One Piece Unveils Luffy’s New Power Stronger Than Haki & Devil Fruit

One Piece Chapter 1191 was officially released on August 23, 2026, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #39, and it continued the incredibly tense battle unfolding in Elbaf between Luffy and the King of the World, Nerona Imu.

While Imu is completely dominant in the battle in Elbaf, One Piece has now revealed Luffy’s newest power stemming directly from the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, and the power of imagination that comes with it. By using his power of imagination, Luffy has not only been able to avoid death itself but, at the same time, gained the ability to heal from any damage he sustains to a significant degree. This shows the true, fearsome potential of Luffy’s power of imagination and paints it to be an ability even stronger than Devil Fruit and Haki.

One Piece Chapter 1191 Takes Luffy’s Power Of Imagination To The Next Level

Monkey D. Luffy’s Hito Hito no Mi Model: Nika is quite a special Devil Fruit. This is because this Devil Fruit is a powerful Mythical Zoan with the name of a God. In other words, Luffy’s Nika Fruit is a God Devil Fruit that grants immense strength to the wielder. In its base form, it only grants the power of rubber to Luffy, meaning he can shrink and stretch his body as he sees fit. However, the user is still bound by the laws of nature. The true power of this Devil Fruit is brought out by its awakening. In One Piece Chapter 1044, which was officially published on March 28, 2022, in Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #17, Monkey D. Luffy awakened his Hito Hito no Mi Model: Nika. This gave him access to Gear 5. As put forward by the Gorosei, awakening improves the power of the Devil Fruit user significantly and gives them even more of a rubbery body. At the same time, the user can do just about whatever they can imagine, with their only limit in combat being their imagination itself.

“Awakening [the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika] further strengthens their rubber body and gives them even more freedom, limited only by their own imagination. It is allegedly the most ridiculous power to exist in the entire world!” — Gorosei explain Luffy’s awakened Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, One Piece Chapter #1044

This was put on display in Luffy vs. Kaido, and later down the line, in the Egghead Arc as well. Luffy’s power of imagination has now been taken to a completely new level in One Piece Chapter 1191 on August 23, 2026. It goes without saying that Luffy’s Devil Fruit Awakening gives him tremendous strength and the ability to fight at the top of his game. However, Luffy’s true strongest weapon to wield in this form, which is greater than both Gear 5 as well as Haki, is the Power of Imagination. Luffy’s Nika form is tied directly to Nika’s fantasy, and this means anything that Nika imagines can be turned into reality. This was explained by Eiichiro Oda himself in One Piece magazine.

Q: When using Gear 5th, Luffy takes things like goggles or a baseball helmet out of his Hagoromo cloud scarf. Please tell us how that works!

A: It’s a gateway to Nika’s fantasy.

— Oda explains how Nika’s power breaks logic.

Why Luffy’s Imagination Is More Dangerous Than Haki and Standard Devil Fruit Abilities

Image via Toei Animation.

It goes without saying that in the world of One Piece, Haki and Devil Fruit abilities are incredibly dangerous. Haki allows one to boost their sensory perception or deal damage to Devil Fruit users, and even utilize the power of intimidation to deal deadly damage in combat. Meanwhile, Devil Fruit abilities offer various powers, but in the case of Luffy, his ability to turn anything he imagines into reality is what stands as his most dangerous weapon in battle. In One Piece chapter 1191, Luffy was seen healing impossible wounds with the power of imagination. In Luffy’s mind, by eating food, his wounds should heal, and so that’s precisely what happened when he consumed a large amount of food.

“Why am I still alive? If I go out of this form, it’ll be bad news! Hey old man, I’m sorry. You lost an arm because you were defending me.” — Luffy, confused at his own powers, One Piece Chapter #1191

Luffy himself stated that if he canceled the effect of Gear 5, he would potentially die. In other words, when Nika’s imagination is not active, Luffy cannot heal from such injuries. With the power of imagination, Luffy was actually able to heal himself fully from Nerona Imu’s deadly strikes of the Blade of Nothingness: Vohu and the Blade of the Sea God: Fragarach. This was a clever play by Oda to showcase how dangerous Luffy’s power of imagination truly is and why it stands as his most dangerous ability in combat.

Luffy’s True Gear 5 Power Has Yet To Be Shown

Image via Toei Animation

Luffy’s power of imagination, which Oda also calls Nika’s fantasy, is at the core of Gear 5, and it is his strongest power. While Luffy’s Devil Fruit grants him the ability to stretch and shrink and increases his durability, regeneration, and offensive and defensive capabilities greatly, it is the power of imagination that stems from Nika that stands as his greatest weapon. As things stand, Luffy has not gained full control over this power. He does not know yet what the true nature of his Devil Fruit is and what Nika’s power truly entails. As such, Luffy has not been able to make full use of the power of imagination, but that is something that is bound to change at some point in the future.

Luffy: I’m not running away!

Gaban: Listen to me, boy!! What can you do with those injuries?

Luffy: I’m healing up my wounds right now!

Gaban: What nonsense are you talking?

Luffy: I made sure to fight on a full stomach. Don’t worry…I can do this!

Gaban: That’s not real logic; you can’t fight like this!

— Luffy heals himself with Nika’s imagination, One Piece Chapter #1191

Once Luffy truly understands the power that he holds and the abilities that are entrusted to him, the power of Nika will be taken to a completely new level. Not only will Luffy be able to summon things out of nowhere, as he has done in the past, but at the same time, he will be able to make the impossible possible. Healing wounds, creating weapons out of nowhere, and possibly even replicating other abilities will finally become possible for him. We absolutely cannot wait to see the full potential of his Devil Fruit abilities.

All the latest chapters of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece series are available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.