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One Piece is a wildly popular Shonen manga and anime with an ever-growing fanbase, even nearly a quarter-century after its inception. Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, is edging closer to his dream of finding the One Piece as he fights with allied pirate crews to take down Big Mom and Kaido in the nation of Wano.
So far, Luffy has used his Gum-Gum Devil Fruit powers to realize multiple transformations. This article will discuss the possibility of Luffy taking yet another step and achieving Gear Five.
Will Luffy progress to Gear 5 in One Piece?
History
Since the beginning of One Piece up to the current Wano Arc, Luffy has used Gear One (base form), Gear Two, and Gear Three, as well as Gear Four. The more recent transformation, Gear Four, features three forms within itself: Bounce Man, Tank Man, and Snake Man.
Luffy also became Nightmare Luffy on Thriller Bark, although that was a temporary transformation. However, it seems that Gear Four: Bounce Man was inspired by Nightmare Luffy.
Luffy's transformations have been crucial in his victories over many formidable opponents. As he learned to hone the power of Haki, he began infusing his transformed states with the color of armament Haki.
In his fight with Kaido, Luffy realized that he could infuse weapons and body parts with the color of the supreme king Haki, much like one would do with armament Haki. Luffy's transformations take time to develop. Seeing that his battle with Kaido is still raging on, the One Piece protagonist hasn't yet had time to fully digest this information and use it to create an entirely new technique.
Speculation
Luffy developed Gear Four while training with Silvers Rayleigh during the two-year time-skip. So much has happened in One Piece since the Straw Hats reunited on Sabaody Archipelago. Luffy is refining his control of the supreme king Haki and gaining invaluable experience in his fight against Kaido.
During the invasion of Whole Cake Island, Luffy fought fiercely against Katakuri, a Devil Fruit user with similar powers to his own. However, Katakuri's Devil Fruit is awakened, meaning that he can manipulate the environment with his abilities. Luffy also observed the powers of an awakened Devil Fruit when fighting against Doflamingo.
Considering Luffy's recent improvements regarding Haki and experience in fighting awakened Devil Fruit users, it's not hard to believe that a new transformation is imminent. Hopefully, Gear Five will make use of the Gum-Gum Fruit attacks infused with Supreme King's Haki, the awakening of the Gum-Gum Fruit, or both.
Gear Four: Snake Man has proven to arguably be Luffy's best transformation yet. Although Bounce Man and Tank Man offer better defensive buffs, Snake Man is extremely agile and fast, allowing Luffy to change the direction of his attacks before impact at will.
Perhaps Gear Five will build upon the innovations of Gear Four, allowing Luffy to launch unpredictable zig-zagging attacks from every side of his enemy without compromising his durability.
My speculation takes into account that Luffy has undergone so many transformations thus far and is still so far from becoming the Pirate King. He's definitely closer to his goal than any other pirates who are not currently Emperors of the Sea.
That being said, even if Big Mom and Kaido fall in Wano, Luffy has to next take on Blackbeard, and eventually, even his friend and idol, Shanks. In the time it would take, even without including inevitable stops on the islands in-between and fateful clashes with the World Government/Cipher Pol, Luffy would have to refine his Gum-Gum transformation and evolve yet again.
Evidence
The biggest contribution to this discussion is a revealing response from One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda in a recent SBS question corner:
Although Oda-Sensei answers this question cryptically, it's pretty clear that he intends to implement another upgrade to Luffy's transformations. The One Piece creator is known as one of the most interactive and grateful mangakas. I highly doubt that he would tease such a highly-anticipated topic without intending to follow through.
Conclusion
Gear Five could be even closer than we imagine. Despite his impressive ability to keep up with Kaido so far, Luffy is clearly not landing a finishing blow on the Yonkō the way he is now. Eiichiro Oda alludes to Kaido being the strongest man alive in the above SBS question corner, so Luffy will need to dig deep and reach the next level to put down the "Immortal" Kaido.
I think it's safe to say that One Piece fans will be seeing Gear Five Luffy before the series comes to an end. We might even be lucky enough to see it happen before the end of the riveting Wano Arc.
