Luffy’s Next Step After Gear 5, Explained

The protagonist of One Piece, Luffy has certainly become an incredibly powerful pirate over the years. Although the beginning of his journey was rather humble, Luffy has become one of the strongest individuals in the entire world, recently gaining the title of Yonko as well after he managed to defeat Kaido, the strongest creature, in a duel.

Luffy is extremely powerful and, with the awakening of Gear 5, He has gained powers that rival the legendary figures of the world. However, the question remains as to whether Luffy has already peaked as a fighter, or, if he still has room to grow. Looking at his progression, it is clear for the fans to see that Luffy still has room to develop and get even stronger.

Luffy’s Power Ups In The New World

Luffy has always been a hard worker and has been training his Devil Fruit ability ever since he received it. When Luffy first got his ability, it was hardly usable and it took him years to master it. By the time Luffy set out on his journey, his Devil Fruit ability had developed quite a lot and he had grasped the basics of it pretty well. However, that certainly wasn’t enough for him to conquer the Grand Line itself. Luffy had to face many obstacles in his past that were far beyond his capabilities and, for that reason, he had to train even harder. Under Rayleigh’s guidance, during the two-year timeskip, Luffy managed to learn the basics of Haki and, from there onwards, he entered the Grand Line in an attempt to develop his powers even further.

In the New World, Luffy has received many incredible power-ups. Or, it would be more accurate to say that Luffy has displayed quite a few power-ups, while gaining others. Some of these power-ups were developed by him during the timeskip itself. Meanwhile, others were developed by him in the face of challenging enemies that would otherwise have defeated him. Luffy’s adaptability has always helped him out in this regard and he is never one to give up in a fight.

During the timeskip, Luffy learned how to control Gear 2 and Gear 3 better. Now, the side effects of Gear Third did not affect him and Gear Second did not take as much of a toll on his body since he could activate it in certain parts of his body instead of all of it. At the same time, Luffy was also learning Haki and it was inevitable for him to combine this power with his Devil Fruit ability as well. He succeeded in doing that with Gear Fourth and this power was unleashed by him during the Dressrosa arc of One Piece when he was fighting against Doflamingo.

Gear 4th was incredibly overpowered and certainly took him to the next level. But, it certainly wasn’t enough. Luffy needed to go a step beyond if he was to fight against the likes of the Admirals and the Yonko and that required him to level up his Haki even further.

Luffy’s Peak – The Power Of Gear 5

In the Wano arc, Luffy received the most significant of his upgrades. When he entered the country, he was immediately obliterated in combat by Kaido, the Yonko that he was supposed to defeat. It was clear for everyone to see that the difference and strength between these two characters was absolutely immense. That is precisely why Oda gave him another mini-training arc that focused on him improving his Haki even further. Luffy learned how to better use Ryuo, and, with this skill, he was sure that he would be able to pierce Kaido’s skills. When the battle atop Onigashima unfolded, Luffy succeeded in damaging Kaido, but this damage proved to be insufficient to take him down.

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This is where Luffy relied on his incredible adaptability and learned what he could in the heat of battle. He learned how to coat his body in Conqueror’s Haki and this became one of his biggest weapons in combat. In doing this, he reached an incredibly high level that surprised even Kaido. Now, he could stand his own in a fight against the Emperors and that was certainly a big step forward for him.

While Luffy certainly leveled up greatly when he gained his power, to defeat someone like Kaido, he needed more. That is precisely where Devil Fruit Awakening came in and, Luffy finally gained the power of Gear 5, which is his awakening.

Can Luffy Go Beyond Gear 5?

Luffy is an incredibly powerful pirate when it comes to his current level. When Luffy learned Gear 5, he mentioned that it was his very peak. Gear 5 simply gave Luffy more freedom in combat. His rubber body was more rubbery than ever before and at the same time, tougher as well. In his own words, Luffy could now do whatever he wished for and that certainly goes to show how much freedom he gained in this form. It was also revealed to the fans that this Devil Fruit was actually a Mythical Zoan instead of Paramecia and that only implied that Luffy would now have greater physical capabilities after achieving Awakening.

Regardless, the biggest strength of Gear 5 was that Luffy was now more free than ever before and had greater freedom at hand. His Devil Fruit allowed him to mess with reality itself and do whatever he wished for. The only thing limiting Luffy in Gear 5 is his very own imagination and, fans already know how incredible his mind can be. With this power, combined with every other Haki ability that he gained in Wano, Luffy succeeded in taking down Kaido and this just goes to show the incredible might of Gear 5.

However, when one thinks of if they’ve seen all from Luffy, the answer is certainly no. Luffy hasn’t fully reached his potential just yet and even though he says that he has peaked, he certainly has a lot of room for development. This doesn’t necessarily have to be contradictory. When Luffy mentions that Gear 5 is his peak, it means that Luffy will not be getting any more Gears and that Gear 5 is the limit of where he could take his Devil Fruit powers. At the same time, Luffy has also mastered every single advanced form of Haki already and this also means that there is no more Haki for him to learn. However, this doesn’t mean that he has leveled up these skills to the very maximum.

In simple words, Luffy still has to increase his control over these powers. Fans already know that Gear 5 takes a lot out of him and he loses it quite quickly. This is very similar to how he was with Gear Fourth at first. As such, Luffy’s future power-ups would be along the lines of improving his control over his Gear 5. If he manages to do that, there is absolutely no power in the One Piece world that can manage to stop him. And the same time, Luffy can also further improve his Haki. Luffy is a great user of every type of Haki but there are those who surpass him at this, such as Shanks. Shanks can look into the future longer than Luffy, his Armament Haki is likely better than that of Luffy and, fans already know that his Conqueror’s Haki far surpasses that of Luffy.

In that regard, Luffy has to level up his Haki even further to hit his true peak. Taking both of these things into consideration, Luffy actually has a lot of room for development in the story and he will accomplish that in the Final Saga. Given that he’s only 19 at the moment, there are many years for him to better himself and truly reach his prime years as a fighter.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1101, is set to be December 10, 2023.

One Piece

Studio

Toei Animation

Creator

Eiichiro Oda

Number of Episodes

1082+

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu

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