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One Piece 1078 sees the continuation of the struggle on Egghead, where Dr. Vegapunk is attempting to flee from the World Government with the help of the Straw Hat Pirates.
The new chapter provides fans with several interesting hints about One Piece's current powerscaling, allowing a better insight into how the series' characters compare to each other.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1078 and reflects the writer's personal views.
Every cue about One Piece's powerscaling featured in chapter 1078
King's Lunarian DNA allows Seraphim to be invulnerable
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A few chapters ago, Lucci and Kaku unexpectedly asked Luffy and Zoro for an alliance against S-Bear and S-Hawk. However, the two Seraphim were able to endure every attack the quartet struck them with, including several barrages of consecutive techniques.
S-Hawk was struck by Kaku's Rankyaku (White Thunder and Rankyaku: Onslaught) and two powerful techniques from Zoro (the Purgatory Onigiri and the Death Lion Song).
Meanwhile, Lucci hit S-Bear with his Rokuogan and his Shigan: Yellow Lotus. Luffy even used his Gear 4 transformation to attack S-Bear with Gom-Gom Kong Gun and Gom-Gom Kong Organ.
Despite the enormous power unleashed by the two elite agents of CP0 and the two strongest members of the Straw Hat Pirates, the Seraphim remained unscathed. This is due to their body being enhanced with Lunarian DNA.
The World Government once held King, the only known survivor of the Lunarian tribe, captive to experiment on his body. Eventually, Vegapunk used King's DNA to enhance the Seraphims, providing them with the peculiar abilities of Lunarians.
Enhanced with King's DNA, S-Hawk and S-Bear were even able to endure direct attacks from Luffy in his Gear 4 form. Such a display of resilience left Luffy astonished and caused Zoro to admit that, when the flame on his back was active, King was practically invulnerable.
Luffy even likened the durability of the Seraphim to that of the fearsome Kaido, the pirate hailed as the World's Strongest Creature. By extension, this emphasizes the might of King, whose DNA allowed Seraphims to exploit the peculiar abilities of Lunarians.
Frustrated by his efforts being in vain, Luffy, after being informed that the Seraphims' extraordinary toughness was granted by the flame burning on their back, angrily struck S-Bear with a Gom-Gom Hawk Gatling.
Despite Luffy's barrage of hits, the Seraphim was once again undamaged. As Lucci addressed, it doesn't matter how many times the Seraphim get hit, their Lunarian-enhanced toughness won't falter.
The fight between Sanji and S-Shark
Among the Seraphim wreaking havoc on Egghead is also S-Shark, the prototype based on Jinbe. Confronted with S-Hawk, Nami and Brook were facing severe trouble.
Luckily, Sanji felt Nami's screams of fear and arrived just in time to protect her from an incoming attack. Visibly angry, he started fighting S-Shark, determined to beat him to a pulp for having tried to hurt Nami.
While Zoro and Luffy are taking the fight with the Seraphim more relaxedly, Sanji immediately used one of his best assets against S-Shark. In a fit of rage, he activated his esoskeleton, which allowed him to deliver a powerful strike on S-Shark.
Sanji's kick sent the Seraphim flying. Despite being taken off-guard while he was focused on Nami, however, S-Shark immediately got up. He appeared to be completely undamaged and resumed fighting as if nothing had happened.
Sanji is dead serious in beating S-Shark. A testament to this, his eyebrows flapped switched direction, which meant that he tapped into his recently unlocked Vinsmoke powers.
Using his new capabilities from the get-go proved to be a very good choice. Exploiting the esoskeleton, Sanji literally face-tanked a direct punch from S-Shark. He not only endured the brunt of the attack but didn't even move an inch, leaving his opponent astounded.
As such, both opponents seem to be having trouble hurting each other. However, both have tricks up their sleeves, which they will likely fall back on in the successive stages of the battle.
Sanji can rely on his Ifrit Jambe, an upgraded version of Diable Jambe, while S-Shark can mimic Jinbe's capabilities with Fishman Karate, a martial art that manipulates water, allowing him to hit the enemy from his insides.
Will the Straw Hats and the CP0 agents manage to beat the Seraphim?
Admittedly, Sanji's kick failed to damage S-Shark. Still, such an occurrence is not detrimental in itself, considering that even Zoro and Luffy, of all people, haven't been able to damage the Seraphim yet.
Zoro, who already fought and beat King, the source of the DNA that empowered the Seraphim, revealed the secret of the Lunarians' toughness to Luffy, Lucci, and Kaku. This may help them gain the upper hand in this fierce battle.
Conversely, Sanji has no such help and will have to cope with this difficult challenge by himself. This may be a great chance for him to definitely uphold his place as the third strongest member of the crew, above Jinbe.
It has to be noted that Zoro and Luffy are yet to unleash their Advanced Conqueror's Haki as well as their strongest forms, the Gear 5 and the King of Hell Style, respectively. This means that up to this moment, they have been holding themselves back significantly.
Final Thoughts
Recent One Piece chapters have confirmed that King even surpassed Kaido with regards to durability. Luffy and Zoro's statements, as well as the outstanding feats of the Seraphim, who owe their resilience to King's Lunarian DNA, leave no room for doubt.
Possessing a superior defense than even Kaido, a Yonko who is renowned for being immensely tough in his own right, King certainly establishes himself as one of the strongest Yonko Commanders, only below the likes of Benn Beckman, Zoro and Shiryu.
The Seraphim also confirm themselves to be a real thorn in the flesh. Owing to King's DNA, their durability is incredible. They also possess capabilities linked to the Lineage Factor of the Seven Warlords.
Unsurprisingly, the Seraphim have been hyped since their introduction. A casual slash from S-Hawk was enough to split the biggest mountain of Amazon Lily in half, forcing Blackbeard, one of the Four Emperors, to cover himself in Armament Haki to withstand the attack without being injured.
With the Seraphim being able to pressure a top-tier character of Blackbeard's caliber and endure his attacks, it was clear that they had the potential to give anyone a hard time. One Piece fans can't wait to see how the forthcoming fights will end.
