This article contains spoilers from One Piece’s Elbaf arc.
Summary
- The Gomu Gomu no Mi is a Mythical Zoan with its true power being the Warrior of Liberation, Sun God Nika.
- The fruit has a will, finding worthy users, explaining why Shanks didn’t eat it despite stealing it from the Government.
- Shanks knew the fruit wasn’t meant for him, as he wasn’t the candidate fulfillng the Will of D like Roger.
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Shanks is one of the most popular One Piece characters who also holds tremendous importance, being the person who set Luffy out on his oath of becoming the Pirate King. Without Shanks, One Piece might not have existed and that goes to say a lot. Fans also know that Shanks might just have an even deeper connection to the real plot of the story surrounding the World Government and the Void Century.
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After all, Shanks specifically gained access to the Nika fruit, known in the world as the Gomu Gomu no Mi after its renaming. However, Shanks never ate the fruit himself, and it was almost as if the Gomu Gomu no Mi knew that Shanks wasn’t going to be its user. There’s a deeper secret behind this that Oda has indicated in the story.
The True Will Of The Gomu Gomu no Mi
- The Nika Fruit Is A Mythical Zoan
- Zoans Have A Will Of Their Own
The Gomu Gomu no Mi is known in the world as a Devil Fruit that grants one a rubber body. However, that’s only a part of its powers. The true power of the fruit comes to light after the awakening, which turns the user into the Warrior of Liberation, also known as Sun God Nika. With a rubbery body, the user brings laughter and joy wherever they go, and above all, liberates those in need from their misery. The Sun God Nika’s powers have no limits. Imagination is the biggest weapon of the user and anything is possible for them as long as they can imagine it. That is the true power of this Devil Fruit, the real name of which is the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.
It was to hide the true nature of the fruit from the annals of history, wasn’t it! — Gorosei
The Nika fruit is also a Mythical Zoan in nature. Even though the Gomu Gomu no Mi was reclassified as a Paramecia, the truth is that the fruit is actually a Zoan. To hide its true power and real nature, the World Government made this change and since nobody awakened the fruit in 800 years, nobody really found out the truth about Luffy’s Nika fruit. The interesting part is that all Zoan fruits have a will of their own. This means that these fruits find particular users by themselves somehow and use the world itself as an agent to drive themselves to the rightful users who they deem worthy. This is one of the biggest reasons why the World Government has always failed to acquire the fruit and why it has always slipped through their grasp.
Why Shanks Never Ate The Gomu Gomu no Mi
Shanks Never Wanted To Eat The Gomu Gomu no Mi
The Gomu Gomu no Mi found its way to Shanks long ago. 13 years ago, the people of the World Government had finally got their hands all over the Gomu Gomu no Mi, and they wanted to transport it so Nika couldn’t return. However, it was Shanks who retrieved the Devil Fruit from the Government. It is also very interesting to note that Shanks was specifically looking for this Devil Fruit at the time, and had tracked him down knowing that it would be at that particular place. He attacked the ship of the World Government, which was guarded by the CP9, and stole the Devil Fruit, almost as if he knew what this Devil Fruit was.
I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to go for the One Piece. At least not yet. — Shanks
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However, it’s not too strange to imagine that Shanks truly did know that this Devil Fruit was actually the Nika fruit. He stole the fruit on purpose, but even then, he refused to eat it. This is likely because Shanks knew that the Gomu Gomu no Mi wasn’t meant for him. The fruit has its own will and only went with Shanks knowing they he would take it away from the Government. The Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika used Shanks to be taken to the perfect candidate, who later turned out to be Luffy.
Shanks Was Not A Candidate For The Fruit
Shanks himself was not considered a candidate for many reasons, the biggest of which is the fact that just like Roger, Shanks was too early. Shanks couldn’t fulfill the Will of D, and at the same time, the two sovereigns that the Sea Kings spoke of in One Piece chapter 968 were already born.
Shanks knew this and was likely asked by Roger to be taken to the next sovereign who would be born in 10 years after the disbandment of the Roger Pirates. That’s the person whom Shanks was on the lookout for, and it is also why Shanks stopped his search for the One Piece.
One Piece chapter 1145 will be out very soon, later this week. As usual, One Piece is going to drop on the upcoming Sunday. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12AM JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on April 6. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1145 is April 6, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.
- Release Date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
