One Piece: Luffy Will Unlock His Most Disgusting Power Yet to Beat Kaido

Warning! Contains major spoilers for One Piece chapter #1040

The end of the epic fight between Luffy and Kaido is getting very close in One Piece. After the defeat of Big Mom, the only thing standing between the pirates-samurai alliance and the liberation of Wano country is the man known as “the strongest creature in the world”. To face him, Luffy already overcame his limits and started to master Haoshoku Haki, but to finally best Kaido, he might need to obtain a power-up that fans have been waiting for a long time: Gear Fifth. According to One Piece‘s creator, Eiichiro Oda, this could be happening very soon.

Luffy’s fighting style is based on his Gomu Gomu no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that gives his body the properties of rubber. At the beginning of the manga, Luffy used this power usually to stretch his limbs, in a similar way to what Marvel’s Mr. Fantastic does. As the story progressed and his enemies got more powerful, however, he developed his abilities through training and imagination, obtaining what he calls “gears”, specific power-ups that make us of the properties of his body. Gear Second and Gear Third debuted during the Enies Lobby Arc: one speeds up the blood flow in selected body parts, providing them with more oxygen and nutrients, making Luffy faster and more powerful; the other inflates air in Luffy’s rubber bones, making his limbs gigantic for increased strength. Gear Fourth debuted in the fight against Doflamingo in Dressrosa, and is similar in concept to Gear Third, but rather than the bones, it inflates the muscles, which are further reinforced through the use of Bokushoku Haki. Together with a specific technique called Snakeman, this was Luffy’s strongest form, but it was completely ineffective against Kaido.

Considering that the Gear Fourth debuted seven years ago, fans have been expecting a hypothetical Gear Fifth for some time now. There has also been speculation on what that form might look like, based on the previous ones. Gear Second made use of the circulatory system, Gear Third of the bones, and Gear Fourth of the muscles. The next natural step in this outward movement throughout Luffy’s body would be the skin. It’s quite hard to imagine how manipulating the skin could help in a battle, and the results could be visually gross and disgusting, but Oda has been constantly surprising fans with his creativity for 25 years, so anything can be expected. Regarding when this new form will debut, however, Oda sensei teased his readers with a half-joke half-spoiler, as for his usual style.

In the SBS (his Q&A section) for volume 98 of the manga, Oda answered a fan asking if there will be a Gear Fifth. He said that Luffy is now fighting the strongest creature in the world (Kaido), and the world at this moment is switching from 4G to 5G (mobile networks), adding that “G stands for Gear, right?“. It’s always hard to tell if Oda is serious, and the SBS are often used as a collection of jokes and comedy, but he has also used that space in the past to reveal important information about the characters. It is also true that Luffy has already shown glimpses of new techniques and uses of his powers against Kaido, making readers believe he might be close to “awakening” his Devil Fruit.

Kaido is one of the Four Emperors, considered the strongest pirate in the world, and his defeat is the necessary next step for ushering in the final phase of the manga. Luffy is no longer a rookie, he and his crew are one of the strongest forces to be reckoned with in the world of One Piece, and obtaining Gear Fifth at this point in the story will make perfect sense.

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