## One Piece Chapter 1045, pages 1-3: Next Level - Chapter: 1045 - Pages: 1-3 - Characters: Monkey D. Luffy, Nami, Sanji, Brook, Franky, Usopp, Tony Tony Chopper, Roronoa Zoro, Nico Robin, Jinbe, Kaido ### Summary Page 1: The color spread celebrates One Piece's 25th anniversary caravan truck project. The Straw Hats appear in a bright "Sea of Liberty" truck design with Luffy reaching toward the viewer, Nami, Sanji, Brook, Franky, Usopp, Chopper, Zoro, Robin, and Jinbe arranged around the vehicle. This is official color-spread and anniversary material rather than the Wano story, so it is kept as useful extra material. Page 2: The story begins with "Chapter 1045: Next Level" as Kaido watches Luffy in Gear Fifth and says he was sure Luffy was a goner after the previous attack. Luffy laughs while panting, and Kaido realizes, "So was I!!" because Luffy can make his surroundings rubbery, which would fit an awakened Paramecia. Yet Kaido also says something about this feels off, because a transformation like Luffy's is more typical of a Zoan fruit. This page follows directly from the Nika reveal and shows Kaido trying to analyze what he is fighting in real time: Luffy's power now behaves like both an environmental rubber awakening and a bodily transformation that should not belong to the same category. Page 3: Kaido lunges and bites Luffy, calling him a bastard, and Luffy screams as he is caught between the dragon's teeth. Luffy begins another "Gomu Gomu no..." while Kaido's body coils around him, and the collision becomes more absurd than brutal. Kaido chomps down and swallows or traps Luffy inside his dragon form, but Luffy's rubbery body keeps moving inside him. The page emphasizes the strange tone of the renewed rooftop battle: it is still a life-or-death clash against an Emperor, but Gear Fifth turns the violence into a cartoonish physical gag where even being bitten and swallowed becomes material for Luffy's next move.