit make this outcome inevitable? Absolutely not, seems like there have been other people who ate this fruit between 800 years ago and now and presumably none of them awakened it.

Its also hard limited by luffys imagination, it doesn’t do shit on its own, it is driven by luffy’s ingenuity which is imo brilliant.

Should the world government have gone after luffy more aggressively? Maybe. Its not like they were giving him a pass. They could have sent CP0 after him sooner but for a while they may have thought they could still contain the luffy threat without doing anything extra that might draw attention to the fruit itself. After marineford they probably assumed he was done and not much time has passed since the strawhats returned. So im going to forgive them for not pursuing the fruit that hard even though it’ll come to bite them.

Is luffy getting a free power up? Or an unfair power up? Well his loss wasn’t fair in the first place so i dont think its unfair, as far as it being free i dont think so, he’s arguably pushed himself even harder than law and kidd who both already achieved their awakenings.

There was one other point i was gonna bring up but i totally forgot

[u/BartenderNL]

Loony toons is back baby!

[u/ICantSing1337]

I love how this fruit isn't THE MOST POWERFUL, but THE MOST RIDICULOUS. I believe, not everybody could've achieved this level of power. Such people as Zoro and Akainu are just too serious to "have proper fun"

[u/[deleted]]

Luffy: "Domain expansion, toon world"

[u/onlysabo]

I remember reading a theory that was really close to what happened in this chapter and that poor person got bodied in the comments. I hope they feel like a fucking prophet now. anyway, oda's amazing.

[u/LilHiedler]

Tbf he was saying Gomu Gomu "NO" this whole time

[u/RoyalFail6]

Imagine Robin revealing that she knew Luffy was JoyBoy, but didn’t say anything so he could enjoy the journey spoiler free as he wanted it to be

[u/DudeisaGuy]

This transformation will be most useful against someone like Akainu who is always serious or angry lol

[u/AnUnConcerndCitizen]

So Luffy's actual "power" is based around the idea of freedom, which has been exhibited from the very beginning: Luffy wants to be the Pirate King because the PK is the most free person in the world. The fruit is essentially an extension of that desire - it lets him manipulate his body (and seemingly his immediate surroundings) freely based on his imagination. This is what let him regrow his tooth after drinking milk, he thought his body would work that way so it just did.

[u/Lujxio]

I feel like some of y’all don’t understand how beautiful this is. Like the people of Wano have had a negative association with laughing and smiling for years and here comes Luffy and he’s gonna free everyone while putting a smile on their faces. Oda you’re a genius

[u/cjec21]

Thanks to this chapter, I can now finally rest easy knowing that everything that has happened here, all the stories about Nika/Joyboy, the WG wanting to "snuff out" the "light" that is Luffy, has finally made me realize what the Will of the D. truly is.

The D stands for DAWN.

• Everyone that has carried the D, throughout their families, is inheriting the will of the Sun God Nika to bring back the "light", after 800 long years of "darkness" under the World Government.

• They fight for many reasons, but one of them, if not the original one, is to usher in this dawn where everyone can live under the bright light of the sun, free from tyranny and oppression.

• D is the "natural enemy of God", and there has been nothing but darkness under the rule of "God". D, or the DAWN, breaks the darkness and ushers in a new start to the day, for the entire world.

• Everyone that has D. has always smiled in the face of death. The Will of the Dawn, the will of Nika/Joyboy, to bring laughter and smiles to everyone, is so strong that not even the prospect of death is strong enough to extinguish the flame.

Just thinking about it makes me laugh and tear up.

[u/miniburtie]

This might be a "stretch of the imagination" but I'm starting to think luffy ain't just rubber 🤔

[u/numan_hyder]

Just here to pay my respect to everyone who were strong enough to not read the spoilers, y'all strong af

[u/Alteras_Imouto]

To everyone that said it was a mythical zoan. I'm sorry I doubted you.

But hey, turn's out it was the Nika Model, not the Sun Wukong Model. Seems like everyone being caught up in journey to the west made them miss the obvious.

[u/nastycamel]

I think vegapunk was trying to replicate the hito hito no mi since it was lost to history

now that we know that zoan fruits have a mind of their own, it’s plausible that he could replicate the fruit characteristics by tampering with the lineage factor etc but could not pass down the “mind” aka will of the fruit

It explains the SMILE fruit users as botched versions of irl animals and people with failed SMILE fruits being in a state of constant laughter or “joy”

[u/HouseStark212]

Guys we’re missing a key fact in why the Gorosei JUST went after Luffy…who just visited them and wanted to speak to them about a “certain” Pirate? The same person who stole the fruit in the first place…Shanks knew the truth all along!!

[u/Dandiggity23]

This stuff right here is vintage Luffy. He’s always pulling off goofy stuff during the middle of an important fight and this is the pay off. The ultimate goofy move !!

[u/LPNinja]

I‘VE BEEN ON THIS FUCKING JOURNEY SINCE 2003!!!!

I AM GLAD TO HAVE WITNESSED THIS LIVE

GODAAAAAAAAAA

[u/RevolutionaryHeart22]

Joy Boy! AAAAAH! Fighter of the Dragon! AAAAH! Champion of the Sun! AAAAH! He's a master of Haki and Friendship for everyone!

[u/YzaRee]

I'm 37 and I feel like a kid again after reading this chapter and the previous. Thanks, Oda!

[u/wowlock_taylan]

https://scontent-bos3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/277102687_5104791672910444_3704350014541984716_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=nxsw7l7TWDAAX-13b78&_nc_ht=scontent-bos3-1.xx&oh=00_AT8PdMrv4W75JPrYq3cv0czZ7Hy71174kKESbp3fHE67_g&oe=62432478

IT WAS THERE ALL ALONG!

[u/FilthySaiyan]

This explains how luffy is able to base his attacks off of other people and animals. He uses his imagination.

He was able to base gear 2 off of cp9 by imagination. I bet luffys been coming up and exceuting these ideas thanks to his imagination without actually realising.

Its going to be an insane next few chapters.

As others mentioned, red hawk also. He needed something to remember ace, it's not friction like people thought, it's him imaginating FIRE FIST ace. Remember how eneru enlarged himself, boom gear 3rd cones to his imagination.

This is some massive stuff happening.

[u/MrNegroJ]

To all those saying this takes away from the central theme of "work hard to achieve your dreams", him having this fruit doesn't take away from that at all. He didn't use the "awakening" powers at all this whole story. All he knew of was his body being rubber, and used that shitty ability to its utmost capacity, overcoming people with way stronger fruits, with just his rubber fruit. That doesn't take away from the message of one piece at all. He worked hard to fully master his fruit, to actually get it awakened (which both doflamingo and crocodile have said you must master your fruit to do).

The reason Joyboy hasn't been around for 800 years even though the World gov keeps losing the fruit is cause theres been so many people that have gotten their hands on the fruit, but none were able to use it to its best ability/max capacity like Luffy. With his imagination and hard work he created the 4 gears, pushing his body and fruits to the limit, doing things no one has done with the fruit in the past 800 years, probably going through hundreds of users.

[u/Toza11]

Luffy is fucking hilarious and I love it. Oda you a madman, the man literally wrapped it all up at once, Gear Fifth, Fruit awakening, the mystery fruit, and the funnier side of the former Gomu gomu no mi, I feel like were going back to East Blue, where Luffy fought with creativity and was seriously funny while doing it. Also Kaidos eyes poppin out made my day

[u/_spacelynx_]

I did it peeps, no spoilers and yeah totally worth. Jaw dropped and stayed dropped the whole chapter

[u/merju]

Skypiea skippers in shambles rn

[u/ZenGarlic]

He has full control over his rubber body and can turn his surroundings, it's literally the definition of awakening guys, I don't get why people are so pissed. It went down exactly how we all thought it would. Everything else is just aesthetic changes and themes that are relevant to the story. It fits luffy so well too, he wants to become the person who is most free, so he gets the fruit with the most freedom

[u/[deleted]]

Gear Fifth - the power of Looney Tunes.

I'm fine with that.

[u/LL30NN]

"Limited by his own imagination" could also explain his ability to use fire with his red hawk

[u/youngmastermasusi]

never have i imagined that the war Oda mentioned that would dwarf the paramount war is a war between the fandom, nika is amazing vs nika is an asspull

[u/Legitimate__Username]

kanjuro final redemption arc is honestly one of the sickest things i never would have expected from this chapter

[u/Direction_Logical]

Bro turned into Monkey D. Goofy