Thread by @TypicalJAnt

One Piece Chapter 1044 Review

Making Everyone Smile

#ONEPIECE #ONEPIECE1044

Before we get into it, we'll quickly address the latest cover page. The cover story continues to follow the theme of scientific research, as some of Big Mom's kids being to do experiments.

This adds potential weight to the theory from @zukudaking that BB will target WCI

If BB were to take WCI, he would not only gain the valuable territory, he would also obtain Big Mom's replica of Vegapunk's lab and the Germa tech on top of that!

This is the a replica of the lab where Vegapunk did his tests on Kaido & created the perfect artificial fruit

Now let's get into the chapter.

We start off by going back to Zunisha. As the Drums of Liberation being to pulse through Luffy's heart, we hear that Luffy's voice is echoing loud and clear from extreme distance. The sound of drums resounds through the sky.

We get immediate clarification that Luffy is still in control of his consciousness, fully aware that he just lost and confused at how he feels on top of the world despite that.

However, it's not so simple as Luffy still being his usual self.

Yamato questions what Momo said and we get official in text confirmation for the first time that Luffy is Joyboy!

As Yamato begins to process the implications, we see that conqueror's haki seems to be almost endlessly exploding from the rooftop

Next we see everyone reacting to noticing Luffy's presence return, all of them notice that something is dramatically different about Luffy this time.

It's interesting to note, that this is Oda highlighting those who have particularly good observation haki

Power scaler's fuel

Now we get to the exciting part. We cut away and the first thing we see is Mariejois in the text box!

As @YoshidaShoyou likes to say, whenever we see this transition, you know something crazy is coming.

The Gorosei are questioning whether or not all this was worth sacrificing one of their best agents
(1 of?👀) & enraging Kaido. It's worth remembering that previously they were technically in business w/ Kaido through Doflamingo as proxy. Now that deal may be irreparable

Slight tangent but this plot thread makes an additional connection to the suggestion that Vegapunk is at the centre of these events.

It may yet be true that his reveal is coming toward the end of this arc.

The Gorosei are not yet aware that they have not actually avoided the scenario that they were trying to prevent, instead they have created a self fulfilling prophecy. The 'imperative' to 'snuff out' this problem has failed.

The fruit continues to seem to evade them.

This next line of dialogue is a think the biggest plot twist we've ever had in the whole story so far.

As Shanks alluded to so many years ago, we get confirmation of the theory that Devil Fruits do indeed have minds of their, however it is specific to Zoan types fruits.

It's worth re-reading that again a few times, I had to before I fully processed the full implications. ALL Zoan fruits have a mind of their own! The implications of that are so big, massive doesn't sound adequate.

Every known Zoan has a state of Awakening like this!

This gives new depth to why Kaido has been trying to kill himself, even after realising that he can't be Joyboy. He still believes that death completes a man, he wants to achieve this symbiotic awakening

Kaido's final form is still to come!

As this insane plot twist is revealed, Oda immediately follows it up with another & we finally learn the true name of Luffy's fruit.

It is not actually a Paramecia but actually a Zoan & a mythical one at that! It's actual name is the Mythical Zoan: Hito Hito no Mi -

This confirms the theory that Luffy's fruit is indeed a Zoan! In hindsight, there are dozens of clues, even more than I'd realised.

Shout out to @HuuReviews who even guessed this down to it's name!

This panel may go down as one of the most iconic in the whole series. We finally get confirmation that Luffy is not only Joyboy, Nika is also part of this legend & we now know that it was the name of the fruit that Joyboy possessed.

The long awaited Skypiea parallel!

The full implications of these few scenes alone are each worthy of their own threads to analyse properly but my main take way from them was that this seems to make it all the more likely that Wano's history traces back to Jaya & alliance with Shandora

He who eats the legendary mythical human fruit, 'Nika' will gain the properties of rubber and gain abilities limited only by their imagination, it is for this that the fruit became known as the embodiment of 'The Warrior of Liberation'. 'Sun God' Nika!

Total creative freedom

Although some may find this twist hard to adjust to, it does fit with Luffy's character very well & is consistent with what we've seen from Luffy. His use of forms was suspicious for a supposed Paramecia since we learned that's only usual for Zoan types.

@VsFeral Just did a great thread on Luffy that takes this new information into account, be sure to check that out as well

We cut away briefly to Hiyori & Orochi. As Orochi begins to beg, Hiyori tells him not to try it, no one would believe him anymore. He cannot keep promises, whereas Oden always did.

An interesting detail here is that Hiyori is still playing the Shamisen, except now with a seemingly different rhythm. She is harmonising with the sound of the drums.

'Wa no kuni' = 'The Country of harmony.'

Hiyori reflects on how Oden was honoruable to the end, even putting aside his pride for 5 years in order to save his people, suffering it all in silence.

Orochi is a coward without a trace of honour but Oden was honourable to his core.

As Hiyori declares her true now in an incredible panel, we see that Kanjuro's Kazenbo also appears. Orochi begins to gloat that Hiyori's hopes were the 'failed revenge of a shrew.'

@EdenzBlue pointed out that this is a potential reference to Shakespeare's Tempest.

-

I've seen that the moment that followed confused as lot of people, as Kanjuro seems to attack and burn Orochi instead of Hiyori, I saw a few people saying this meant that he wasn't a traitor after all.

However, in 1030, Kanjuro believed that they were making a suicide pact.

Orochi burning to death is a fitting form of poetic justice and for it to happen through his own deeds going wrong is also very fitting.

Hiyori watches & proclaims that 'the dawn will come'. The Kozuku always keep their promises.

This has been pointed out by a few people already but that line, 'The Kozuki always keep their promises' seems to have significance outside of current events. The Kozuki were the ones who wrote the Poneglyphs to protect the True History.

The dawn will come.

As if that wasn't enough of a chapter already, Oda continues to drop massive reveals back to back. Luffy is not only awakened, he has attained his 'peak'.

The legends were true! Gear 5th!

As Kaido notices Luffy is back up we see conqueror's haki continue to flow from the rooftop. Suddenly, Luffy's arm bursts through it and it is noticeably several times larger than the usual Gear 3rd size.

Luffy literally 'YOINK!'s Kaido back up on to the roof like a cartoon.

The panels that follow will probably always be controversial because they are wacky but I think they are fitting for Luffy's power & OP's overall style. Luffy being a Looney Toon isn't really anything new.

Cartoons are a fitting theme to invoke the idea of total creative freedom

As Luffy slams Kaido back and force like Jerry throwing around Tom, we see that he is not able to flow perfectly into his various forms without using any haki. As Kaido launches a blast breathe, Luffy can't stop laughing & his eyes bulge out like The Mask.

Luffy is now officially awakened and we see that he is able to use Paramecia style awakening abilities to affect his surroundings, despite being a Zoan. This is part of what makes the fruit so special.

Luffy uses this new power to deflect Kaido's blast breathe.

Finally we get a full reveal of Luffy's Gear 5th & Awakened form. His hair flows like fire, he has a cloud around his shoulders, his shirt changed colour? His eyes now look like Imu's & his eyebrows now have a distinct curl 🤔

But i've rambled long enough, that's an analysis for another day. Thanks for reading 🙏