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One Piece Chapter 1189: Why Shanks Took the Gomu Gomu Fruit — Fans Theorize

ワンピース1189話 シャンクスがゴムゴムの実を奪った理由に日本ファンが考察

One Piece Chapter 1189: Why Shanks Took the Gomu Gomu Fruit — Fans Theorize

One Piece Chapter 1189 added new context for why Shanks was carrying the Gomu Gomu no Mi decades before Luffy ever touched it, and Japanese fans turned it into a theory-crafting session about what it means that the fruit ended up with Luffy instead of Shanks or Ace. Posted by reaction channel 人気マンガ反応まとめ, the recap video drew 184 comments, with the top-liked reply (426 likes) reading the chapter's reveal less as an accident and more as the fruit choosing its own eater. From there the thread sprawled: a case that only Luffy's specific mindset could have unlocked the fruit's awakening, an attempt to connect it to Wano's legendary sword that got shot down fast, and more than one reply that couldn't get past how badly Shanks apparently guarded the thing in the first place. The theory that's supposed to explain years of planning, in the end, lands somewhere much smaller.

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YouTube · 人気マンガ反応まとめ

Chapter 1189 of One Piece added new context for why Shanks was carrying the Gomu Gomu no Mi decades before Luffy ever touched it, and by 184 comments, 人気マンガ反応まとめ's recap video had turned into a full theory-crafting session about what it means that the fruit — secretly the mythical Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika — ended up with Luffy instead of Shanks or Ace. Nobody in the replies agreed on much, but almost everyone had a competing theory ready to go.

No point theory-crafting seriously — the idiot author's just gonna lob some out-of-nowhere joke answer at us anyway.

真面目に考察したって無駄、斜め上からアホ作者がふざけた答え投げてくるだけだから

@ばなな-s3h7c4 likes

That's the mood the top-liked reply (426 likes) pushes back against — not by disagreeing that Oda loves a swerve, but by reading this particular reveal less as an accident and more as the fruit choosing its own eater, on purpose, out of everyone who could have gotten to it first:

So even though Luffy just ate it on his own, the fact that nothing and nobody stopped him from safely eating the Gomu Gomu fruit kind of means he was 'chosen by Nika,' in a way.

だからこそルフィが勝手に食べたとはいえ、何者にも邪魔されずにルフィがゴムゴムの実を無事に食べられたのはある意味「ニカに選ばれた」ってことになるのかな

@モブな一般人_exe426 likes

That reading turns a random act of toddler theft into something closer to destiny. Not everyone in the thread was buying the mysticism, though — plenty of the replies just wanted to point out how badly Shanks handled security in the first place:

Don't leave something that important lying around in a bar, lol, Shanks, lol.

そんな大事な実を酒場に置いてんじゃねぇ笑シャンクス笑

@たぬき柿の種174 likes
  • Shanks doing the 'ahya ahya' laugh would honestly be kind of funny.👍122
  • I really don't want to see Shanks doing the 'ahyahya' laugh, though...👍53
  • If it were Shanks it'd be 'Shanks-kusu-kusu-kusu lol.'👍31

The jokes ran their course, and the thread pivoted back to something closer to actual literary analysis: could anyone but Luffy have realistically made the fruit work?

Even if Ace or Shanks had eaten it, I don't think they could've pushed it to awakening without Luffy's kind of free-spirited, goofball mindset.

エースやシャンクスが食ったとして、ルフィみたいな自由な発想とふざけマインドがないと覚醒まで持ってけなさそう

@shimaenaga913174 likes

From there things sprawled — one commenter tried linking the fruit to Wano's legendary sword, and got shut down fast:

This connects to Wano's legendary sword too, doesn't it — there was that scene of Drake beating up a subordinate trying to force it out, and yet its owner came out completely fine, limbs intact.

わんちゃんソードとも繋がってるだよな ドレイクが部下ボコして引っ張り出そうとしてる描写あったのに普通に五体満足だし

@toran.1211115 likes
I don't think there's actually a connection to the sword, or to the Revolutionary Army, at this point. I think it's more like Blackbeard readying the Dark-Dark Fruit, Shanks readying the Gum-Gum Fruit, Dragon readying the Revolutionary Army — each of them quietly setting their own piece up, and it's the protagonist's job to pull it all together in the end. A grand stampede, basically.

ソードと繋がってるとか、革命軍と繋がってるとか現時点無いと思うな 黒ひげ→ヤミヤミ、シャンクス→ゴムゴム、ドラゴン→革命軍みたいに各々準備してたのを最後まとめるのが主人公の役割だと思う。いうたら、壮大なスタンピード

@kkr6847 likes

Either way, more than one reply couldn't get past how badly Shanks apparently guarded the thing in the first place:

I really wonder what Shanks actually thought when Luffy just up and ate it. Or did he already know Luffy was Garp's grandson and Dragon's son, and deliberately leave it somewhere easy to eat? Either way, that's seriously sloppy security for what's basically a secret weapon.

ルフィが勝手に食った時マジでどう思ってたんだろ それかガープの孫かドラゴンの息子って知っててあえて食いやすいところに置いといたのか… 秘密兵器みたいなもんなのに管理杜撰すぎたしな

@マグナメルム20 likes
It's funny that Luffy — the guy this whole master plan hinged on — is currently in bad enough shape to undo the entire plan anyway.

その計画のルフィが相変わらず全てを無に帰すくらいには今瀕死な状態なの笑える

@ハートゴー0 likes

So the theory that's supposed to explain years of Shanks' careful planning ends, fittingly, on the most Oda note possible: not a grand reveal, but a reply pointing out that Luffy, the guy the whole plan was riding on, is currently too banged up in the story's present to enjoy any of it. Between a fruit that may or may not have picked its own owner and a captain who apparently just left it on a bar counter, the comment section never actually agreed on how much of this was destiny and how much was dumb luck.

FAQ

What does One Piece Chapter 1189 reveal about Shanks and the Gomu Gomu no Mi?
According to the reaction video's recap, the chapter adds context for why Shanks was carrying the Gomu Gomu no Mi years before Luffy ate it — fueling a fan theory that the fruit, secretly the mythical Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, effectively chose Luffy as its eater rather than being handed to him.
Why didn't Shanks just give the fruit to someone he trusted, like Ace?
One highly-liked comment (174 likes) argued that even if Ace or Shanks had eaten the fruit, they likely couldn't have pushed it to its full awakening without Luffy's specific free-spirited, goofball mindset.
What do fans think of how the fruit ended up with Luffy specifically?
Reactions were split between theory-crafting and straightforward mockery. One comment (20 likes) called it "seriously sloppy security for what's basically a secret weapon," wondering if Shanks left it somewhere easy to eat on purpose.
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