Highlights

Luffy's awakening of incredible powers, including Gear 5 and mastery of Haki, makes him one of the strongest in One Piece.
Through his Devil Fruit, Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, Luffy can turn imagination into reality, gaining freedom and creativity in battles.
Luffy's limitless creativity and imagination allow him to perform impossible feats in fights, cementing his status as a powerful and unique fighter.

Monkey D. Luffy is the protagonist of One Piece and certainly the most influential character in the entire series. Luffy has grown tremendously over the years, and it is safe to say that right now, he's among the strongest in the New World, and one step closer to the One Piece. In fact, Luffy might just be the man closest to the One Piece at this point in time, and much of that is down to the fact that he has awakened incredible powers as of late.

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Luffy has mastered all three advanced forms of Haki, and at the same time, he has also managed to awaken his Devil Fruit. The latter is especially at the core of his strength, and Awakening has allowed him to tap into the power of Gear 5. Fans knew Gear 5 to be a very dangerous transformation. However, it is much more than that. Not only can Luffy gain a tremendous physical boost while using Gear 5, but he also gains the power to turn things that he can imagine into reality.

What Is Luffy's Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika Power?

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The Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika is one of the strongest Devil Fruits in One Piece. This is the same Devil Fruit that was once known as the Gomu Gomu no Mi. This Devil Fruit is actually a Mythical Zoan. However, the World Government reclassified it as a Paramecia Devil Fruit. And, at the same time, they also changed its name to Gomu Gomu no Mi. This was due to the fact that they wanted its name to be hidden, as well as its powers. As long as nobody awakened this Devil Fruit, there was nothing to be afraid of, as the true power of this Devil Fruit lay in its awakening. Luffy consumed this Devil Suit at a very young age, and ever since then, he managed to make this power his very own. It was a very average-looking devil fruit on the surface. When Luffy ate it first, all he got was the power of rubber. This ability looked quite underwhelming at first, however, it was Luffy’s creative and inventive mind that made this ability as special as it was.

Luffy pushed his mind beyond all limitations and ended up creating special powers such as Gear Second, Gear Third, and of course, Gear 4. These powers were truly special, however, it wasn't until Gear 5 that the true potential of this Devil Fruit awakened. In the Wano Country Arc, Luffy, in the fight against Kaido, managed to finally tap into the true power of his Devil Fruit. Once he did that, the Nika fruit finally awakened, and fans found out the true power of this Devil Fruit.

It was made quite clear that Luffy had gained a stronger body with awakening. More importantly, he gained the ability to fight with freedom. This Devil Fruit is innately tied to freedom. Essentially, once awakened, the user can fight with incredible freedom and creativity, limited by absolutely nothing. Along with a stronger body, Luffy could spread laughter and joy to wherever he went. He became the Warrior of Liberation, and that is exactly what Luffy is at the moment. Luffy can be truly free in this form, and freedom, to him, means doing even the most ridiculous that he can imagine. The only limitation this power has is his imagination, and that is what makes it truly special.

Luffy's Imagination And Limitations

The Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika has turned Luffy into an extremely powerful fighter. Not only has it given him a physical buff that is absolutely incredible, but it has also made it so that Luffy can fight using the most unconventional ways, and still make effective use of his incredible creativity. It can be said that Luffy is the most creative fighter on the seas in One Piece right now. Fans have already seen him taking his creativity to the very next level in the many fights that he has fought so far. For instance, in the fight against Kaido, Luffy showcased the ability to run in mid-air while leaving flame drags behind. This should not be possible for a regular human, however, because Luffy can imagine it, it becomes possible.

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At the same time, Luffy can also do other impossible things, and fans have already seen quite a lot of that in the story. For instance, in the fight against Rob Lucci, Luffy was seen being able to create goggles out of nowhere. This was almost like magic, however, because Luffy could imagine it, he could also make it real.

Recently, in the fight against the Five Elders, Luffy managed to pull off something similar once again. He was able to conjure a bat, a can of paint, a brush, and a baseball cap, and use this baseball bat to strike a home run to hit back Saturn's poison. This was an absolutely bizarre ability and the fact that Luffy was able to manifest something out of nowhere once again, is proof of the fact that he can do essentially anything that he can imagine. This makes Luffy the true Warrior of Liberation and an incredibly powerful fighter.

How Luffy Can Make Anything Real

Of course, one might want to ask how Luffy can pull something like this off. The ability to turn imagination into reality is not normal, however, for the user of Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, it is. While this might be confusing on the surface level, the answer to this question is simply realized in the nature of this Devil Fruit itself. The Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika has a special ability assigned to itself, just like other Mythical Zoan. For Luffy, it is the ability to fight with immense freedom that is only limited by imagination. That means anything that Luffy can imagine becomes real.

As long as Luffy can imagine it and believes in what he is thinking, he can make any scenario a possibility. He can affect his surroundings, which comes as a part of the awakening, and that is why Luffy can conjure thanks out of absolutely nothing. This ability of his makes him utterly unstoppable. Luffy has already showcased his power against the Five Elders, and it is safe to say that he has only scratched the surface with this ability of his. There is much more to come from Luffy and fans will hopefully see more of it in the upcoming chapters of One Piece. For now, it doesn't appear as if Luffy's creativity and imagination have any limits. Luffy will most likely come up against stronger individuals, who will pose bigger problems for him later down the line.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1111, is set to be March 24, 2024.