Why The Nika Fruit Fits Luffy Better Than The Gomu No Mi

hey everyone so we finally know the true name of luffy's fruit it is not the gomugomanomi but in fact the hitohitonomi model nica and this was by far the best possible reveal we could have had for what luffy's fruit actually is when oda introduced the idea that the gomugoma nomi that we've known and loved for 1 000 chapters was in fact something totally different it immediately spawned a million theories none of which to me felt right not because they weren't good theories but rather my personal preference the idea to me that luffy was suddenly not in fact a rubber man that felt to me as though something that was a core part of luffy's identity was potentially being thrown out the window very late in the game if luffy was not a rubber man but rather perhaps an oil man or a resin man or sun wu kong or hanuman all of these ideas did not sit right with me simply because they felt as though they were changing something fundamental about the character that did not need to be changed however now that we know what the fruit truly is the nika fruit and what it does all concerns are out the window as the fruit's actual ability luffy's true ability is not changing who he is or what we know him to be in any way he is not suddenly oil he is not suddenly hanuman rather instead of changing luffy's identity the nika fruit and its abilities actually seem to double down on everything that we've already known luffy to be everything that he represents everything about his fighting style everything about what it means to be a rubber man both symbolically and literally that has in fact been taken to the next level with the nika fruit essentially this fruit is the perfect reveal at a perfect point in the story the point where luffy is one step away from becoming the pirate king and the man who will bring the dawn of the world as the awakened nika fruit essentially makes luffy even more luffy it is not changing who he is rather it is an evolution into the fully actualized version of himself that is the key this is not changing luffy it is an evolution into his true self and so today i'm going to be breaking down everything that makes the nika fruit such a symbolically narratively brilliant decision by oda one that was very likely planned from day one but before we get into it make sure to subscribe for more one piece videos every week so to begin with i think by far the most interesting thing about the reveal of the nika fruit the reason it feels so right so perfect to me is that i don't even think that oda initially planned this story the story of one piece as luffy the rubber man saving the world taking a step back and looking at the story as a whole it feels like oda's initial concept for luffy was very possibly actually always this ability all along this nika power this comical cartoonish fighting style that feels like it ever so slightly even stretches reality in a way basically a looney tunes-esque hero i think that oda actually thought of this first as the original concept and then actually worked backwards to sort of nerf it down to just being rubber to start with as having full-on tune-verse powers would probably be too powerful for a protagonist at the start of the series the reason that i say this is because this ability set that the nika fruit has the full scope of what it is actually fits luffy and the underlying ideas of one piece better than the rubber fruit did the rubber fruit actually feels like it is more limited in how it represented luffy up till now which is insane to say i never thought that i would say that the gomugamonomi is anything less than the perfect ability for luffy but here's what i mean and here's part of why i think the nika concept possibly came first and the rubber fruit was maybe simply the reduced version of it that oda chose to run with for the majority of the story until the time was right see oda has been asked before why he gave luffy the rubber fruit after all rubber is not an ability you would normally expect the hero of a grand epic like one piece to have especially not a hero who is set to become the king of the seas and bring the dawn of the world however oda's reasoning was that he chose rubber because it was the most ridiculous ability imaginable he wanted there to be that underlying comedic element no matter how serious the story got as one piece of course gets extremely dark and heavy at its most dramatic points but all of that can always be undercut with luffy's inherent ridiculousness in a way the comedy of luffy's fighting style and the manner in which it can inadvertently sort of break the tension even when things are absolutely dire reflects luffy's own role in the story no matter how terrible the problems people are facing may be luffy will always be this happy go-lucky goofy hero who can come in and somehow make everything better he can bring joy and happiness and smiles to the people of these islands who believe that all hope was lost and so that idea had to be reflected in luffy's fighting style his fighting style needed to be funny but let's hold on a second there if that's what was first and foremost in oda's mind that oda wanted to write a comical hero with the most ridiculous power i don't think the first thing oda was necessarily thinking of was rubber i think it is very very likely that his initial concept of luffy was in fact this a full-on cartoon man as stated in the manga the most ridiculous power imaginable truly the funniest hero imaginable i think this is what oda has really wanted to draw luffy as all along again i think rubber was simply the necessary choice early on in the story to dial things back if you write a hero who has such a ridiculously free-flowing boundless power set from the start it is very difficult to give him challenges not to mention writing good fights consistently would become fairly difficult as there wouldn't necessarily be that much progression you can write in luffy's fighting style over a thousand chapters if he can already do everything the nika fruit allows him to do it's actually really interesting to think about but the rubber fruit just being a rubber man was actually inherently a very limiting ability think about that yes rubber can stretch and change form but it requires effort to do so and rubber always has to snap back the nika fruit is the truly free version of the rubber fruit it is boundless in what it can do it can change shape freely it can transform its environment freely and so even if you don't think that oda necessarily came up with the nika fruit concept first and then dialed it back to just rubber to start the story think about how elegantly it fits with luffy's own progression throughout one piece luffy from the start is meant to be the embodiment of freedom but he is not yet truly the freest man on the seas that is who he will eventually become but at the beginning he is nowhere near that goal and fittingly luffy has an ability that reflects freedom well rubber he can stretch he can change shape but again it takes effort and he always has to snap back there are limits to his stretching as the series progresses and luffy gets stronger and stronger and closer and closer to his goal of becoming the freest man on the seas we see luffy overcoming the limits and bounds of rubber in a way as he progresses he continues to stretch his ability beyond what is possible we see this commented on over and over that he is doing more with rubber than one would think you can do with rubber and finally when we were at this stage where luffy is close to becoming the freest man on the seas he is only one step away really now finally luffy reaches the fully actualized version of himself it's as though the training weights are off now he is still rubber but without the natural restrictions of rubber he is finally truly free-flowing he can stretch and change form on a whim effortlessly without seemingly having to snap back if he doesn't want to now he truly is freedom incarnate this this is the freest fruit this is the most free ability the gomugomanomi the rubber fruit was funnily enough a restriction on his freedom providing so much freedom in so many ways but still bound by the properties of rubber yet slowly luffy progressed over the story and pushed the capabilities of rubber to stretch beyond what seemed possible so finally he now is able to do whatever he likes with the ability even that which seems impossible if he wants a giant arm he can just have a giant arm if he wants bigger muscles he can just have bigger muscles as such this really does feel like the luffy that oda always wanted to draw a man who truly has the funniest most ridiculous power who is freedom incarnate the rubber luffy we knew up till now was in fact a man pushing himself to slowly get to this point where he truly has the freest ability and this progression of his mastery over the fruit and continuing to push the limits of what it can do mirrored his journey to becoming the freest man now that we are at a point where he is close to becoming the freest man he rightfully has the ability that is the freest and most boundless power imaginable i also love the fact that now that his fruit truly seems to be freedom incarnate it parallels nicely with prior beats of the story for example we all know that the rubber fruit made luffy the natural enemy of god back in skypea as rubber just so happens to counter god's ability of lightning however in the broader scale of the world the true gods of the story the celestial dragons of course represent oppression and control that is their power in which case luffy's true fruit also just happens to be freedom incarnate the natural enemy of god and god's power yet again and finally i like the fact that throughout all this it was important it was necessary that luffy was just a rubber man for so much of the story before he could become this free-flowing tune-verse version of a rubber man the reason being that while the nika fruit's true ability best embodies the ideas of freedom and bringing smiles and laughter to people the rubber fruit the basic gomugomanomi best embodies the idea of willpower that was the most important thing the rubber fruit represented for luffy up till now the idea that no matter how many times he is crushed or beaten or seemingly killed he simply could not be put down his will power was too strong he would always bounce back because rubber always bounces back so think about before and after what the concepts of the two fruits represent yes end of story luffy the man who will free the world and bring joy and hope back to oppressed people batman is best embodied by the nika fruit but before that young adventuring luffy the man who had to overcome challenge after challenge adversity after adversity to slowly climb up the mountain batman is best embodied by the gomugomi and the best part is that these aren't two separate ideas he is still a rubber man of course he was a rubber man when he set out and he'll be a rubber man when he becomes pirate king it's just the evolution of his ability going from true simple rubber the type that is limited in what it can do but always bounces back no matter what you do to it evolving into this unbound rubber version where he can stretch however he wants and change however he wants that evolution reflects the journey of a man who had to push himself over and over through sheer willpower to keep coming back to keep bouncing back from failure and climbing towards freedom till eventually he reached the summit and became the freest hero imaginable it is luffy's version of the koi fish that traveled up the waterfall and became a dragon now of course luffy's story isn't quite done he hasn't yet become pirate king he hasn't even defeated kaido yet but my point is that we are reaching that stage of the journey that final stage where luffy is essentially evolving into that final version of himself so that is all for this 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Channel: Mr Morj

Views: 168,513

Keywords: Nika, Nika Fruit, Gear 5, Luffy, One Piece, Wano

Id: JLN-jkq0h0k

Length: 11min 56sec (716 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 29 2022