The tides of the sea have changed the pessimism of those who frowned at Luffy’s minuscule Devil Fruit abilities earlier. Luffy Gear 5 has set the rock that hits the shore deeply carved with the remnants of Sun God Nika. The echoes of people who went crazy with Gear 2nd in Enies Lobby feel a tint of nostalgia upon seeing Luffy go haywire against Kaido. The mist left is that of awe, wonder, and haphazard awaiting of what lies ahead for the future of One Piece’s protagonist: The bustling sounds of fans demanding the question: What exactly is Luffy Gear 5?
Luffy grabbing and wielding a lightning bolt, every Gear 5 chapter was insane and a joy to read. ⚡️🤍 pic.twitter.com/jhu1CellgD
— Monkey D. Giz 👒💗🖤 ししし LUFFY ERA 👑 ルフィ☀️⚡🔥🤍💜 (@piratequeen_ya) August 29, 2022
Before we swim to take the helm of character power gauging, let us first reflect on how Luffy’s Gear 5 comes to be. To do this, we must first analyze the basis of Luffy’s gear mechanics: his devil fruit.
Understanding Luffy’s Gear 5
Gear 5 is simply a combination of all his gear abilities, plus a devil fruit awakening. But of course, to elaborate on this further let us explore his devil fruit abilities.
What is Luffy’s Devil Fruit As Per What’s Revealed So Far in One Piece?
Luffy’s Devil Fruit is A Mythical Zoan and Not Paramecia
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There’s a reason why Sengoku is one of the strongest One Piece characters ever. His Devil Fruit is a Mythical Zoan type, one which manifests the ancient Buddha into being. Marco on the other hand can turn into the animal from the legends – a phoenix. Kaido can turn himself into a freaking Dragon. Mythical Zoan even surpasses Ancient Zoan, such as Jack who can turn into a Mammoth.
What’s Sun God Nika?
How Did Previous Gear Mechanics Work?
In simple terms, the gear mechanics is the utilization of Luffy’s rubber-like abilities given through his devil fruit. Given that the Gomu Gomu no Mi is actually Hito Hito no Mi, the rubber abilities of Luffy can be considered the initial manifestation of his devil fruit. This is important as it will help us understand Luffy’s Gear 5 mechanics.
- In Gear 2nd Luffy pumped blood through his rubber-like body. The increased blood flow takes a toll on the body but allows increased speed, durability, strength, and endurance. In some sense, it is the Super Saiyan of One Piece world.
- Gear 3rd is Luffy pumping air in his body to make it bigger. It allows for heightened strength primarily.
- Gear 4 is the culmination of the previous abilities in some sense albeit not completely. Gear 4 is more tied with the use of Armament Haki. Luffy inflates himself using Gear 3 then shrouds himself in a shield of black Armament Haki. This allows for an unexplainable increase in his strength, endurance, mobility, and speed. There are three forms to Gear 4th – bounce man, snake man, and tank man.
- All three have a unique specialization of their own. While Bounce man focuses more on distributing intense attacks, Tankman is focused on defense. Snake man, as obvious from its name, has impeccable speed.
https://twitter.com/LozanoTeri/status/1561082653121490944
Luffy Gear 5 Is The Result of His Devil Fruit Awakening
What exactly is Gear 5? It is the awakening of the Zoan-type devil fruit that allows Luffy to transform into the sun god Nika. It is an accumulation of all his previous gear mechanics along with the supernatural abilities to transform into the sun god.
Luffy Gear 5 Utilization of Previous Gears
Enhanced Ability to Control One’s Heart Beat and Internal Body Mechanics: Surpassing Gear 2
- Luffy Gear 5 utilizes the breathing from Gear 2. In Gear 2, Luffy pumps blood more rapidly through his body by focusing on his breath. In Gear 5 Luffy has mastered breathing in rhythm and hence is able to control how much blood flows in which part of his body.
- This is freaking insane because this gives him the foundation of Gear 2nd in all instances. Imagine Luffy in his Gear 2 strength in his base form.
- Something akin to what Goku tried to encapsulate before Cell Games. Goku and Gohan stayed in their Super Saiyan form all throughout the day and through the night. This was to bring the Super Saiyan powers to become as normal as their base form, literally increasing their base form abilities.
- Gear 5 allows him to change the rhythm of his heart, he can basically remap his blood pressure and heartbeat to match the tension of the fight.
No Need to Inflate One’s Body: Surpassing Gear 3
- Gear 3 had its drawback from the fact that after using it for a prolonged time, Luffy would shrink into a chibi version exhausted from all the air circulation.
- Gear 5 just skips the part where one has to inflate their hands with air. Luffy Gear 5 can just shift into whatever size he wishes to turn into.
Conquerer’s Haki on Top Of Armament Haki Layering: Surpassing Gear 4
- Gear 4 uses Armament Haki to cover itself. Kaidou stated that in his Sun God form, Luffy was shrouding himself with Conquerer’s Haki on top of Armament Haki. Such advanced use of Conquerer’s Haki on top of Advanced Armament is simply bazooka-level shit.
Luffy Gear 5 Ability to Bend Reality
Other than the abilities we just discussed, there is an array of sunshine to add to Luffy’s awakening. Zoan-type awakenings are peculiar in the sense that they enhance the user’s stats. Kind of like a Pokemon evolution.
Toon Force Luffy
Now Toon Force is just a pop-culture reference to the powers that cartoon characters tend to possess. One instance may be Tom running towards a cliff and falling only when he realizes he’s halfway into the air. Luffy has always been illustrated as this cartoonish comic persona.
- Luffy can bend reality to a certain extent. He can turn any other substance that he touches into rubber. Even elemental attributes such as lightning and clouds can be turned into rubber. Doflamingo and Katakuri have previously shown something similar, where both can create and control their created substance.
Luffy is capable of turning other things into Rubber. With a touch, he turns Kaido into rubber, where it seems as if he is almost punching through him. But it’s actually Kaido’s face turning into Rubber and stretching upon which an Advanced Armament Haki-covered fist of Luffy penetrates.
Concluding
How much we know about Gear 5 is limited by what is available to us. And of course, like always, what is available to us is very scarce. Gear 5 is only the latest revelation. Now that One Piece has ascended into the throne wars between the now new emperors, we still have a lot to ask regarding Luffy’s abilities. Luffy is one if not the strongest character in One Piece.
Related: One Piece Theory: Shanks Planned Everything Since Beginning
At such an early age he has become a force to be reckoned with, imagine what he will be capable of once he’s earned his share of experience as the King of The Pirate (if he ever becomes one.) Nonetheless, the journey of One Piece continues, breezing us with more questions. To answer them is one thing, and to live them is another. I’ll live them first. What about you?
Also Read: Elden Ring Manga You thought would be serious but it isn’t!
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