Numerous people have asked for this, and I am curious myself what the majority will say.
How do you feel about Luffy's new fruit?
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I'm in team "hate it regardless of it was planned/ is a retcon"
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Hate it, horrible retcon.
…But I love everything else about it? I'm going insane? That fight was/is so fucking rad.
edit: like, I stan Looney Tunes Luffy, but I hate how we got here? Does that make sense?
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Team indifferent/unsure.
I thought I would hate it but I guess not. I don't love it either. It's hard to tell when we've only seen one chapter with it in action. And I'm getting so sick of this fight I find it hard to care.
But I will admit this development feels pointless. It's not adding anything to the fight, it's not a particularly engaging reveal, it's just there. It makes it more hilarious Luffy accidentally ate Shank's fruit, but if it turns out it was somehow responsible for getting Luffy on this journey and all the events he's been cast into, then I'm gonna have a problem. I know fate is part of the story, but I want it to be something of legend, a journey, inherited will and all that, not something physical.
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Hate it, horrible retcon.
…But I love everything else about it? I'm going insane? That fight was/is so fucking rad.
edit: like, I stan Looney Tunes Luffy, but I hate how we got here? Does that make sense?
Same boat, I like the visuals but I hate that it's being reclassified or that it's immediately Gear 5. And I will die on the hill that it's a horrible retcon that wasn't planned exactly like this for most of the series, no matter how many suns per square panel you want to find.
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I think it’s entirely possible that this was always planned in some way. Maybe not being mythical zoan, Nika fruit, but I think the Gomu Gomu not being the Gomu Gomu could have been an idea in Oda’s head for a long time.
That being said, I still hate it. I’d love nearly everything about G5 if it wasn’t for it being another DF entirely. Seems entirely unnecessary to me. Even if it is a plan Oda’s had twenty five years in the making, that doesn’t make it good. If the series had only lasted five years and this was revealed in year 4 I doubt I’d care as much, but it being something entirely different after a thousand chapters and twenty five years really sticks in the craw.
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If the series had only lasted five years and this was revealed in year 4 I doubt I’d care as much, but it being something entirely different after a thousand chapters and twenty five years really sticks in the craw.
Pretty much my opinion as well. It has been too long IRL for me to feel any other way
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I don't love it by any mmeans, but I'm willing to give Oda timem to show us exactly what its about, he's earned that.
Its not the worst case scenario of direct reincarnation at least.
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Team indifferent/unsure. In a design sense I don't really like what we've seen so far of Nika/Gear 5, plus there's the whole "fruit of the Chosen One" can of worms. But I couldn't care less if Luffy is a Paramecia, Zoan, Logia or all 3 at once. Plus fights and everyday antics could be fun and make up for this, so I'll wait a bit more and see what Oda has in store.
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If the series had only lasted five years and this was revealed in year 4 I doubt I’d care as much, but it being something entirely different after a thousand chapters and twenty five years really sticks in the craw.
AKA The "How I Met Your Mother" Principle
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I both hate it and dont care? In the grand scheme I know it doesnt matter and its just another addition to Luffy being special which I am close to numb to.
And I was already ready for Joyboy ate the nika no mi and it gives you rubber powers like the paw fruit giving you the paws and the pushing. But the zoan was so out of left field. So unconnected to everything. so unnecessary in the quest to make Luffy special It pierced through my numbness. I thought I had seen all the holes in which a special peg could be put. But somehow Oda found an hexagon peg and decided to shove it in a triangle because why not and for a bit it broke me.
I wish there was a simple I dislike it but I guess I'll settle for hate.
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Absolutely hate it.
I still have a hard time understanding why Oda thought he needed to retcon the fruit into something else after 1000+chapters, but then again Luffy being a stereotypical Chosen One is also something that goes directly against everything One Piece once stood for
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I love the soundtrack.
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I felt like it took something symbolic of the sotry - Luffy always comes in to save those in need - and turned it into an explicit element - he does that because he ate the "guy who frees people" fruit.
I personally don't understand the connection between Nika and rubber, but I'm willing to wait for more chapters to see how it develops
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I don't like the poll options. I love it and I don't view as a retcon (at least by the bastardized definition) but I wouldn't go as far as saying it was planned that long ago.
I had to pick the "all along" option by default.
Anyway, I think it's awesome design-wise and it's just amazing that the final form of one of the funniest shonen MC ever is as fun as it is. "This is so Luffy" was my first reaction.
As for the story behind it, I really don't mind and I'm just enjoying the ride because it's obvious more explanations are coming regarding the Gorosei sudden action (Shanks visit) and how that fruit works (Vegapunk's arc can't come soon enough).
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I'm Indifferent/unsure for now, but I do not think its a retcon I do believe Oda planned this, its too big for it not to be planned.
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Well, it’s been so many years that many of us feel like Luffys DF can be used depending on the imagination of its user. But I’m not sold on the zoan aspect lol. Like why ? Just awaken your DF and go full Hisoka if you want.
Then again it might be too soon to have a fully fledged opinion
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Love Gear 5, the wackiness of it, about the Devil Fruit having been renamed/classified, I'm just here for the ride. I will wait till there's more info available to us. But at the moment it doesn't change a lot for me personally, but I do understand how people don't can't enjoy the renaming/classifying part of it.
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I feel like there should have been an option such as "Don't care for the rebranding of Luffy's devil fruit, but love everything else about it". I didn't need a new name for the fruit, but it being called "the most ridiculous power" and Luffy using it to do all kind of crazy Looney Tunes antics is just too perfect and fits the whole series so well.
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I don't like the options in the thread, but gave my vote.
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@Daz:
AKA The "How I Met Your Mother" Principle
Oh wow. How did i not make that association.
That's totally what this feels like it could be heading toward.
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Love it. I don't know about "it was planned all along!" or "retcon"; Oda just didn't execute it very well, probably because he cares more about surprising his readers. Definitely didn't see it coming until Jinbe's fight against Who's Who. Very appropriate for Oda to first hint something was up with the fruit there. Basically, I can get behind it because Blackbeard has "darkness" power. It is only right for Luffy to have "sun" power.
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Team "What's new about it?"
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Team "Hate it, horrible retcon!"
It was obvious from the ending of chapter 1043 that we would get the awakening. And the visuals of the fight was great; the Loony Toons effect made me laugh.
But -and that's a giant BUT - I hate the classification change of Luffy's devil fruit. Luffy's devil fruit powers are no longer special to me, even though the new class itself now is supposed to be super rare. I just hate it. I prefer good old, boring, useless gum-gum fruit snufflebecause Luffy managed to make it into something special. Luffy already had a lot of skills/abilities (special family with Garp, Dragon, Ace and Sabo; VOAT, all three hakis, being a D), which made him special. His devil fruit being so lame and seemingly useless was a good counter to all that. That's - for me - now lost. Now every aspect of Luffy is special, even his devil fruit we have known since the beginning. And after more than 1000 chapters into the story, it's also painful. I feel like I was lied to the whole time and that hurts.
I could have lived with a change to special paramecia like Katakuri got (and that was a blunder, too). At least it would still be in the paramecia category… -
Quite a number of people are saying they hate this, but it makes me wonder how much they hate it to the point that they’ll stop reading. lol
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Quite a number of people are saying they hate this, but it makes me wonder how much they hate it to the point that they’ll stop reading. lol
I mean after a 1000 chapter I doubt many would. The sunk cost principle is a real thing. And by now you would probably be too invested in knowing how it ends.
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I like how it looks and i feel it fits really well with Luffy. However, i'm very unsure about what it means for the story as a whole, something about it REALLY doesn't sit well with me. For now i'm "unsure" since it's still not clear to me how will this affect the story (both going forward as well as retroactively). I'm definitely worried but i won't jump the gun yet.
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I mean after a 1000 chapter I doubt many would. The sunk cost principle is a real thing. And by now you would probably be too invested in knowing how it ends.
Agreed. I don't think anyone here would let that much hatred surge through them in their opposition towards that revelation. And it of course also remains to be seen just how unplanned and unearned the wow factor of the revelation is since we have yet to see the following chapters after all, and makes me curious myself in light of how Nika was mentioned at Fish-Man Island and me wondering how that would connect with Luffy.
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I love it.
The thing is, while the Devil Fruit is a Mythical Zoan, no one who possessed the Fruit in 800 years was able to awaken it's power. No one unlocked the Nika form (that made it rise to the levels of a Mythical Zoan). Joy Boy is only reawakening after 800 years because of someone like Luffy not because the Gomu Gomu no Mi is in fact the Hito Hito no Mi; Model: Nika. Luffy is special not because of the Fruit but because of who he is. The essence in the Fruit recognized this and chose Luffy. It went from user to user, failing to awaken until Luffy arrived on the scene.
The Five Elders mention that in every era, the World Government has attempted to recover the Gomu Gomu no Mi but they have never succeeded. This implies to me that the Gomu Gomu no Mi was never hidden away in one set place and through the eras it was always on the move, likely from user to user who the Fruit chooses.
In ordinary hands, the Nika Fruit may as well be an average Devil Fruit and even in the hands of users the Nika Fruit chooses, it isn't guaranteed for its power to be fully utilised. The Hito Hito no Mi; Model: Nika isn't special by itself despite its Mythical Zoan classification. Luffy made the Devil Fruit special by being able to fully sync with it. No one in 800 years has achieved this feat. No one.
This revelation doesn't take away any of Luffy's past accomplishments. He earned all of his victories in the past. Ever since Luffy's Gears were introduced, the Gomu Gomu no Mi stopped being ordinary and became something more fantastical. This current revelation of its true identity is just an extension of its reach into that realm.
When the Tenryuubito was introduced, it was expected Luffy would eventually challenge them.
When Teach was revealed to have a special body, it was expected that those in the D clan have peculiarities about them that makes them different.
When Joy Boy was introduced, it was expected Luffy would inherit Joy Boy's will and fulfill the unfinished work left behind.
When Im was introduced, it was expected Luffy would be the one to end his rule.
When Who's Who introduced Nika, it was expected Luffy would take on such a role.Oda has been slowly evolving his story and Luffy's place in it.
The Nika Fruit is Oda's way of establishing the connection between Luffy, Joy Boy and the Sun God (whom several groups of people revere) and bringing Luffy to a point where his story can shift from just sailing the Grandline for the Romance of it to incorporating more overarching elements that involves liberation. And at its core, One Piece has always been a story about liberation i.e. breaking down borders; whether those borders represent physical borders, sovereign imposed ones or emotional borders that characters unconsciously develop to "protect" themselves.
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I feel like there should have been an option such as "Don't care for the rebranding of Luffy's devil fruit, but love everything else about it". I didn't need a new name for the fruit, but it being called "the most ridiculous power" and Luffy using it to do all kind of crazy Looney Tunes antics is just too perfect and fits the whole series so well.
ye, i would sign up for that option as well
hence i'm just here for the ride :>as i've stated often enough: it is oda's story in the end and luffy is still rubber.
he clearly has some plans set up for the DFs in general and with the nika fruit.
so it's wutever for me right now. i like the awakening.but i hope he finishes the fight well. kaido deserves that. that's my small concern rn.
[…]
And at its core, One Piece has always been a story about liberation i.e. breaking down borders; whether those borders represent physical borders, sovereign imposed ones or emotional borders that characters unconsciously develop to "protect" themselves.so who is gonna free everyone from those borders behind hate or dislike towards the development?
luffy is.
(p.s.: ofc everyone is entitled to have their own opinion)
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I love it and am certain it was planned from the start of the series.
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Hate it, for a lot of reasons but mainly for one:
I thought this was a story telling us "even if life gives you lemon, you stick that lemon juice tight in the eye of those who want to put you down and through your relentless determination you go and make a difference"
But it turns out it really was "if life gives you a lemon, you damn better hope it's THE magic lemon that turns you into Jesus, else your life is fucked for good and you just have to step to the side and wait for the actual lemon-messiah to come along and right all the wrongs in the world"
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My thoughts haven't really changed from the chapter thread, so here they are again:
! My gut says this isn't the greatest twist in the world - it's less of an 'oh, everything makes sense in hindsight' and more of a 'never in a million years would I have said this is where it's going.' But that's not to say this new information has no synnergy at all with what we knew previously.
! For example, the idea of the Devil Fruit having a mind of its own and influencing its own fate One Ring-style fits in easily. Zoan fruits can be fed to inanimate objects to create a hybrid with the mind of the animal. Evidence suggests the reason that Zoans were the only fruits that could be imitated in Smile form is because you could use living animals to sythisise them. The old wives tales told about the fruits at Ennies Lobby said they put actual devils inside your body. So if the Elders say the fruit tried to escape on its own, I see that as a logical extension of all these points.
! Not mention all the symbolism of lions, sunflowers, suns and Luffy that have been in play for a long time now. There's not nothing to go on here, although it's little enough you might be called a crackpot prior to this chapter if you'd try to go all in a theory based on only that.
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! I'm interested to see what the relationship between Mythical Zoans and the creatures they represent really is. We haven't seen any evidence in-universe of a phoenix or a natural-born dragon (depending on how canon you want Monsters to be), and no one's arguing that the Buddha really lived in OP world's history, so do we say that these creatures only exist in the form of their representative Devil Fruits, and are otherwise fictional? (If the mythological creatures are only extinct, surely they would be Ancient Zoans instead, not that we should be putting too much stock in presumed classifications and names after this week.) And then was it the chicken or the egg when it comes to the fruits and the myths?
! In any case, I think the mythological angle spares Luffy from accusations of no longer being himself - or of never having been himself. If the will of the Buddha inside Sengoku's fruit couldn't keep him from earning a reputation as a powerful military leader and kept him in the service of an evil empire built on the backs of slaves, it's safe to say Nika isn't making Luffy do anything he wouldn't already want to do. Is it a bit of a cheap coincidence that Luffy so naturally wants freedom and brings joy and just happens to eat the fruit of the god of all that? Sure, but so is a guy called Smoker getting smoke powers and a guy called Orochi getting Orochi powers. It hits a bit different when it's the main character, but it's nothing that hasn't been done before.
! That said, after every other Mythical Zoan was something you could find in real world legends, it's a tad cheap for this one to be an all new made-up god with the exact traits needed for the prior evidence to make sense - a being of rubber and fire sounds made up to fit the clues, rather than clues being given of its existence. It's not something that feels guessable, which can be a frustrating experience as a reader.
! It's funny that Kaido talked about Luffy trying to be Joyboy, as if that name was the title, leaving us to assume Nika was perhaps the last person to carry that mantle. But he got it wrong, didn't he? Nika is the mantle and Joyboy was the last to use it. I wonder if we'll see how the two names got twisted up, or if it's just a natural result of the World Government's attempts to erase history.
! What I really would have wanted to see leading up to this twist, in hindsight, is Nika being better established long before Who's Who brings him up. A scratching of the name or the silhouette carved into a wall in Impel Down, for example, lingered on just long enough by the camera to make it stick out to hardcore fans. I know we've had mentions of sun gods since forever (hell, there's a thread I started on the topic still on the first page of this board) but not enough follow through between them and the ideas of liberty and broken chains and happiness and rubber now being ascribed to them. Maybe that was meant to click into place on its own when Who's Who named Nika for us i chapter 1018, but that feels like too little too late for my tastes.
! I like when I can reread a story and go 'it was right in front of me all along!' but my best recollections of One Piece lore still have me clutching at straws to find the build-up to it.
! I'm also not sold on what exactly Luffy's new powers are. I guess we'll be seeing more fire for obvious reasons, but One Piece has been so cartoony from the start it'll take a lot for his apparently increased strength and flexibility to actually stand out. Like yeah, it's a big shift in tone for Luffy to be able to pick up Kaido and slam him back and forth like he's a loony tune, but he did that to Oars too. I suppose it could be read as a point in this twist's favour that it feels so in line with what we've seen Luffy do previously - it's just more blatant about bending the laws of physics for laughs now. We're probably going to be debating til the end of time what powerups or mid-fight goofball moments were unconscious manifestations of Nika's powers. To what extent can "the most ridiculous power in the world" actually warp reality to get its user's way? I'm not going to go too hard on that point though - this chapter was for the big reveal and a spectacle set-piece. Rules and limits come later. But I do want to see them get at least a tiny bit better defined in the future.
TLDR it works from some angles (well enough that I believe it was planned and isn't a straight retcon) but I personally would really have liked to have known Nika's name and some more about him in advance of Wano.The poll choices here feel a tad limited. Perhaps a bit biased. I guess I'll say I'm along the for the ride because there's still a lot we've got to see about how this will change the story and what it means for the lore and the search for the One Piece and the series' ending. It's going to be what we learn and where Oda takes it in the coming months that really decides if this was the right development for One Piece or not - not whether it feels too similar to a plot point Naruto tripped over.
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I hate it.
I think for this twist to work, it should have been seeded way earlier than just 30 or so chapters ago. And no, the references to the sun or Joyboy don't count, we are talking about the protagonist's fruit not being what it was sold to us 1,044 chapters ago.
Depending on how you see it, it changes the story in quite a bad way. If Joyboy is just the wielder of the Gomu Gomu fruit, all the faith guys like Shanks or Rayleigh could be motivated just because Luffy ate the Joyboy fruit, and thus they were certain only he could fulfill the role of Joyboy in time for the big whatever that is coming.
As someone who was already worried about all the signs of Luffy being fated to be whatever he needs to be, this reveal really took me out of my investiment in the story.
Of course, I'm not dropping One Piece, Oda has enough credit for me to keep going, and no way I'd stop before seeing the end. But it did hurt my enjoyment, at least for now. Let's see if new chapters put some of my (many) worries to rest.
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I don't see any problem with it.
Gear 5 itself is super fun and a natural evolution of Luffy's abilities. This isn't a random power up, it's very much in line with Luffy's progression throughout the series.
I also can't see how this revelation diminishes Luffy's past feats. The fruit makes your body rubber and that's it. We've seen how Luffy has slowly come to master it and all the creativity and the effort he put into it. I also disagree with those who say that the Gum Gum fruit was lame and now it's OP. First, Luffy's powers are the same as before, so… and also, the Gum Gum has never been presented as a lame and useless fruit in the actual story. In fact, it was pretty OP in East Blue. It only became "lame" later, by comparison, when Logias and other crazier abilities were introduced.I like how this development and some past revelations in Wano are beginning to shed some light on the true nature of Devil Fruits.
I really love Joy Boy/Nika's figure, the god who frees slaves by music, dance and smiles. It's kinda like Dyonisus but with a different flavor and the "drums of liberation" is a beautiful image. And it fits Luffy, it's kinda Luffy on steroids and I like it. The first image that always springs to my mind when I think about Luffy is his face in the cover of volume 16, with that huge smile. And it's with that attitude that he frees Drum and rescues Chopper's heart :) Come to think of it, he makes the same face in the cover of volume 100 uh... and Drum is when the will of D was introduced. Man... This is the kind of stuff that makes me believe everything was planned all along.
Another reason why I don't think this is a retcon because the Italian fandom associated the sun with the One Piece as far back as Fishman Island, which is also the arc where Joy Boy was introduced. Sure Nika wasn't there, but the hints were.Lastly, I also like how this made for One Piece's super saiyan moment, though maybe it could have landed better if Onigashima was a little less messy. With that said, everything after the CP0 guy grabbed Luffy has been top One Piece in my opinion.
Like, the only thing I can see is not masterfully executed is the WG only deciding to chase the fruit now... But there's time to explain it and I can roll with it anyways, marines have been on Luffy's tail since forever anyways. -
An horrible retcon which gave us a nice aesthetic and an awesomly funny fight style. Mixed feelings all over the place.
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Loved it and it was probably planned from the start.
I mean it couldn't be more of a natural evolution to Gum Gum if you tried. The idea is that Luffy just made effort and kept pushing through over and over, stretching and stretching longer each time, until he broke the natural limits of rubber and earned the ability to stretch indefinitely. It is thematic perfection.
The zoan thing feels like just a convoluted way to make it work. I really don't mind it.
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Still in the process of digesting it, myself.
Can't saying I'm particularly a fan of the whole "You thought it was the Gomu Gomu no Mi, but it was
I, Dioactually this other fruit the whole time" thing, or how the reveal was set up… I would have preferred if the various elements ("How the hell does being rubber enable you to do THAT!?", Sun God Nika, renamed fruit, zoan fruits have a will of their own, etc.) had been seeded earlier in the story and given time to percolate before being brought together.But, end of the day, Luffy's power hasn't really changed, it's just not what we thought it was (for 20+ years...), and I rather like the end result of Awakening/Gear Fifth basically being just Luffy going full "Looney Toons". So...mixed bag, at the moment.
Probably going to need to see how this plays out for a while for my thoughts on the matter to really coalesce.
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I love it. I question how long he had all the details planned and the lead-up to this was pissy, but I also think some people are jumping to lots of different conclusions and we need to see more of the situation. But I've enjoyed every panel of it so far so whatever.
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I really thought the poll would skew more toward the happy options.
I have sort of internalized being a grump and this messes with my self-perception
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I think I will do something like Zoro did on this revelation :-)
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Here for the ride really. I don't bother myself too about the name change. Besides the Gorosei stated per official translation, that the Gomu Gomu no Mi had another name, that being the Nika Fruit. For all intents and purposes, if you ask me, I'd say the fruit has both names, and is pretty much a dual-type DF, Paramecia/Zoan. Its not really something to bother yourselves about.
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I really thought the poll would skew more toward the happy options.
I have sort of internalized being a grump and this messes with my self-perception
If you add the 2 love it they are winning (by a small margin).
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I don't know why mine says I'm here for the ride but I hate it
I mean the fruit is still the gomu gomu. Some of the applications of the fruit now are clear gomu gomu, no need for nika and no need for some of the over the top attacks done recently, I liked 70% of the last 2 chapters but some were really like what the f.
Regardless hate it, should have stayed gomu gomu, also massive drop in tensions idk shame it, ill finish one piece but what a let down.
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If you add the 2 love it they are winning (by a small margin).
I guess. But if you add up indifference and just here for the ride they win by a landslide.
I suppose there could be a split betwenn i think i'll like it unsure and it might suck unsure tho.
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I guess. But if you add up indifference and just here for the ride they win by a landslide.
I suppose there could be a split betwenn i think i'll like it unsure and it might suck unsure tho.
Im gonna count unsure for dont like it.
And here for the ride for like it.
Which bring us back to being close
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Fruit power itself is fine
Hate that he has the chosen one power in general. I'm just waiting to see what other implications it has on the plot, and maybe im just a negative nancy but I doubt I'll like them. Also not a fan of how he "awakened"
Someone posted about the time frame and I have to agree. Even if it isnt a retcon, which I doubt it is, the story of one piece so far hasn't been about the chosen messiah, so it really feels off putting to realize thats what the story is really about, and thats what oda always wanted to write.
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It's perfect fruit for Luffy. His goal is to become one with most freedom in the sea. -He achieves exactly that, upon activating the awakening. Though maybe almost too perfect? The thing I am not sure about, is what message it tells about true freedom.