There’s a debate to be had as to whether the Straw Hat Pirates would keep calling the Gum-Gum Fruit by that name if they ever learned its true title.
The word is out for One Piece fans. The name “Gum-Gum Fruit” was made up by the World Government to hide the true nature of the Devil Fruit. Its actual classification is the Human-Human Fruit Model: Nika, a Mythical Zoan Fruit with the powers of the Sun God it’s named after. It’s only a matter of time before the other characters in the story find out.
While the audience has known about the Gum-Gum Fruit’s true nature for a while now, the Straw Hat Pirates are only just figuring it out. They’ve even learned that the term “Gum-Gum Fruit” might be a false moniker. This raises the question of what will happen when Luffy, who has named nearly all of his techniques “Gum-Gum” something, will react if he ever finds out the Fruit’s real name.
How Will the Straw Hats React to the Gum-Gum Fruit’s Real Name?
Before coming to Egghead, all of the Straw Hat Pirates were convinced that they were calling the Gum-Gum Fruit by the right name. They even assumed that Luffy’s new Sun God form was just another Gear Change of his Devil Fruit. As such, Luffy has continued to refer to his Fruit and its associated techniques with the term “Gum-Gum.”
However, something changed about the Straw Hats’ understanding of the Gum-Gum Fruit when they met Dr. Vegapunk. In Chapter 1069, “All Things Are Brought Into This World With Hope,” he explained that there was no such thing as the Gum-Gum Fruit even in the oldest books about Devil Fruits. Not only that, but he directly likened Luffy’s Gear Five form to the Sund God Nika; this wasn’t an official namedrop of the Fruit for the Straw Hats, but it was pretty darn close. At the very least, the Straw Hats now know that the Gum-Gum Fruit isn’t what they thought it was.
The real question, however, is how Luffy will react to the news that he didn’t eat the Gum-Gum Fruit. He has a wide array of attacks and abilities that he named after the Fruit. Learning its true name could mean he’d have to retroactively change the name of all his techniques.
It’s not as though he can just name his Gear Five techniques after Nika either. He’s already committed to calling them Gum-Gum techniques with the additional “Dawn” fixture. With this, he could be forced to rename all of his techniques after Nika, even the ones not from his Gear Five form.
As for how he’d rename his attacks, that’s anyone’s guess. He could call them something like “Human-Human Rifle” or “Nika-Nika Ally Robo.” Whatever he chooses, it would have to reflect his Fruit’s real name rather than its old one.
Will Luffy Have to Rename His Attacks After Nika?
The alternative is that he develops a newer, stronger stage of attacks that he can brand as Nika attacks. Gear Five is still new to him and he hasn’t experimented too much with the “Dawn” attacks, so this is still a reasonable option. He could still use the Gum-Gum name for his normal attacks and reserve the Nika name for his stronger attacks.
There’s also the possibility that he simply continues using the Gum-Gum name structure. He doesn’t know his Devil Fruit’s real name yet and those who could tell him have no reason to. Even if he did learn it, he might still have a sentimental attachment to the Gum-Gum name. That, or he could just consider it too much of a hassle to change the name of all his attacks to something like “Human-Human Model: Nika Pistol.”
Src: cbr.com
