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One Piece Gear 5: Did It Cure Luffy's Biggest Weakness At Last? Find Out
Luffy’s Gear 5 has certainly proven to be one of the most incredible abilities to be introduced in One Piece, however it hasn't redeemed the weakness.
Luffy's Gear 5 transformation, highly anticipated by the fandom for nearly a hundred episodes before its official anime reveal, can be considered a highly anticipated One Piece transformation.
The anime's protagonist, Luffy, achieved freedom through a transformation that was considered too cartoonish. Although the transformation may be the strongest yet, it hasn't redeemed Luffy's weakness from slash attacks. The Gear 5, which he uses, also has its own weakness, as demonstrated in a recent episode where Luffy loses control over his powers while using Gear 5.
Exploring the weaknesses of Luffy's Gear 5
Luffy and Kaido faced off in a three-way battle, with Kaido being one of the strongest antagonists. Luffy's first encounter was a one-sided one, but Kaido used Raimei Hakke to render the Straw Hat unconscious. Their second encounter occurred on Onigashima, where Kaido impaled Luffy unconscious and threw him off the flying capital.
Onigashima, Luffy and Kaido encountered again, this time with CP0 agent Guernica restraining the Straw Hat. Luffy lost consciousness, causing his heart to beat and hair to turn blue. He woke up and transformed into Gear 5, awakening his devil fruit. The Gorosei revealed that the Gum-Gum devil fruit was actually the Human-Human devil fruit, which had returned to circulation after centuries. They had to rename it to avoid public awareness.
Luffy's new transformation, Gear 5, allows him to manipulate his surroundings and transform anything into rubber, enabling him to defeat an Emperor and save Wano from oppression. However, his Gear 5 transformation has the same weakness as previous forms, as confirmed by Kaido in One Piece chapter 1047. Despite this, Luffy can replenish his body instantly after eating something according to his diet.
Moreover, this form had another weakness, which emerged when Luffy got too into the powers of Gear 5. In One Piece episode 1101, while fighting Rob Lucci, Luffy used Gear 5 to launch a new attack, titled Gum-Gum no Dawn Whip, by stretching his body to its extreme.
The attack injuring Lucci caused him to spin without control, suggesting he hasn't fully mastered Gear 5's powers. This weakness adds to the transformation's weakness. While Gear 5 isn't a weak transformation, fans are questioning why the author keeps this weakness, possibly due to foreshadowing, plotholes, or overthinking.
What is Luffy's Gear 5 in One Piece?
Gear 5, or Gear Fifth, is the pinnacle of Luffy's power in One Piece. It represents the awakened state of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, a Devil Fruit that grants Luffy's body rubber properties. Luffy gains unprecedented mastery over his rubbery abilities in this form, which transforms his hair, clothes, eyes, and encircles a cluster of white clouds.
When activated, Gear 5 grants Luffy the ability to instantaneously alter his bulk, rendering him flexible and agile. Moreover, this awakened state allows him to manipulate surfaces, including the very ground he stands on, transforming it into a malleable and stretchable surface reminiscent of rubber.
Can Luffy go beyond Gear 5?
Gear 5 is certainly one of the strongest abilities that Luffy has up his sleeve. Luffy's Devil Fruit powers are his pinnacle. However, Luffy can transcend these abilities, as Devil Fruits are not the only ones in the One Piece world. He can still use his Devil Fruit and incorporate Gear 5 with Haki in unique ways, providing new power-ups in the future of the story.
Luffy certainly can go beyond Gear 5, and this is very much possible. In fact, it is highly likely that Luffy will go beyond Gear 5 in the final saga, simply because the stronger enemies would require him to push himself more. Luffy has only faced off against Admiral Kizaru, and Saint Saturn. However, there are many powerful enemies that are awaiting him. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, Blackbeard, Imu, and many others are still awaiting Luffy.
These are the enemies that Luffy will need to push himself against, and they will certainly require him to utilize Gear 5 in the very best manner, and, perhaps, develop new applications of it with his boundless creativity. At some point in the final saga, Luffy will most likely create unique transformations within Gear 5 itself, which would either be stronger, faster, or serve some other purpose, thus making Gear 5 even more versatile. That is something that fans should be looking forward to and this transformation would then help him in the many battles to come.
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