Is Luffy already the strongest Yonko?
It might be a bit early to call it, since we still haven’t seen what Shanks’ and
Blackbeards full potential actually looks like, but seeing a giant sized angry Gear 5 Luffy
controlling not just an admiral but an admiral AND a fully transformed demon-form Gorosei is
quite the insane feat, I think we all have to admit. Sanji says Saturn has a strange look in
his eyes, but honestly, i think Luffy’s eyes here are just as scary. This is probably the first
time on Egghead and also the first time in Gear 5 that we have seen him seriously angry. When
he grabs the 2 world government power-houses, he doesn’t even smile, while the grin we get
next while he threatens Kizaru and Saturn, is truly terrifying and not in the slightest
goofy. I think it’s fairly reasonable to assume, that neither Big Mom or Kaido would have been
able to completely render two of the strongest characters in all of One Piece powerless on
their own, and neither would have Whitebeard, though to be fair in his prime he most likely
would have. But that in itself already tells us how powerful Luffy has actually become when we are
comparing him to the likes of prime Whitebeard or Shanks. So Luffy not only having defeated Kaido in
a 1v1, but now also easily fighting on par with an admiral and a gorosei, while not really looking
like he’s in any major danger himself, is truly a statement of his standing amongst the 4 emperors,
and I am willing to bet money, that none of the other Yonko would feel very confident right now
that they could beat Luffy in a fair 1 on 1 fight. At this point, Luffy is just able to
turn into a literal giant at will, no inflating his body necessary, it
quite literally happens in an instant, which might seem trivial, but is actually a
HUGE deal, no pun intended. Especially because the giants are known as the most powerful warriors
in all of One Piece for a reason. And by the way, I think we all know, that Luffy turning into a
giant, while the literal giants of Elbaf are on the island as well, is going to be some sort of
foreshadowing, that just like with the Fishmen, the Minks and the Buccaneers, Luffy will also
be the Sun God worshipped by the Giants. In other words, once again Luffy will be the hero
of a country, that was very likely allied with the ancient kingdom. And also, once again, the
giant frozen straw hat on Marijois makes a lot more sense the more we see of Luffy’s Joy Boy
mode. And going forward I honestly only expect to see Luffy unlock just more and stronger
powers with his awakening as he gets used to Gear 5. And seeing how powerful he gets when he’s
actually serious I think gives you a really good idea why this devil fruit and it’s return where so
feared by the government for its terrible powers. If anything, the only thing Luffy clearly needs
to learn once again with Gear 5 is to take things more seriously. Because if you think about
it, it’s really tragic, that it took Kizaru deadly wounding one of Luffy’s friends for
him to finally take things seriously here. It’s again one of the many parallels with the
Sabaody arc, where Luffy also got humbled after arriving on the island full of confidence
that nothing could hurt him or his crew. But of course, as insanely epic as this panel of
Luffy is, and honestly it might be my favorite of the entire arc so far, we of course have to talk
about what happens next. Because while Luffy’s giant transformation and scary face are maybe the
most powerful form of Luffy we have seen so far, Saint Saturn here has revealed his
own version in this chapter as well. And while what Luffy did in this chapter
was a clear win for him no matter what, I can’t help but feel that the Gorosei hasn’t even
shown us close to what his true powers actually are. Looking at this truly terrifying and inhuman
looking giant spider with tentacle like spear legs and covered in deadly poison, it’s really hard
to imagine that Saturn has some truly terrifying power left in store for us to show. Though
whether we will see this on egghead or later on in the story is to be seen. One thing though,
that to me feels more and more likely however, is the possibility that Saturn and the other
Elders haven’t actually eaten mythical fruit at all. I have speculated this the very first time
we saw Saturns true form revealed and I just can’t help but think, that what we might be seeing here
is an actual Demon, that can assume human form. And I feel like this is getting even more support
from Sanji’s comment here, that Saturn has now fully given up pretending to look human. In fact,
what Sanji means when he says that the Gorosei has a strange look in his eyes is that he has lost
all expression and stopped talking completely. And i think there are 3 possible explanations here:
one, saturn is actually in his awakened Zoan form, but similar to Chopper or the jailors in Impel
Down can’t actually control it and is just on a rampage. I do think however that someone as high
ranking and important as one of the 5 elders would have full control over their powers. So maybe
it’s two: Saturn being controlled by someone or something else, which could explain the blank
expression on his face. Again not impossible, it could for example be imu controlling him here,
but in the end I can’t help but feel, that the most likely case is three: This is really Saturns
true form. The only thing speaking for an awakened zoan fruit is really the flame shawl, that Luffy,
Yamato, Lucci and all the other awakened Zoans we have seen so far have. But you have to admit
that the Gorosei being actual demons or having eaten a new class of special devil fruits we
don’t know about yet, would be next level. So Saturn is clearly still a massive
threat, but what about Kizaru? I have been sure that the admiral is at the end
of his ability to fight multiple times, having to hunt his friends and people he actually
deeply cares for. And every time I think so, he keeps gettin up and go on fighting. In a way
it’s almost admirable, given the insane emotional toll this is all having on him, but it also makes
me wonder, what in the world it will actually take for him to realize what is going on. As you
know, Kizaru follows so called unclear justice, which honestly, never made a ton of sense to me.
That is until right now here on Egghead island. Now it makes just absolutely perfect sense.
You see, Kizaru’s justice is unclear, because on the one hand he cares for Vegapunk and Bonney
and Kuma and knows that it feels wrong to hunt down and kill these good people that he loves.
And yet on the other hand he also feels that as part of the machine of the government, his duty
is to follow orders and carry out the will of the Gorosei. Right now you could say, Kizaru’s justice
is as unclear as it has ever been. Over and over again we have gotten countless close-up reaction
panels of the admiral, going from his original casual and unserious manner, that we all knew very
well, to slowly growing more and more serious, at some point starting to avert his eyes when
he attacks bonney, then fully closing them and now just straight up turning away and crying in
this chapter as he sneaks up on Sanji and stabs Vegapunk with his light sword. And when you look
at Kizaru captured by giant Luffy, this man just looks defeated beyond anything I have seen so far
in One Piece. He is genuinely broken and doesn’t even care if Luffy squeezes him to death at this
point. And even though I would liked it if Kizaru had flipped on the government early in this fight,
I do have to admit that seeing him stick with his mission and slowly braking in the process has
been one of the most unexpected and at the same time absolutely BEST freaking character arcs
that Oda has written in One Piece in this arc, and remember, we have had Kuma’s inanely
traumatic and tragic backstory. And so even though i despise Kizaru for not standing up
to Saturn and for trying to kill Bonney and now apparently successfully Vegapunk, at the same
time seeing him suffering under what he has done, I really can’t help but cheer for him to finally
overcome his unclear justice and switch sides. So the big question then is of course: what in
the world can give him the necessary clarity here to realize, that the only right thing to do
is protect bonney and kuma from the government? Well one obvious answer is of course always
Luffy. Because boiling it down to its core, the whole point of Luffy’s character is
freeing people from the darkness that they are stuck in and feel like they can’t escape
from. Sometimes that’s a literal darkness, but usually it’s mental, and that’s exactly
what i see happening with Kizaru right here. Just how Robin or Fujitora needed to realize
that Luffy offers true freedom and happiness to the people and can actually stand up to
the unwavering and eternal power that is the world government, it might take Luffy
demonstrating his powers of liberation in front of the admiral too for Kizaru to
start believing in the sun god as well. However, maybe the person that will actually free
Kizaru is ironically the one he just killed in this chapter. His close friend doctor vegapunk.
Now why do I say he is dead? Well number one, he was already basically dying and now Kizaru
stabbed him with his massive light sword. So that alone doesn’t look great. But secondly,
that message that starts playing at the end of chapter 1108 seems very suspiciously like
a ‘release this in case I die’ or ‘if you’re watching this I’m already dead’ kind of message.
If you get my drift. And then Vegapunk shocks us all, by starting a transmission to the entire
world, preparing to share the truth about the One Piece world. Now. This is of course monumental.
Even if only a little of this message gets out, it will surely break the one piece world one way
or the other. What could this message contain? well really everything from the governments
terrible corruption, to revealing the truth about the secret ruler Imu, to what actually happened
to during the void century, though admittedly, that last part i still think Oda is saving for
when the straw hats actually find the one piece. And while i’m sure that we will know more with
the next chapter, bringing this back to Kizaru, what I think is actually important here, is
that Vegapunk revealing the evil and corrupt nature of the World Government to everyone, I
bet there will be information here that Kizaru did not know and that might then really be
the final straw that makes him realize that following the world government’s justice is not
doing justice at all. And it’s actually very likely that a broadcast that would sway Kizaru
to abandon the government would of course also have a massive impact on many other sort
of on the edge characters like Smoker, Fujitora or yes even Akainu, pushing them
to turn their back on the Gorosei as well. Which means that I’m still refusing to give up the
idea that Kizaru might actually end up joining the straw hats in some way or form, even if only as
an ally. While I don’t hate the idea of Kizaru sticking with the government and breaking on
having killed his friends or Kizaru possibly sacrificing himself here for the straw hats being
able to get away, in the end I would really love to get a happy end for him here and get to see
his “good side” going forward in the story. But we’ll have to wait and see. On the other
hand there are 2 candidates to join the crew, that are probably are much more likely. And
actually, let’s be real, Bonney at this point basically HAS to join the crew right? Vegapunk
asked Luffy as his last wish to take care of her, she was looking for Nika her entire life and
Luffy is the only one who can help her fulfill her dream as well. So Bonney for straw hat stocks
are through the roof right now I would argue. But there is also a second candidate, that we
can’t forget about, and that’s of course…doctor vegapunk. Because even thought he main body has
been killed, unless I misunderstood something fundamentally here, there are still a bunch
of other versions of Vegapunk still around and honestly I would not be surprised at all if at
least one of them, looking at you here Lilith, would also be able to make it off the island and
at least for a while, sail together with the straw hats. You know at least until Elbaf or something,
where she might be able to reunite with Saul. And since we’ve now come all the way around
to Saul and the Giants, I also want to talk for a moment about Vice Admiral Doll
being here as part of the buster call, by the way one of the absolutely coolest marines
out there, reminds me of pre-time skip robin. I think it’s really interesting that we find out
about her being formerly part of Saul’s squad, because with her we have yet again another high
ranking marine who might potentially fit in the Smoker, Fujitora Koby camp. When we first
saw her she was taking care of the children from Punk Hazard with Tashigi and she seems to
have a decent relationship with Garp. So I’m actually really curious if she might become a more
relevant character going forward in the story. But that’s still not all that happened in this
amazing chapter, because we once again have to talk about Caribou. Contrary to our believe
that the Blackbeard Pirates would more than happily take him with them, they are actually
a lot more calculated and careful than we all gave them credit for. It really goes to show
that Blackbeard has surrounded himself with truly powerful, but also smart individuals, that
more than rival that of the straw hats. Now Oda clearly intends to leave it open ended here if
Caribou actually gets to share his information about Poseidon and Pluton with Blackbeard in
the end, but I hope you agree that it would be very very very surprising if he didn’t
end up telling everything he knows to Teach. And honestly, with Teach, Saturn, Kizaru
and so many other villains being active right now in One Piece, it gets kind of
hard to keep track of everyone’s powers and plans. So if you would like to get a full
overview over all the past present and future villains of One Piece and what drives them, I
recommend you check out that video right here. If you enjoyed this video, please do
like share, subscribe - I know you’ve heard it a thousand times on YouTube,
but it does really help the channel. Otherwise Shanks so much for watching
and I will see you, in the next one.
