If you were on One Piece‘s slice of the internet in March 2022, your feed undoubtedly became flooded with images of an all-white Luffy. Hell, this was probably true even if you were on general anime Twitter. It was everywhere. Along with that image, the words “Gear 5” were probably buzzing right around these posts. I certainly saw them. And as someone who was stilling catching up on the manga at the time, I was thrown into despair. “Damn it,” I thought, “I just had a major plot point spoiled.”
Since then, images of Gear 5 have only gotten more common. But, in a gigantic twist of expectation, it’s been official One Piece media that’s been throwing the image out left and right. The cover of Volume 103 (pictured above) features Luffy in Gear 5. I went to a One Piece pop-up event in Japan that had large replications of the post-Wano Wanted Posters—which includes an image of Luffy in Gear 5. Hell, Gear 5 is even in One Piece Film: Red if you watch real closely. “I understand it’s a big deal, but it’s not like no one only watches the anime! Hot damn, they’re really throwing this out there!” I thought.
But once I finally reached Gear 5 in the manga, I realized a shocking truth: I didn’t know a goddamn thing about Gear 5. Thinking that a white Luffy and the name “Gear 5” was most of the spoiler was like thinking that most of an iceberg is above water. Famously, 90% of an iceberg is under water, and with Gear 5, 90% of the “spoiler-ables” are beneath that name and image.
In other words, if you, too, have seen these images and thought, “Oh no! I’ve been spoiler’d big time!” I would like to offer you a word of assurance. Knowing that it’s coming is a spoiler in the shallowest sense of the term. It only adds hype. If all you’ve seen is the white Luffy laughing, and that’s all you know, you have not been significantly spoiled. In my opinion. And experience.
And hell no, I’m not going to extrapolate on those spoilers here. Watching Gear 5 unfold is absolute Peak One Piece, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from anyone. I think we might get to Gear 5 in the anime before the end of the year—please?!—so hopefully your wait won’t be long. But with how stunning the animation in Wano has been, I’m very confident the wait will be worth it. Gear 5 is going to be absolutely incredible to see fully animated. (It really just makes a cameo in Red. You don’t get its full glory.)
So rest easy, friends! And if the wait is eating you alive from the inside, like it was for me, there’s always the 1060+ chapters of the manga.
(featured image: Eiichiro Oda)
