One Piece: Shanks DID Know What the Gum Gum Fruit Was & Here’s How!

The story of Luffy’s Gomu Gomu no Mi, the Gum-Gum Fruit, has become one of the more interesting ones in One Piece as Oda completely altered everything we knew about this Devil Fruit during the Wano Country Arc. It was revealed that the Gomu Gomu no Mi was not actually that, but rather the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, a mythical Devil Fruit that provided Luffy with the powers of the Sun God Nika. The Five Elders seemed to be the only ones who knew the truth, but… did Shanks know it too?

Shanks was adamant about taking the Devil Fruit from the World Government

The history of the Gomu Gomu no Mi is highly interesting and involves many secrets and machinations from the story of Oda’s world. More than eight hundred years before the beginning of the narrative, Joy Boy consumed this fruit. After his death, the World Government attempted to take possession of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, for eight hundred years, but it always managed to escape them. The organization thus decided to erase his real name from history and passed it off as the Gomu Gomu no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit.

Eleven years before the beginning of the narrative, during the assault on a World Government ship, Lucky Rux found the Gomu Gomu no Mi. The Red Pirates brought the fruit to Foosha, where the following year, it was unknowingly eaten by Luffy, who believed it was just a dessert.

Now, at that point, Shanks knew that it was a Devil Fruit, which is evidenced by his reaction when Luffy ate it – he charged at the boy and tried to make him spit it out, but it was too late, as Luffy had already been turned into rubber. At that time, Shanks was a bit shocked, which suggested that he did not know what kind of Devil Fruit it was, but this was later retconned.

Namely, in Chapter 1054, Oda gave us a flashback, giving us some details about Shanks’ attack on the World Government ship that carried the Fruit. When they were attacked, the CP9 were confused about why Shanks would attack them if they were carrying such a weak fruit (they said that it turned people into rubber), but Shanks was adamant about obtaining it.

This implied that Shanks was aware of the true nature of the Fruit, which did not make sense when we went back in time. But, the retcon has some sense if you interpret it like this: if Shanks knew that the Gomu Gomu no Mi was actually the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, when Luffy turned into rubber, he was not surprised because he did not know what effect it would have, but because he thought that it would have a different effect on Luffy. So, from that point, it makes sense.

Shanks seemingly knew that he was getting the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika

We have now explained the story, so let us now explain the Devil Fruit itself. The Gomu Gomu no Mi, which was originally known as the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika (before the World government hid the truth), is a mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that allows you to transform into Nika, making the body of who ingests it of rubber. He was eaten by Monkey D. Luffy and previously by Joy Boy. This fruit is a purple melon of the type known as Yubari King, covered with characteristic markings all over the surface.

The greatest advantage of ingesting this fruit is immunity to percussive blows such as bullets, cannonballs, and punches and kicks. However, some of the latter blows can still injure the user. It is part of that type of fruit that is always active. To demonstrate this, during the fight with Arlong, Nojiko stretches Luffy’s neck even though the boy is underwater. The rubber that makes up the body also allows the user to survive a fall from a great height that would normally kill a person and immunity to electrical attacks, thus having a notable advantage over the Goro Goro no Mi.

The elastic characteristics of the owner’s body allow him to at least partially resist the enormous pressure of ten thousand meters of depth. Furthermore, it is possible to inhale large quantities of air by inflating like a balloon and then blowing it quickly and producing strong gusts of wind that can even throw the user several meters in the air. The fruit does not provide immunity to blades, and one of the major risks the owner runs every time he stretches is exposing himself to being cut by the elongated limb. Furthermore, there is a limit to the ability to stretch.

With the Armament Haki, it is possible to cancel the immunity guaranteed by the rubber to most of the punches and kicks suffered. On top of that, this fruit carries the weaknesses common to all Devil Fruits.

The Awakening of the fruit extends its effects on the surrounding environment, allowing the user to transform it into rubber and making it more flexible and with greater freedom of movement. Luffy is capable of doing this, as is Joy Boy. The power given by this fruit is used by Luffy in many ways, but especially in combat. He generally uses the elasticity of his body to attack the enemy with a series of punches and kicks at a high rate, as well as to hit them even if they are at a great distance.

Furthermore, Luffy has developed four enhancement techniques that he calls Gear Second, Gear Third, Gear Fourth, and Gear Fifth, which allow him to temporarily increase the effectiveness of his blows at an exponential level. Using the powers of his fruit combined with the Armament Haki, Luffy can also set his fists on fire thanks to friction. Naturally, given Luffy’s personality, these abilities find further use outside of combat situations.

While celebrating with his classmates, he uses his body to cheer them up by making ridiculous faces or stretching out to play; often, during the series, he takes advantage of the possibility of stretching out his arms to steal food from other people’s plates. Furthermore, Luffy has developed a particular method of transport based on catapulting himself to the desired place, transforming himself into a kind of slingshot.

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