Warning! Spoilers for One Piece chapter 1039 ahead!
In the latest chapter of One Piece, Big Mom has revealed that her powers are even more versatile than previously thought. Many characters in One Piece have magical abilities granted to them by eating one of the mysterious devil fruits. While these devil fruit abilities can vary in usefulness, Big Mom’s powers are easily one of the strongest shown in the manga so far.
Over the course of their journey, Luffy and the Straw Hat pirates have encountered many fearsome enemies, but perhaps none have been as intimidating as Charlotte Linlin, aka Big Mom. Linlin is one of the four emperors of the sea, a set of pirates that even the full force of the World Government has a hard time dealing with. Her powers come from the Soul Soul Fruit, which grants her the ability to take fragments of a person’s soul and implant it into an object that then comes alive and serves her. These living objects are known as homies. By taking a fragment of someone’s soul this way, she can reduce their lifespan by an amount proportional to the size of the fragment, in some cases even being able to steal their entire lifespan, killing them instantly. In combat however, she mainly uses her homies to fight. While she has consistently shown how useful her homies can be offensively, in the latest chapter of One Piece she reveals another application for her abilities that makes her even more powerful.
In chapter 1038, Big Mom is severely injured in her fight with Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law, resulting in several of her bones being broken. In chapter 1039, she reveals an easy way of getting around her injuries. By infusing her bones with a bit of her soul, she is able to turn them into homies and heal herself. Up until this point Big Mom has never had to enhance her own body with her powers, relying instead on her superhuman strength and durability to protect herself. This new usage of her powers opens up many new potential uses that were previously unknown.
If she can animate a part of her body to heal herself during a fight, then it may be possible for her to recover from even more grievous injuries. In addition, she may be able to enhance parts of her body by giving them life. For instance, if she gave her hair life, she could potentially have a similar power set to the Inhuman Medusa. In addition, if she can use this power on parts of her enemies’ bodies, then she could even cause their own body parts to turn against them.
At the end of chapter 1039, Kid seems to deal a devastating blow against Big Mom. It is unclear whether this attack will be enough to knock her out of the fight, especially given the new healing powers she has displayed. But whether or not she is out of the fight, Big Mom’s creative new use of her powers has opened up terrifying new applications for her abilities, and easily cements her status as one of the strongest characters in One Piece.