One Piece Chapter 1044

Cover

Ahh… the Germa 66’s emotion-free sea voyage report, Part 8: “Mama’s on her way. Let’s start the experiments”
Oven leaves Niji and Yonji in the hands of his siblings Kato, Brownie, Prim and Anana to investigate the two with all sorts of gadgets and weapons.

Storyline

Onigashima: After Zunesha revealed to Momonosuke and Yamato that Joy Boy had returned in the form of Luffy, the latter has just reawakened and is now jumping over the roof of Kaidou’s castle, laughing and singing. The reappearance of his voice is also felt by Sanji, the Eustass Kid, Trafalgar Law, Hyogoro, and Marco, among others. In Mary Geoise, the Five Elders discuss whether it was worth sacrificing a member of the CP0, considering that Kaidou is even angrier than before. However, they agree that there was no other choice, after all, they had been trying to usurp the Gomu Gomu no Fruit for 800 years. What no one knows anymore is that it is actually a cryptid zoan, and that zoan fruits have a mind of their own. So Luffy was actually in possession of the “Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika”, named after a powerful sun god! It is said to possess the ability that only the imagination can limit the owner’s fighting strength, thus making him a “warrior of liberation”. Furthermore, her awakening is said to increase the physical strength and freedom of the user to an almost absurd degree…!

Back on Onigashima, Kurozumi Orochi is still pinned to the ground in front of Hiyori. Hiyori tells the despot that she has always worn her father’s name with pride, as he has kept every promise to the Shogun, whereas the latter is nothing but a liar and a criminal. Just as she is about to take revenge on Orochi for her father, the vestigial remnant of Kanjuro’s flame monster suddenly appears. Since he failed, he now wants to take his last relative Orochi with him, whereupon he sets him on fire…

Back on the roof, Luffy senses an ever-increasing power within himself… and recognizes his new level, Gear 5! Reinvigorated, he finally breaks through all the projectiles with an oversized hand and grabs Kaidou’s dragon body. He then pulls him up and flings the Emperor back and forth, defenseless, until he rams him to the ground with a crash. “The World’s Strongest Creature”, however, is glad that the fight against Luffy didn’t end in such an undignified way, but he immediately has to realize that his “Boro Breath” is also simply thrown back by the rubber boy. Laughing, a completely changed Luffy stands before him, who now finally wants to bring the fight to its end…

Miscellaneous

For Eiichiro Oda, this chapter and Gear 5, “Luffy’s newest devil power” that he’s “wanted to introduce for ages,” marks a personal turning point.

Oda’s comment

I went to see the play forSpirited Away! It was so well done that I could say I actually went to the Aburaya bathhouse!