The Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika is one of the most legendary and important Devil Fruits in the world of One Piece. Not only was it the first Devil Fruit introduced in the series, but it is also the fruit Luffy ate right from the very first chapter. However, it wasn’t until the Wano Country arc, specifically chapter 1044, that fans truly witnessed and understood the full power of this “divine” fruit.
Luffy’s Devil Fruit was originally described as a Paramecia type with the ability to create and control rubber. The shocking truth revealed later is that it is actually a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit named after a god: the Sun God Warrior Nika.
Luffy’s Devil Fruit holds extraordinary power and, like all Devil Fruits in One Piece, it has been passed down through many generations. This means several people have possessed it before. In fact, creator Eiichiro Oda once planned to reveal a previous user of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika back in 2022, but that plan was ultimately changed.
Oda’s original plan to make a film about the previous Gomu Gomu no Mi user
Luffy is the current user of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika (formerly known as the Gomu Gomu no Mi). However, this Nika fruit actually had a completely different user long before him, a boy who was meant to be the central character in a story directed by Oda himself.
According to Goro Taniguchi, director of One Piece: Film Red, Oda wanted to write a story where the Straw Hat crew travels back in time and meets the previous user of the Gomu Gomu no Mi before Luffy. This was supposed to be the main plot of One Piece: Film Red. Unfortunately, the story was changed, and the character Uta became the film’s main focus instead.
Seeing Luffy meet the former Gomu Gomu no Mi user would have been incredibly exciting, not only for the interesting interactions but also because it would have given fans a chance to explore the earlier era of the One Piece world. Sadly, that opportunity never made it to the big screen.
Since Oda changed his original idea, it’s unclear if the boy who possessed the Gomu Gomu no Mi before Luffy remains an official part of the story.
Currently, fans know that the previous user of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika before Luffy was none other than Joy Boy, a legendary figure who lived around 800 years ago.
Joy Boy is a legendary character who shares the same power as Luffy, and fans can surely expect to see much more about Joy Boy and the power of the Sun God Nika in the future of One Piece.
Source: Gamerant