In the emotional climax of One Piece’s Egghead Arc, the escape from the wrath of the Five Elders is a moment sure to go down in the books among fans. The anime’s now-typical enhanced treatment of Eiichiro Oda’s manga has now shown Bonney’s ultimate form and spin on Gear 5, and the results are incredible.
While Luffy’s Gear 5 is still demonstrably more powerful, Bonney’s take in One Piece is more faithful to the image of Nika that both characters evoke. Perhaps most crucially, Luffy gives Bonney the space, or rather, the liberty, to lay the final decisive blow against her greatest enemy, channeling all of her might. Thus, Gear 5 was changed forever.
One Piece Just Channeled Dragon Ball With Its Latest Gear 5 Moment
Taking Liberty in More Ways Than One
While Bonney previously had her big Gear 5-like reveal in One Piece episode #1151, the next episode, where she got to return to lay the finishing blow on Saturn, was one of the anime’s most sublime to date. While Gear 5 is merely Luffy’s given name based on his previous forms, Bonney’s take had a distinct Dragon Ball energy.
Bonney’s Age-Age Fruit grants, among other abilities, the power to turn into any possible future self of hers. Her latest moment included Bonney at her true age, a meek child, transforming on the deck of the Giants’ ship. In that moment, with Saturn on the ropes, Bonney’s hair pulsed white as she resumed her state as an avatar of Nika.
It’s something straight out of Dragon Ball Z’s Cell Saga when Gohan achieved Super Saiyan 2 for the first time. While Luffy’s Gear 5 is still more powerful, Bonney’s achievement in this moment is more meaningful, and much like how Gohan used this power to defeat Cell, Bonney used hers to strike down the oppressor who tormented her family.
Luffy Gave Bonney Her Ultimate One Piece Moment
The Straw Hat’s Own “Release Everything!” Moment
With Saturn clinging to the figurehead of the Giants’ ship as they try to make their getaway, Luffy knows this persistent member of the Five Elders is making one last desperate attempt to kill Bonney and Kuma. But even then, as he winds up his finishing blow, he sees young Bonney, and gives her space to finish Saturn off herself.
While this is no carbon copy of the Father-Son Kamehameha moment, much like how Kuma is certainly no Android 16 turned into fodder to transform Bonney like for Gohan, it’s a fascinating parallel. Luffy recognizes that Bonney, more than anybody else on this rapidly sinking planet, needs to send Saturn away one final time with her ultimate haymaker, Nika Punch.
The moment is gorgeously animated, featuring choice impact frames, a swelling soundtrack to encapsulate the catharsis, and crackling energy as Bonney unleashes her righteous indignation. Luffy then joins in as they throw a final barrage, maiming Saturn and sending him overboard. Saturn regenerated from the blow, but now he’ll not be able to catch them as they attempt to escape.
The moment is gorgeously animated, featuring choice impact frames, a swelling soundtrack to encapsulate the catharsis, and crackling energy as Bonney unleashes her righteous indignation.
It was always going to be difficult to envision a finale as explosive as that of Wano. But with Egghead ending soon, and a few key moments left, it’ll soon be clear that Saturn will never hurt Bonney ever again. While Luffy’s Gear 5 moment was glorious, Bonney’s was a personal, transformative moment, freeing her from her horrible past forever.
- Release Date
-
October 20, 1999
- Network
-
Fuji TV
- Directors
-
Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
-
Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
-
Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
