LUFFY’S POTENTIAL FINAL GEAR

Let’s start with what I believe Luffy’s next gear will be, and then the how and why’s this could be possible.

Up until now, most people operate under the assumption that Luffy’s gears are and manipulate the following.

Gear 1- normal luffy no enhancement

Gear 2- enhanced speed, blood manipulation

Gear 3- Enhanced surface area, through bone manipulation

Gear 4- Body modification like gear 3, but through muscle manipulation and stabilized with Haki.

Most speculation and hype surrounds gear 5, and if it will effect Luffy’s nerves, or digestion system. But what if we have actually already seen next gear, this is going against the assumption that it’s body process manipulation, and doesn’t follow the bigger stronger faster trend.

I feel people are drawing conclusions from what the gears effect, and less from the creative idea of the gears themselves.

Plus with E.o.S. approaching quickly, is there really enough time for another G4 form or two, a G5 and G6, and awakening… I know an awakening could be a new gear, I’m just saying that there isn’t too much time left, luffy shoukd be about done with forms and powerups.

The technique is called GEAR for a reason, as in car or bicycle gears. The higher the gear the more efficiency the vehicle can achieve and maintain forward progress.

And much like cars, bikes, and assuambly luffy, when cycling gears, and going from neutral or stationary to moving…. 1st gear isn’t necessary at all, assuming the grade and weight of your load isn’t at an extreme, you can start all those vehicles in second gear.

So what’s this mean? I’m speculating that luffy in normal mode is actually neutral, and 1st gear has just been surpassed because it hasn’t been nessicary, or wasn’t mastered until Haki was mastered. And that gear 5 -6 may not exist.

A quick Google Search of gear ratios brings up these basic 4 functions of gears and those are;

Copy paste

Putting Gears to Work
Gears are generally used for one of four different reasons:

  1. To reverse the direction of rotation (not or partly seen)
  2. To increase or decrease the speed of rotation (gear two, faster)
  3. To move rotational motion to a different axis (gear 3, moving from giant arm to leg to body)
  4. To keep the rotation of two axis synchronized (gear 4 combo of 2-3, or combo of keeping Haki and DF balanced)

Notice there isn’t a 5th gear usage. So what could gear 1, (or arguably gear reverse) do, and when did we see it?

Going off the Google Search, the first point is too reverse direction, what’s that mean…

If every Gear from 2 on has increased Luffy’s rotation(or speed and size or elasticity) then Gear 1 should do the opposite. But this doesn’t mean it’s weaker than the other gears, it just hasn’t been a suitable scenario yet.

It’s my understanding that if you were too reverse what it is we have seen luffy do, then he should lose elasticity, increase density, and have a decrease in mobility. Much like the original downside too using gear 3…(the first time we see G1)

But how can all those negatives make for a stronger mode? To answer this i draw from a few inspirations. One is semi trucks, or big rigs. Two is monkeys or apes, three is basically the vulcanized rubber idea. Four is one of the most important safety features in the car, it’s airbags.

1. Big rigs-semi trucks are capable of hauling upwards 80,000 pounds at speeds of 60mph+.. But have you ever been stuck behind one at a stop light? It takes them forever to get all that mass moving, and that’s all because of the lower gears and subsequently 1st gear. A semi truck needs to generate the most amount of force In first gear in order to get a stationary mass moving. Once it’s moving it requires waay less power to move the cargo allowing the truck to achieve higher speeds in higher gears. But all if it’s power starts with 1st gear.

2. Monkeys or Apes- Besides namesake, and character similarities between the mammals and MC and humans. Monkies or Apes have muscles that can be 10x more dense then ours, allowing them to swing with ease, or rip off our limbs and skin, like we are paper.

3. Vulcanized rubber- this is a popular awakening idea for Luffy, but basically it’s the idea that luffy will be able to manipulate the chemical makeup of his rubber, allowing for chemical combos or density changes.

4. Car airbags- car airbags much like balloons/rubber, are inflated rapidly with air and provide a cushion for the driver or passenger in result of collisions. There is however a little controversy and some safety concerns coming from air bags. Due to the speed and force at with they open, they can break bones, and even create burns caused by abrasions. And when misused, tho results are funny can be very dangerous. Jackass knocked out people, and it’s often. Used as a spring trap of sorts.
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Using these four ideas, one can start to argue how gear one could be on par with G2-4.

So what would G1 do? What would it achieve?

Going in reverse from what G2-4 do, luffy would contract to make himself more dense and roughly loses 1/3 of his size. This would slow him down a bit, and nearly stop all elasticity. But on the flip side would increase muscle, bone, skin density, literally making him stronger and tougher. (not like G3-4 which just make him bigger, and give him more powerful abilities, they don’t physically make him stronger/tougher.) This would make luffy less of a rubber man and more of a brawler like Garp or any Haki based fighter. But this could potentially more than double Luffy’s physical attacks And damage threshold. And if luffy used the “down shifting” ability could add a whole new bang to his Arsenal.

Why would luffy use this form, or why haven’t we seen it yet? What is the “Down shift” technique?

Thats simple, Luffy hasn’t faced an opponent yet, that his strongest G4 attacks couldn’t damage. Even opponents that could take a few hits, Doffy, Cracker, still would be hurt by it, meaning it had efectivity. Also pre Haki mastery it maybe ineffective, or impossible. Luffy would only use this on an opponent like BM or Kaido. An enemy thats seemingly indestructible, and not overtly fast. This is kinda ant man logic as well, would make him harder to hit and lowers his effective surface area increasing pressure when strikes land. But thats not all I assume this form would be capable of. I think the nature and the Haki nessicary to hold this form could give way to airbag style explosive body growth from luffy, via the “downshift”

Down shifting in a regular vehicle, is something you do to lower RPM and slow the car via engine, and not the brakes. In a powerfull enough car doing this at highspeeds can result in a surge of RPM causing the wheels to burn out, faster than the vehicle is going, but resulting in no increase of speed…this is because the engine suddenly dropped a gear and has excess energy, so the car or tires compensate by faster rotation, but the engine is actually in deceleration… So what’s this mean for luffy…
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So given the Basis of gear 1 is to compress, and doing this makes luffy 1/3 smaller but drastically increases his strength and defense.

This of coarse is achieved by luffy using Haki to constrict or hold his form like in G4’s.. So what if luffy goes from G3-4 and “downshifts” suddenly to G1, with his bones or muscles still inflated. Still having all that air inside him, This would still compress luffy down to now about regular size, however now he is storing potential energy in the form of an airbag inside his body. Under his control he can release the Haki compressing his body and violently go from normal to G3 size instantly and anywhere on his body.

So kinda like the car tires spining releasing the excess energy, but because of Luffy’s elasticity, and Haki and it’s ability to compress Luffy’s form, he can store this energy for later.
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Combative and defensive this would up his game greatly, imagine Luffy’s regular fist going into a face, and right at the point of contact the fist explodes to 3-5x it’s current size… This is kinda the basis for how tank man operated…

I can’t think of an advantage in downshifting from G2 to G1 yet, and am working on the downshift if G3-2 bit stay tuned that can change soon…unless it’s just a major power surge like super saiyen!
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Thats why I don’t think the next gear revelation will be gear 5, but instead Gear 1, and the possobilty of a “downshift” to increase the power of his outdated G2-3.

I also believe there is at least one more G4 mode yet to be seen.

Also, much like the villains in DBZ have multiple forms, the last form is usually the smallest to exliplify efficiency of concentrated evil/power.

So what do you think?

*Theory by Portgas D. Xatch