Warning: contains spoilers for One Piece chapter 1045!

While One Piece has been criticized for its cartoonish art style in the past, the latest chapters of the manga proves that no other art style would fit the story quite as well. One Piece is a manga by Eiichiro Oda following the adventures of the pirate Monkey D. Luffy and his crew. While unquestionably one of the most popular manga in the world, in the West it has often fallen behind other popular series like Bleach and Naruto, for a variety of reasons.

One Piece can be daunting to get into as a new fan, as the series has over 1000 chapters, with some arguing it sees a major uptick in quality after the first 100. But one of the major things that many readers get hung up on is its non-standard art style, which can be perceived as childish when compared to series with a more realistic style. Many characters in One Piece have over-the-top, outlandish designs, and the series as a whole is drawn in a way that looks rather cartoonish. As with any piece of art, it's a stylistic choice that works for some and doesn't for others, but a new fighting technique that Luffy has unlocked in the latest chapters of the series proves that it couldn’t be drawn any other way.

Related: Luffy's Strongest Form Unlocks One Piece's Most Disturbing Attack Yet

In chapter 1044, Luffy finally awakens his true Devil Fruit powers. While for most of the series everyone thought Luffy’s Fruit was the Gum Gum Fruit, it turns out his Fruit is the Mythical Human Human Fruit: Model Nika. Nika was a sun god who was a representation of liberation, so using the awakened powers of the Nika Fruit lets its user fight freely in whatever way they please. This lets Luffy fight in a very cartoonish manner, bending physics and physiology to his whim like something straight out of Looney Tunes. His powers also affect everyone around him, leading to moments like characters' eyes literally popping out of their heads in surprise.

One Piece character's Eyes Popping.

These over-the-top powers would look strange in a manga with a more realistic style. The reason they fit naturally in the world of One Piece is that Oda has already been drawing the series with a cartoonish style for its entire 25-year run. While it is unclear if Oda chose to do this to make Luffy’s new powers not feel out of place when he eventually revealed them, it certainly makes their introduction less jarring than it would otherwise have been.

Even if Oda didn’t plan out Luffy’s ultimate powers before deciding on One Piece’s art style - and the mangaka is famous for seeding mysteries and secrets way before they're revealed - these new powers definitely emphasize one of the greatest strengths of the series. While featuring some incredibly dark plot points, One Piece has always been able to inject humor into its story, due in no small part to the hugely expressive art. So, while Luffy’s new powers may be an explicit justification for the manga’s art style, it is ultimately just the latest in a long list of reasons why One Piece’s art is perfect for the story it's trying to tell.

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