One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda made his comeback with Chapter 1192 on September 6, 2026, in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #41. Following a long stretch of breaks, One Piece finally delivered some intense action in the Elbaf arc as Luffy and Loki combined to take on Nerona Imu. At the same time, Monkey D. Luffy showcased new abilities against the King of the World, which once again highlighted how his usage of Gear 5 is constantly evolving.
In One Piece Chapter 1192, Eiichiro Oda cleverly teased Luffy's new Gear 5 upgrade as it broke the fourth wall and affected the reality within the world of One Piece, increasing his mastery over the powers of imagination stemming from the Sun God Nika.
Luffy's Gear 5 is the awakened form of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, which was shown to us for the very first time in One Piece chapter 1044 on March 28, 2022. Since then, the Gear 5 transformation has grown each time Luffy has tapped into it. The first time Luffy used Gear 5 was against Kaido, and in this fight, Luffy showcased his free-wheeling combat to us as he dominated Kaido. In One Piece chapter 1049, Luffy dealt the decisive blow to the King of Beasts Kaido and liberated the land of Wano.
"Possessing a body with the powers of rubber, and fighting in whatever way he fancies, bringing smiles to the faces of people, the Warrior of Liberation...also known as the Sun God, Nika!" — Elders explain the Nika Fruit, One Piece Chapter #1044
Later down the line, in One Piece chapter 1069, which was released on December 12, 2022, Luffy tapped into Gear 5 against Rob Lucci and showed a new ability of creating things from the white scarf around his neck. Luffy also tapped into Gear 5 against Kizaru and then the Five Elders in the climax of Egghead. In Elbaf, Luffy tapped into Gear 5 momentarily in Road’s diorama, and then against Scopper Gaban as well. However, his true usage of Gear 5 only came later down the line against Nerona Imu in the climax of the arc.
“All things are brought into this world with hope! Even Devil Fruits!! Every Devil Fruit is a possibility for a human evolution that someone desired. All these powers represent the many branches of the future of humanity!” — Vegapunk explains Devil Fruits, One Piece Chapter #1069
Since Luffy first tapped into this power, Gear 5 has been at work continuously, even though he suffered two stab wounds from the King of the World, Nerona Imu. Now, Eiichiro has taken the power of Gear 5 to a new level in One Piece chapter 1192 on September 6, 2026. In this chapter, Luffy's Gear 5 power had grown so strong that even the exclamation marks the author wrote started being affected by his awakened powers. Usually, all the dialogue in the manga is inked black, but in chapter 1192, the exclamation marks around Luffy were all white. This is a direct reference to Monkey D. Luffy's Nika powers growing even stronger and affecting more things around him than ever before. Luffy's Nika powers have not fully matured yet, and that is quite clear for us to see. With his ongoing fight against Nerona Imu, these powers are being tested to the absolute limit, forcing him to grow even stronger in the face of battle.
The fact that Luffy's Nika powers started affecting things like exclamation marks and changing the color of dialogue in the manga
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