Quick answer: what happened to Luffy?

Nobody in the chapter knows, and the chapter doesn't say. What 1198 shows:

  • His friends lost track of him. A giant shouts that Luffy turned into something and went off. Loki, beaten down, says Luffy ran away.
  • Something turns up in the West Village. A creature sits on a roof chewing something, laughing like a monkey: 「キッキッキ〜♪」.
  • What it looks like. A mane of white hair like flames, as in Gear 5. But a dark, cat-like face with a wide fanged grin, dark furred arms and legs, huge black fists, and a long curling tail. Not Luffy's face.
  • Nobody will call it Luffy. One onlooker calls out 「おいルフィ!?」, hey, Luffy!?, then takes it back: 「いや…!! 違うよな 何だ!? あいつ…」, no… it isn't, is it? What is that? Others: "A monkey!? …No, wait, look at him!!"
  • It goes for the 'Rain God'. It grabs the giant figure's face, pulls its cheeks, and punches it with huge black fists.
  • The last line is someone shouting at it: 「誰だお前はァ!!!」, who are you!!

Our reading: it is probably Luffy, changed. The chapter just won't confirm it. Everything that points to him is circumstantial: the white hair, Jinbe's sense that Luffy's Haki went to this village first, and a giant's word that he turned into something.

ONE PIECE is off next week. The last page says so; it returns in issue 52. Details below.

PRIMARY — MANGA VERIFIED. Read directly from the official Japanese release: chapter 1198「怪物達のいる島」 (The Island with Monsters) in Weekly Shonen Jump 2026 issue 50, published 9 November on Shonen Jump+. English wording is our paraphrase of the Japanese. No leaks. Spoilers below.

On the page in 1198

  • Sanji's attack shatters Killingham's Omen armour
  • Elbaf's children are carried to a ship at the port by a giant figure called the 'Rain God'
  • Loki fights Imu in his second hybrid form, and is struck down
  • Imu says it is at its limit and must return to the Holy Land
  • Imu thinks one word: 'Nika'
  • Luffy 'turns into something' and leaves, by a giant's account
  • A white-haired figure acting like a monkey hits the 'Rain God' in the West Village
  • ONE PIECE is off next week; back in issue 52

Not shown or not explained

  • Whether the figure in the West Village is Luffy
  • What Luffy has turned into, or why
  • Whether Killingham is finished
  • Who 'Mu' is, whose life Imu says is in danger
  • What ancient technology Imu wants from Elbaf
  • Who the second great Haki heading for the West Village belongs to
  • Whether Sanji's power is Conqueror's Haki

Sanji and Killingham

The armour breaks. The chapter opens on the follow-through of 1197's last kick. The caption reads 〝砕く、魔気の鎧!!〟, the Omen armour shatters.

Killingham is down, not out. He screams and thrashes, and Sanji keeps attacking.

  • Sanji's line: 「心臓…だっけな」, roughly the heart, wasn't it. He seems to be going for it.
  • Before the chapter shows the result, a huge arm stretches across the town, and Sanji turns.

So 1198 doesn't settle it. The armour Killingham said only Conqueror's Haki could break is broken. Nobody on the page names the Haki. Our check of that question: did Sanji get Conqueror's Haki in 1197?

The children's ship and the 'Rain God'

Elbaf's children are being taken. A towering, veiled figure stretches its arms over the town, scoops up a group of children and drops them on a ship at the port.

  • The kidnappers call it 〝雨の神〟, the Rain God: 「よし行け!! "雨の神"!!!」
  • The children work it out on deck: "It's a ship from the harbour! If it sails, we'll be off Elbaf!" and "We're being kidnapped…!!"
  • The giants try to stop it with cannon fire, and one warns: "the ground below is the Underworld."

Sanji gets there. One of the kidnappers shouts for Sommers to set sail. Sanji tells him he doesn't think Sommers is there: one of his own went to that ship. Then: "There's no hope your friends will be saved."

Who sails the ship, and where the 'Rain God' comes from, aren't explained.

Imu and Loki

Loki fights in a new form. The caption names it: Ryu Ryu no Mi, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nidhoggr, second hybrid form (第2人獣型). His fruit was named in chapter 1175. The second hybrid form is new.

Loki has no good choice, and says so:

  • If I live, Elbaf becomes slaves. If I die, Elbaf becomes slaves. I'll take neither.
  • He thinks Luffy ran: "Didn't think he was such a coward."

Imu wants something from Elbaf. It tells Loki to answer. When Elbaf is enslaved, Imu wants its ancient technology, and says Harald kept quiet about it too. Loki says he doesn't know.

Imu strikes Loki down with its spear. Then, in its own thoughts:

  • "I'm at my limit. I never thought I'd have to use this much power."
  • 「早く聖地へ戻らねばムーの命が危ない…」, if I don't hurry back to the Holy Land, Mu's life is in danger.
  • "Then I'll take this land and see for myself."
  • And one word, as it looks out: 「ニカ」, Nika.

"Mu" is new. The chapter doesn't say who or what it is. More on Imu: who is Imu?

What happened to Luffy (in order)

  1. In the Central Forest, a giant asks what to do about Luffy: "He turned into something and went off somewhere!!"
  2. With Usopp, someone says "this was no secret weapon. Luffy, what happened to you?" The reply: it may be a crucial moment for a Zoan — 「動物系の…正念場かもな…」.
  3. Jinbe, with Nami, senses two great Haki heading for the West Village, and works out that Luffy must have gone there first. He can't see why Luffy would do that. Nami says Luffy would never run off alone.
  4. In the West Village, a white-haired figure laughs like a monkey on a roof, then goes for the 'Rain God'. Someone calls it Luffy and takes it back.

What the chapter doesn't say:

  • Whether the figure is Luffy. Very likely, but no one on the page confirms it.
  • What this is. Nobody calls it a new Gear, a new form of Nika, or anything else.
  • Whether it knows what it's doing. It laughs and makes monkey noises. It doesn't speak.
  • Whose the second Haki is.

Read with Imu's word, it lands hard. Imu thinks of Nika in the same chapter where Luffy, if that is him, stops acting like himself. The chapter puts the two side by side and explains neither.

When is ONE PIECE 1199?

Not next week. Chapter 1198's last page:

次号休載します。再開はWJ52号(11月24日発売)予定です。 ONE PIECE is off next issue. It is scheduled to resume in WJ issue 52, on sale 24 November.

24 November is a Tuesday. Monday 23 November is a public holiday in Japan. The last time that happened, in October, the issue was on Shonen Jump+ at 00:00 on the Monday. Times in your zone: when is the next ONE PIECE chapter?

Also in the issue

  • Title page: a reader request, Brûlée giving Pudding a pair of glasses with three lenses.
  • Volume 116 goes on sale on 4 December 2026. The title page's teaser: 「エルバフに"世界の王"が降臨する!!」, the King of the World descends on Elbaf.

What this changes on our pages

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