One Piece: Hidden Detail Hints Luffy Is About to Unlock Gear Fifth
Warning: contains spoilers for One Piece chapter 1042!
Battling against the Emperor of the Sea, One Piece's Monkey D. Luffy finds himself on the brink of defeat. Now that he's losing to Kaido, he may only have one recourse left in order to win: Gear Fifth. Fans of One Piece have long awaited the day where Luffy unlocks his next Gear, a technique that augments the rubber-like qualities of his body in order to achieve higher levels of combat power. Though his Gear Fourth may be his most powerful asset as of right now, one small hint might have revealed that Gear Fifth is coming soon.
Luffy first revealed the power of his gears in Enies Lobby when fighting against Blueno of CP9. The first of these Gears, named Gear Second, is utilized by Luffy increasing blood flow throughout his body by inflating his blood vessels, allowing more oxygen and ATP to reach his muscles. This allowed him to achieve a monumental boost in speed, capable of keeping up with CP9’s “Soru” technique. Luffy’s next gear, Gear Third, occurs through Luffy blowing air directly into his bones, effectively creating a “Bone Balloon.” This causes his body parts to inflate to gigantic sizes, greatly increasing his attack potency and area of effect. Finally, Gear Fourth achieves a similar effect, this time directly blowing air into Luffy’s muscles, giving him a semi-inflated form, and increasing his power and speed by a substantial margin.
The reason fans are speculating that a new Gear might be on the way is a subtle one. In the clash against Kaido, Luffy’s face bears a few scratches resembling the number 5 written in multiple forms, including kanji. While this may be reading into the art a bit, Luffy himself admits in chapter 1041 that this will be his last chance to use Gear Fourth, since steam is already beginning to escape his body. Later within the chapter, Luffy is distracted by a CP0 member and takes a full on Roaring Thunder Bagua to his whole body after gathering the remains of his strength to fight. Taking a hit head-on like that will almost certainly knock Luffy out for a few chapters and may prove his own speculation correct about not using Gear Fourth anymore for the time being versus Kaido.
It’s been almost 300 chapters since the introduction of the last Gear, that being Gear Fourth against Doflamingo. With Luffy seemingly down for the count in this battle, now more than ever would be the place to introduce Gear Fifth as his final ability to defeat Kaido with. The subtle hint on Luffy’s face as well as his mention that this will be his last Gear Fourth seem like the perfect setup for his triumphant return using Gear Fifth.
Luffy’s power within One Piece stems in large part from his unwavering resolve and indomitable willpower, both of which have kept him going in fights long after he should have given up. This can be seen in the fights against numerous opponents such as Crocodile, Lucci, and Katakuri. There is no doubt that Luffy will be returning to the battlefield even after this defeat, and alongside his return may just be the powerful Gear Fifth One Piece fans have been waiting for.