One Piece Officially Replaces Zoro As Luffy’s Strongest Ally

Within the ranks of the Straw Hat Pirates, Roronoa Zoro is one of the most powerful. He is also among the most important characters on Luffy’s crew, especially because he is the first to join Luffy on his adventure in One Piece Chapter 6, which was officially released on September 1, 1997, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue 40.

Since then, Zoro has largely been considered by Oda to be second only to Luffy in the crew and an equal to Sanji. However, as of One Piece Chapter 1193, which was officially released on September 13, 2026, in Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump Double Issue #42-43, it has now been confirmed that Zoro isn’t Luffy’s strongest ally anymore. This honor goes to the Accursed Prince Loki, whose new hybrid transformation puts him in a completely different stratosphere when it comes to strength.

One Piece Chapter 1193 Confirms Hybrid Loki As Luffy’s Strongest Ally

Monkey D. Luffy has quite a few powerful allies, but most of them belong to the Straw Hat Pirates. Within the ranks of the Straw Hats, it is quite clear to see that Zoro and Sanji, the two Wings of the Pirate King, stand out the most. These two are considered by Oda to be the left and the right arm of Luffy and are relatively equal in terms of power. Both Zoro and Sanji are strong enough to fight against elite Commanders of a Yonko crew and are most definitely fearsome fighters all over the world.

One Piece chapter 1193 confirmed to us that Luffy’s strongest ally is one who doesn’t even sail with him on his crew, and that is the Accursed Prince Loki. In One Piece chapter 1193, which was officially released on September 13, 2026, in Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump Double Issue #42-43, Loki finally decided to unleash his full power. Up until this point, Loki had been saving his strongest transformation, but now that Imu has taken an even stronger form in Elbaf, Loki deems it necessary to go all out. To that end, Loki finally brought out the hybrid form of his Mythical Zoan Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Nidhoggr for the very first time.

“The Mythical Zoan Ryu Ryu no Mi…it is said that whoever eats it can transform into the largest dragon in the whole world. The size of the creature is relative to the initial size of whoever ate the fruit. They say this dragon breathes lightning, and when it flies, its jet-black wings turn day into night.” — Jarul explains Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Nidhhoggr, One Piece Chapter #1175

This transformation began in One Piece chapter 1193, and it sees Loki bring out all of the Black Lightning Dragon in his compact humanoid state, granting him immense firepower capable of destroying the entire world. As things stand, Loki is significantly stronger than Zoro and Sanji put together, so that in itself makes him the strongest ally that Monkey D. Luffy has currently. The two are intent on fighting Imu together and driving him out of Elbaf, but as things stand, it is still an uphill task.

“Dogahaha! Looks like you’re at your limit!! I’ll be the one to finish him off! You just rest there!” — Loki unleashes his Hybrid Nidhoggr form, One Piece Chapter #1193

All Powers Of Hybrid Loki

The hybrid form of Loki’s Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Nidhoggr, is definitely very powerful, and that goes without saying. In essence, all Zoan types have a total of three states:

1. The normal human state, where they can, in some cases, exhibit powers of their Devil Fruit ability, although in a much weaker version.
2. The full Beast state allows them to transform into the said animal. When it comes to Loki, the transformation of the black dragon that Loki unleashed in One Piece chapter 1175, released on March 2, 2026, in Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump issue 14, was his full Zoan state.
3. The strongest transformation that every Zoan has is a Hybrid state. A hybrid state is a mixture between the human state and the full beast state.

Essentially, it allows the user to utilize every single power of the beast, but in a compact humanoid body, making it more useful for close-quarters combat and more efficient as well.

“She’s too puny to fight like this. Doing it this way is much quicker. I was too big for way too long.” — Loki explains Nidhoggr’s drawbacks, One Piece Chapter #1178

In essence, Loki’s hybrid Nidhoggr form that was unleashed for the very first time in One Piece chapter 1193 sees him embody all the powers of the Black Lightning Dragon in his more humanoid state, making him faster, more nimble, and adding deadly power to his already strong strikes. Previously, when Loki fought against Imu, it was quite clear to see that he was struggling to maintain his giant size. This is why he often switched between his full beast state to deal deadly blows and his human state to maintain more nimbleness and put out more speed in combat.

His new transformation is going to allow him to utilize both these powers at the same time and, overall, simply be far more effective in combat. While Loki was already a monster who had outshone even Luffy in combat in Elbaf, in his new form he is most certainly going to take things one step further and assert his dominance as the mightiest fighter that the country has to offer at this point in time.

How Zoro And Sanji Can Catch Up To Loki

Image via Toei Animation.

It goes without saying that Loki is incredibly strong and far above the power level of both Zoro and Sanji. However, that certainly doesn’t mean that the Wings of the Pirate King cannot catch up to him. The first and most important step for Zoro and Sanji to reach the next level is to fully master the Color of the Supreme King. As of One Piece chapter 1193, which was released on September 13, Zoro is still struggling to master the Color of the Supreme King but is gradually getting there.

Meanwhile, Sanji has not yet tapped into his latent Haki, but by the end of their battles against Holy Knights Sommers and Killingham, both of these characters should have fully mastered their Color of the Supreme King. Once they master this Haki fully, they will automatically be on a completely different tier of strength and closer to the likes of Luffy and Loki.

That certainly isn’t all there is for Zoro and Sanji. The Color of the Supreme King can be further improved upon as the user grows stronger, and we know that Zoro and Sanji have different forms that they must improve. For Zoro, his Asura transformation would most certainly grow in strength once he blackens all his swords. As far as Sanji goes, his genetic modifications are still not fully done, and Oda himself has asked fans to closely watch them. As their latent abilities grow, their Supreme King Haki will grow even stronger. Come the end of the series, both Zoro and Sanji will have surpassed Silvers Rayleigh and Scopper Gaban. At this point, they will most definitely be comparable to the likes of Loki and stand a shot at being called Luffy’s strongest allies once again. For now, these two have to first get past the Holy Knight duo of Sommers and Killingham in Elbaf.

All the new One Piece manga chapters by Eiichiro Oda are available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.