Luffy will be one of the strongest and most influential characters in One Piece at the end of
Wano. Throughout his arc, he has pushed his Haki abilities to a whole new level, now being capable
of using advanced forms of all three types. He is capable to look slightly into the future after
his fight with Katakuri, is able to deal immense damage to enemies from the inside by circulating
his armament Haki in preparation for the raid on Onigashima, and now has unlocked the true
powers of conquerors haki during his fight with Kaido, manifesting it into THE ultimate physical
force that can be used to make yourself close to indestructible and break through any defence.
By taking these three skills to the next level, the Yonko level,
I guess, Luffy has already proven, that he has the right ambitions
needed to stand at the top and become king of the pirates. But is Haki really
the only thing Luffy will need to improve to claim that title and find the one piece?
I think not. Luffy has shown that he can fight on a level with Kaido and big mom right now, which,
don't get me wrong already shows just how ridiculously much Luffy has grown
just since the beginning of Wano. But don't forget that Kaido also had to face off against
the Scabbards and three other supernova before going into a 1vs1 duel with Luffy.
And even then, when he starts taking more and more actual damage throughout the fight, still,
Luffy seems to be the one closer to running out of energy first. And yet, Luffy has to win.
And so it was clear from the beginning, that Luffy would also need to get an update to his
Devil Fruit power abilities, once the raid on Onigashima started. A lot was thrown out there,
Gear 5, the Gomu Gomu no mi finally awakening, or, I personally always thought what was the most
fascinating option, Luffy actually not being a rubber man altogether,
but having eaten a legendary devil fruit all along. Let's talk about it.
What's up, my name is Manu, and since quite early on, Wano has already been my
favorite arc in all of One Piece. I believe the detail in which Eiichiro Oda, the author
of One PIEce has painted the rich culture and history of Wano in the first two acts,
is truly unparalleled in the story before this. Wano clearly was always going to be
a passion project and pivotal moment in the story for this man, that was planned right
from the start. Oden's flashback, that was a truly unexpected firework of reveals and
epicness, to me personally was the best in the story so far as well, rivalled only by Robin's.
And the character development so many of our favorite characters have went though in the
land of the samurai, is just unparalleled, with countless arcs culminating here. I'm
talking Sanji, Law, Big Mom, Momo and basically the entire Saga since entering the new world.
And still, despite my love for great storytelling and world building,
still, once the fighting actually began, even I couldn't help but think about one
thing: How strong is Luffy going to be at the end of all this and going into the next arc?
I think by now there is a pretty clear answer to this, but what you need to understand is, that
luffy's influence in the world doesn't come purely from becoming stronger,
but also from who he is as a person. []
As Mihawk explains here, Luffy has the very unique ability to slowly pull the people around
him towards him, friends and enemies alike. And Mihawk clearly knows what he's talking about,
because he's incredibly powerful himself. So when he says that it's luffy's most terrifying power,
I feel like we should take that seriously. Also I find it really hard not to respect
what this man is saying. So how exactly has Luffy risen to the position in the
world where he is respected by YOnko and a number one target for the government?
Well easy. He has already changed the whole balance of the world fundamentally.
I think it's fair to say that Luffy single-handedly was responsible for
the abolishment of the warlord system. He defeated 3 of them,
Crocodile Doflamingo and Moria, getting stronger and stronger in the process. And Hancock, Kuma,
Mihawk, Law and even Buggy have helped him at some point, with Jinbe even joining the crew.
And by exposing their plots on Alabasta and Dressrosa, he even pulled some marines on
his side, including Fujitora, who ended up getting rid of the system altogether,
shifting the balance of the three powers in the world, that had been established for ages.
Even more impressively to me, he is as far as we know, the first pirate since rocks,
to openly declare war on the world government when saving Robin from Enies Lobby.
He punched a celestial dragon on Sabaody,
Broke into Impel down and disrupted the war at Marineford to save his bother ace.
Which I absolutely love, because even though the government technically won,
Luffy managed to completely ruin their intended victory over piracy by gaining a ton of allies,
unlocking conquorers haki, revealing his heritage and even inspiring whitebeard to
repeat Rogers last words, making the pirate movement maybe even stronger than before.
And now, after having awakened his haki powers after two years of training,
Luffy is doing the same thing over again, but this time with the Yonko system.
He formed powerful alliances to take down Kaido, embarrassed Big Mom in front of the world,
forced both of them to form an alliance of their own and still had the audacity to attack them
heads on in their own territory. And I'm not even talking about Shanks yet, who most likely has been
a powerful ally to Luffy all the while, if Oda-sensei doesn't pull the worlds largest reverse
card move on all of us. And on top of that, other former members of the Roger pirates like Rayleigh.
He has ties to the revolutionary army and is friends with ancient weapons, like Shirahoshi.
Basically, whatever world-changing event there has been in the story,
Luffy was somehow involved in it.
And after Wano, having survived and overcome the alliance of two of the Yonko, he also is in
possession of more road poneglyphs than anyone else at this point with someone in his crew
capable of reading them and leading him to the one piece. I think it's pretty fair to assume,
that Luffy after Wano is pretty much the most wanted and influential person on the sea, rivalled
only by Blackbeard and his father dragon in terms of threat that he poses to the world government.
So, why do I still think, that Luffy massively improving his haki was not enough for Wano?
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Just as many other people, I'm pretty sure that there will be at least one more arc before laugh
tale with Elbaf. And who knows, knowing Oda-sensei maybe even one or two other smaller ones.
Couldn't Luffy have gotten a power up in those as well? I think the story has always suggested
to us that no, Luffy will have to get at least one more power upgrade during Wano.
I believe that his long-anticipated encounter with Shanks will center around truly mastering
his conquorer's haki and proving himself as worthy to find the one piece. But I don't think he will
unlock any new skill during that. As I discussed in detail in this video here, I believe that
Luffy, Zoro and maybe even Sanji will be out for the first half of the Elbaf arc after Wano.
All of them having gone far beyond their limits and exhausting their powers. This might well
be an arc for characters like Usopp to shine before the final battle against black beard.
So even if Luffy will have to truly reach his peak against his strongest opponent on Laugh tale,
I think the groundworks for that will have to be laid in Wano.
The next crazy power he needs to defeat Teach can't be an ***-pull,
but something we've seen before, just not fully controlled or perfected yet. And this
power of course is related to his devil fruit, something I made an entire series of videos about.
I found it really interesting how the focus for Luffy's power
shifted throughout his fight with Kaido.
At first he was beaten badly when arriving at Wano. So he learned Ryouu to be able to
deal damage. And even though, that worked better, he still needed the support of Law,
Kid, Killer and Zoro. Then Luffy understood that he could actively
use conquerors haki to fight Kaido one on one. As Rayleigh explained []
And Luffy's Haki truly bloomed during this battle as much as
it could. Truly bringing him into YOnko territory.
By the way, I will make a video analysing and explaining Haki in One Piece soon,
so if you want to see that and are a true mad-lad, make sure to subscribe.
And yet, even that, STILL wasn't enough. So the only thing left, that Luffy had
neglected throughout the new world, that gave all the other yonko an even bigger advantage,
was the use of their powerful devil fruits. And that's when the focus of the story shifted again.
Careful, there will be manga spoilers from here on out. Suddenly we learned about Shanks going out of
his way to steal the Gomu Gomu no mi, which, as I explain in this video, clearly suggested that the
fruit might be special. We learn about the sun god Nika, that coincidentally looks just like Luffy's
silhouette on skypea. It's revealed that even Law and Kid have already managed to awaken their
fruits. And finally we learn that the Gorosei think a legendary devil fruit will awaken again,
that's true name has been hidden from history and they order Luffy to be taken out by CP0,
apparently putting a premature and unhonorable end to Luffy's duel with Kaido.
The manga has basically been screaming for Luffy to awaken
new powers in this situation for quite a while before this.
And there are basically only 3 options here to consider. 1,
luffy finds a new creative and powerful way to use his fruit and unlocks gear
5. 2, Luffy awakens his rubber fruit in one of the ways discussed in this video here.
Or 3, it turns out that Luffy's fruit has never been the rubber fruit after all,
but actually a legendary power feared by the government, like the Sun Wukong fruit.
Something I also made a video about, if you are interested. Now, since we can't have Luffy be
unreasonably stronger than all his peers right after Wano, I think that this will simply be
the first time that we see it happening and the incredible power that comes with it,
similarly to how Luffy used conquerers haki at marineford.
It will only be something that Luffy will master towards the actual climax of the story, when
he will inevitably have to face the cataclysmic powers of Blackbeard, Akainu, the Gorosei and Imu.
And I think that's a great writing choice. While I can see some people
complaining that I would come out of nowhere, as I've laid out for you,
I think it has been foreshadowed and worked towards for quite a while now.
It will also not diminish Luffy's previous efforts against Kaido,
especially since CP0 put an unhorable end to the battle and stabbed
Luffy from behind. It is something that will showcase Luffy's unparalleled will to win,
protect his friends and fulfil his dream. The things necessary to even awaken these powers.
Now as exciting as it is knowing that Luffy will get his power up,
if you really want to blow your own mind and take it to the next level,
this isn’t enough on its own. You have to know what it might actually be.
There is actually an absolutley crazy theory about Luffy's close connection
to the Monkey King Sun Wukong, that has changed how people see one piece forever.
And that’s why you really shouldnt ignore this video, because it’s twice as exciting as this one
and in combination with it will make you feel like you’ve figured out Luffy's true powers.