One Piece Creates the Perfect Battlefield For Luffy’s Nika Powers to Shine

With the wholesome reunions, feasts, and exploration of the island all wrapped up, One Piece’s Elbaf Arc is finally gearing up for some battles as the Holy Knights finally set their evil plans for Elbaf into motion. That said, no one could have anticipated the direction this plan would take, with the latest chapter revealing the Holy Knights’ plan to use one of the strongest powers in Luffy’s possession against him, this being his childlike, vivid imagination. That said, this may have instead given Luffy’s newfound Sun God Nika powers the perfect stage to shine.

Chapter 1142 of One Piece reveals that the Holy Knights’ plan involving the children of Elbaf was to put them to sleep and turn their dreams of what they fear most into reality. The chapter sees several mythical monsters such as Jörmungandr, Nidhoggr, Fenrir, and even Sun God Nika brought to life and wreaking havoc on Elbaf, with their forms and appearances picked straight from the children’s imagination and drawings of them. As such, the latest chapter pits the children’s imagination against Luffy’s own childlike imagination, setting up what could be a very goofy and fun battle between these nightmare beasts and Gear Five.

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One Piece’s Elbaf Arc Sets up the Perfect Battle for Gear Five

Though Luffy is currently contending with Loki and his threat to destroy Elbaf with his lightning, the task of dealing with the Holy Knights and the nightmarish beasts they’ve brought to life will inevitably fall to the Straw Hats. Chapter 1142 also perfectly illustrates just how tough these beasts are through Jörmungandr, who is defeated through the joint efforts of Saul and Principal Tusk. As such, powerful as the Giants may be, there are very few who are strong enough to deal with the entire hoard of monsters currently attacking the island. Given that the Holy Knights do not know about Luffy and the Straw Hats’ presence on the island, this could also be a simple way to thwart this initial plan.

More importantly, with these beasts being born of imagination, having Luffy in Gear Five at the center of it all could open up the path to a fun battle with Luffy going all out with his own imaginative powers. One Piece has still only scratched the surface of what Gear Five is truly capable of with the Egghead Arc giving fans a teasing glimpse.

The battle against the Five Elders at Egghead saw Luffy accomplish all sorts of new, inexplicable feats like conjuring items out of nowhere and even defying the rules of space-time and the current situation could give Luffy the perfect opportunity to dial up the toon force even further. It will be interesting to see how Luffy’s imagination will measure up to that of Elbaf’s children and if the Holy Knights’ abilities could also affect Luffy himself, though the latter seems unlikely to happen. Nonetheless, One Piece has plenty of exciting battles coming up on Elbaf, and Gear Five is sure to steal the show with its goofy antics.

One Piece is available to read from Manga Plus and Viz Media.