The world of One Piece is full of outlandish figures, crazy powers, and just the oddest of scenarios with one of the most cartoonish of them all, Monkey D. Luffy, front and center. Thanks to eating a Devil Fruit Luffy’s body gained the characteristics of rubber with ever-evolving abilities, the strongest of which is Gear 5.
Ever since he ate the Devil Fruit, Gomu Gomu no Mi, more secretly known as the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, Luffy has been granted a rubber-like body. Throughout his journey, Luffy has developed techniques with which he can utilize his body’s rubbery qualities, techniques like Gomu Gomu no Pistol a signature punch where he stretches his arm and whips it towards the target in a powerful attack.
As his journey progressed and Luffy came up against stronger adversaries he pushed his abilities further and further, finding new ways to utilize his rubbery qualities to grant him the upper hand in fights. He calls these adaptions, Gear, with Gear 2 seeing Luffy pump blood faster through his body to increase speed and mobility. Gear 3 was when Luffy realized he could inflate parts of his body by pumping air into them allowing them to grow to ginormous sizes for ginormous impact. Gear 4 is when Luffy starts combining his abilities with his Busoshoku Haki (spiritual strength) allowing him numerous forms and techniques that amplify his strength and speed beyond normal limitations.
Unlike the above Gears, though, Gear 5 is not something Luffy came up with through ingenuity, but rather one that awakened within him. So what exactly is it?
What is Gear 5?
Gear 5 is the awakened form of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, Model: Nika that can only be triggered when the user’s mind and body catch up to the abilities of the Devil Fruit, as explained by Kaido. Luffy’s awakening happens during the ‘Wano Country’ arc in his battle against the Emperor of the Sea, Kaido.
Luffy considers Gear 5 to be the pinnacle of his powers, and given how powerful it is, that is not surprising. The power unlocks, not just ridiculous abilities within himself, but the ability to manipulate his surroundings, infusing them with his rubbery nature. In his fight against Kaido, he turns the earth around him into malleable rubber, bouncing off it to propel his jumps and lifting it up to block attacks. He even grabs lightning bolts out of the sky, turning the force of nature into his rubbery weapons.
The purpose of Gear 5 is to grant the user immense strength and freedom, which gives the user the title ‘Warrior of Liberation,’ bringing joy and freedom to those around him. Luffy’s heartbeat takes on a drum-like quality known as ‘Drums of Liberation’ and his battles are filled with humor and cartoon-like silliness, which is what One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda wanted to bring back to anime. Luffy goes on to use Gear 5 to great effect against other villains in both the manga and anime.
As far as his Devil Fruit can take him, Luffy appears to have maxed out his abilities, with Gear 5 seeming to be as far as he can go. That being said, there are more battles ahead of him against strong opponents as the decades-long manga finally appears to be coming to an end, we imagine that Oda has something a little special up his sleeve for Luffy that goes beyond even Gear 5.
(featured image: Toei Animation)
