Thematically, Chapter 1118 perfectly encapsulates what One Piece is about, and especially what is being built since the reveal of Gear 5.
My personal theory: the reason the Five Elders and the World Government want to get rid of the fruit so badly is not only because of what it symbolizes or the power it gives to the user, but because it can also power up other people around it. The drums of liberation not only inspire people, they give them the tools to free themselves.
I am not saying that Luffy has the power to give anyone Gear 5. However, I do think his awakened form can power up people in multiple ways if they are inspired enough by it.
Jewelry Bonney’s fruit for example. She can tap into potential futures, unless she learns the truth and cannot believe it will happen. She turns into a Nika form multiple times, although she only takes the rubber characteristics, because that is all she knows about him at that point. Once Saturn tries to break her spirit and tell her Nika isn’t real, she conjures a very weak form, because she doesnt fully believe a “Nika future” is possible.
However, now that she sees right in front of her that Nika is very much real, and that liberation is possible, she manages to come up with a fully “free” future of herself, which copies the physical characteristics of Gear 5.
That, I believe, is Nika’s true power. Luffy isn’t simply metaphorically freeing people, he inspires freedom to the point that they get powered up as well. I don’t know how this would interact with other devil fruits, or with those who have no devil fruits at all, but I believe this won’t be the last time someone seeing Gear 5 will gain themselves a new form as a result.
*by lowbid_corvid
