Luffy, the protagonist of One Piece, is easily among the strongest characters in the series right now. After defeating Kaido in the Wano Country Arc, Luffy went on to become one of the Four Emperors of the Sea and that certainly makes him a formidable pirate. In Wano, he grew remarkably in terms of strength, and ever since then, has continued to work on his strength even more.
Right now, Luffy, although not at his peak, is very powerful, especially with the awakening of Gear 5. Naturally, fans wonder whether Luffy can actually take his powers beyond Gear 5 and access Gear 6 in the future. Although the answer to this question is quite easy, some fans might still need this to be elaborated upon, which is exactly what this article is here to do.
Luffy’s Current Gear Powers Made Him A Yonko
Luffy Has Mastered His Devil Fruit Usage
Luffy Awakened His Devil Fruit In Wano
As fans know, Luffy is the user of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. This is a very powerful ability which is also known by the fake name of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, thanks to the Government wanting to hide its true identity. Regardless of what fans call this devil fruit, the idea around it is simple. Luffy gains a rubbery body because of this Devil Fruit, and thanks to that rubbery body, he is able to fight to his very best. Given that this is a Mythical Zoan, Luffy’s fighting powers are boosted tremendously using this devil fruit, provided he uses it right, which he certainly does. More than that, this fruit boosts Luffy’s endurance, durability, and just about every other physical aspect as well.
All my moves have gone up a level! – Luffy
More importantly, this ability allows Luffy to fight with great freedom and makes him the Warrior of Liberation. Luffy’s creativity can be channeled to the utmost fullest using this devil fruit and he will always come up with unique abilities. For instance, Luffy developed Gear Second around the Enies Lobby Arc, along with Gear Third. Luffy managed to pump blood faster through his body, and because he is made of rubber, he was able to handle the extra blood pressure without actually dying. This gave Luffy a massive buff in power. That certainly isn’t all. Luffy also created a way to inflate his bones and make his limbs appear like that of a Giant. This allowed him to increase his power output and deliver deadly blows to his enemies.
After learning Haki, Luffy managed to combine it with his Devil Fruit powers, and ended up creating Gear 4, which works on the concept of inflating muscles, as Luffy calls it muscle balloon. By inflating his muscles and gaining a bulky form, Luffy can demolish his enemies with immense strength and speed at the same time. Gear 4 has multiple forms as well, such as Snakeman and Tankman. Essentially, the concept is the same, and the only difference is that while Snake Man focuses more on speed and sacrifices defenses for it, Tankman buffs up the defenses and sacrifices all the speed for it. Bounce Man is something in between and the ideal form that Luffy uses when he goes into Gear 4.
While all these powers are certainly impressive, Luffy’s greatest power and One Piece is, by far, Gear 5. This is something that Luffy didn’t directly train for. It is a consequence of Luffy’s mind and body finally catching up with his ability. This only happened in the Wano Country Arc, after Luffy died in the battle against Kaido. It was at this point that his devil fruit finally awakened, and gave him a unique transformation, which fans know to be Gear 5.
Beat loudly, heartbeat! – Luffy
Gear 5 is a very dangerous ability and something that hasn’t been seen in the world of One Piece for 800 years. It is the true power of the Nika fruit, and an ability that essentially makes Luffy fight with immense freedom, with a smile on his face. Most importantly, it buffs up his body even more, and allows him to channel his imagination to the fullest to do anything that he wants.
Luffy has only one thing stopping him in this form, and that is his own imagination. He can do whatever he wants as long as he can imagine it, which means that this is truly the pinnacle of freedom in One Piece.
Will Luffy Ever Learn Gear 6?
Gear 6 Is Unlikely To Happen In One Piece
The question of whether Luffy will ever go on to learn Gear 6 or not is very simple to answer. Gear 6 is not going to come into existence and Gear 5 is going to be Luffy’s pinnacle. This is simply down to the fact that Luffy himself called Gear 5 the peak of his powers. Of course, this does not mean that Luffy will not grow in terms of power, but it’s more along the lines of Luffy having reached his peak devil fruit form. Luffy has awakened his fruit, which means Gear 6 cannot exist. Gear 5 is going to be Luffy’s peak and his final form.
Furthermore, there is a lot of intrigue around Gear 5 still, and fans have still not explored this power to the fullest. It will take Luffy some time to learn the powers of Gear 5 properly, and, at the same time, get used to them. So far, Luffy still struggles to maintain it for long, which means there is work still to be done. With that said, One Piece is also already in the Final Saga, and there isn’t enough time for Luffy to develop new Gears either. As such, Gear 5 can be considered to be Luffy’s very peak, which means there will not be any Gear 6 in the future of the story. That is not to say that Luffy cannot grow stronger, because he absolutely will.
Luffy’s Next Powers Will Be Centered Around Haki
Luffy’s Haki Needs More Growth
While Luffy will most likely not grow in terms of devil fruit powers, he will definitely have to grow in terms of Haki. As was pointed out in the Egghead Island Arc, Luffy is far from reaching the peak of his Haki powers. Although he has the advanced form of all three Haki types, he still has to improve upon them tremendously. Luffy cannot see the future as well as Shanks, and most importantly, he cannot use Conqueror’s Haki Infusion as well as him either. Luffy has a certain level to reach that has been highlighted by Oda already.
As seen in the Egghead arc, when Joy Boy’s Haki was unleashed by Emet, the Elders were all knocked out of their demonic forms, and Saturn’s summoning was canceled as well. This is something that Luffy couldn’t do with his powers. This essentially means that Luffy’s Haki will have to reach this level if he is to fight against the likes of Elders and Imu, and have a chance of defeating them.
Oda has clearly set a goal for Luffy to reach in terms of Haki, and that is where he must put all his attention and how he must grow in the future. That said, this power has nothing to do with Gear 5 and it will see him grow in a very different way. So, while Gear 6 will certainly not exist in One Piece, he will still grow dramatically in the Final Saga by improving upon his Haki