One Piece Episode 1100 Review
Luffy vs. Rob Lucci – Round 2
One Piec Episode 1100 is the first amazing episode of the Egghead Arc. It had the same crazy animation we saw a few times in the latter half of Wano — specifically during Luffy’s fights against Kaido. Anytime the animation looks like this, it’s a great episode.
This time around, though, Luffy isn’t fighting an Emperor of the Sea. Luffy is the Emperor of the Sea in this battle. And, the one challenging him is Rob Lucci of CP-0. So, will this fight go the same way as it did back on Water 7? Or, will Rob Lucci take the win?
I think most of us saw this fight as only going one way. Regardless of how much stronger Rob Lucci has gotten since then, he’s up against Luffy. But, I don’t mean that Luffy will win because he’s the protagonist — he’s lost many times before, like against Kaido.
What makes Luffy such a bad opponent for Rob Lucci is the ceiling of their abilities. Rob Lucci is a normal Zoan-type Devil Fruit user. Luffy is a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit user whose ability works more like a Paramecia. There’s an inherent difference between the two.
Also, let’s not forget how Kaku and Stussy were telling Rob Lucci not to fight Luffy. They knew this wasn’t going to end well. Sure, they were worried about going against orders and starting a war. However, I also think they simply couldn’t see Rob Lucci coming out victorious.
The best-case scenario for Rob Lucci is that the fight is a tie. And, even in that scenario, he still started a fight with one of the Emperors of the Sea. But, what was always more likely was that Luffy dominated Rob Lucci. Only the Admirals are on par with Emperors.
Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Leopard, Awakened Form
It turns out that Rob Lucci did have an ace up his sleeve. Luffy’s not the only one who’s awakened his Devil Fruit since they last fought. And, we learned quite a lot about Zoan-type Devil Fruit awakenings thanks to Rob Lucci.
Let’s start with the appearance of Rob Lucci’s awakened form. It doesn’t make much sense, to me. Why does his tail have a black flame on it? Why does he have a black flame hagoromo around his shoulders? Luffy’s hagoromo makes sense since Nika is a god. Rob Lucci’s doesn’t.
But, the answer may lie in something Dr. Vegapunk says after seeing Rob Lucci’s awakened form. He’s surprised that Rob Lucci hasn’t gone berserk. Think back to the jailer beasts of Impel Down or Chopper’s Monster Point transformation. Those are also awakened Zoan-type forms, as far as we know.
Sure, Chopper can now control himself, for the most part, while in Monster Point. But, he still hasn’t mastered using it. So, it looks like the difference between Rob Lucci’s awakening and that of other awakened Zoan-type users is his mastery over it. And, that’s something he and Luffy may have in common.
It’s possible that any awakened Zoan-type user who’s mastered their awakening would get a hagoromo like these two have. At this point, we simply don’t have enough information to confirm or deny that. Luffy and Rob Lucci are the only awakened Zoan-type users we know of who look like this.
However, if the hagoromo is the sign that a Zoan-type user has mastered their awakening, what about Kaido? Kaido didn’t have one. And, there was never any mention of Kaido’s Devil Fruit being awakened. But, are we seriously assuming Kaido never awakened his Devil Fruit?
Vegapunk’s Devil Fruit Theory
As cool as the fight between Luffy and Rob Lucci was, I wouldn’t even call that the highlight of the episode. The highlight was Dr. Vegapunk revealing his theory about the origins of Devil Fruit.
Where the Devil Fruit come from and why they exist, in the first place, has been a huge mystery for the entire series. We still don’t have a hard confirmation. But, this is Dr. Vegapunk we’re talking about. If he has a theory, there seems to be a pretty good chance that it’s correct.
So, where does Dr. Vegapunk think Devil Fruit come from? He believes that the desires of humans cause them to pop up into existence. Every Devil Fruit represents something that someone on the planet has desired. For example, Rob Lucci’s Devil Fruit came from the desire to be a leopard.
That doesn’t mean that the users of each fruit had those desires, though. Rob Lucci himself may never have desired to be a leopard. He just happened to eat the fruit that manifested in response to that desire existing.
This is a very interesting theory for a few reasons.
First, Vegapunk mentions how a Devil Fruit will continue to exist as long as someone desires it. So, if it stops being desirable, it won’t respawn. Does this mean Luffy will be the last Nika-Nika Fruit user? If he frees the entire world, there won’t necessarily be a need for that Devil Fruit to come back.
On the other hand, this also means that new Devil Fruit can pop up at any point. If a new desire arises, it can spawn an entirely new Devil Fruit. Vegapunk says the Gum-Gum Fruit doesn’t exist in the old encyclopedias. But, that doesn’t mean won’t ever exist.
Final Thoughts
What do you think of One Piece Episode 1100? Do you think Rob Lucci actually had a decent matchup against Luffy? How do you feel about the appearance of Rob Lucci’s awakened form? And, do you like Dr. Vegapunk’s theory about where Devil Fruit come from?
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My review of Episode 1101 is available now.
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