One Piece: A Complete List of Luffy’s Gears (Explained)
Apr. 12, 2023A quarter of a century has passed since Eiichiro Oda released the “One Piece” manga. Since the first episode, the anime’s main character, Monkey D. Luffy, has won our hearts with his quirkiness and powers. He possesses a vast array of talents and skills, which he has honed throughout the story. But Luffy’s Gears techniques are the most potent and well-liked among all his abilities. So, if you want to learn more about all of our beloved protagonist’s powers, go through this guide to learn more about Luffy’s devil fruit-backed powers.
Spoiler Warning:This article contains spoilers about Luffy’s devil fruit, powers, and abilities. We suggest you watch the anime and read the manga first to avoid ruining your experience.
What Is Luffy’s Devil Fruit In One Piece?
Now, before we look at the various gear techniques, it’s important to understand where Luffy gets his powers from. When he was 7, Luffy inadvertentlyate the Gomu Gomu no Mifruit(Gum-GumDevil fruit) when it had “Akagami Shanks,” the legendary red-haired pirate.
Gum-Gum fruit is aparamecia-type devil fruitthat gave Luffy’s bodyrubber-lie propertiesas a result. With his devil-fruit powers, Luffy can manipulate his rubbery body into various forms, which he calls “Gears.” Currently, Luffy has managed to unlock up to five gear forms, and his fifth gear is known to be his peak form. He was able to unlock Gear 5 after awakening his devil fruit.
Furthermore, Luffy has mastered all three forms ofHaki in One Pieceand awakened his devil fruit powers too. With his unbelievable imagination, Luffy has made the best out of his devil fruit powers and can incorporate his haki with them. But, I’m sorry to say that Oda sensei deceived us from the start, Luffy’s devil is actually not Gomu Gomu no Mi.
In One Piece manga chapter 1069, it was confirmed by Dr.Vegapunk that there is no such fruit as “Gomu Gomu no Mi” (Gum-Gum fruit) as there is no mention of that devil fruit, even in the oldest books and encyclopedia of devil fruits. Instead, the name of Luffy’s devil fruit has been “Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika” all along, and we were tricked into thinking that it was Gomu Gomu no Mi all this time by the World Government and Oda.
Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika is a Mythical Zoan-type devil fruit that allows Luffy totransform into the sun god Nikaand get a huge boost to his powers. This happened after Luffy awakened his devil fruit during his final battle with Kaidou and became the “Warrior of Liberation”. Luffy’s devil fruit is one of thestrongest devil fruit in One Piece‘s existence right now.
Luffy used his devil fruit powers to create various Gear techniques to fight opponents. It increased his powers drastically over time in the One Piece anime. He was also able to master all these forms and minimize their after-effects. We have compiled a list of these Gear techniques, describing the powers in each form and their advantages and disadvantages. That said, it’s time to dive in:
Technically speaking, Luffy doesn’t have a gear technique called Gear 1. There is no mention of Gear 1 throughout the anime and manga. Thus, Luffy’s base form, the usual rubbery body that he used in early episodes of the anime, can be considered “Gear 1.”
The attacks Luffy uses in his base forms start with “Gomu Gomu no…,” such asGomu Gomu no Pistol, where he pulls his stretchy arms back and forces himself forward to hit the opponent. All of Luffy’s base form attacks involve him stretching his hands or his legs to attack.
His defensive abilities naturally come to him as he is a rubber man. So, normal bullets can’t pierce through him (but those coated withhakican damage him) and lightning won’t affect him either. He hasover 90 attacks in Gear 1 form. He can also infuse haki here and coat his attacking parts to amplify the effectiveness of his powers in the base form.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Luffy first used Gear 2 in the Ennies Lobby arc (Episode 272), which is one of thebest arcs in One Piece. This is one of the best gear forms we have seen. Since it was the first official Gear form, it is extra special in the hearts of the fans.
Luffy was seen using this form in his fight against Blueno. So what he did was, he first pumped blood faster throughout his body toamplify the speed and strength of his attacks. This form gave Luffy’s first breakthrough in becoming a more powerful character. The pumping of blood resulted in Luffy’s skin turning red (and pinkish color) and letting out steam, which made Gear 2 look badass. Thanks to this transformation, he was able to obliterate poor Blueno.
Initially, Luffy pumped blood through his legs in Gear 2 form, but he was able to do it flawlessly in various ways after the time skip. He was even able to activate it only in selected parts of his body. Similar to his base form, Luffy says “Gomu Gomu no Jet …” before he launches an attack in Gear 2 form.
For example, Gomu Gomu no Jet pistol. Further, Luffy was able to create a more powerful attack by combining his second technique with the armament haki. It was called “Red Hawk” by Luffy. He punched his opponent with a godly pace and force, which caused friction against the air and ignited the punch. His punch was surrounded by red-hot flames, hence, the name. It was a tribute to his brother “Fire-fist Ace.”
Advantages
Disadvantages
Luffy uses Gear 3 in his fight against ex-CP9 member Rob Lucci. Luffy corks his thumb in his mouth and bites it to make a small opening. Then, he blows air so hard that it inflates his arms to a gigantic size. Like the second gear, he can also use this technique in selected body parts.
This form allows Luffy to generate a more powerful attack as he has a bigger size when compared to normal. But there’s a catch here. Luffy sacrifices his mobility when using the Gear 3 technique. The attacks he uses in this form start with “Gomu Gomu no Gigant…,” and he coats his limbs with haki to produce crazy attacks likeGomu Gomu no Gigant Rifle. Luffy is able to create a plethora of attacks based on a combination of artillery and animal themes. Each is powerful and unique in its own way.
The Armament Haki-coated body parts also increased his defensive powers, which was evident in his fight with Fujitora. He uses it to shield his body from his attacks. Furthermore, this form made him shrink into a little kid after using it, and we saw him running from Rob Lucci in the Ennies Lobby arc. After the time skip in the story, he has better control over his Gear 3 form and has mastered it. Also, Luffy is now able to completely negate the shrinking effect.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Some of thebest arcs in One Pieceare remembered by fans because of the Gears transformations from Luffy. The same is the case with the Dressrosa arc (Episode 726), which gave us our first look at his Gear 4 technique. Luffy invoked the Gear 4 form in his fight against Donquixote Doflamingo. It was the byproduct of histwo-year-long trainingat Rusukaina with Silvers Rayleigh. You can consider this as a major upgrade over the third gear. He blows into his arms inflates his entire body and enhances his muscles.
After that, he coats these body parts with armament haki, which appear reddish black as they’re hardened. He also lets out steam as he did when using his second gear technique. This massive upgrade boosted Luffy’s attack and defensive powers to a great extent and gave birth to numerous forms. Luffy has three sub-forms for the Gear 4 technique, and he selects one depending on the situation. Let’s look at the three Gear 4 forms in detail:
The first sub-form of Luffy’s fourth gear is calledBoundman/Bounceman. In this form, Luffy constantly bounces off the surface, hence, that name. He has an enlarged body with his torso, arms, and legs coated with armament haki, as mentioned earlier.
Furthermore, he can retract his arms and legs inside his body, allowing him to release high-speed brutal attacks with much more power. He can also use his haki-coated body parts for defense too, as most of the attacks end up bouncing off his body. Luffy was able to do his famous python attack flawlessly against Doflamingo, Katakuri, and many more opponents in this form.
The second sub-form of Luffy’s fourth gear is calledTankman. It was seen only once in his battle against Charlotte Cracker, who is one of the three Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates in the Whole Cake Island arc.
In this arc, Luffy ate tons of biscuits from Nami (one of thebest female characters in One Piece) and grew bigger in size. He then used the Gear 4 technique and ended up becoming an inflated tank. This tankman form was used when there was a huge need for defense, as it has amazing defensive capabilities. Luffy used this against Charlotte to take an incredible amount of damage and ended up knocking him out with hisGomu Gomu no Cannonballattack.
The third sub-form of Luffy’s fourth gear is calledSnakeman. It is seen in action during his battle against Charlotte Katakuri, who is also one of the three Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates. Luffy looked more slender in this form when compared to the other two. The armament haki is concentrated only on his forearms, legs, and torso — and not the entire body.
The Snakeman form allowed Luffy to land the fastest attacks as this form boosted his speed. But he had to sacrifice his ultimate defensive capabilities, which were the highlights of the other two Gear 4 sub-forms. Luffy can even change the direction of his attacks at any time in this form (which was seen in boundman form as well). This attack was calledPythonby Luffy and gave him more freedom to attack from every possible direction and to counter Katakuri’s observation haki.
Advantages
Disadvantages
The most unexpected and hyped gear technique in Luffy’s arsenal was revealed in the One Piece manga recently. It took a long time for us to witness it indeed, but the wait was worth every minute, as we finally got to witness Luffy’s Gear 5 technique in action. We have explained everything aboutLuffy’s new Gear 5 techniquein the guide linked here.
With this technique, not only did his powers level up, but Luffy’s appearance also got a major upgrade with his clothes, hair, eyebrows, and other things turning white. His eyes now have a red shine in his peak form. Further, Luffy was able to bend reality with his upgraded Gear 5 powers in this form. Like the toon force power, he has the complete freedom to do anything according to his imagination as he can freely change the shape and size of his body and useall the types of hakifreely too.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Luffy’s Gears Frequently Asked Questions
Luffy can use a total of 7 Gears techniques in One Piece. These include Gear 1, Gear 2, Gear 3, three forms of Gear 4, and the newest Gear 5 technique. Luffy has only grown in power with each successive Gear technique, with Gear 4 making him more defensive and agile in different forms and Gear 5 literally turning him into the sun god Nika.
Yeah! Luffy has unlocked the much-awaited Gear 5 technique during his battle with Kaidou in the Wano Country Arc, and it will be animated in the coming weeks.
Currently, Luffy’s fifth gear is his most powerful gear as it is mentioned that it is his peak form. In this form, Luffy awakens the true powers of his devil fruit and transforms into the sun god Nika. His appearance gets a major upgrade with his clothes, hair, eyebrows, and other things changed to white and his eyes scarlet red.
As of now, the answer is no. Luffy has unlocked 5 Gear techniques, with Gear 5 being his peak form. There exists no Gear 6 technique at the moment. But we hope that Luffy will be able to level up the Gear 5 technique to surprise us with a new Gear 6 form in the final saga of One Piece.
Luffy’s primary color in his gear fifth is white. When he turns into the sun god Nika, Luffy’s clothes, hair, eyebrows, and other things turn white and his eyes turn red in color.
Luffy has mastered all three types of haki, including Armament, Observation, and Conqueror’s haki. He can use them all easily in his battles against the mightiest opponents.
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