Why Is Everyone Talking About One Piece? What You Missed on X

Everyone on X is suddenly talking about One Piece, but why? Let's discover why fans are flooding X and what everyone is saying about the series right now.

If you've been surfing social media, especially X, and following anime news, you may have noticed that suddenly everyone is talking about, discussing, or even having heated debates around the legendary, world-famous title One Piece. The discussions are extremely active, almost like something we've never seen before. Starting from Japan and ASEAN countries and reaching all the way to the US, people around the world are talking about this anime. It may be hard to imagine, but even a week later, people on X are still actively talking about it.

Why has everyone suddenly started discussing One Piece? All of these discussions actually started from one post, and I believe whoever posted it couldn't have imagined they would get the whole world talking about One Piece. From what we know now, the post was definitely a trigger for people to share what they had been thinking, and it seems like a lot of people really do have something to say about One Piece. The post was merely a trigger, but it also showed us that something has been happening within One Piece. So in this article, let's take a look at what happened on X and understand how people feel about One Piece now.

Source: ONE PIECE.com(ワンピース) Official X account

The One Great Question for Everyone: Is One Piece Good or Bad?

Before we dive into the main topic, there's one concern I need to share with everyone first. Unlike other articles, this one will mainly focus on the current One Piece, so it definitely contains spoilers. To be honest, what I'm going to share here may be hard for many One Piece fans to accept. Before you scroll any further, if you're someone who avoids One Piece spoilers, or if you love One Piece deeply, I don't think this is something you need to know, so you may want to stop reading here.

First of all, let's start with why everyone is suddenly discussing One Piece on X. The main reason may be unpleasant for every hardcore One Piece fan, but it actually revolves around one question: is One Piece good or bad? The post that got everyone around the world talking about One Piece is actually a complaint post about Luffy's Gear 5 Nika form. The poster just shared their opinions about One Piece, but from there, it suddenly went viral, and more and more people started to join in.

Of course, there are some people who joined in, showed their love, and tried to stand up for One Piece, but unfortunately, most people who joined shared their honest, critical opinions about One Piece. At first, it started in English-speaking circles, but after that, it spread even further, and finally, even Japan, all the way in the Far East, joined in. With so many people joining in, it's hard not to wonder: has One Piece really lost its touch?

I am someone who loved One Piece and have watched every episode and read every chapter. Although I'm not a hardcore fan who can answer every question about One Piece, I did consider myself a One Piece fan before. Yes, you didn't hear me wrong: not now, but before. One Piece was an amazing anime for more than 20 years, but after its biggest turning point, a lot of people left One Piece, and I found a lot of flaws in it, which ultimately affected my love for One Piece.

Source: ONE PIECE.com(ワンピース) Official X account

Gear 5 and Nika: The One Setting That Drove the Whole World Crazy

One Piece has been running for 29 years, and over all these years, the author Oda Eiichiro has created a lot of settings for it. Most of the time, the settings he created are great, like the Gear system, Haki, Devil Fruits, and other amazing systems, but there is one setting he added that backfired: Gear 5, Nika. For those who haven't really been following the One Piece story until now, Gear 5 is the awakened power of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika (which, for all these years, was known as the Gomu Gomu no Mi).

During the Wano arc, when we learned that Kaido was able to one-shot Luffy's Gear 4, we could guess that Luffy would get a new transformation. At that time, most of us thought Luffy would have a final form like the legendary figure Son Goku (not the anime character, but the Monkey King), but it turned out that all of our guesses were wrong. Luffy needed a new form in order to defeat the then-Yonkou Kaido, but Gear 5 was definitely not what we had imagined.

Gear 5's Nika form is the solution Oda gave us for Luffy to defeat Kaido, or we could even say it is the solution for Luffy to defeat every darkness, including Imu-sama. If we rewatch One Piece from the beginning, we can sense that Nika's foreshadowing has always been there; it's just that Oda never really used it before. If Nika's foreshadowing has always been there, then why did this final form drive everyone crazy? Although a lot of people think Nika's problem is the weird cartoonish art style, personally, I think the problem is that Nika divided One Piece into two parts, and they never came back together.

Among all the settings Oda has created for us, Nika is definitely the one that caused the most controversy, and unfortunately also the one that made a lot of fans leave One Piece. We will dive into why Nika tore One Piece into two parts later, but right now, what I hope everyone remembers is that One Piece is a work that has been running for so many years, so it can't be helped that the work itself has a lot of things that concern people. Gear 5 Nika was supposed to help smooth everything out, lift the work to a higher place, and make it a legendary work, but unfortunately, it had a terrible effect: it united everyone in complaining about it, and it has just made so many people around the world frustrated.

Source: ONE PIECE.com(ワンピース) Official X account

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Sun God and the Dawn of the World: What Has Nika Done to the Story?

For those who stopped following One Piece a long time ago, stopped at Wano, or never really watched One Piece, Gear 5 Nika isn't just Luffy's final form. It's true that Gear 5 Nika is Luffy's current final form, but unlike the final forms you know from other shounen works, like Super Saiyan or Six Paths Sage Mode, Nika is actually a hidden setting of One Piece, and quite an important one! Nika is directly related to the Sun God, the Warrior of Liberation, and Joy Boy, all of which are hidden settings that truly existed in One Piece's history.

If Nika were just Luffy's final battle form, fans around the world might not be so frustrated, since everyone has different favourite art and battle styles. Just like some people like Super Saiyan while others like Six Paths Sage Mode, different people have different opinions, and there's nothing to argue about. But Nika is actually directly related to so many hidden settings, and in the end, it just made everything fans had kept in their hearts explode at once. I understand some of you may not know what I'm talking about, and we will discuss these hidden settings in other articles, but right now, the key thing to keep in mind is that the reveal of Gear 5 Nika has led to two serious problems in One Piece.

First, Nika caused a serious split in the story. The One Piece anime has a total of 1,180 episodes, and the manga has a total of 1,196 chapters. I know these numbers are huge barriers for people who want to give it a try, but just from the Alabasta Kingdom arc, Thriller Bark, and the Dressrosa and Wano Kuni arcs, it's easy to see that the One Piece story actually follows quite a simple style. Most of the time, the story is about Luffy and his crew reaching an island and starting an adventure there, finding corruption or darkness, and then Luffy defeating that darkness and freeing everyone from its rule. Even the Fishman Island and Punk Hazard arcs followed the same successful formula, which made a lot of people fall in love with One Piece and become fans.

But this successful formula only works when the story is actually focused on the present, which is Luffy's timeline. Why? Because One Piece has an incredibly huge world and historical timeline, and believe me, most of the time it doesn't affect the story, and Luffy's journey doesn't really have anything to do with it. So the story can stay highly focused on darkness, fighting, and the characters' spirit, just like the Thriller Bark and Dressrosa arcs. They are very interesting arcs, and they also let these hidden settings become something for fans to investigate, while casual fans can simply enjoy the successful formula.

Source: ONE PIECE.com(ワンピース) Official X account

But when Nika comes in, everything changes. Nika is a setting that cuts across every timeline, so starting from Egghead Island, the story needs to focus on Luffy's normal journey and also explain the whole history. This leads to a vicious cycle: the story takes a long time to finish, but Luffy doesn't really do anything, so we can't really remember the story. A lot of things have happened, but at the same time, nothing has happened in the present timeline, as Luffy's journey hasn't really progressed at all. For example, the Egghead arc seems quite long, but most of the time, it focuses on Kuma's past. It is definitely a sad backstory, but it took up a lot of space that should have been used for Luffy, which led to awkward pacing where Luffy didn't do anything, yet it felt like a lot of other people had done a lot. But do these backstories affect the present story? Unfortunately not, and this vicious cycle actually happens in the Elbaf arc too. In the end, hardcore fans can enjoy it every week, while others can't really keep up with anything and instead find a lot of plot holes, since the storytelling jumps across so many timelines.

Next, Nika's funny art style is another reason that tore One Piece into two parts. Before diving deep into this reason, let me first share my own opinion on Oda's Nika plan. Actually, after the Water Seven arc, all of us knew that inside One Piece, there was a huge dark story waiting for us. The story is really dark: we have massacres, human auctions, slavery, all kinds of 18+ content, and every other dark story you can imagine. To balance this huge darkness, instead of choosing a fierce and strong form like Gear 4 Bounce man, Oda chose a funny, Tom and Jerry–like style. Funny and silly are really effective against a dark story, so the idea itself is actually not bad. When you think about it, what better choice is there to heal the world when it is full of injustice, violence, and all kinds of brutal adult stuff? But the problem is that Oda didn't balance the Tom and Jerry style; instead, he went full throttle with it, which led to a serious problem: Nika's style just makes the dark side of the story hard to believe!

So what actually went wrong with the funny art style? I can understand that the meaning of Nika is to make everyone laugh, and since Luffy has always been able to make everyone laugh at the end of an arc, like in the Fishman Island and Dressrosa arcs, the idea of Nika making people laugh actually makes sense and still fits the way Luffy acts. Nika is the one setting both Oda and One Piece need, but the level of funniness is what went wrong. Instead of making Luffy a hero who laughs at the end, both the anime team and Oda decided to make him a character who laughs all the time, for no reason. Yes, you heard me right: every time Luffy changes into Gear 5, he just laughs for no reason. This leads to a frustrating situation, because we have to watch him laugh nonstop, and the battle style just looks so childish and not impressive at all.

A hero who is always able to stand until the very end and laugh is very different from a weird guy who laughs all the time and whose every attack just looks weird and lame. Speaking of battle style, I personally think one more thing has pushed the whole situation into an even more terrible place: the existence of Gear 4. As one of the great settings Oda created, Gear 4 has indirectly made the situation worse. Why? Because in Gear 4, Luffy is strict and serious, has an amazing fighting style, and most importantly, he thinks! But Gear 5 Nika is different. Just because Nika can make anything happen, Oda turned Luffy into a stupid man at the same time, which has made fans all around the world furious and made them hate the stupidity of Nika.

Here’s a great YouTube video worth checking out.

Nika and Egghead Island: The Downfall of the One Piece Story

Gear 5 Nika has made fans all around the world frustrated, but that doesn't mean its first fight in the Wano Kuni arc drove people crazy. The turning point for One Piece, or should we say the start of its downfall, actually comes with the Egghead Island arc. In the Wano Kuni arc, when Luffy awakened and became Gear 5 Nika, it was almost the end of the whole arc, so people at that time didn't really get frustrated; they just thought Nika had a weird design and that the fighting style was stupid. At that time, people didn't really think too much about it, as the story had entered a new phase, but after reaching Egghead Island, fans started to feel that something was wrong.

What is wrong with Egghead Island? Gear 5 Nika is definitely the biggest problem, but it also comes with two other important factors: the stupidity of the crew, and the incredibly long stories about history. In the fight with Kaido, Gear 5 Nika still performed great, but Luffy used Gear 5 four times on Egghead Island, and unfortunately, none of them really went well. You could say that maybe we have too high expectations of it, or maybe we are too harsh on One Piece, but it actually can't be helped. Before Egghead Island, we saw Luffy fight Kaido, the so-called strongest creature in the world, and save an entire country from a fierce and evil pirate crew, so of course we have high expectations of Luffy's crew.

We have high expectations of Luffy and his crew, but instead of making them a cleverer, stronger pirate crew, Oda decided to keep the characters at their old level of stupidity. Everyone just acts like a rookie pirate crew, and in the end, almost the same story plays out again: Luffy and his crew go to an island, get caught, get into trouble, then solve it, and that's all. Throughout the whole arc, we can't really see how far they have grown or how well prepared they are for the next journey. Let me remind you again: this isn't some adventure from two years ago (in the One Piece timeline). Luffy has already defeated Kaido and become a new Yonkou, so how can the crew not stay alert or have any thoughts or plans before entering the island? Of course, you could say that Oda is keeping Luffy's original flavour for us, but once again, Luffy has already awakened and defeated the strongest creature in the world. Keeping this kind of stupidity just makes no sense, and it has left people frustrated.

How stupid did Luffy and his crew act on Egghead Island? If you haven't watched Egghead, you may not understand what I'm talking about, but I'll still share it so you can get a clue. When facing the new type of Pacifista, the Seraphim, instead of using his strongest form, Luffy chose to use Gear 4, and it did no damage to the Seraphim! This leads to an important question: is Luffy weak, or are the Seraphim just too strong? What makes this even worse is that Zoro faced almost the same kind of opponent, since the Seraphim have the same Lunarian traits as King, yet he couldn't remember anything about his fight with King, which left everyone worn out trying to find a way to defeat the Seraphim. This part is funny, but it makes no sense! In the One Piece timeline, it's only about a week after the battle with Kaido's crew, so how could Zoro forget an opponent like that? And again, everyone's attacks had no effect, so are they too weak, or are the Seraphim just too broken?

Here’s a great YouTube video worth checking out.

Why did this kind of story happen in the Egghead Island arc? It's actually Oda's favourite writing style, as he just loves to reset everything whenever Luffy reaches a new island. It feels just like Ash's Pikachu going back to level 1 in every new Pokémon series. It's great because it always gives readers and viewers a fresh experience, but it only makes sense while Luffy's crew is still a rookie crew. After defeating Kaido, Luffy not only unlocked Gear 5 Nika but also mastered everything about Haki. He is nothing like he was two years ago, so continuing to use the same format and giving us the same Luffy just makes it hard to convince people that Luffy is different now, and that Nika is really something that can save the world.

On top of the crew's stupidity, Egghead Island is the first arc in One Piece where the story isn't about the world we know, but about a hidden world full of long, dark history. The whole Egghead Island arc is actually nothing special; as I mentioned earlier, the part that can be considered a great story isn't Luffy's adventure, but Bartholomew Kuma's past. It is definitely a great and sad story, even compared with other characters' stories in One Piece, but in the end, it didn't really help, as the results of Luffy's Gear 5 Nika are just so bad.

These two factors, together with Nika, have driven the story out of control. Ever since Egghead Island, and even in the Elbaf arc, the main focus is no longer Luffy's fun adventures, but the history of the whole One Piece world. This day was always going to come, as this is the hidden story Oda has always wanted to show us. But in order to balance this dark hidden story, what we need isn't more dark stories, but strong main characters who can endure everything and make everyone laugh in the end. Instead of making everyone cleverer and giving them more proper plans, Oda decided to go with his old writing style, which conflicts with the new focus. After all, it's hard to convince people that someone who laughs all the time and does stupid things is the hero of the world.

From all the events that happened on Egghead Island, it's not hard to see that Oda has a lot of ideas for Gear 5 Nika, but since Nika is a character who is active across every historical timeline, it takes a lot of time to tell it all. But this has led back to the same vicious cycle: the story needs time, yet it keeps introducing more and more new characters, Luffy and his crew don't do anything, and the arc just suddenly ends. It's hard to admit, but for most people, what happened on Egghead Island is just hard to understand and not interesting at all.

Here’s a great YouTube video worth checking out.

Luffy and Nika: Who Is Who?

Since I have been following One Piece for so many years, I can understand that Nika is a great way to wrap the whole story up, which is why Oda has been focusing on it. But while Oda has been progressing the story with Gear 5, there is one setting that indirectly clashes with it: the idea that Devil Fruits have a will of their own. If you dropped One Piece a long time ago, you may not know this, but the Devil Fruits we know so well actually have their own will! This is limited to Zoan-type fruits, but they really do, which is why the Gomu Gomu no Mi, whose real name is the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, was able to escape from the World Government for so many years.

According to the Gorosei, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika was able to escape from the World Government because it had a will of its own! This sounds like it makes sense, and it has added more mystery to the Devil Fruit setting, but in the end, it just clashes with Nika. Why? Because we don't know who is who anymore. If you rewatch Egghead Island (the Elbaf anime hasn't really progressed yet, so it isn't much of a reference), you'll see that in his normal form, Luffy thinks, and he definitely acts like a normal person. But as soon as he turns into Gear 5 Nika, everything goes crazy again: he laughs all the time and does all kinds of strange things.

If you're a One Piece manga reader, you'll understand this even better: in the current chapters, normal Luffy has a serious look, but Nika is always Nika, just laughing and playing all the time. Right now, there is a conflict between Luffy's personality and the personality of his Nika form, and we can no longer tell them apart. The extra setting that Zoan-type fruits have a will of their own actually makes the story worse, because unless we are the author or very hardcore fans, how are we supposed to know who is who when two different personalities exist at the same time?

What makes the story even worse is that Nika is one of the fruits directly related to the dark history of One Piece. There is also Joy Boy, who is the reason the Nika fruit matters so much, but in the end, is Joy Boy living inside the fruit, or is Luffy just acting like Nika? These are two very different things, and we can't really know the answer, because so many things are happening at the same time, while Luffy's story is the only one that keeps getting stopped and never really progresses.

Here’s a great YouTube video worth checking out.

Nika and the Dark History of One Piece: The Story That's Exclusive for Hardcore Fans

After the introducing of Nika, the story of One Piece had entered the real part, which is something Oda had always wanted to show us. As someone who used to be a fan of One Piece, of course I am excited for it, and I do hope more and more people give this title a try. But after reading and watching the latest episodes for both anime and manga, I know it is really hard for more people to try One Piece, because the current story is just so unfriendly for newcomers.

Unlike the old One Piece, ever since entering the Egghead Island, everything has become so difficult, so history-related, and there are a lot of difficult keywords waiting for us to unlock. While it is a fun thing for hardcore fans, it is definitely a very painful thing for every newcomer. You may think maybe this is a problem for newcomers, as these hidden settings are the real interesting parts for One Piece, but it is actually quite the opposite.

Before Nika, why were the real history parts so interesting? Because they were a bonus on top of Luffy's exciting adventures. What do I mean? Take the same example, the Dressrosa arc. When we first entered the Dressrosa arc, most people didn't really care about One Piece's real history; instead, we focused on the Donquixote Family's story, the reunion between Luffy and Sabo, and the amazing adventures Luffy went through. The real history parts were always a bonus on top of incredible adventures, which naturally made people interested and want to know more.

This amazing writing style was used for a long time, and at least until One Piece anime Episode 1071, titled "Luffy's Peak – Attained! Gear 5", we always had this style. But after Nika, everything changed! If you read the current One Piece manga, you will be surprised that none of the events are really related to what we have learnt, and in almost every chapter, new things come in that we need to remember. Just imagine: after more than 1,000 episodes, the story suddenly changes its whole direction. If it's hard even for me to adapt, how can a newcomer understand everything?

Here’s a great YouTube video worth checking out.

Conclusion:

Oda Eiichiro is a genius manga artist who has created many amazing stories for One Piece. But unfortunately, the story he really wants to tell has clashed many times with the story he has been telling for his whole career. Nika is the only setting that can wrap everything up, but it has also created many problems. For example, if the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika is a fruit that has been involved in three thousand years of history, is Nika really Nika, or is it Joy Boy? Similarly, is Joy Boy really Joy Boy, or is Joy Boy Nika in the end? To wrap up the story, Oda chose Nika, but everything he has done with Nika just keeps making the situation worse, as more and more questions pop up, and Oda definitely doesn't have enough time to answer them all.

Thank you for reading this article. As someone who has been following One Piece for so long, for me, One Piece is a masterpiece up until the end of the Wano Kuni arc. Up to that point, almost everything is top tier, and the story makes sense too, so for those who want to try it, just give it a shot until the end of the Wano Kuni arc. After Egghead Island, everything changes, and it's hard to admit, but it's no longer a masterpiece; it's a great work with a lot of problems.

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