 Warning, this video will contain spoilers up to chapter 1044. You've been warned! Hello, my Nakamataji, this is Joy Girl, and let's talk about the massive revelation that Luffy's Devil Fruit is in fact not the Gomu Gomu No Mi, but is really a super rare, super powerful, ridiculous even, a mythical Zouen and its name being the Hito Hito No Mi Model Ni-Ka. Now, I did share some of my initial thoughts in my chapter review, and if you haven't seen that video yet, then I do recommend that you check it out. But this review is something that I have been thinking a lot about because it is just such major news and there's so much to unpack in terms of remaining mysteries and the implications it has for the series going forward. And now that I've had some time to digest and really think about it, I want to share my answers to some of the questions or sentiments that I've seen you guys have left behind in my comment section. But first of all, before we begin, I want to ask, please subscribe to the channel because why not? One Piece is brilliant. I think so. You think so. I discuss One Piece, you get to listen to One Piece discussions. So it's really a win-win situation. But now on to Luffy's Devil Fruit, I actually want to start by repeating just how much this Devil Fruit really excites me. And it's really for a number of reasons. For one, it came as quite a bit of a surprise. I know that the Model Ni-Ka Devil Fruit did come up as a possibility, and in fact, I did discuss this idea as well before we got the reveal, but I also know that there were a lot of other theories floating around as to what Luffy's true Devil Fruit could be. After Chapter 1043, when we saw Luffy and what seemed to be goo around his head, the resin Devil Fruit became a really popular idea, and before that, it was Sun Wukong or the Hanuman theories. And not to say that those two legends, Sun Wukong or Hanuman, had no part in inspiring Oda when it comes to Luffy's character. I mean, it's quite obvious that they have. There are quite a number of parallels or connections that could be made there. But now that we have the reveal of Luffy's Devil Fruit true nature, it seems like there may even be another legend that has inspired Oda. That being the Korupira, and I'm sorry if I mispronounced that, coming from Brazilian folklore. Korupira is a boy or a creature depending on which version you read, but he lives in the forest and he has red hair, or in some renditions, even fiery red hair, who protects the animals and those in the forest from greedy hunters. And so obvious parallels and connections can be made to Luffy, and especially his current GIFI form with his flame hair, the fact that he trained and grew up in the forest, his overall goal or role in every arc, to help those in need and free them from the greed and the villainy of the antagonists, as well as the fact that this concerns a Brazilian folklore. And as we all know, Oda said that if Luffy lived in our real world, that he'd come from Brazil. But anyways, I had a lot of fun reading and researching into this because it just proves how much Oda really considers different elements, different legends and different stories to really create well-rounded characters. And looking at this reveal in retrospect, this is really an occasion where we realize that this is something that we should have figured out already, or at the least that Oda may have already given us hints as to this reveal. If you consider Luffy's insane durability, which up to this point you could have chalked up to his training and his inherent strength, but we do know that Zoan Fruit users in particular have crazy durability. If you think about his multiple forms, we know that Zoan Fruit users have multiple forms, especially when it comes to the Hitohitonomi as we've seen through Chopper and his various forms, him being the first example of a Hitohitonomi. But then Luffy also used fire-based abilities, which we all just assumed to be the inherited will of Ace, but now this makes much more in-series logical sense. And then there's also Oda's answer to the question of what would happen to a human who ate the Hitohitonomi in SBS Volume 20. And in Oda's response, he said that there's a saying in Japan about becoming more human or coming of age, and that this meant to become more adult-like, to stop acting crazy, to behave like a human should, and to reach your true spirit or your true nature. And some people had interpreted this to mean reaching enlightenment. And in that way, this could explain Sengoku's Buddha-based powers. And now similarly, we see that Luffy has also reached or attained deity status. Or even when you consider Chapter 1043, where we saw the goop-like substance on Luffy's head, we could have taken that and interpreted that as Luffy not melting, but his hair actually turning into the flame-like hair that we've seen on Nika, which is actually something I said before we got Chapter 1044. But anyway, something else that I love is that although this came as a surprising twist, Oda's also opened up the possibility for a lot of the other theories or speculations that people had about Luffy's true devil fruit or Luffy's gift fifth or awakening. There's a great possibility that we'll actually get to see a lot of those ideas actually come into fruition, and Oda has even started showing that to us. For example, some of you may remember that I've said for quite a while that Luffy's devil fruit power and that his gift fifth or his awakening in particular will be a power that allows Luffy to turn into a giant because that would make a lot of sense for the story in a number of ways. And it does seem like we could really see that happening so long as Luffy's imagination wills it. Seeing Luffy's gigantic arm come out and grab Kaido really had me thinking we could certainly definitely see the whole of Luffy also blowing up to this huge giant form. We also saw in chapter 1044 that Luffy's able to extend his rubber-based properties onto external things and this is obviously something that a lot of people had been expecting of his awakening. And again, it makes sense based on the Gorase's dialogue that it's only limited to Luffy's imagination and thinking about that line a little more. Given that we've seen Luffy harbour powers to emanate fire these combined do suggest that Luffy isn't limited to just rubber-based attacks, rubber-based abilities but then is his fire abilities connected to him being a Sun God? And really what I mean is what is the limitation to the Nika Devil Fruit? You know, will Luffy's abilities only concern the realm of rubber plus fire and some combination of these elements or will it really extend past that? Did the Gorase literally mean anything? And I do want to hear your thoughts on this so make sure to let me know by leaving a comment below. But some other speculations that this development had me naturally thinking about was will Blackbeard show up at Wano to steal Luffy's Devil Fruit? In their unconcerned fruit forms, both the Yami Yami Nomi and what we knew back then as the Gomu Gomu Nomi their appearance is quite similar. And so a question arises, did Blackbeard actually want Luffy's Devil Fruit? Did he actually know what its true nature would be? But then again, Blackbeard did say that he specifically after the Yami Yami Nomi so maybe at the least, these two Devil Fruits are still connected? Going back to the idea of Blackbeard wanting to steal Luffy's Devil Fruit now a theory has been around for quite a while that Blackbeard could come to Wano to steal Kaido's Devil Fruit especially based on the idea that he's actually after three Devil Fruits for himself based on the motif of three surrounding his character and him obtaining Kaido's Devil Fruit being a mythical Zoan would complete the trifecta of Devil Fruit types given that he already possesses a Logia and a Paramisha. But now seeing as Luffy's Devil Fruit is also a Zoan or a mythical Zoan having a deity based fruit which is almost limitless in terms of its abilities seems even more desirable than a dragon turning fish fruit. And another speculation that's raised as a result of this reveal is the question of whether Shanks warned the Gorosei about Luffy. The last time that we saw Shanks was with the Gorosei and then the next time we see the Gorosei they're discussing the fruit and what a nuisance it's going to be how they have to eliminate Luffy. You know, is this just a me coincidence? But given that Shanks stole the Devil Fruit it's very likely, extremely likely that he knows its significance and that he's one of the very few people who do. So then what does this mean about Shanks? What does it suggest for his role in the story? And you guys also let me know your thoughts on this Blackbeard and Shanks speculations as well. But anyways, going back to NiKa and considering the fact we know that it's able to be also translated to the word Grinn there's an obvious connection between NiKa and Joy and Happiness. So then, if we take that Joy Boy was the original holder of the NiKa Devil Fruit can we also think along the lines of Joy Boy's spirit being imbued into the Devil Fruit and that spirit is now living in and changing Luffy? Going back to the Gorosei's dialogue in Chapter 1044 they say that Zoe and fruits have a will of their own. And even before we got this chapter, even before we got this dialogue this has been a long-held idea that the personalities or spirit of a previous Devil Fruit user is imbued into the fruit and is carried on and inherited by its next user. You know, this has been a speculation that Sabo has inherited Ace's will through the Merimeronomy even despite the fact that the Merimeronomy obviously isn't a Zoe and Devil Fruit or is it? But seriously, before this reveal, I actually made a joke that maybe it's only because Luffy ate his Devil Fruit that he started chasing dreams of becoming a pirate king, of chasing freedom and so on and so forth. But now it actually seems like this could be somewhat true after all. There's a panel from Chapter 1 that I've seen some people point out where it shows Luffy stretching his mouth and the unofficial translation of that chapter reads as Luffy saying that I'm even happier now. And I guess the sort of questions that arise are has consuming the fruit changed Luffy's personality? Is this the reason why Shanks gave Luffy the straw hat? Now personally, I'm still inclined to say no. I think even before Luffy ate the Devil Fruit, you could see that similar will, his similar determination, even from the very first chapter. And by the end of that first chapter where he's had a change of heart, where he wants to become pirate king in his own right, where he wants to sail and be a pirate on his own, it's pretty clear that Luffy has learnt this as a result of his experiences. He's matured after realising that he really wasn't ready yet to sail the seas. He understood why Shanks thought that it was too dangerous for him. And you know, that's why he had been working on it so that by the end of the first chapter, we see that he is ready, we see that he is much stronger now. And going back to that panel of Luffy supposedly saying that I'm even happier now, that being supposedly a change in his personality as a result of the Devil Fruit, Sekaiichi, our resident Japanese translator, was very kind to translate it for me. And according to the original Japanese, it actually seems like Luffy is more saying that he's happier about having eaten the Devil Fruit more than losing his ability to swim. And even when you look at the official Viz translation, you see that Luffy is just saying that he's glad that he ate the Devil Fruit. And these are very different translations to the idea of him saying that he's just happier now as if it's a random mood change. And also when it comes to Shanks, it's pretty clear that Shanks took a liking to Luffy even before Luffy ate the Devil Fruit. But this doesn't necessarily oppose the idea of spirits being imbued into the fruits or fruits containing a will of their own. This is actually just more of an indication that the fruit chose Luffy. I mean, it's now quite clear that Devil Fruits or Zouen Devil Fruits at the least do contain a will of their own. And according to the Gorasei, it seemed like Luffy's Devil Fruit had been eluding the world government for 800 years. And so if it is like they say and the fruit has actually been actively escaping the world government, then it really does seem like that the fruit itself chose Luffy, that the fruit recognized Luffy, his will, his determination and felt that Luffy was worthy of its powers. And that's how I'm interpreting all of this based on what we have so far. And I also think that that makes a lot of sense for me at least. And it should also settle. A lot of the dissatisfaction I've seen surrounding this reveal and especially the possibility of Luffy's personality being changed and that its joy voice spirit completely overriding Luffy because I really don't think that that is the case at all. And so the fruit actually recognizing Luffy and his potential and his will makes a lot more sense in that way. On a sort of related note, there's also the dissatisfaction of Luffy becoming way to OP because of his deity based powers. And whilst it is true that the Nika Devil fruit opens up astronomical powers for Luffy compared to the Gomu Gomu No Mi it's really important to reiterate that Luffy is only able to access these abilities because he's awakened the fruit. He's had to work for it. And yes, again, the deity based fruit is a lot more powerful but being a deity based fruit in and of itself. I don't think that that is the be all and end all of abilities and power and strength when it comes to the series. And a really clear example of this is actually in Yamato. Yamato's devil fruit is also based on the deity, the Oguchi No Makami a Japanese guardian deity. But then we saw that Yamato despite having that guardian deity based fruit was obviously still no match for Kaido. And so in other words, it's pretty clear that the fruit itself doesn't determine everything. It really does still depend on the user and how the user wields its powers. And now another reason why I actually quite like this devil fruit is because Oda has been able to avoid the idea of reincarnation. This really now establishes that Luffy isn't just a straight up reincarnation of Joy Boy that he isn't just a product of fate and destiny and there is now a nice in series logical explanation as to why Luffy is Joy Boy but also bringing in his hard work and everything that he's achieved up to this point that he wouldn't be able to reach this point. He wouldn't be able to become Joy Boy unless he achieved his awakening. And now there are some other points of dissatisfaction that I've seen such as why did the Gorosei leave Luffy with this troublesome devil fruit? And I think it is explainable when you think about the fact that they didn't expect that Luffy would be able to awaken it. I mean, they say that the devil fruit hadn't been awakened in centuries and it seemed like they've been treating the fruit almost as if it's a legend as if it's not real. I mean, it's even possible that the fruit hasn't been awakened since Joy Boy. And so that could explain why they weren't so bothered by it if they thought that Luffy would be eliminated before it ever got to this point. But for me, this actually raises another more interesting question in my opinion which is even if the fruit hadn't been awakened for all of this time were there still others who had consumed the devil fruit at least? But another question or point of dissatisfaction is why is the fruit rubber based when it's in its base form? And now obviously that hasn't been explained yet. I mean, it seems quite unrelated to the Sun as well. So what's really the connection? And to this, all I really have to say is that I just trust in Oda to give us the explanation that we need. I mean, for me, he's always been able to provide explanations that really make a lot of sense and fits within the story. And so I'm really sure that we can expect another one piece is truly a series where I can say that I really haven't been disappointed in the story which is why I'm really excited about this devil fruit about all the possible future developments that we could see coming as a result of this devil fruit. And I really am really glad that I'm able to experience witnessing this along with the rest of you guys. But anyways, that's my thoughts on the newly revealed Luffy's Hitohitonomi Model Nika and all of the related questions and speculations that arise as a result of this reveal. But let me know what you guys think by leaving comment below. Don't forget to like and share the video. Please do subscribe for more one piece discussions. You can also join our Joyfleet Discord server or even become a patron member. And I want to thank all my patrons for help supporting the channel. This is Joygirl and I'll see you again soon.