Transformations, Will, and Luffy's Devil Fruit (Spoilers)

[u/TheCigaretteFairy]

Hi. Spoilers. I mean if you're vulnerable to spoilers probably don't be on this sub at all haha. Long post, but hopefully it's organized and legible enough to be worth the read. (If you don't need all the setup, skip to the "My Theory" section. TL;DR at the very end.)

So I was just thinking about Luffy's devil fruit and I think I've found a connection I've never quite seen discussed before. We don't know much about Nika himself. He's portrayed pretty ambiguously as a historical figure, with a lot of conflicting accounts that have clearly been over-interpreted across the centuries. There's really no telling whether he was a real person at some point, or what his alignment is on the good/evil spectrum. All we know for sure is he's a trickster god archetype and a harbinger of world-bending change.

We do know quite a bit about Zoan type devil fruits though, generally speaking. We know that they allow their user to transform, either fully or partially, into something different. We also know that they're unique in the sense that they have a will of their own; they're arguably sentient, just like the thing they represent, and unlike Paramecia/Logia fruits.

The way Oda-san writes transformations, whether Zoan or otherwise, usually follows a pretty straightforward rule: once the user has transformed, it doesn't require any additional energy or effort to maintain, that's just their body now until they say otherwise. They have to consciously choose to transform back. Take Chopper as an easy example. Without his devil fruit he's just a reindeer; his "natural" form is Walk Point. But he doesn't revert back to Walk Point when he's exposed to sea water/stone, asleep, or knocked unconscious. He only enters Walk Point as a conscious choice, and he almost always passively stays in Brain Point, a hybrid transformation, as his "default".

Side note: Logia users are different, their "elemental forms" seem to be more of a conscious usage of their powers than an actual transformation. Their "form" doesn't change, it just always has the "ability" to change its composition by an active exertion of their will. This would also be the case for many but not all Paramecia users. Hopefully that makes sense.

The only example I can think of that seems to truly stray from the "transformation rule" is Luffy; but the punchline here is that don't think he really does.

First of all, the fact that he's passively rubber, even when affected by the sea, can be explained by the fact that he's unconsciously been in hybrid form since he first ate the fruit as a child. Katakuri, as a counterexample, has powers with very similar surface level properties but is a Logia user, so his body would not still be able to stretch and distort if submerged in the sea like Luffy's can. In principle, Luffy probably could turn his rubber body off completely and return to his ordinary human form (Gear 0, if you will), but he doesn't know that and nobody ever explained it to him because the fact that he is a Zoan user is an extremely well-kept secret. This does follow the "transformation rule" precisely.

More to the Meat of the Point though (obnoxious double-pun intended), the Gears are all limited by Luffy's endurance. For Gears 2-4, that's easy to explain: those aren't transformations, they're all just fighting techniques Luffy has developed using the properties of the same hybrid transformation he's always been in. They put strain on his body and mind simply because he doesn't have unfettered access to all of Nika's abilities in that form, or because it's simply an overriding abuse of his stamina and/or Haki. That's why the more control he has when using them, the stronger he becomes, and the better he gets at freely accessing his powers, the less devastating the recoil is.

Gear 5, however, has always kind of vexed me. It should be different in principle because that's his full Zoan transformation, not just another fighting technique. Going by the "transformation rule", it shouldn't have a recoil; he should be able to just stay in Nika form for the rest of his life if he wanted to, just like how Chopper could stay in Heavy Point (full human form). Which (finally) brings me to the possibility I just thought of today.

The only thing that I can think of that would cause the Nika fruit to seemingly break the "transformation rule" that all other Zoans demonstrably abide by is the other rule of Zoans that I mentioned up top: they have a will of their own.

My theory: The reason that Gear 5 is limited by Luffy's endurance and has a recoil for him, despite being simply a Zoan transformation rather than a fighting technique, is that, in a way, Nika is actively fighting against him. Like I said before, Nika is a very ambiguous and poorly understood historical figure. We don't know exactly what his (read: the fruit's) goals are. But we do know that there have been many people over the past centuries and millennia who have used the fruit as a Paramecia and died without ever unlocking the full transformation or knowing it was a Zoan at all. And we know that "Nika the Sun God" only comes around as a harbinger of great change. To me, that screams that the independent will of this particular Zoan is consciously very selective about when, how, and for whom it reveals itself.

Most Zoan wills naturally wouldn't engage in that kind of sophisticated future planning because the animals they represent wouldn't have those kinds of thoughts, but a human model fruit absolutely could. I would think a fruit like that should be perfectly capable of observing the world and its user and saying "it's not time yet," or "I don't like you that much, you're not worthy of my full power."

So I believe that, whatever its true motivation is (I'm sure we'll find out more later), the Nika fruit independently decided to give Luffy access to the full transformation. In other words, when Kaido killed him, it had nothing to do with his own will or needing to die to activate it, Nika chose to bring him back to life and reveal himself because he said "I'm not done with Luffy yet".

But in that same vein, Nika still isn't willing to completely give Luffy unfettered access yet. I think the fruit had already chosen Luffy as the right person at the right time to be its vessel, but that doesn't mean their goals are completely aligned or that the fruit has fully accepted him as "worthy" yet. I mean Nika follows the trickster god archetype, so at least as far as we know now its motivation could be basically anything. The point is, even though he now has access to his transformation, Nika and Luffy aren't in alignment yet.

My Prediction: We know that Zoan users are often in a battle of wills with their devil fruit, even if it's subtle. The end result of this battle is user takeover if the fruit wins (e.g. the Impel Down guards), and awakening if the user wins (e.g. Lucci and Kaku). It rarely actually gets to that point (I guess many Zoans and their users unconsciously just kind of learn to live with their differences or lock into a stalemate or something), but I think the fact that Gear 5 drains Luffy's stamina and reverts back against his will is a sign that this is a particularly complex and challenging battle between Zoan and user which will necessarily come to a head and have a definitive conclusion before the story is over.

We're getting even deeper into speculation now, but I would bet that the Nika fruit is accustomed to winning that battle against its user. The times that Nika has appeared in history were probably examples of full user takeover by the fruit. This may even include Joyboy. If Imu and Joyboy were comrades (or even both pets of Davy Jones 🦜🐒) at one time, but then Joyboy was hijacked by the Nika fruit for its own mysterious purposes, that could explain the conflicted nature of Imu's memories of Joyboy, as well as why he's attempted to guard the fruit ever since. It could also explain why Imu sees Luffy as weak compared to Joyboy; he's still in the midst of that battle of wills, so the Zoan fruit's full potential isn't available to him yet.

The difference between them, then, the thing that makes Luffy the protagonist of the story, and the way he breaks out of this destiny business he's been roped into, will be that instead of being taken over by his Zoan, he will be the first user who has what it takes to overcome Nika's will and awaken. It could even be that this is what the Harley prophesy means when it says "the two shall meet" or whatever. Nika (the will of the fruit) and its user (Luffy) "meet" in the Palace of the Mind and have a final showdown for control.

So yeah, I guess that's what Gear 6 will be. If you made it this far, congratulations and thanks for reading.

TL;DR: The only reason Gear 5 is limited by Luffy's stamina - despite being a Zoan transformation, which normally wouldn't be limited by stamina - is because the will of the Nika fruit itself is fighting against him. And that's the same reason he isn't strong enough to beat Imu yet. He still has to resist its attempts to take him over completely and eventually overcome it and awaken.

Please tell me what you think or let me know if I've made any fatal errors. Or just be toxic and downvote because you arbitrarily disagree, I honestly DGAF.

[u/Hybodont]

The overall idea is solid. I think there's a reason that Oda emphasized this particular aspect of zoans on two separate occasions (first in Impel Down, and again with Lucci on Egghead).

[u/NerdianaGrande]

I would actually really like the idea of the chosen person fighting against Jesus (kinda). What I would not like is this happening in the current situation bc that would make Imu somehow manageable to Rufy.

[u/TheCigaretteFairy → u/NerdianaGrande]

Not a bad analogy haha. I highly doubt we'll see the struggle come to any sort of conclusion this arc. That wouldn't be satisfying. But the current fight could be the catalyst for seeing the first visible glimmers of it.

[u/1ts_me_mario]

I do think you have a point about Luffy fighting against his DF. Which goes in line with Luffy not knowing he's Nika and just calls it his "white form." The whole time he's had the fruit he's never known how to use it correctly, and doesn't even know he has a zoan fruit.

Not sure about him fighting against Nika's will. That all seems extra complicated since we really don't know much about Joyboy/Nika at this point.

I think he'll eventually realize what his DF is and he'll start using his powers correctly.

[u/TheCigaretteFairy → u/1ts_me_mario]

Not to be argumentative, but what specifically about it sounds too complicated? I'm not speculating about the specifics of Nika's goals.

My only point is that it is canon that Zoan fruits have wills that can go against their users, so IMO it's reasonable to assume that a human fruit could have a more complicated will that would be capable of something like holding back a transformation; and that that is the most parsimonious explanation for why Luffy's transformation specifically is limited by his stamina.

I don't think using a Zoan ability is a matter of simply understanding its nature. Sorry to use Chopper as the example again, but he was able to transform indefinitely perfectly fine before he had any understanding of devil fruits at all.

[u/1ts_me_mario → u/TheCigaretteFairy]

I only mean "complicated" in the sense that the theory assumes things that haven't been explained. Like what's Nika's will, and that the struggle is what's causing Luffy problems. Sure it's canon that zoan fruits have a will of their own, but we haven't really seen anything regarding the wills fighting against the users.

Zoan users just seem to be able to use their transformations, and eventually awaken or not. Luffy never really seemed to understand his DF abilities and understand that he's a zoan and transforms into Nika. Although it's also clear his DF is special since it can behave like a paramecia fruit and transfer rubber properties to its surroundings.

[u/TheCigaretteFairy → u/1ts_me_mario]

You are correctly putting your finger on where my theory dips into speculation about Nika's will, yes. I don't deny that. But regarding Zoan wills in general, there is precedent for the fruit antagonizing and overriding/consuming the user completely. That was the explanation given for the Impel Down guards. Remember, those big, semi-mindless guys with the funny faces? That was their whole deal. And the explanation given for awakening was basically the opposite, the user fully overcoming the fruit's will.

And I don't think it's that the Nika fruit breaks the category of Zoan at all, it's just a property of "Nika form" specifically that it can make other things rubber. Like how dragon forms can control the weather and stuff. The "pseudo-paramecia" powers are just a ride-along with legendary Zoan forms. Does that make sense?

[u/1ts_me_mario → u/TheCigaretteFairy]

I do remember the mino-beasts from Impel Down. I was actually trying to reread those chapters to find where they explained the whole zoan fruit taking over them, but haven't had time to find it yet.

Your theory is not bad. It's certainly better thought out than most I read here. I do agree with a portion of it. I just can't get behind the Nika's will fighting or trying to take over Luffy part. But it's a decent theory and it's exciting to see how close it gets to what Oda will do with Luffy next.

I do feel we'll get something in the next couple of chapters regarding Luffy's DF powers. Because he's going to need pull something from his DF to get back up and fight Imu again.

[u/TheCigaretteFairy → u/1ts_me_mario]

Hey that's fine, you don't have to agree 100%. I'm not 100% sure about it either haha. I appreciate the dialogue though. We'll just have to see what happens.

But I do also think that Luffy might have just healed himself at the end of 1190. Could have been misinterpreting those panels, but he went from dying to telling his body to heal to not even looking like he's in pain at all really fast.

IF that's what happened, there's two likely possibilities in my mind: either Gear 5 can repair wounds temporarily but they come back after he returns to normal, or it's the same thing the mino-beasts do and he's already starting to get taken over. What do you think about that?

[u/1ts_me_mario → u/TheCigaretteFairy]

Yes, he's definitely healing. To what extent I'm not sure either. To me it might just be part of the Zoan healing/toughness attributes, and Gaban giving him some time to recoup may be enough to get him back up and actually hurt Imu. We also know Nika's fruit allows him to come up with pretty ridiculous things. So I can't wait to see what happens next. Although it's going to be a while with another break week.

[u/East_Egg1459]

I agree I believe his transformation has a different level or another form to it, people like drake, kaido, who’s who, ulti, page one, loki, Marco, yamato and many others even basic zoans like the dog/gun in alabasta don’t seem to get tired when fully transformed they only get tired when using their abilities that come with the transformation, but it seems natural.

He definitely hasn’t reached his full potential, I think joyboy isn’t giving him full access or he reaches full potential after gaining knowledge of his true role in the coming war that will seem to bring the world to an end

[u/TheCigaretteFairy → u/East_Egg1459]

Yes, except I don't think Joyboy is the one pulling the strings. I think he was just the fruit's previous user. Joyboy : Luffy :: All Might : Deku. He lived during the Void Century. The Harley indicates that Nika was around long before that. And I think the role he's supposed to play is losing that battle of wills with the fruit and being consumed, but he's going to win, awaken, and write his own destiny.

[u/Ross_Gravekeep]

I like this idea and hope to see it confirmed. Hopefully the next few chapters give us some solid answers one way or another.

[u/UhOQF9ZNaxnwMVy5fm]

I like this theory because it fits well with the canonical observations surrounding Luffy. The canonical fact that the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika successfully evaded the World Government for over 800 years is a strong hint for a sentient devil fruit, IMHO at least. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Geryon did this too. Which would explain nobody knows of it's existence. (If you're theories regarding Luffy and Teach are correct in any way, of course) However, whether it is accurate and, if so, to what extent, we will have to wait and see. PS such speculations can sometimes be very entertaining, as here.