Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKDP1x_FRwc&feature=youtu.be

Cover Story:

On the cover, Yamato finally sets off from the Flower Capital, with the next destination being Udon, where the prison mines were, now once again a forested area. Yamato can be seen carrying the bento box that was a gift from O-Tsuru a couple chapters ago, as well as a backpack for the journey that was also seen over the past two covers. On the back, in the distant flower capital, you can still spot the Straw Hat jolly roger perched on the castle’s sakura tree, which in case you didn’t know, is specifically in the shape of a half-Moon, the symbol of the Kouzuki clan.

Vegapunk’s Message Continues

Back on Egghead, the giant, which was sent flying by Warcury, lands at sea by the coast, hitting several Marine ships. Seeing it right next to the battleships, we can get a feeling for just how immense its size is. An ancient giant like Little Oars Jr. was already as big as a battleship, but it seems like the ancient iron giant dwarfs even their size. In fact, this puts into even bigger perspective when comparing Warcury to the Marine ships just how massive he is, as so far he has been fighting against actual giants, giant Luffy included, which may have made it hard to realize just how big he really is. The Marines are also understandably confused as they call the iron giant an “iron creature”, as they couldn’t have much comprehension of what an actual robot is like.

However surprise, Vegapunk’s message is actually not over! It’s just a little tidbit, but we get some extra words to his final message, being “sono namae”. This translates to “that name”, making his final message “To those bearing the name D., scattered across the world, within you there is another…” bzzt bzzt “…That name…”. bzzt bzzt

This may not seem much, but it does actually support the idea that the reading of Vegapunk’s last message from last week was the former of the two we speculated. To refresh you on it, the use of “within you” in Japanese could be interpreted one of two ways: either Vegapunk meant that within the D. clan, as in among their members, there was a certain another, or that within the D. clan members themselves, as in within their bodies, there was something else existing, like a hidden power or will or whatever. But in this case, the mention of “that name” seems to suggest that he is indeed speaking about a specific individual within the D. clan that stands out.

And we’ve taken the approach of thinking that this individual could actually be maybe a traitor, an outliar like Rocks or Blackbeard that are working against the Dawn, but we have to keep in mind this is likely something that Vegapunk has to have known about, and I just don’t think that Vegapunk really knows about Blackbeard, or anything like that from just reading some poneglyphs.

Rather, I think this is another case of Oda’s razor where the most obvious answer may just be the correct one, and I think that the safest interpretation of this message may be: “To those bearing the name D., scattered across the world, within you there is another Joyboy.”, with the another here being the particle “mo” in Japanese, like “Mo hitotsu Joyboy”, another Joyboy. Even continuing that, the continuation of the message could be something like “That name, Joyboy, is a name that is passed down to a future individual.”, indicating that a new Joyboy arises by essentially bearing that name like a title, or a nickname. We know this in the fact that Luffy has been called a new “Joyboy” by characters like Oden or in the present Zunesha, who acknowledged Luffy as Joyboy after he awakened the same fruit that the original Joyboy possessed and once awakened, the fruit that lets him turn into the mythical character of Nika.

And we can further support this by the fact that Vegapunk was already aware that Luffy had eaten the Nika fruit, out of virtue that earlier in the arc he rushed to see the transformation of what he called the “Warrior in White”. Since he already knew that Nika was a fruit that allowed the original Joyboy to stretch like rubber, he likely made the connection that Luffy may be the new user of the fruit since he mentioned there being no Gomu Gomu no Mi in the original editions of devil fruit illustrated encyclopedias, so he already made the connection. Meaning that he was aware that a new Joyboy did arise, and was likely trying to inform that to the D. clan here. Now this whole concept of there being “another Joyboy” is also incredibly fitting given what happens at the end of the chapter, but we’ll get there really soon.

But keep in mind, while this may seem superfluous, it would have been quite a massive blow to the Government if the entire world knew that a new Joyboy would be coming to overthrow the Government. Instead of despair, that could inspire hope to many people across the world, so it was fairly vital for the Gorosei to stop this transmission before it caused them further damage.

The reveals don’t stop there though, because the iron giant also gets to say its piece as it falls into the water. An interesting detail about the ancient giant’s speech pattern is that interestingly it is all written in katakana. The reason for this is to make it sound more robotic and thus sound like an actual robot pronouncing syllable by syllable, like a robot from an old cartoon. In his message he says:

“Where?”
“Joyboy. Where did you go?”
“I wanted to meet you…”
“I was certain you were there, Joyboy…”
“How weird…”
“How weird…”

Essentially, it means that the iron giant was searching for Joyboy, but now that Joyboy is gone, it is confused, as it seems to have fairly rudimentary programming in some way. This makes sense, as we know the robot reacted to the drums of liberation, recognizing Joyboy within the sound that he heard from Luffy’s heartbeat. And this time it was likely giving chase to Luffy within the Fabriophase, trying to get to him before it was pushed into the water. However, when Luffy transformed out of Gear 5th and stopped beating the Drums of Liberation, the iron giant felt Joyboy disappear since it couldn’t hear the drums anymore, making it think that Joyboy just up and vanished, leaving it confused.

There’s also the fact that several chapters ago, the robot mentioned “I’m sorry Joyboy”, meaning that it’s likely seeking to apologize to Joyboy for not having been able to achieve something, perhaps tied with what it was trying to reach at Mary Geoise, where the God Country of the Lunaria formerly was.

This all of course changes at the end when the giant recognizes the drums of liberation once again when Luffy returns into his form of gear 5th as he exclaims “there he is“, showing how he recognizes Joyboy from the heartbeat of the drums of liberation, just like how Zunesha did.

Some Final Cameos

As Vegapunk’s message cuts around the world, more folks from other locations react to the sudden end to the transmission. Beyond an unnamed location with particular traditional clothing, we once again get to see a shot of Yuba in Alabasta. We get to see not just Koza and his father Toto, but also Kappa, the little kid from the Alabasta Arc. But even beyond them we can once again spot Erik, Koza’s friend from the revolutionary corps, and what may actually be another one of his friends Farafra. The next shot takes place in the town of Whiskey Peak, what many often also mistake as the name of the island, which is in actuality Saboten Island, which translates to “Cactus Island”. There we see the now independent bounty hunters that were previously working for Baroque Works, which include Mr. 9 and Miss Monday, as well as what is implied to be their child, who first appeared during a previous cover story. But beyond them, to the right, way more hidden, is actually Miss Catherine a very minor background member of Baroque Works that tried to attack Zoro at Whiskey Peak by disguising as a nun, but was still defeated. And finally at Dress Rosa, once again Leo believes the lies of the Government, alongside Rebecca, who is still wrapping up her training with Kyros.

Back on the island, the Gorosei ask York how many Punks are still around. York mentions that currently the only ones accessing Punk Records are two, Lilith and Atlas. As we know, Stella should be dead, as should be Shaka and Pythagoras, sadly the only other two Punks that were present during the recording of Vegapunk’s broadcast. The odd one out here though is Edison, who we did see alive just recently. But this could mean one of two things: either one, he was so damaged that he ultimately broke down and died as well, having used his last strength to lengthen the clouds for their escape, or two, he purposefully or accidentally disconnected from Punk Records in order to go unnoticed by the Government, but it’s hard to say without further details.

Luffy and the giants make it safely onto the giant ship, called the Great Erik, as it sails away. Luffy can be seen having lost his top outfit due to having transformed as Nika, and behind him Sanji and Franky are thanking the giants as well. Bonney has helped dispose of Bluegrass and Dhole by turning them into kids, with Bluegrass exclaiming how frustrating it all is. However this could be taken as a joke in Japanese, as you could interpret what she’s saying as her being jealous of Bonney’s powers, due to the fact that she likely wishes she could make herself be younger as well.

Mars heads for the ship and fires a blast of fire onto it, similar to Kaidou’s Bolo Breath. This sets the entire ship on fire, which becomes an issue as now they’ll need a way to douse the flames. Jinbe is usually quite good at that with his Fishman Jujutsu, having already done so when Big Mom tried to set the Sunny on fire, but he would need to get down from the Labophase and into the water to do so. Some of the giants try to block the attack, which doesn’t do much, but we actually get their names, being “Bjørn”, which means “Bear”, which we’ve seen during Big Mom’s flashback they are native to Elbaf, and “Sig”, which is a common abbreviation of Sigrid.

Joy Girl

Suddenly however, the seas begin to shake as the very water itself turns into rubber. This may actually be how the Sunny is able to safely land from the Labophase without being damaged, as instead of crashing onto hard water, it can fall onto bouncy water where it can more safely land. Though the Marines mistake this as being the sea levels rising. As Luffy transforms, he encourages Bonney to transform along with him by using her powers as she did before when she tried going gear third. And so Bonney tries to channel Luffy’s imagery of freedom by trying to replicate an image of freedom herself where she can transform into a shape resembling that of Nika, what she calls “her most free future”, which ties into the title of the chapter “Become Free”.

We know that Bonney’s powers have limitations, for one it seems that Distorted Future can only apply to herself so far, and it also seems like it only changes the physical properties of her body. This has allowed her to distort her body in ways that it can look differently, such as stretching her arms or in this case changing the color of her hair. If she is somehow able to apply this to her heart as well, she could even replicate the power of the drums of liberation. But on the other hand, we don’t know to which extent she may be able to replicate Luffy’s cartoonish effects, and at the very least the Paramecia side of the awakening where Luffy can turn his surroundings into rubber shouldn’t be possible for her. It is something that for the most part is more of a cosmetic change that simply allows her to stretch her body around more freely through her powers.

I understand that a lot of folks might try to look at this more from a powerscaling perspective or whatnot, but that’s not really what we’re here for. Instead, I think that this is a brilliant narrative moment because it serves as a perfect culmination for not just Bonney’s own story and character arc, but also that of Kuma, tying with a beautiful knot their storylines across this entire arc. And to help you understand that better, let me try to illustrate why I think that this is such a fantastic culmination to her character arc. Buckle up for a bit of text:

Bonney’s Character Arc

As we’ve established already several times, Nika isn’t real. Joyboy is a real person that existed during the Void Century, the first pirate, but Nika in itself is a mythical character, hence why he only exists in the form of a mythical devil fruit. He is quite literally a cartoon character, one passed down in stories that serves to inspire others despite not being real. I’ve even gone on to explain how I think that the original story of Nika is the “laugh tale” that Roger found on the final island, literally the One Piece itself, but for now let’s just put that theory aside and simply stick to what we know for a fact, that Nika is a fictional character, regardless of which story or which legend he may have originated from.

The fact that Nika doesn’t exist makes him essentially a lofty ideal. He is a fictional character, he isn’t meant to be real, so the way that he exists is almost unrealistic. Nika is someone who is happy all the time, he is always laughing and singing, doing a pose that is meant to represent the celebration of a party. We all wish we could be that way, always happy, always positive and willing to just be friendly, joyful, and willing to party, but the reality is: life is tough. We often grow depressed, struggle, deal with things like anxiety and fear, and it’s easy enough to tell someone to just “be happy”, but so many of these things can feel out of control that it’s hard to really achieve that sense of joy.

I think that’s why a lot of us find escapism in fiction, in stories just like One Piece. I think that’s why often many fictional stories and their characters are so idealized, because we perceive them like a perfect ideal. We see someone like Luffy enjoying his adventures, being so happy and joyful, and we kind of wish that we could be like him, being able to have such a positive mindset on life where we can enjoy it to the fullest in spite of all the struggles it throws at us. In a sense, Luffy is still struggling as much as us, he is constantly injured, suffering sometimes physically and mentally and sometimes dealing with loss and struggles, but he still manages to push through it all with a positive mindset. And while you might consider that idealized, I think Oda is specifically telling us that it doesn’t need to be.

Think of it this way: this relationship that most of us have with Luffy, this idealization that we have with him… is exactly the same identical dynamic that Bonney and Kuma have with Nika. Nika is a fictional character that they idolize and gives them hope in their lives, but both of them have been aware of the fact that he isn’t really real. Kuma knew this all along and confided in Vegapunk that Nika was just a legend, while Bonney had to accept the painful truth when she was confronted by Saturn. This caused her transformation to falter, as her lack of belief in Nika means that she isn’t able to visualize transforming into him as a realistic future she could turn into. So in the end, to them, Nika was just a fictional ideal, just a form of escapism of dreaming of being someone you’ll never be.

But here Luffy is telling Bonney that’s not the case. Nika isn’t just a fictional ideal. You CAN become Nika. In fact, Nika isn’t even something limited to a devil fruit transformation or something as simple as that. Being like Nika means being willing to have the same positive outlook in life that he does, and see the positivity of things even among the most painful of struggles. It’s the pure embodiment of what the joy of hope is meant to stand for. It’s Oda trying to tell us, the readers, that you can become like Luffy. You don’t need to be Luffy or have weird stretchy superpowers in order to be as free as he is, you just need a similar mindset in being willing to think positively.

It’s easy to tell someone to just “be positive”, especially when they can’t down on a biological level. I’m saying this as someone who has dealt with numerous health issues and anxiety disorders that are plaguing me even now as I am writing this. But it’s specifically even more when you are in those mental pitfalls that it’s even more important to find a way to quantify that joy into reality. And the truth is that the One Piece is real, the series may be fictional, but the impact the story has on our world is very much real in and of itself. It’s a story that encourages all of us to be a bit more like Luffy, and Luffy isn’t meant to be just a lofty ideal that you’ll never be able to be like, but what you should motivate yourself to be more like. That’s exactly what Kuma did, by trying to be more like Nika and trying to focus on spreading kindness and positivity, while also being willing to stand against cruelty and fear, to encourage and help others to do and be better. It’s Kuma’s own beliefs in Nika and the kindness that he stands for that helped him improve as a person and become the kind person that he is.

And similarly, Bonney has followed a similar path where she hesitated in her beliefs, and finding out that Nika doesn’t exist led to her whole worldview to come crashing down, because she realizes the world doesn’t hold the same pure ideals her father tried shielding her with (understandably so considering that she is just 12 years old). However, now she is regaining faith as she realizes that Nika is real… except he really isn’t. Luffy is able to embody Nika and look like him, but realistically Nika is still not a real person, it is just an ideal. But Luffy is proving that those fictional ideals can be made reality. And through it, it inspires Bonney to become like Nika herself. She does this aesthetically but that’s not really what matters, what matters this is that she’s achieving this state by becoming free and accepting her own joy, to be able to smile and laugh even amongst the struggles of this fiery inferno.

And I feel like this helps demystify Luffy a lot from being the “chosen one”. Luffy being Nika through his fruit doesn’t automatically make him destined to be, it doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to find the One Piece or that it won’t take much effort. In fact, with the fruit having a will of its own, it’s possible the fruit may have even chosen Luffy just due to the dream that he possessed. But what really makes Luffy a “Joyboy” isn’t the fact that he can transform into the white warrior or the fact he can stretch, it’s his unbridled positivity. So while I think you can totally criticize this if you don’t like this, I would still encourage to look at it less from a powerscaling perspective and more from the narrative intent of what this is trying to tell you. I know some people will just tell you “it isn’t that deep”, but you know what, maybe it isn’t, and that’s what’s makes it so special. You shouldn’t take things so seriously, and while being cynical is important, it’s also just as important to also enjoy the more joyful aspects of life without overworrying so much about the details.

Look at the story of a young girl that suffered through so much, someone who believed in a fictional character that could save her, only to realize that said character has always existed within her and can save her just simply by teaching her to believe more in herself. She always wanted to show her father that Nika existed, only for her to become Nika herself by just embracing her own freedom. Just in the same way that all of us can become like Luffy by simply applying the joy that he shares with us every chapter. I was having a really rough day today before reading this chapter, but seeing Luffy and Bonney sharing so much joy, it inspires me to try to be better and have more belief and hope in my own joy as well, to become just like Nika myself as well. And I hope that you can as well!