One Piece teases a new devil fruit awakening in the Elbaf arc

The concept of Devil Fruit awakening was first introduced in the Dressrosa arc One Pieceand since then, new characters with awakened powers have appeared frequently. Elbaf has just introduced fans to another potentially awakened Devil Fruit user in Doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates, Chopper. Since his powers are strong enough to counter even Imus Domi Reversi, Chopper could just be a hidden Awakened Zoan all along, and there is very strong evidence to suggest that his use of his Devil Fruit has been special for a very long time.

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Assesses the need for new awakenings against Imu

One Piece Final Saga brings the strongest characters to the fore as they fight for supremacy, and among them is the world's sovereign, Imu. It goes without saying that Imu is one of the most important characters in the final saga, and among the antagonists, he's easily the one who deserves the most spotlight in the Elbaf arc.

Imu and his Saint Knights have been incredibly active, and it is clear to see that the strength they possess is absolutely immense. Imu, in particular, possesses power that hardly anyone in the One Piece world can match. To compete with such a force, new powers are needed for the Straw Hat Pirates and their allies. As such, Devil Fruit awakenings will continue to play an important role in this battle as they are one of the most ingenious ways to further strengthen already powerful fighters.

Why Chopper has secretly awakened Hito Hito no Mi

One Piece's Elbaf arc strongly indicates that Chopper can use the power of the Devil Fruit Awakening. As already stated in the story, Chopper ate the Hito Hito no Mi a long time ago when he was a baby reindeer, eventually ending up joining the Straw Hat Pirates. Chopper's Devil Fruit usage was quite unique in the fact that he could consume certain medicines he called Rumble Balls and push his Devil Fruit beyond all limits.

By consuming three Rumble Balls before the time jump, Chopper was able to access the power of Monster Point, giving him a monstrously powerful form strong enough to one-hit even the likes of CP9. After the time jump, Chopper has gained conscious control over the power of Monster Point and can trigger it with just a single Rumble Ball. In the Wano Country arc, Chopper even managed to extend the length of his Monster Point, and in Elbaf it is clear that Chopper was even able to harness the power of his Devil Fruit to counter Imus Domi Reversi. It is clear that Chopper's Devil Fruit powers have grown further, and the fact that he was able to counter Imu's abilities suggests that he has secretly awakened his fruit, as he is now capable of affecting those around him with his fruit powers.

How the Human Fruit Counteracts Imu's Domi Reversi

To understand how Human-Human Fruit could counter Imus Domi Reversi, one must understand what Devil Fruit Awakenings can do. Although not all Devil Fruit Awakenings have been explained by Oda yet, it is clear that some of them allow the user to affect things other than themselves. In Chopper's case, Hito Hito no Mi allows him to turn into a human and a human-reindeer hybrid, but if a human were to eat this fruit, they would become more knowledgeable and be able to understand their humanity according to Oda himself.

I guess you could say it means reclaiming one's true spirit or something. So basically people will live more humanly. Well. I guess you could say that. — Eiichiro Oda

The fact that the giants have turned into demons and were able to recapture their humanity after being hit by Chopper suggests that he can affect not only himself but others around him as well. Now this also means that Chopper is completely immune to Domi Reversi, and on top of that, attacks from him can turn those turned into demons back into humans by allowing them to regain their humanity. This clearly suggests the use of a Devil Fruit Awakening that affects things other than the user's own body.

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Measure Chopper's powers at the end of the new arc

At this point, Chopper is very powerful. In the Wano Country arc, Chopper was strong enough to stand up to the Queen for a significant amount of time before being rescued by Sanji. Clearly, he should be strong enough to fight Yonko elite officers directly below the commanders, such as the likes of Tobi Roppo.

With his newly awakened powers and the ability to reverse Imu's powers, Chopper is now even stronger than ever before, and he is likely to continue his evolution as well. Chopper's powers should push him to a level where he can compete with Yonko Commanders soon enough, and his strength will certainly be needed in the final saga.

One Piece chapter 1178 will be available to read on Manga Plus on March 29, 2026.

One Piece

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 Ma Shihi Endo, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

Author

Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)