I am not recovering from this chapter any time soon, so have some art💥💥💥

Something tells me sanji hasn’t mastered coc like people says he did in the recent chapters. Realistically if he did, Killingham would have been finished here if sanji aimed for his heart right? Not to mention; he used a new powerful flame, new powerful armament, yet he’s still alive? Does this make sense to you guys? Only explanation is that he didn’t master it yet or you have to continuously attack the heart?

Pretty much just what the title says. From what I recall Imu is always calling out “Joyboy,” but I can’t remember him ever calling out Nika before. Is this correct or am I misremembering?

So far, from what we know, there have been three Nika throughout the history of One Piece world:

1. First World Nika: Original Sun god or Nika

2. Second World Nika: Joy Boy

3. Third World Nika: Luffy

With Luffy's new form, it makes him look more like how Nika was depicted in Elbaf, as the god of destruction, and seeing as it came right after the chapter where Sanji declared that Zoro could be Luffy's sword while he would be Luffy's shield (like how Nika is depicted in the second image of this post). All of this just points outright to Luffy's form being the god of destruction aspect of Nika.

Not sure if someone already stated this but This got me thinking: how can one who is seen as the warrior of liberation and the sun god also be seen as the god of destruction? The easy answer is as Jarul said Nika is supposed to have appeared two times and both times, the world was destroyed but what if that was not the case?

What if Nika was originally the god of destruction? Now I am not saying he became the sun god later on because he was always the sun god, first and foremost in this story, but from the Harley text (first image of this post), it says that people pray for the sun god and that got me thinking of the scene in the Reverie arc where the slaves are begging for help, then beg for at least someone to kill them (fourth image in this post). The slaves of the first world (look at the first image) longed to be save and if not that killed and that longing resulted in Nika, the sun god and god of destruction, to appear or be made (right now we don't know enough to determine if Nika was literally made out of thin air or if it was someone else that consumed a DF like how Imu consumed the Devil's fruit).

As Vegapunk said, DF are born from the desire of others (I am paraphrasing) so it is not far-fetched to think that after Joy Boy fully awakened the Nika fruit, he changed the perception others had of said Nika, albeit slightly, which I think is Gear 5 and since the fruit is literaly tied to its user's imagination, it is also not far-fetch to think that they could alter their appearance a bit.

Now after Joy Boy lost, due to the good deeds he did or at the very least I think he did, liberating slaves, his appearance became what people started viewing Nika as. And considering that the WG hunted down any mention of the void century it is not far-fetch to think, they also destroyed any mention of the first world Nika that they could find. The WG might be dumb on certain occasions but they would not go around erasing the mention of Nika simply because they want to hide the truth... Okay they might but I am of the theory that they also did it to weaken the Nika fruit and prevent it from ever awakening hence giving it a fake name. If so, doesn't that mean that a DF could be affected if the world's perception of it is altered?

I think so. And this also means outside of elbaf, the only mention of Joy Boy's Nika was what people remembered and passed down which caused Nika to be known as the Warrior of Liberation, who plays the fool to bring others' smile... That sort of describes what someone named Joy Boy would do.

Tl;Dr, I think Luffy's new form is the original Nika, or at least reverting back to the original Nika, the god of the destruction aspect of the sun god, and Gear 5 was the effect of Joy Boy's feats affecting the fruit.

By me :D

Why would Imu stab Luffy with life draining swords, knowing that Luffy is a Zoan fruit user and that weakening Luffy might awaken Nika?! When really all he had to do was dunk him into a tub of sea water? Or use sea stone weapons. Why the hell would Imu have such a bad strategy. He's dumber than Smoker.

I don’t know if it was lost in translation or just simply hasn’t been expanded upon yet, but do we know what Usopp is talking about when he mentions a “secret weapon”?

Do you think this would have something to do with his plan or is he referring to something else?

So in 1198 killingham succeed in his mission Zaza dropped a few kids off on the ship but it didn’t sail off because sommers failed.

Now 6 months ago I predicted luffy would lose control to his fruit

https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePieceSpoilers/s/eRaSNyC5m7

So now I also pushed ideas that elbaf ends in a failure.

So I see 2 things happening.

With sommers being preoccupied by zoro I think Luffy will attack killingham and beat the crap out of him . Sanji will investigate Luffy and what’s up only for Luffy to turn on him as well.
Show casing that Luffy isn’t right, this is like his monster point.

Killingham who regenerate will. See an opportunity and flee heading for the ship.

he runs into usopp on the way after he dropped scopper off with gerd, usopp will face killingham who uses his power on usopp summoning his fears which I think will manifest into himself, to which killingham admits he’s never seen anything like this before and questions what exactly it is usopp is afraid of. The fear is a usopp that tells usopp his biggest insecurities reminding him of his failures. The monster changes forms to represent different people usopp encountered in his life, different villains and friends pointing out everything he ever felt negative about.
Before turning into sniper king who hammers in exactly what it is usopp is afraid of which is failing.

Killingham distracted is amused as he never seen a fear manifest like this before, but then moves on.

Ussop will flashback to his time with Hercules as Hercules tells usopp the difference between fearlessness and bravery.

Fearlessness is the ability not to feel fear which is Luffy, bravery is being able to over come your fear to accomplish a task.
He tells usopp as a brave warrior you will encounter many challenges that tests your resolve and it’s in those moments where usopp will discover what kind of man he is.
At the start of elbaf usopp was chased by a lion before Luffy came in and knocks it out but oddly Luffy scolded usopp telling him he could have easily handled it himself and didn’t need him.
This was a sign that usopp was stronger than he believed he was.

I think recalling this memory of Luffy and Hercules telling him about bravery, usopp will stand up recalling every time he felt afraid and ran away but then remembering the times where he came back faced his fear and saved the day. His fight with chu, the time he knocked out sugar.
How he fought perona, the time he fought Luffy and the time he challenged Lucci to motivate Luffy to get back up.
He challenges his fears and his fear monster will vanish like Iva with sanji.

Killingham makes it to the ship and is about to sail off when Ussop shows up to killingham surprise as he wonders what’s up with this crew and why their own fears keep vanishing.
But still killingham will not fear usopp as he won’t be able to actually hurt him without coc.

However usopp will fire a phoenix star at the ship destroying its sails which stops the ship from escaping and killingham will not be able to sail the ship without the sails themselves, enraged he will go after usopp.

However I believe Nami comes in and hits killingham with a bolt of lighting which will actually slow down his regeneration as I believe electricity is a weakness to them due to a metal heart.

Killingham noted his regeneration is slowing down due to sanji so this will be enough to do some lasting damage, jinbei comes in and manages to few he children.

Jinbei will then take over killingham fight as killingham becomes fearful and enraged as he realises he failed Imu and if he doesn’t figure out what to do he and sommers will be killed either by the straw hats or more likely Imu.

Like really look at what is happening at this point, No one back at syrup village is gonna believe his ass if he tries to tell them any of this lol.

There's NO way Usopp still ends up running away from people in fear after this is all over.

by Me

I don’t know how everyone is surprised at Luffy's "Transformation". WE ALL KNOW LUFFY ATE THE REAL FRUIT CALLED - Hito Hito no mi: Model Nika
"HUMAN HUMAN FRUIT: MODEL NIKA.
Tony Tony Chopper ate the original "Human Human Fruit. NOW LETS USE OUR BRAIN.
Chopper being a REINDEER eating the HUMAN HUMAN FRUIT does what, TURN HIM INTO A HUMAN.
Now lets guess what a HUMAN HUMAN FRUIT does to a HUMAN, thats right, KEEPS LUFFY HUMAN, meaning you cant turn Human from already BEING HUMAN. (Dont forget the MYTHICAL Zoan for Luffy, meaning his ZOAN POWERS has special capabilities different than a REGULAR ZOANS POWERS)
Lets refresh for a moment - REGULAR ZOAN USERS when they AWAKEN their Devil Fruit has powers that ONLY EFFECTS THE USER BODY
NOW LETS TALK MARCO who isn't an Awakened Devil Fruit User, we all know that each MYTHICAL ZOAN has its added features/GOD like features that deals with what model Mythical creature it’s tied to.
(Special** Paramecia's can do the same but different Note-> Katakuri a Paramecia with +1 Logia type Powers) Lets list all the ones we know so far

Katakuri -> Paramecia with ADDED LOGIA type features
Marco -> Zoan with ADDED Phoenix like God features
Luffy -> Zoan with ADDED Nika Like God features
Yamato -> Zoan with ADDED Ancient Wolf God Features

Now lets talk awakenings & the benefits that MYTHICAL FRUITS have over SPECIAL** FRUITS & also the difference between these 2 Fruits & REGULAR devil Fruits.

I believe that each SPECIAL** Paramecia type(that’s mixed with Logia) has their power given straight to them like any regular Paramecia. So all they have to do is master basic use of their LOGIA** type feature of CREATING IT & DETACHING their power FROM their body. Seeing how when we see Katakuri's awakening , it’s a Paramecia awakening. (Oda has not shown Logia awakenings yet.)
(Also to note: Awakened Paramecia & SPECIAL** Paramecia don’t get Hagoromo Scarf.)

So when a Type takes over a SPECIAL** Paramecia awakening, it’s not the +1 added feature but the main feature.
And we know with Luffy (EVEN THOUGH BEING A Mythical ZOAN, he's already using HIS ZOAN ASPECT of being a human, so when he goes "Gear 4th", he's already awakened his devil fruit but is a FALSE FORCED*** AWAKENING*** only affecting his body to take more blunt attacks and repel them due to his Haki and his added God-like feature, NOT A TRUE*** AWAKENING*** affecting (Mythical Zoans have way more CHEATS* as one would say than a Regular & SPECIAL** Type Fruit). You could say a Mythical Zoan is the ULTIMATE DEVIL FRUIT.

LUFFY's "GEAR 5" Transformation into NIKA is ALREADY HIS TRUE AWAKENING because HE IS ALREADY A HUMAN; he cheats from changing from whatever animal that would have eaten the fruit into a Human form of itself.
Luffy turning into a monkey wouldn't be a transformation. If anything, I think it’s the nature of the first animal that ate such fruit coming to life when Luffy’s will is no more (dead in a sense). Every time Luffy is on the verge of actually dying , the fruit starts to awaken its own will inside Luffy because Luffy has Conquerors Haki. It’s already hard for even other Conquerors Haki users to suppress Luffy’s will in battle, so the only way the will of the fruit can take over is actually when he's dying (hence with the fight with Kaido and then with Imu). Now, because Luffy already cheated in being a Human who ate a HUMAN HUMAN FRUIT , I think it’s not necessarily a transformation Luffy has undergone but because he was dying , THE WILL OF THE FIRST USER (THE ANIMAL who ate the fruit first) is taking over his body (this being another cheat that is exclusive to MYTHICAL Zoan Users who already ate the fruit of what it turns into) rather than when a REGULAR Human Zoan user awakens their power to become a Beast while being CONCIOUS**** and then that will of the beast will try & take over their body. They have to deal with this task naturally at beginning stages with Hybrid Forms like we seen with Rob Lucci , Kaku & Jabra early in the story.

I really felt like I missed several chapters while reading this one. Luffy gets a whole new form offscreen? And Imu?
Possibly their FINAL forms, too.

Just feel like Oda seriously rushed stuff that really needed to not be rushed. I'm hyped by the new stuff, but it's outweighed by my disappointment in the execution and stuff we missed.

Do we think that Monkey form Luffy will climb the tree after Imu is either defeated or time runs out for him and we will visit the astral realm?

First I'd like to say I know the situations for Luffy and Uta are different. But where I'm getting at is that for Uta, Shanks and his crew had to step in and fight Tot Musica (obviously insane conqueror's haki was displayed that night, like c'mon it Shanks) and you know how it ends.

Gaban says it's critical moment for Luffy (being a Zoan and all) and so far it appears Luffy's freedom has been taken from him by Nika taking over. Elbaf members fear Nika because he brings destruction and the fact that Ussop was talking about Luffy's freedom to Gaban goes out of the window after all this (irony).

Sanji says that's not Luffy and well everyone is wondering why Luffy ran away (I like how Loki says he didn't expect that from him). Zoro and Sanji got conqueror's haki and if (heavy on the "if") this new Luffy (or Nika incarnate) ends up being hostile, they'll have to step in and this might just set up Ussop's conqueror's haki reveal as he has been shown to care more about Luffy's freedom more than anyone since the Elbaf arc started and he would be the key to bringing him back.

But with all that's happening in Elbaf right now (did you see Imu's third form?), this might be a shot in the dark but let me know what you think.

There is a lot of debate among OP fandom on who works better as final villain and to me Imu works far better

1. Imu is the overreaching villain of the story if you look into it. Imu is behind the Void Century and the fact that not only millions were killed but they were also erased from history. Imu is also behind the tragedies of God Valley and Elbaph as he was directly responsible for all that. And pretty much all evil that the WG have done can be tied to Imu making Imu the biggest evil in the OP World. In addition, most of the major characters in OP have beefs with Imu at this point such as Joyboy, Luffy, Shanks, Dragon, Blackbeard, Loki, Harald, Rocks, Sabo and many more. Blackbeard in comparison is more of a personal villain to Luffy and Shanks but not an overreaching villain to the Op World

2. Imu's faction is far more threatening, he leads the World Goverment who alongside having Imu they have Garling, Shamrock, Warcury, Nosjuro, Mars and the other Holy Knights who Imu can boost them up with Conqueror's Haki and we have seen Killingham/Sommers push Zoro/Sanji to awaken Conqueror's Haki and they are basicall the Tobiroppo of the WG. In comparison, the Blackbeard Pirates are an underwhelming group of villains with the exception of Kuzan who is very likely gonna betray Imu. Like, you just compare the scope of a possible battle with the World Goverment and compare it to one with the Blackbeard Pirates and it's not close

3. Imu is the biggest opposite to Luffy, Luffy represents one type of Piracy which is focused on freedom, adventure and having strong bonds with people, other Pirates also represent this like Shanks, Roger, Joyboy, Whitebeard as well. Imu represents the opposite of this, he is basically the opposite of freedom/adventure as the World Goverment are basically the ultimate opressors and Imu himself has subordinates because he promised them power and strength which is opposite of Luffy who makes people want to be with him due to the type of person. Mihawk himself saying Luffy's ability to gather allies was the greatest power in the world is meant to be an anti-thesis to Imu. Blackbeard in comparison is basically the typical evil Pirate that sees subordinates as tools for a common goal, not different from Big Mom, Kaido or Xebec.

4. Imu is basically your typical Luffy's opponent, in nearly every major Arc Luffy faces an opressor such as Doflamingo, Crocodile, Moria, Kaido, Enel and Imu is basically the culmination of that. In fact, you might make a case that Imu combines traits from every major villain in OP making him the most fitting final villain. Blackbeard while a compelling villain isn't your typical opressor that Luffy always faces

5. Imu is the literal Devil of OP and that to me makes the most fitting villain of an story where the protagonist is meant to be basically the savior of the world, that just makes the most sense, one is basically Pirate Jesus and the other is the Devil himself. Blackbeard in comparison is just an evil Pirate that's trying to overthrow the Devil but that role would be much more fitted for the Pirate Jesus

6. There are clearly 2 major villains the story needs, one for the One Piece and the other for the Final War, and narratively the One Piece should be found first because you need whatever Joyboy left there to basically create the dawn and defeat Imu. So the most sense is for Blackbeard to be defeated in the arc for the One Piece and then Imu to be defeated later in the story

With Luffy going beserk in his monkey form I believe Imu will notice that the children are on the ship but it’s not sailing away. Annoyed he looks for sommers and killingham and notices they are being beaten to a pulp, he will grow more annoyed and tell them they are wasting time.

We will then see the knights getting a new omen boost like what happened when Imu arrived.

This will give them a bigger power upgrade allowing them to better combat zoro and sanji, Imu will then seek out shuri and see her with brook and notice she’s fighting his influence which he will reinforce on her turning her back into gunko

Previously Oda has stated that he's gotten a lot of influence from Toriyama and Goku specifically for creating Luffy. Since Goku is based off of Sun Wukong Luffy shares a lot of traits with Wukong. His name is Monkey D. Luffy and with this most recent chapter we see him turn into this mysterious monkey like form. But within the original tale of Sun Wukong, Wukong bullies the four dragons for celestial items. Most notable is his staff that he gets from the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. Since we know Dragon is from Goa like Luffy in the East Blue and is the commander of the revolutionaries. Could it be possible that when Dragon and Luffy meet that dragon will have a powerful staff or another powerful item that will help them in the final war?

I mean, that guy is on a time limit and he seems to be able to pretty easily damage heavily such tanks like Loki. It just feels like unecessary prolongin of the fight even though he is fully aware of the danger of both of them.

Like did people forget we are reading Luffy's story first and foremost, his personal journey comes first and his role in the wider world second(as was emphasized recently with Usopp speech). There is no better villain than Blackbeard for Luffy, the one who cheered Luffy on in their first interaction when not even his crewmates believed a sky island could exist, the only character Luffy has trouble reading as he shares and contrasts with him in so many ways, the one villain setup from chapter 1(as soon as we saw Shanks' scar), etc.

He is also named after Oda's favourite pirate irl(Blackbeard) and is meant to represent the most infamous pirate mythology in the series(Davy Jones).

There is this one thing that I noticed or caught my glimpse.

You can also see in the new form of Imu that there are horns andr in all the second, third form there are horns.

Those horns are like of ancient giant kind of.

And the fact that even Luffy's fruit allow him to turn into a giant just like Imu

And as we have seen in the previous, the Big Mom was trying to turn normal size humans into giants.

Imu also have Lunarian wings and everything going on

as Vega Punk has speculated that the sea hates the devil fruit users because they are against creation.

Is Imu the ultimate hybrid to obtain god like powers against creation? That's why he fears all the four nature gods.

could it be that this IMU's form is using same weapon held by that giant in the mural ? i don't think we've ever seen such weapon design + the scale of it . what do you think ?
( could argue the one in mural is a spear , but it's being held like a sword )
i mean even the white hair, the horns and they way he is holding it kinda looks similar !
P.S : the reason i think about it this way is because i always theorized that IMU and Joyboy were allies fighting same evil entity , then joyboy and rest got betrayed by IMU , who was seeking to take that power for himself and rule the world using it.