Is Gear 5 The Greatest Powerup In Manga History?

[@MrMorj]

Use code MORJ50 to get 50% off your first Factor box at bit.ly/3wvM86t

[@rubenelevated6735]

I think your point on the emotional side of things is justifiable but Oda wants to do the opposite and for me I love it. taking the less travelled road. And of course Oda knows how to write emotional stuffs but with the Gear 5 upgrade I think this is the perfect way to go. Simple yet Satisfying.

[@youtonene6466]

Glazing food boxes (I tried em and it was total ass)

[@nickgibson3451]

The anime seemed to stress even more than the manga that Luffy actually died, so I wonder if that is a plot piece that Oda is going to reveal later. I mean it would make sense that if Joyboy died without fulfilling his promises, the awakening could have been unlocked when the user fails to fulfill Joyboy's will before they die. It seems very telling that everyone stopped hearing luffys voice (which even kaido could still hear/sense after he smashed luffy the first time and he was unconcious) and that the heart beat restarting into the drums of liberation would have to be facilitated by the fruits will on its own.

[@Coolgamer..]

For Gear 5 is okay transformations, I like the design and the abilities. However I don't like how it takes away Luffy's character and making him special. Instead of him being a quirky rubber boy with a lame devil fruit and using it creatively to become pirate king. Also Gear 5 reveal makes the world government incompetent and stupid.

[@Sernival]

​@@youtonene6466no way man, theyre amazing. This is some luffy and blackbeard meeting shit

[@sobeso]

Super Saiyan is so iconic that almost every anime tries to put the Dragonball aura around it despite the manga versions do not display it

[@Vibricks]

Dragonball didn't invent the concept of auras

[@raven717]

@@Vibricksbut it made it popular regardless. Dragonball is the undisputed godfather of anime and everyone unanimously agrees with that.

[@ssgmasterx]

@@Vibricks Copium

[@Vibricks]

@@raven717 Ya i can agree with that, dragonball definitely layed down the path for future shonen. Might i add, its my second favorite anime right behind one piece. But the op spciifically said "dragonball aura" which kinda makes it seem like animes just copy paste the same dbz auras

[@Vibricks]

@@ssgmasterx ?

[@toko1368]

How Oda was able to incapsulate the themes of One Piece into this one transformation is honestly amazing

[@adarshsridhar6051]

Reminds me of the berserker armor from berserk. It’s not the same, but both encapsulate the theme of both‘s mangas incredibly perfectly.

[@OrangeDPeel]

​@@adarshsridhar6051good comparison actually, berserk is goated with themes and settings

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

It's still trash, the definition of a plot power 😂

[@chibk]

@@bobbob-zc1nx nice joke

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

@@chibk he can literally do what ever he wants. If luffy in base was able to take hits from hybrid kiado and not instantly loose like he should have, then with this power he just keeps doing random bs until oda decides "I'm borded, new villan pls"

[@ChaosLierLen]

It is certainly not the most iconic, and it may not be the most powerful, but it is definitely my personal favorite. Never before have I seen such synchronicity, such ideal alignment between a story's theme, main character, and transformation.

[@chibk]

FAX

[@jackjacques7495]

Agreed.

[@kirkpatrick5219]

It would be interesting to see a goku fight gear fifth because luffy could deflect all his beams and he can’t be harmed by punches…. So what does goku do?

[@john-olivierlukama1548]

@@kirkpatrick5219 kienzan

[@muhyadeen17]

@@kirkpatrick5219 speed blitz or mafuba

[@amarchunduru]

Thanks for highlighting the valid problems with the implementation of this power up, I still like this as the peak of Luffy's powers.

[@ahmadzuhayri2439]

honestly, if the events in chapter 1043 lasted for one, maybe two more chapters before Luffy starts to awaken, then I think the revelation of Gear 5 would hit more thematically. In the anime ep 1071, it's framed like Nami's wishes for Luffy to come and fulfill the promise of beating Kaido is what started the process of awakening. Given what we know of the nature of devil fruits now, and especially the nature of Luffy's fruit, it would've been nice for the Alliance to be pushed to their absolute limits, wishing for some miracle to go their way, only for Luffy to awaken and herald the return of Joyboy.

[@TuskyBaby]

Once again the lack of tension fucks this arc over lol. I agree 100%

[@bigmuda]

This arc could’ve easily been a 10/10 with more tension. Like imagine if Kinemon defended the alliance against Kaido hybrid, embodying the remainder of Oden's will, and his REAL death facilitates luffy's awakening.

[@greatestcait]

​@@bigmudawhat if Kinemon had a haki bloom that allowed him to temporarily stave off Kaido before he finally died, that would've been legendary

[@yamixena]

​@@TuskyBaby facts

[@Xodreev]

I was thinking while he was "dead," everyone does get to that point and as they're about to be finished with another Blast Breath that has no chance of being a fake out, Luffy awakens and stops it. Proving he is strong enough to protect everyone, hell even in death.

[@TheEvilRohanite]

I feel like Gear 5th's introduction needed to happen the way it did so that the playful tone wouldn't seem out of place, like if Luffy transformed in response to someone dying like Goku did it'd be pretty inappropriate for him to then goof off the way he does. Wano has already had plenty of emotional moments (in this chapter/episode Oda used Hiyori for that) and there was still drama in the fact that Kaido was about to kill everyone if Luffy hadn't come back.

[@jahdielvalentin4996]

I agree. He had already lost to Kaido like 3 times already. The main character didn’t get the transformation reasons Morj wanted because the Villain of this arc literally didn’t allow for that. Every time Luffy tried that he still failed.

[@justbny9278]

it still kinda clashes with the tone anyways given the context at hand, at heart this entire fight against Kaido and Orochi isn't really funny,

[@TheEvilRohanite]

@@justbny9278 Well it's supposed to change the tone in the way that we go from intense danger to so hopeful that Luffy can literally toy with his opponent for a bit, if things were funny already Gear 5 wouldn't feel significant. But if there was more personal sadness in the moment to Luffy and the reader like if a major character had just gotten killed, then it'd feel like Gear 5's disrespecting the tone. But what the reader is mostly feeling before the Gear 5 moment is "damn it sucks that Luffy got done dirty I hope he can pull through" and then he goes way beyond that.

[@jahdielvalentin4996]

@@justbny9278 up to this point, Kaido had proven to be an overwhelming force no matter how many power ups Luffy got. When he revives as JoyBoy, he’s insanely high on freedom and treats his biggest obstacle like a joke. It’s a great way to introduce his new form and if you didn’t find any of that funny I understand. When he clapped his sandals he had me laughing. I personally don’t think as JoyBoy, that he’s incapable of taking something serious or getting angry. I’m sure we’ll get those moments in the future.

[@TheEvilRohanite]

@@jahdielvalentin4996 He had some serious expressions during the final clash, and he answered Kaido's question of what kind of world he wants to make seriously, so I think he's still in his right mind when it comes down to it. But yea it'll be interesting to see how Oda writes G5 during the most dramatic future moments

[@BautistaGresch]

15:25 that "kind of foreshadowing" is called back-referencing. There is a distinction between a foreshadow (literally a "shadow" o something that is to come in the future) and a back reference (a reference made to something stated or shown in the past)

[@pikachu3b366m]

What about Oda mentioning the Sun God in Skypiea?

[@BautistaGresch]

We can't be sure! maybe it was planned as far back as then, maybe Oda re read the story and decided to do something with that, maybe he always intended to do something with that but didn't specifically know what...

[@A1K300]

​@@pikachu3b366mnever said anything about the rubber fruit being connected to nika

[@incisingleam3809]

@@pikachu3b366mIt’s literally just a retcon. In no way is it foreshadowing

[@justbny9278]

@@pikachu3b366m not really portrayed as the same Sun God

[@WuMyth]

That’s where one piece Twitter fucked up. They kept trying to make “iconic” be the word lol.

[@romajiin8161]

People just need to relax sometimes

[@SrMissileMonkey]

Geo and Co. Need to relax most times.

[@NotMadaraaa]

Comparing it at all was dumb

[@GraveEnd]

Apparently they don't know the definition of the word iconic and just throw it out there to seem cool

[@RaffDGoat]

13:43 this is my biggest complaint. The callback to the Skypiea shadow is cool, but the fruit/ Nika was only hinted at 30 chapters before Gear 5.

[@Ruben-nq3sp]

Remember that the talk of Momo and Luffy, the latter saying that he doesn’t know how to turn back to human because he wasn’t a Zoan, with a serious intention of hint ODA wanted to convey

[@Cipher_Paul]

Nika was hinted at during Impel Down though. You could also say the Sun God was mentioned in Noland's flashback.

[@RaffDGoat]

⁠@@Cipher_Paul both of what you guys said falls under what Morj said from 14:32-16:00 imo.

[@Virgil_Hawkins]

@@Cipher_Paulwhen was it hinted at in impel down?

[@danielboyce191]

@@Cipher_PaulNika was mentioned before wano but there weren’t many hints at luffy’s fruit being something completely different

[@kitsong]

My favorite thing about Gear 5th is how it implicitly retcons all the dumb explanations for previous gears. Inflating his bones shouldn't give his limbs more mass, but it works because that's how he imagines it would work.

[@TyandOnGoing]

G5 prob the only transformation I can think so far where it fights will always feel completely fresh and new Everytime because of it's cartoon nature.

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

And also no reason to be taken seriously. We now know there will be literally no reason the protagonist can't win. If a much weaker luffy in base isn't 1 shot by hybrid kiado but trades blows with him, then future fights can't have tension. Especially with this power.

[@michaeljordan8630]

​@@bobbob-zc1nxwe saw luffy getting his ass beat even in gear 5, there're still people stronger than him

[@michalvrabec454]

@@michaeljordan8630 luffy needs to get more creative and improve his haki to be able to be true top tier of the verse, but tbh... luffy will never be at a level where he can low diff top tiers, they are top tiers for a reason, it's going to be at least mid diff

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

@@michaeljordan8630 last I saw He won. Like I said it's a plot power. This zanny move works but this 1 didn't, oh but this did major damage. How would you know? We had to be told by the spectators aka author. That was after fighting on an empty tank with a guy several times stronger than him. This is the emersion destroying power. It just gets worse as the gap closes on luffy and his enemies, because there's less excuses. Regardless no 1 in there right mind should even entertain the possibility of luffy loosing a fight again....should the author not retcon the bs durability he has in wano

[@jpem4664]

That's why it is dumb that people are trying to find "the moment" for gear 5 that rivals Super Saiyan. Nothing will ever rival that moment and it's a disservice to why Gear 5 works to condense it down to 1 moment. Gear 5 is great because it does more than change Luffy's design and say "now he is stronger". It brings a versatility that will never go away and every page that Luffy uses is it brings something new. Gear 5 and Super Saiyan are great on completely different merits.

[@DalaianXD]

The super saiyan and Nika were not out of the blue, both had a legend to represent, in DBZ it was mentioned the legendary saiyan, and in OP it was Joy Boy, we didn’t know who joyboy was until Zunesha mentioned it, and it was a great introduction

[@Stargazer221]

Joyboy isnt a tranformation its a person

[@T33K4YT4NK]

@@Stargazer221 the transformation is a manifestation of joyboy's spirit

[@L1GHTNINGSLAYER]

Nika was only mentioned in wano arc, there’s a difference in foreshadowing/build up. 🤣

[@itsJosii]

@@L1GHTNINGSLAYERgo rewatch pre time skip, nika was in alabasta skypiea and water 7 if you didn’t pay attention just say that

[@L1GHTNINGSLAYER]

@@itsJosii sun god was mentioned, not nika. This was an asspull like naruto and sasuke get sage of 6 paths power when they died. Sage of 6 paths was mentioned in the story but it’s still a cheap asspull, same as luffy getting beat 3 times by kaido. The show has no tension because nobody dies and the crew always win and now looney tunes power ups, it’s a kids show. 👍

[@supperzuppezwo]

Gear 5 gets simply explained by Kaido himself. Luffy went from not wanting to be a hero because he has to share his meat to wanting to free people because they are starving. Luffys sacrifice of dying to free these people aligns perfectly with the will of his devilfruit. So theres the emotional connection to gear 5: He does not want only himself to be free, he wants everyone to be free.

[@noodletornado309]

I mean, he does the same thing every arc just doesn’t die….

[@NeroG4ming]

and that wish to be free is even more present in the fire festival when they light those lanterns. but that is pure speculation

[@Sernival]

That's true, makes the narrative better

[@supperzuppezwo]

@@noodletornado309 His motives were different before, atleast expressed differently. Before he was kind of egoistic and mostly helped his friends. Now he mentioned changing the world to a place where noone has to starve anymore, including random people he has no connection to.

[@celia1888]

I mean he still doesn't want to share his meat

[@MarianaBello-fq3hx]

One thing i need to say about this whole G5 vs SS debate is that G5 is a celebration of who Luffy is and Super Sayan is Goku on his lowest point after trying everything to defeat the most evil villain he ever encountered and that never could be turned into a friend. I can't even compare the 2 because my experiences with them were completly different. Also Naruto's transformation for me was not my cup of tea. Wish he did more with those super broken truthseeker orbs and i hate the reincarnation thing.

[@emperorluffy6001]

Naruto's transformation was stupid. Sage Mode was WAY better and should have been the focus of his character.

[@KevonDaDon]

@@emperorluffy6001what was stupid KCM or 6Paths?

[@emperorluffy6001]

@@KevonDaDon Both. Sage Mode >>>>>

[@KevonDaDon]

@@emperorluffy6001 trippin but Sage mode was introduced better. I like KCM because it represents his parents love and belief in live manifesting into the cloak but yea they could’ve missed me with the chosen one shit with the 6Paths power up

[@justaway6901]

Transformations has always been about the emotional journey of a character. Luffy lost 4 times and died (according to most). First time that happened. The flaw of the arc can be summed up by this scene: Kinemon almost died with an emotional send off only to be alive with a joke. Two important characters died and the grieving process was skipped. Smile Fruit victims never addressed at the end of the arc. Oda purposely trying to skip all the sad stuff just to force this positive vibe because "Gear 5 goofy".

[@jukaa1012]

ever since Wano begun we could see luffy using his df more freely. Not blowing into his finger for gear 3 for example. Luffy was using his df in non rubbery ways ever since the gear 2nd reveal tho... like gum gum baloon was squishy but gear3 wasnt? Ye oda could have given us clues to luffys powerup in wano sooner, but without the story concluding we wont know if it would have been the better choice. Because the way gear 5th was introduced was a left hook to everybody and i think that was ON PURPOSE!! Oda sprinckled a little whos who and kaido commenting on the fruit as well as luffy combining all his gears during his kaido fight freely all so we have a few clues but still get blindsided. The fact that his character and themes fit so well with the power up anchors gear 5 right away and excuses the left hook in a second because every reader has that eureka moment (if he was paying attention). Its the most creative way to do a power up and if it does not revolutionize the genre it will forever stay the best transformation ever

[@Monkeytheluffy56]

Didn't doflamingo point out the absurd ways luffy's rubber powers worked, he even said that rubber isn't supposed to behave like this.

[@xemfme3959]

the most iconic asspull in history

[@elviswilliams1131]

And how is it a asspull?

[@benoitbrown9400]

@@elviswilliams1131 Because they don't read one piece but they do know buzzwords.

[@alextihor1190]

Im personally anxious about sacrificing emotion. Starting the battle is amazing with these powers, but the emotional peak of one piece always comes from the last stretch of battle where the strawhats are on the brink of failure, i can imagine a situation where luffy smiling would feel wrong. If to make it not feel wrong is to not write that type of a moment in in the first place, im anxious to see how oda wants to go about it.

[@czar17_28]

There are long moments of the fight where Luffy is not smiling. Think about how much Roger, Big Mom, and Kaido smile. It can work.

[@Kyonari]

This emotional moment will be the end of the Kaido battle when Luffy finished him off

[@Sernival]

Luffy ahould have started laughing about how ridiculous their situation is. A rubber man fighting a giant dragon holding up an island because he wants to enslave people so he can die. Then he'd pass out and get in-tune with Nika or something

[@donovanyeboah4286]

I agree g5 sacrifices a lot of emotional stake cuz now how can we take any future luffy fight seriously. Not only will he be laughing the whole time but he’ll be basically unstoppable. Even when getting hit by Kiado it doesn’t even look like he takes damage and his power is limitless. Tht kinda makes the fights boring and predictable

[@czar17_28]

@@donovanyeboah4286 Luffy is getting obliterated in his fight with Kaido because of Haki. Haki is still nullifying the DF. Luffy is just literally a Yonko now. He's factually no less than Top 7 in the entire verse, minus Im and/or the Gorosei. Admirals, Blackbeard etc, they still will be utilizing insane abilities to damage Luffy, he just recovers almost instantly.

[@lucasbayer9254]

It is the most creative powerup in manga history.

[@RaffDGoat]

@edgar80lol I’m not saying Gear 5 is the most creative, but what is the most creative for you I’m curious?

[@feltond]

and best

[@ImRichYourPoor]

Too force isn't creative

[@JusDion]

No it's not we've seen toon force before 😅.

[@Ghetsuga]

No

[@renatobinimelis4674]

While i do think the build up for the actual transformation could have been more fleshed out, the foreshadowing of sun god nika was good imo. The sun god was mentioned before in skypiea (not as nika) and the fact that the fishmen of the sun pirates changed their tenryuubito mark to a sun as means to show their freedom were not enough to piece together who nika was because it is a almost lost legend and one of the wg best hidden secrets. Also luffy's fruit being something more that the gum-gum fruit has been speculated before in how some characters say that he's doing more than he should be capable of doing if he's "just made of rubber", and the fact that until it was mentioned by who's-who we didn't think nothing of the red hair pirates (a yonko tripulation formed by non devil fruit users) having the gum-gum fruit as something so valuable to keep

[@Kyonari]

Just wanna add Something There were Theories that Luffys Gear 5 will be a Transformation into a God one of those is even a Sun God meaning Oda made the perfect foreshadowing

[@MegaLalapala]

The fact that gear 5 is so divisive between fans basically means that it will never be considered the greatest ever or most iconic.

[@chrissolace]

Agreed. May not be the most well in introduction, but in terms of creativity and as a power up… there’s nothing quite as fitting or just pure… perfection. Every single battle with G5 has been creative. I’ve never imagined something like how he fights actually working out, but when I see Luffy do it, it just makes cartoonish sense. It bends reality, but it feels like something he could do. It taps into my inner creative childlike wonder and it’s also so fun. It really is the peak of his power and also Oda’s creativity.

[@noahrupp7034]

I feel like we didn't need to know it was the Nika fruit then. The fruits awakening itself could have been foreshadowing that this clearly wasn't a rubber fruit. Kaido even has a monologue about how this seems more like a zoan transformation which would have been great foreshadowing as well

[@kushagra_291w]

while i will agree it is very creative(objectively even),unique and bold power-up but to say every battle anime mc gets power-up by being angry is "objectively" wrong,few examples all naruto's controlled power up is because of love and friendship,and his ability change his enemy into his friend ,every time he get angry power-up he can't control it ,you may call it cheesy or whatever you want just don't say he got a power-up because he was angry in case of ichigo his biggest power-up comes from him understanding himself better because spoiler alert he was always this powerful he just didn't knew it,no rage vibe in that ,of course exceptions are there gon's power-up is diff in so many ways that it will take a lot time to elaborate that,though one point is true it has dark and tragic connotation to it unlike gear 5 and to me personally it is genius writing cause it is so obvious and not because it is some kind of subversion to generic mc power-ups,also there is no bigger emotional experience than getting resurrected ,just saying,like gojo's power-up,but yeah info regarding that was given in the last moment

[@chasinghaze0962]

Based take

[@YightLagami]

I think the flaw with how Oda wrote Gear 5th was that he wanted the reveal that Gear 5 (Luffy's DF awakening) was also Joy Boy. Sort of like how Super Saiyan legend was hyped up since Namek, Joy Boy was a legend hyped up since Fishman Island. There is multiple scenes where Kaido says he wanted to become Joy Boy and telling Luffy that he couldn't be Joy Boy akin to the Super Saiyan legend. Oda wanted Luffy's reveal to becoming/being Joy Boy at the same time as Gear 5's reveal to combine them together. There is also Hyogoro saying that Luffy looked like the FIre God of Wano and how Gear 4 is inspired off of a mythical Japanese god. IT works but also doesn't simply because Luffy's DF being the Sun God's fruit wasn't foreshadowed as well. Oda put in pieces but not enough emphasis imo. Oda actually implanted many pieces of evidence of Luffy being Joy Boy and Gear 5 happening (Luffy getting DF awakening after LAw and Kidd)

[@christopherlake9667]

I agree with this statement.

[@isauldron4337]

Luffy being joyboy was easy to SEE Luffy being related somehow to sun god Nika wasn't a huge leap Luffy having a mythical zoan all along? That's the clumsy part

[@christopherlake9667]

@@isauldron4337 yep you are correct

[@itsJosii]

@@isauldron4337to be honest there was tons of moments in the story even pre time skip where Luffy had types of powers and abilities that aren’t in line with what a paramecia would give you. For example the whole gear system and the transformations are very similar to coppers point transformations. Another example is in impel down where we learn Luffy has a healing factor when he recovers from the poison treatment way ahead of schedule. To the point where ivankov was shocked and had no explanation this is the same ivankov that has mastery over their DF medical system and the human body to the extent of being known as a miracle worker who can cure any illness. There’s more but I don’t wanna make this too long overall we had tons of examples and evidence that Luffy fruit wasn’t what it appeared to be

[@lakraki7916]

When Luffy jumps up in the air after transforming with the sun in the background, i almost cried

[@delerios3877]

I dont even know how somebody could try to cry at that

[@ibromsnt2412]

Lmfao dude cries over anime like a bitch also its the moon not the sun

[@wagneracevedo3796]

@@delerios3877maybe they’ve been reading for 20 years

[@delerios3877]

@@wagneracevedo3796 ill be letting you know, i AM a one piece fan

[@ne0nZchr0me]

Oda is so God tier at foreshadowing that Morj can't comprehend the foreshadowing

[@Kyonari]

yes

[@ManyTanks1]

On the real cause it’s not just skypiea silhouette. Lines here and there about Luffy being some sort of god/miracle like how he survived through impel down and the marineford war, the entirety of FMI, the references to how his fruit doesn’t work like rubber in higher gears from Doffy, Katakuri, and Kaido. Like yes the name Nika came maybe 5 minutes in universe before Luffy goes gear 5, but it’s not like that’s the first instance of Luffy being equivocated to a Liberator or God of Freedom in the whole story. People out here trippin over one name.

[@Kyonari]

@@ManyTanks1 yeah

[@XxSircampsalotXx]

Morj had to break down literary techniques like foreshadowing and symbolism. I love it. I thoroughly enjoyed this one Morj. Good stuff.

[@ShaunMilesTV]

I feel like people are too eager to claim something is peak or already a classic. It will be years, maybe even at decade, before we see or feel the impact and influence G5 has on the anime/manga world.

[@elviswilliams1131]

14:32 This by itself is not forshadowing but with the infromation from whos whos with the figure of nika who is in the same pose as luffy coupled with the many times where charaters have described luffy's power as more than just rubber should be enough evidense that there was more to luffy's powers than just rubber

[@bluestarsaberstarwarsfan3838]

I would say the dramic tension for gear 5 was more from everyone thinking luffy is dead than to luffy personally going through an emotions

[@Zanador]

This would've worked better if he was "dead" for more than like 10 pages. If there were a few entire chapters of people struggling without him it would've hit much harder to see him return.

[@bluestarsaberstarwarsfan3838]

@@Zanador I can see that, though perhaps oda made it happen quicker because of how long the arc already was

[@DrummerBoy52]

I felt the same with its reveal As you said we hear about Sun God Nika about 25 chapters before we find out about Luffys real DF Feels like an Ass Pull

[@TheLastGame666]

It's definitely the most unique and creative, so fun to watch, It offers alot more to any fight and it isn't extremely serious and edgy.

[@Scarftail]

Apparently awakening a Devil Fruit is achieved by training your body to be able to handle its true power, but when exactly was that moment for Luffy? While he was near-death? I think it would've been better if it was made more clear that the moments leading up to being knocked out were him displaying mastery of his Gum-Gum Fruit. The Gorosei hinted that the Luffy and Kaido battle being so top-class would cause the former's fruit to awaken, but it's still very strange that the precise moment it happened was when he 'died'.

[@baonemogomotsi7138]

Luffy caught up to Joy boy when he gained Yonko power physically and letting loose in his mind, body and spirit, imo.

[@azureskybox3024]

From my observation, I think the process started when he began having fun and smiling during that fight. There was a time Kaido said something like 'the more you smile the more...' Also apparently haki was a hidden factor. I initially found it strange that gear 4 was not simply a devil fruit transformation. It had so much haki incorporated.

[@azureskybox3024]

In this particular battle his haki bloomed so much that he could compete with Kaido in base form. This level of mastery was most likely a prerequisite.

[@Kyonari]

I think It happened prior because in their last clash before Luffy got knocked out, He made his fist Bigger without using Gear 3 and he just switched Gear 4 version prior to that

[@vegitasama7633]

luffy trained for 11 years in total: 9 years before setting off to the sea and 2 years during time skip plus the time he gained exprience and haki blooms makes it 12 years of training. and devil fruit awakening espacilly the ones with strong will demand more than streangth or power. they demand a personal fav character which to the fruit of luffy was him.

[@winterbeast6326]

I don't really agree with the incorporation and reveal problems. First, the incorporation. Nika was the thing that was revealed really close to Gear 5, yes. You could say it wasn't shown enough, even if mentions of the Sun God in Skypiea and Whole Cake do exist, and even if there were also mentions of a god that will free Impel Down prisoners, and even if Gear 4 (and other Gears and techniques) were already weird in how they worked and were stated as such by some characters, and even if the sun is such an important piece of storytelling linked to revolution and liberation... But the form didn't really need to be the Nika fruit anyways right? It could have been the Hito Hito no Mi Model: Joyboy. It would have worked, it would have made sense, it would have been foreshadowed from way before (at least hundreds of chapters). But it didn't. Why is that? Well besides keeping Joyboy identity even more of a secret as we don't really understand how he's linked to the fruit, it also expends even more on the One Piece world. Are Joyboy and Nika the same indivuals? Did Joyboy have the fruit himself? How does this connect to the void century? In my opinion, it was perfectly done the way it is. If it was revealed too early, I fear that most people would have made the connection between Nika, Joyboy and Luffy when we weren't (at all) in the climax yet. Nika being linked to the "smile" noise in Japanese, the missing numbers being 2 and 9 for the Strawhat member fruit (which we all expected to be Yamato even though she didn't fit in the mold) 2 and 9 being "Ni" and "Kyu" which can work as "Ka", even the fact that these two numbers make the word for meat in Japanese was a foreshadowing for Luffy having the fruit. (Oda answered it in reference to Kuma (Nikyu Nikyu no Mi) back in the SBS Volume 59 in 2010.) So yeah, while I can understand why some people find the fact that we learned of the Sun God name so late weird, I think Oda did pretty much the best he could in that aspect. Now something that's more debatable is why did the WG never act on it? They themselves seem to doubt of the fruit true nature, but it's not explicitly stated. This feels a bit weird, just like some other things in Wano like Zoro's lineage, Kaido and Big Mom fate (awakening?), the huge amount of mysteries not revealed yet... So you kinda have to keep in mind during those big moments that, sometimes, some of these elements might very well only be revealed when you expect them the least. Talking about reveals... Now, the reveal. While I do agree that this one could have been better, like giving it a bit more time (considering how long Wano is, it's not that much of a problem although I can understand that Oda wanted to have good chapter numbers and possibly Film Red had an effect too) for character to be expanded upon during this horrific scenario, it still works perfectly for what it tries to convey. In One Piece, death is a really sensitive topic. And not once in One Piece has Luffy death being stated that much. To be exact Luffy was left for dead only twice in the series. Against the first Warlord, and against the first Emperor. Having Luffy killed isn't something that's easy to do in a story where said character is the savior that helps pretty much everyone to survive against all odds. (Compared to flashbacks where Luffy isn't there, where most of the deaths occur.) I don't know for you guys, but I was starting to feel some big tension when Kaido beat Luffy on the roof, especially the way it was made the second time around. The raid failling didn't seem that implausible to me at least with everyone near death or KO'ed, some we still didn't know if they were okay or not and so on. So you gotta have the context in this scene to actually understand the full scale of it. And there is SOME context. Kaido had been the man to beat for more than 300 (three hundred) chapters. And he just won. Of course, most of us knew it wouldn't end exactly like that, something was gonna happen, but we didn't know what exactly until we saw the next chapter. (which is nearly fully character driven may I remind you) This fateful revival linked to the various elements of a Zoan, the Dawn prophesied for 20 years, the heart beating like the drums of Skypiea... It is a magical moment, it feels out of this world, as if a real god was born. Based on that, can you really just compare it to any other revive scene? Can you compare it to the Bleach one? It's like comparing Messi and a random player in a top league and saying they are the same because they play high level football. It doesn't work like that. The scene doesn't have to have Luffy thinking, in fact it shouldn't as it's out of character. It doesn't have to have Luffy speaking out of nowhere since he's dead. It has to convey a great revive sequence, which it does. And then, the character we see on our screen is enough. We have the scenery, we have the character. Now it's time for the show. And what a laugh tale it is. In term of transformation sequence in fiction, I can't think of any that comes close to it. It can be super cool, many are. It can be really well written, some are. But to be this cool, this well written and this special isn't normal. Hence why I believe it to be the best transformation ever. I'm a fairly recent One Piece fan, only 3 years has it been since I finished the show. I don't see this series with rose-tinted glasses like Doffy. I just analyse what I find fantastic when I see it. And this form definitively is. I want to say that I definitively agree with the Comedy vs Serious section of this video though. For the moment, I feel like Oda kept a pretty good balance with Kaido, but it is legitimate to have a bit of fear on that aspect, espeically when you look at some of Oda's declaration. I still have faith in that guy though for some reason...

[@what7530]

The G5 hype thats leading people to put it above SSJ has to be one of the biggest examples of recency bias I've seen in a while.

[@chibk]

it might not be the most iconic, but it's definitely the most creative transformation in all of animanga, and it's my personal favorite because Oda literally incapsulated the themes of one piece into it.

[@jackjacques7495]

I agree with this. People just love to throw the word "iconic" everywhere, even when it makes no sense.

[@sekai2982]

Stands from jjba are more creative

[@psic0pat025]

@@sekai2982 stands are the most creative power system not transformation

[@thawerty8273]

​@@psic0pat025i would say nen is

[@psic0pat025]

@@thawerty8273 nen is complex and the best power system, but stands for me are way more creative.

[@agento3196]

I agree with a lot you said morj, but personally the introduction was probably my favorite part. I know you mentioned the emotion a character makes but how I took it was that this wasn't about luffy's emotion but others. He is the the warrior of liberation. we saw how others were going to face an impossible task that they were all ready to die because they knew they could not win but refused to not a least try, and because of it Luffy had to get up even after death, to liberate them from the hands of defeat. He once again preformed a miracle, only awakening when it was truly need.

[@justaway6901]

I believe this lack of emotional impact from Luffy itself is what made it inferior in my opinion. Had it be that way, this would've made the impact it needed to actually really break the internet. A truly cathartic moment, especially if the tension is actually palpable and the sense of hopelessness before the transformation is apparent.

[@agento3196]

@@justaway6901that’s a fair opinion, but personally my thoughts are that luffy has had som many of those moments of him seeing his friend and powering up, which is why I think this works, he literally has done it so much that his body refuses to let death stop him from saving everyone around him again

[@spunkymonkey5102]

The issues lies with the tension. We should've had multiple chapters with the alliance being annihilated before any transformation happened. Maybe with the drums causing the rise of the alliance. But Luffy literally went down the chapter before

[@MrInstict]

That moment, when Ichigo puts duty over death is one the most poignant moments of Bleach. Ichigo is the embodiment of "what must be done, must be done" the hero we wished we would be if we were pushed to these situations. It is not Orohime's love but Orohime's request that he has to put over his own death. Analogous stories exist in both Western and Eastern fairytales and I thought of it as perfect. Please don't use it as a bad example of power up; it's not that. It is a emotional moment that showcases the attributes of Ichigo and his struggles.

[@Ruffeep]

It's still cliché as hell.

[@jackjacques7495]

@@Ruffeep A cliché became a cliché for a reason. Because it was good. If it wasn't, it would've never lasted long enough to become one.

[@czar17_28]

@@jackjacques7495That is true, but it’s definitely a core theme that has been repeated throughout history. I wouldn’t say Bleach is revolution for telling a story that way. I’m sure neither is One Piece but definitely moreso.

[@celia1888]

The problem is it's your interpretation. In the general context of Bleach I'd agree but in the context of that arc specifically, Kubo realized in the middle that if he wanted OrihimexIchigo to be "endgame" he needed to have them try to actually connect and it's the closest he could do. And the epilogue is there to drive this home. And this is why canon stories trying to put everyone in forced hetero relationships often ruin themes and stories u.u

[@GraveEnd]

Vasto lorde was foreshadowed by white tho an example of an ass pull is baryon mode an element completely out of nowhere while the theme of ichigo in hueco mundo is hom becoming more like a hollow and relying more on his hollow powers and fighting more recklessly like how white zangetsu taught him battle instinct it's what he was doing in his fight with grimmjow until orihime crying told him to not get himself killed snapping him out of it bc he was losing the first part of the fight bc he deep down he was bothered by orihime seeing his mask but that's surface level there's much deeper substance that some bleach fans can explain far better

[@kriegrajaram6495]

Its the biggest power up i seen, because its a damn retcon.

[@firstorder438]

Ding Ding Ding

[@michaelroach3175]

I think what would complete the power up would be if when Luffy hears he's got the Nika fruit he goes "nah I couldn't care less it's the rubber fruit" Would complete him rejecting destiny and the gods

[@anumaysethi6549]

this is 100% going to happen 🗣️

[@royalfun1031]

Nice

[@Kyonari]

Just a Luffy not getting what is up while the crew reacts in Shock

[@muhammadsalar616]

Super Saiyan is the most Iconic and strongest transformation ever imo. Love Gear 5 as well, it's grown on me, most probbaly top 3 though.

[@urpotato5005]

You’ll never understand just how big of a deal gear 5 is unless you’ve watched/read 1000+ chapters cause this is where it’s all leading to. The build up from the first episode itself, to the countless foreshadowings, other anime fans won’t understand.

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

I watched it. I hate it, I'm dropping this series. Looking at that statement shows odas doubling down on the thing that people complain the most about in his fights. I don't like luffy and haven't most of the series, noe I hate this guy. The most bs power It was also given to the guy who can take beating from people several times stronger for hrs on in. I grt the limitations of giving it to an idiot like luffy. But now there is no reason for me to ever consider it possible for luffy to loose after the wano fight. No matter what the written says. You could have health bars and I still wouldn't believe it. Luffys power is the equivalent in battle as you believing someone who matters will die in one piece in the present

[@jirenthegray5776]

There’s literally no foreshadowing. Just stop 😂

[@kpizzleprice6649]

When luffy said “muscles muscles” the beat down started 😂

[@mano2176]

There definitely is character writing, how well executed or how emotional it was or needed to be is another story. Chapter 1008: Luffy the only one smiling with hope amongst the supernova fighting the two yonko. Kaido says “The light never leaves your eyes does it ?! That’s it, straw hat!” Chapter 1011: Luffy smiling after knocking Kaido within ACoC. Kaido says “The more precarious the situation… the bigger your smile… and the bigger your smile… “ Implying something will happen if Luffy continues laughing. Chapter 1036: Luffy laughing having fun fighting Kaido. And his infamous words “I’m having fun!!” Chapter 1041-1042: Luffy expresses his unwavering desire to liberate the people of Wano. By the time of his “death”, Luffy fully embodies the joyful spirit of nika, the warrior of liberation. He laughs and laughs with the desire to liberate. Luffy’s mind is sync with his devil fruit.

[@jjjjjaabari313]

I think all of that is only really appreciated in hindsight

[@BoyWonder1914]

Bro just described the person Luffy’s been all series 😂

[@michaelnweze274]

To be fair awakening was heavily foreshadowed and it was even expected that it would be how he beats kaido. Most theories were that his environment would be rubbery or he would have much better control over his rubber body (which is basically what G5 is). The Nika stuff was really just Oda's way of having a whole appearance change for gear 5th and making it more epic and weird in general

[@NotMadaraaa]

How was it foreshadowed

[@Kyonari]

There were also a few Luffys Gear 5 is a God theories everything was there Logical Awakening, The Knowledge that Luffy will Awaken and Theories that he may have a God Fruit

[@Kyonari]

@@NotMadaraaa How wasnt it foreshadowed

[@michaelnweze274]

@@NotMadaraaa he's been fighting awakened opponents since dressrosa. Awakening was also how kid and law took down big mom, it was the only possible power up left to beat kaido

[@NirmalBhandari-f1d]

I think the fact that awakening was hinted and the fruit was stolen could also be added to forshadowing.

[@Entertainment-zh7rt]

Retcon Retcon No Mi will never be iconic aside from memes.

[@mazi1597]

Yep, Gear 5th was so roughly introduced that i don't even know how long Oda planned this for. Can only speculate it to be a last minute thing imo, cuz lets say if this is the form Oda wanted Luffy to have all along, he would've introduced foreshadowing much earlier in the story. Oda probably had no idea how Luffy could feasibly defeat Kaido and thus revealed a story-changing event right before their final clash. It feels pretty cheap considering Oda's track record with this stuff. While the concept of gear 5th is awesome for Luffy, it won't be that "iconic" transformation a lot of fans lead it to be given just... the lack of it? It wasn't even anticipated for the reader that Luffy's own fruit was a legendary god fruit. Personally, i will always think the retcon of Luffy's powers to be something thats not just a regular, if not pretty bad if other people than Luffy used them, to be a shame since that was a great appeal to me with One Piece in general. That is forever taken away when i go back to reread the story. But oh well, it's a pretty cool transformation with all that considered!

[@FencingMessiah]

Thank you. People are coping saying oda always hinted at it. I thought I was going crazy. Although I don't think in one piece abilities have to be always shown beforehand specifically. Like gear two just showed up in enies lobby and it was great because the aokiji loss several chapters ago foreshadowed Luffy having to improve along the way. Monster chopper just showed up but it was great because of the situation it put everyone in including chopper. Gear 5s problem imo is that the rollout was sloppy and very self aware. Plus I don't think Luffy did anything truly great with such a creative power. He's done more interesting things when he just had a rubber fruit in east blue. I think the design is pretty derivative and it feels like part of a cheap reveal after Luffy hilariously trained for like a week after getting dominated by kaido to get all these insane power ups stacked on top of each other one after another

[@Gnidel]

I agree. I mean, Awakening isn't that surprising, toon force applied to environment and enemies is a logical step for Luffy's powers and the visuals match it well. Even Nika's fruit kinda makes sense. What seems like a huge jump with no foreshadowing, is that Luffy's fruit is SUN God fruit. Luffy and his powers have no connection to sun, it's rubber, even awakening is about rubber, how sun got into the mix? That wasn't foreshadowed at all. If Nika wasn't Sun God, but for example Freedom God, then it would work well, but sun is out of place.

[@FencingMessiah]

@@Gnidel Nika wasn't even talked about till late into wano. The whole thing is goofy

[@GraveEnd]

I personally don't like luffys devil fruit being super special i liked how he utilized his devil fruit into gears to turn a at first glance weak fruit to a seriously op one now luffy has the problem i had with naruto suddenly making him the chosen one I liked when luffy would struggle to get where he is versus just getting handed a new form every other form he actually earned

[@Gnidel]

@@GraveEnd Luffy already had a lot of specialness stacked onto him. Grandson of Garp, son of Dragon, D, Ace's brother, ability to acquire Conqueror's Haki... All of that before starting his journey.

[@Smitywerban]

Lol why dont you adress the main criticism? What pisses most of us off is not that it is cartoonish and not emotional, its the fact that it devalues the entire series with all the plot holes it created and with turning luffy from an achiever into a chosen one. Plus it puts into question the relationship between luffy and shanks. It would have been so much better if becoming joyboy was a feat anyone could theoreticaly achieve, as kaido implied...making it part of luffys DF was just a horrible decision by oda. Also NO: it does not fit the themes of the show, it breaks them. Its not luffys creativity that allows this form as it was the case with gear 2-4, its the fruit. Its not luffys freedom loving nature, in fact this retcon takes away luffys freedom since logia type fruits have a will of their own that overwrites some of the users will, which is see by luffy laughing uncontrollably. This unwanted laughter is even worse writing in an arc, where one of the problems (which never got am emotional payoff btw) was that a lot of people couldn't help but smile for they have eaten smile fruits. So they are not free to not smile, luffy is not free to not laugh and thus wanos writing breaks themes of the series, but not in a creative way as in WCI but rather in an unthoughtful way as a hasty writer might do.

[@pauloteixeira9339]

We wasn't expecting for Nika, but we were sure as hell expecting for the awaking of the gomu gomu no mi. The wait for the awaking started from impel down, the first introduction with the Awakened Zoans. Then we saw Don Flamingo e Katakuri using their awaking abilities, and after that we saw Law and Kid revealing their own awaking abilities to defeat Big Mom. So there was really a expectation that Luffy would awake the gomu gomu no mi to defeat Kaidou. Maybe Oda was counting more or only on the expectation built on the idea of awaking of the fruit devil.

[@MarcelJ.]

I'm a little iffy about the foreshadowing bit. In my understanding, it was foreshadowed and introduced as a concept sufficiently through other awakened devil fruit users, like back in Alabasta Crocodile talked about it (I think), Doflamingo provided the information that it's basically an increase in power plus applying that power to your surroundings (for Paramecia). The name and type of the fruit is, I think, pretty irrelevant (Except the revelation that Mythical Zoans awaken similarly to Paramecias, which means that Marco has awakened his fruit). Even if it stayed the Gomu Gomu no Mi, the associated powers wouldn't have been all that different. Though even further, it was always really obvious, given even a little thought, that Luffy's fruit wasn't Rubber. Rubber doesn't conduct electricity, but the accompanying heat of a lightning bolt would melt Rubber. Inflating a balloon doesn't increase its mass. Things like that. Regarding the Joyboy thing: As discussed in the Characters & Themes Luffy has always brought smiles and the light of hope to those around him, him being the next Joyboy was more or less confirmed on Fishman Island, when Joyboy was first introduced. The only new information we got during the battle is the name of the fruit, that it evades the world government and that it's got a reputation as the most ridiculous and even the most ridiculous was already said by Kidd back on Sabaody when they came out of the Auction House. Still, the initial reveal could have been a lot better, the build up of those around him was alright, but something from Luffy's side would have been nice... then again, we never do get any look at his inner thought process, I think he doesn't have any thought bubbles in the Maga? So it's very much the usual for Luffy.

[@psychoturkey]

I'd argue Wiper looking at Luffy's silhouette in front of the bonfire in awe at the conclusion of Skypiea is some sort of foreshadowing that Luffy is special to the Shandians. If only Oda called the Sun God by name (Nika) during the Noland flashback, it would be perfect.

[@AlleyClown3]

Damn that sengoku morj had me rolling

[@Phantom-dw2vc]

Just the fact that seeing Gear Five makes me have shivers down my spine everytime, makes it such an incredible transformation to me.

[@Pory404]

Amazing video morj, I agree wholeheartedly with everything in this vid

[@MrBassem95]

I still like the idea of Imu having a paramecia that was awakened that gave him the ability to control things like a Mangaka. The idea of a cartoon character fighting someone who is drawing the world around them is so creative. Thematically it can fit the story as well. Imagine if Imu is drawing borders (panels) all around him and Luffy is able to break the 4th wall to fight? I can’t imagine a more thrilling final battle since any other option seems so straight forward.

[@komugemon8010]

This feels like a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure fight and I'm liking it.

[@zaryabK-vi8fh]

yes that does look phenomenal

[@lucasguerra8618]

Idk too meta for me I feel like it would look cool but take me out of the story

[@voxomnes9537]

​@@lucasguerra8618Ditto

[@davidwilson6577]

Probably Morj's best analysis. Sure you might have worked harder on the larger arc videos but the arguments here are so strong and I agree with them all already :) One thing about the power-up coming out of nowhere - there is the small, vanishingly microscopic point, that Luffy getting an awakening was set up, to consider. It's not entirely out of nowhere. Since Doflamingo we've been expecting this for Luffy, and the fight with Big Mom showing Luffy's 2 main contemporaries show off their awakening _really_ pushed that issue. That's not to say that it helps to justify Luffy awakening here, just generally at some point. To be honest I was more concerned about what the Nika stuff meant for the actions (and inaction / complacency) of the Gorosei, especially considering they must have known that potentially one of the greatest threats to their order was running around with probably THE biggest threat to their order, Robin, and also has ties with the possibly biggest threat to their order, Dragon / the Revs. Luffy should have been nuked so hard so many times. Screw giving the game away, his bounty should have been astronomical from Enies Lobby on.

[@greatestcait]

If Oda had named Nika during the Skypiea flashback, and then maybe a couple hundred chapters later (say, during Marineford) had Shanks make a comment about how much hope he has for Luffy and the Gomu Gomu no Mi, or comment about how much effort he went to to get the Gomu Gomu no Mi, then Gear 5 would have felt like *much* less of a deus ex machina than it did.

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

Deus ex machina is literally what it is, and people defend it. The only thing that could've saved it, is kiado smashing it. If luffy still lost, then it wouldn't seem too broken in the hands of someone as stupid as luffy

[@yamixena]

Yeah somewhat, I mean the only other time we heard the name Nika outside of Wano was at Fishman island with Camie's mermaids but it had no direct connection to Luffy. Oda likes to leave easter eggs all over the place and use it later on

[@ASMoney13]

If super saiyan were never mentioned on Namek, Vageta would have no dialog

[@KuroKaizer]

i dont know about greatest, but its certainly the most unique and probably the most versatile aswell, it definitely deserves praise for those 2 factors

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

I wouldn't praise it, it's too versatile. If you gave it to a stupid, glass Canon, then it might work but luffy in base was trading blows with hybrid kiado(whose several times stronger). His durability makes it to where it's now a plot power. Luffy just keeps getting up until his random antics win the day eventually

[@vegitasama7633]

@@bobbob-zc1nx aint that every anime mc's?

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

@vegitasama7633 no, alot of mcs loose or need to jump the enemy. They don't get to loose a fight 3 times but still get to win

[@CJ-ct2mu]

​@@bobbob-zc1nxLuffy loses fights before eventually winning without Gear 5. So I don't see the issue lol.

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

@CJ-ct2mu it was always an issue,terrible even, but usually he'd come back with new strats or after training. He wouldn't get completely beaten just to somehow be immune to what beat him before. And it wouldn't happen 3 times in less than a couple hrs.

[@TailicaiCorporation]

Critique of your critique… on the introduction, you said there was nothing… but weren’t all of the conscious strawhats and Allies calling out to Luffy? Can’t argue out of ear shot or dead cuz that would say the same thing wrong with Ichigo. But also, weren’t you the one that had a 2 years ago video that mentions the fact that Nika holds the key or something like that? Which means YOU saw foreshadowing in it… and would it have made a difference to you if the explanation of the fruit was after he transformed? We had Joy boy mentioned at Fishman island already (most of us figured it was probably Luffy). So it’s not that much of a stretch… also, just cuz a reader doesn’t get it right away, doesn’t mean it wasn’t the author’s intention either. Just sounds like nitpicking while ignoring other pieces . Also it’s not like we didn’t anticipate him getting an awakening. I mean basically didn’t Doffy show his just basically out of the blue in Dressrosa after getting his can kicked? (Been a while can’t remember if he already had it awakened or if it was during the fight) but I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s the villain pulling out random power ups? That said, still like the vid, and do wish we might have seen more of a connection as to what happened.

[@jpem4664]

The actual foreshadowing would be Oda having villains consistently question Luffy's power through the years. Lucci, Doflamingo and Kaido particularly all at some point question how rubber can do what Luffy is doing. But these are rare and subtle moments. Kaido doing it right before the transformation does seem to point to that being intentional though.

[@isauldron4337]

I think the sparse uses make it feel more like villains going WTF You are doing More than Wait You're a rubber man not whatever the heck this is

[@magnumbreakz]

love it or hate it, it's probably not the greatest, not the most popular, but the most unique. animes usually turn their protagonists into either cool and mastered, or rough and berserked. one piece just made luffy as goofy as possible and it actually fits his character

[@animeanimal2222]

And Oda set up part of the story by having Shank's crew steal the devil fruit. Maybe at the time, we were supposed to think "why would Shanks steal a devil fruit from the world government". But we had no idea what that meant at the time.

[@FencingMessiah]

Back then devil fruits were rare and worth millions of berries. Why wouldn't a pirate steal it?

[@vegitasama7633]

@@FencingMessiah the thing is that they were red hair crew, notoriously famous and strong pirate group trying to steal bunch of "not-so-good" devil fruits. they were in grand line after all where fruit are rare but not unobtainable, plus shanks doesnt have fruit user, so its weird to see him steal any fruit let alone some low grade ones. just take a look at BB's crew he has stolen the most unique fruits instead of trying to go for some random marine who uses fruit abilites of like the balls balls fruit.

[@FencingMessiah]

@@vegitasama7633 again even not so good fruits are worth millions of berries and we didn't know much about how shanks crew worked or it they hade fruit abilities until way later. Like gold Rogers crew stole the chop chop fruit but it's not known that anyone on that crew had fruit abilities. Pirates steal and loot shit. The whole comic as a whole had an idea of pirates being more brutal than they are depicted now

[@vegitasama7633]

@@FencingMessiah gold roger didnt "stole" the fruit they found it in a treausre and it was buggy who found it. but shanks and the other espacilly went after it.

[@vegitasama7633]

@@FencingMessiah bro my point still stands that they didnt went after a fruit it was found on a treasure chest.

[@masimba4518]

thats a weird concept to think luffy devil fruit to be explained when he awaken to be that abrupt , its actually one of the best scenes because it solves many questions people had , and for you to say that we had no idea that luffy devil fruit special is you who did not pay attention , we were always given small scenes where people specified that his abilities could not be just rubber , and his gear transformations where confusing for a paramecea fruit because most of them seemed like hybrid forms especially gear 5 thats why rayleigh was shocked when he saw it , and also the mentions of joyboy gave us the feeling that he was similar to Luffy that we already knew something was going to happen

[@someoneelse3456]

I'd argue the berserker armor (from Berserk) is an equally sensible character/thematic powerup.

[@NotMadaraaa]

Why lie

[@alexmeid8111]

that's where I agree 100% the main feature of luffy is not strength or destructive power, but creativity in using his abilities, imagination, and for me it's much cooler than the banal increase in stats on the tick of strength, speed, strength, etc.

[@BestgirlJordanfish]

For me personally Naruto’s embrace into his final form was the most impactful because of what it meant to the character. It wrapped up his relationship to his father, the fox, himself, and represented how he was ready to be a leader. But Super Saiyan is obviously the most iconic and Gear Fifth was still extremely powerful for the sake of the overall narrative and creativity. I liked how Luffy was just rubber boy. We didn’t need to explain that his imagination was magically enhanced to make it happen, I was fine with him just being imaginative and strong willed combined with a goofy rubber boy power. So the concept isn’t for me even though I like the light hearted feel compared to being just stronger or edgier. I also wish it had more teamwork within that kaido beat down

[@bodybrest2644]

12:55 Ichigo does not trigger a transformation power-up at that moment. He is overtaken by the hollow inside him. He can never use this power again because he does not control it. The entire arc, he struggled with keeping this inner hollow at bay and it came out when he was on the brink of death. He is unconscious during the fight and only comes to his senses later, loosing this form forever.

[@Zanador]

I get what you're saying, but from an outside view comparing to other shounen battle manga, it clearly is a transformation power-up. I mean, he literally transforms and powers up. The specifics of how and why that happened in-universe don't change this. Bleach is a bit of a weird series when it comes to power-ups because there's barely any forms that Ichigo ever uses more than once. He tends to go super mode for a big fight, and then go a different flavor of super mode for the next big fight.

[@kageno8165]

Is gear 5 the biggest retcon in manga?

[@elviswilliams1131]

Not a retcon just because the readers didn't know something doesn't make it a retcon.

[@benoitbrown9400]

It is if you don't know anything about One Piece SBS 34 (c.2004) D: Odacchi, greetings! I’ve been harboring some doubts lately. In Chapter 277 of Volume 30, when Luffy is trying to escape from the giant anaconda, he opens up the snake’s eyelids, but how can he do that when he’s inside the eye? Please ask Luffy how he did that!! O: Yeah I know, that didn’t make any sense. Luffy! Come here!! Luffy: What? What’s the problem? There’s nothing wrong about this. O: Yes there is! How do you raise the eyelid from inside the eyeball? And while we’re on that subject, how can you be INSIDE the eyeball in the first place?! Luffy: It’s all right, don’t worry about it. Wasn’t it funny? O: Yeah, I guess it was! That’s the key. Luffy: Yep yep, ahahaha. O: Ahahahahaha…

[@ThousandSunny918]

Happy to say that I genuinely enjoy everything about G5 so far, and looking forward to learning more about it down the line

[@ThatGuy-em2yl]

Luffy has been answering prayers during the whole story. As well as doing things that being Rubber wouldn't allow him to do. (Snake Man and gear 3 are referenced as nonsensical by their respective opponents.)

[@isauldron4337]

But luffy isn't the only one with a peculiar df Katakuri's devil fruit Blackbeard 's Yami Yami

[@Celtic_Spartan]

You just perfectly described my own feelings about gear 5... thanks for that.

[@Syakirin57]

People are just too accustomed to badass cool power ups, they couldn’t see how unique and epic G5 is. And I cannot stop smiling when watching it so Luffy definitely live up to his name Joyboy 🤣🤣🤣.

[@mistersureshot1749]

Do you want all power-ups to be Looney Tunes-base?

[@saleh6907]

@@mistersureshot1749that’s not what he said in his comment 🤣🤣

[@GraveEnd]

That's not true ppl don't think that about the powerups they think that it takes away the tension in the fights by turning everything into a joke yes it fits his character on the surface but it takes away the emotional moments one piece is known for

[@Syakirin57]

@@GraveEnd Relax, I read the manga and it doesn’t take away anything. Its still serious and badass when it needs to be.

[@jirenthegray5776]

It’s not unique if he’s just ripping off looney tunes

[@Mohamad-m7md]

14:50 wow this is AMAZING I LOVE IT

[@sobeso]

Gear 5th is amazing transformation really hope there is no gear 6 just different forms for gear 5 or even new gear 4th forms

[@S3aCa1mRa1n]

Fuck no. Ultra instinct is so hype that just one note form it’s theme is instantly recognizable and meemable. 😂

[@JAKEtheRAKE23]

Ultra instinct is like if something eventful happened in the Simpsons nowadays. Nobody takes stock in what happened in the cheapened version that the show has turned into.

[@HakuzaPK]

I disagree with the whole luffy just waking up thing completely. He awakened his devil fruit…. How is Orihime screaming Ichigo’s name any different from Nami screaming at Kaido that he’s lying about luffy being defeated? I think you’re trying a little to hard to be impartial there. Otherwise great video 👍

[@dizzyb2309]

No he didn’t. He was killed and awoke with new powers. That’s literally what happened. I think you’re just being a fanboy.

[@HakuzaPK]

@@dizzyb2309 that’s exactly what happened. But he didn’t just die and get new powers he awakened his fruit. Luffy fulfilled the requirements before he got defeated. And Nami was screaming and seconds later he’s waking back up. Tell me how that’s different from Ichigo’s awakening. Please

[@zekken8227]

@@HakuzaPK the difference is that Ichigo awoke because of Orihime, so that is a trigger. Luffy would have woken up even if Nami was quite, so its not a trigger

[@HakuzaPK]

@@zekken8227 that’s just headcanon bro. Please come back with facts. So if dying and conveniently getting a a perfect hollow sized hole in your chest was the requirement for getting vasto lorde i can say the exact same thing.

[@zekken8227]

@@HakuzaPK We saw Ichigo react to Orihimes pleas stating he needed to get up. That is a trigger. When Nami yelled we saw 0 Luffy reaction

[@peledalon13]

about the first point: the emotions and drive is Luffy wanting to help his friends, he doesn't need someone to shout "help me" every time (although, as seen, sometimes he does need a nudge) cause that would get repetitive and his own desire and resolve is so strong but I slightly agree with that one. about the second point: in Skypia they also said, if there is a god that can hear us, please save us (then Luffy beat Enel, the fake god and saved them), also all of the gears are kinda foreshadowing because common, he blows to his bones? through what hole? also in gear 4 when he just gets more hands?? (unlike the gatling that looks like more hands because of the speed of attack) and when he changes his punch trajectory in snake man (as Kaido said, the properties of rubber shouldn't be able to do that) there are many more things throughout the story that points to Luffy's power being more than just rubber, nut because the series was always so goofy you just went on with it cause all you wanted to see was Luffy smack down the villain. And Who's Who story before the full revelation was just the biggest hint yet to make the readers let their mind run free with theories and ideas (just like Oda when he writes and Luffy in gear 5). And of course it wasn't mentioned beforehand, basically no one aside from the gourosei, Vegapunk and Roger's crew knew about it and it was suppose to be a mind blowing revelation (even though it is highly likely Oda planned it from the very beginning ) So overall I agree some things could've been tweaked to make it better, but if you really look at it, I think it was done to near perfection. One piece always was (and now we know that it always will be) a goofy ass series about a kid with a huge dream and the desire and drive to accomplish it. Oda wants to give people inspiration and hope that if you set your mind to something and use your creativity, you can achieve everything even if the whole world is pinned against you. Sorry for the rant and thank you for listening to my ted talk :D

[@BlackPhilosophy]

Gear5 being animated really put it in perspective, the sound effects, music and everything else made it feel complete.

[@Thecrazymerio]

We do hear “joy boy” mentioned throughout the series and if Nika is joy boy then there is some level of foreshadowing. It also makes sense that most information surrounding Nika has been erased as Oda later shows. I don’t think the powers are directly foreshadowed in any meaningful way except the obvious allusions to Luffy awakening his fruit at some point. To me, enough pieces fit into place for it to feel well executed. And it seems to me like the awakening is the fruit restarting his heart which reveals the rhythm of the drums of salvation to him, so it’s a physiological transformation rather than an emotional one, making it stand out from other shonen power ups.

[@PharaohofAtlantis]

I don't currently even find it as my favorite Gear. There's time for it to grow on me for sure and we'll see how it plays in the future. It is very important that it doesn't rob tension out of serious moments in the future - my number 1 concern. I think taking out the laughing on Luffy's end will *really* help me in this regard.

[@anumaysethi6549]

I mean g5 luffy was serious during the final stretch of their battle but yeah, I do get where you're coming from

[@TyandOnGoing]

Luffy final villains will inject tension back imu and blackbeard.

[@travisealy3512]

If you look at the kaido fight in the anime. Luffy is laughing mainly because of how he’s making kaido look and it’s not a goofy laugh but more a maniacal laugh

[@Chris-rj4bt]

Personally I doubt it will tbh cause it was shown that he can still get serious

[@TheSirAshton90]

Am just hoping Blackbeard nerfs or takes away the awakening completely, basically a god that only a 2 or 3 people could put up any kind of fight against. The full power should have been slowly teased between now and the first encounter with imu.

[@kennwin]

Thank you for the praise and critique, totally agree!

[@DrJuice-xb1cr]

Haki develops the most during battle as stated by Rayleigh so developing advanced conquerors during a fight with Kaido makes more sense than through just training. And we still know so little about devel fruits and their awakenings and the will of the devel fruit itself. Thematically, it makes the most sense for Luffy's fruit of liberation to awaken during the battle with the enslaver of an entire country

[@vicentematias763]

About the initial reveal, i am almost sure there wasn't a more introspective moment at the time to keep the momentum of the battle. Both Luffy and Zoro tecnically died and it wasn't adressed...there. I think we'll eventually have more intel about that eventually, what Luffy and Zoro went through when they died. About Nika himself, that is true, there was only passing references to the Sun God in Skypeia and then a ton of exposition about him by Who's Who and the Elders (the Elder's scene i am not mad about, as it doesn't affect Luffy and appears only for the audience to read), BUT there is another character that has been mentioned and specifically said to return since Fishman Island, and that was Joyboy. Wano in particular had a lot of references about his return, being mentioned by Toki, Roger's story, Kaido, the Sea Kings, and even the whole legacy of Oden was to prepare Wano for Joyboy. When Zunesha said that Joyboy had returned, that was the connection between the two. Yes, the fruit is about a God we knew nothing about, but the fruit's previous user was the one the world has been waiting, and this confirms him to be Luffy, and in that sense, there was explicit foreshadowing.

[@sanjaynambisan2538]

The greatest is ssj but gear 5 is still amazing and is easily the most creative. Also fits Luffy perfectly

[@samt3412]

I personally have SSJ as my third favorite shonen transformation, behind Adult Gon in HxH at second and G5 at first.

[@sanjaynambisan2538]

@@samt3412 ssj ain’t even my favourite transformation in dragon ball but it’s defo the greatest. Most iconic, had a massive impact on the manga and anime industry, was the culmination of gokus arc and acceptance of his heritage, was the first time goku was truly taken over by rage, the build up was very well done. U could argue a lot of these points apply to other transformations but how iconic it is and how impactful it was makes ssj number 1

[@adrianhebreros]

​@@sanjaynambisan2538i think ssj is undoubtely the most iconic transformation in fiction but this doesnt mean its the best. Dont get me wrong its cool as hell but overall its also a product of its time, simple design, the powers are basically the same as base but stronger, etc. The moment itself is Epic tho This is not to say ssj is bad but i believe modern mangas get more Creative with their transformation and thats cooler imo! Of course i know this is thanks to DBZ legacy, but like in everything the students must do better than their masters!!!^^

[@raven717]

⁠@@adrianhebrerosas you said it was a product of its time. Enters you like it or not ssj was the blue print for these anime transformations you see now. Oda has stated before how he was inspired by dragonball at times except he wish it had more of a story element

[@adrianhebreros]

@@raven717 yea i never disagreed with that

[@TheeSadHappyMad]

I think in the incorporation section your missing the fact that its a Zoan fruit. The fact that luffy has different transformations is the biggest clue its a zoan fruit, it even had Kaido and Doffy comment "this doesn't seem like just rubber" I think it was foreshadowed in one piece really well.

[@donniebell7887]

It's amazing but not perfect I'm pretty sure he came up with gear 5 partway through Wano and fumbled the ball in delivery and the ending of Wano altogether. Still, love it and want more egghead has been heat chapter to chapter. Also they didn't talk about Nika until right before gear 5 BUT they didn't shut up about JoyBoy the entire arc so basically 4 years of foreshadowing leading to a reveal that still felt out of nowhere.

[@darkbornelines4587]

people are really trying hard to push this to be iconic. You cant force something to be iconic- For a 10 year Kaido arc build up, and have some random ass character talk about Nika, the execution was just alright. And no, some random party siloutte in Skypia isnt a foreshadowing - good thing you brought up these points, it was some bull shit. Luffys ability is also freaking OP, Gear 2 I think is more iconic.

[@theotakuguy2571]

Super Saiyan is the legendary Gon Adult Form is the best Gear 5 is the most unique

[@Mani_Katti]

The Super Saiyan moment is iconic because it happened in a time where anime outside of Japan was still new and it was a first time high in a battle shonen. Many other anime and manga had SSJ moments in their show before DBZ but just weren't big enough or not even released outside of Japan. This led to a huge boom in the western anime industries and the popularity skyrocketed. Most people at the time didn't even know DB, they only knew DBZ. Gear 5 is iconic because it transcends the themes and story of the entire manga of One Piece. It's like a culmulation of all the build up and a pay off for so so many years of world building. They are entirely different scenes even though they're both iconic transformations. Besides G5 is the strongest from for Luffy while Goku's strongest is Ultra Instinct.

[@tomislavpercinlic6778]

Latest episode of One piece was amazing... At least parts with Gear 5. I agree that this is most creative powerup and fits in many themes of One piece.

[@TrueReverse74]

I think you're missing a huge part of what makes the Vasto lorde transformation Amazing, firstly, Ichigo failing to be the king and failing to retain his crown, because of the inherent rejection of his own self and not realizing that his zanpakuto is inherently part hollow, the whole fight he had with white ichigo was foreshadowing this form's existence and the potential that Ulquiorra spoke of during their first encounter. Secondly, it's not because of his love or Orihime's love for him that gets him back up, it's the duty that he feels he has to protect, it's the request that got him back up, and because he can't do it, white takes over to fulfill his desire or his Instinct, which is to protect those who need protecting whether he's in his right mind or not. This isn't ichigo "waking up with new powers" It's white ichigo becoming the new king in order to protect ichigo and fulfill his innate instinct since he's the one who is always closest to ichigo. Those who need protecting will be protected, that's what he had to do, that's what he was born for. Are the actual events leading up to it cliché, yeah, but there is the buildup and execution that you praised Oda for doing, give Kubo his respects too.

[@stempest7218]

I love kcm2 from Naruto. Felt like a great culmanataion of narutos character.

[@emperorluffy6001]

It's the most trash transformation imo. Sage Mode was far superior and I always hated that it got ignored for his wannabe Super Saiyan form.

[@GraveEnd]

I agree the protagonist in alot of shonen have simple abilities while the side characters always have more complex powers

[@taranciucgabrielradu]

One thing I feel and think is almost never touched upon with Gear Fifth is that it's not just about joy, laughter, freedom. It's absolute liberty, which in this case veers towards too much. Luffy's laughter is nigh uncontrollable, psychotic and scary. There is tension as Luffy is full on losing it (much like Monster Point Chopper in Enies Lobby) and bordering on insanity.

[@saiprasadnair1549]

A line of thought no one seems to have is that, Luffy unlocking Gear 5, was through the culmination of his earlier feats of mastery with regards to various levels & types of haki, and using the Rubber properties of the fruit to it's absolute limits. We know through the dialogue Luffy and Kaido had on the rooftop, that awakening of devil fruits happens when the user has complete mastery over the fruit. But since Luffy has a mythical zoan, bearing the name of a God, maybe the true awakening of the fruit is yet to come. Gear 5 is just the start of what luffys devil fruit awakening is. Not even the Gorosei have the exact specifics of the nature of this fruit. Mind you, Luffy himself does not know the true nature of his devil fruit, and has been powering up through the story with regards to the limitations, his understanding of fruit bears. Now that his creativity is truly unleashed and he's now starting to understand what his powers can actually do, there will come a time, where that emotional backdrop for a power up comes.

[@thomasffrench3639]

I can see the power up for Gear 5 having some limitations and conditions to actually activate the power, because Gear 5 has only shown with either being not alive and low stakes moments. Like if he saw Blackbeard or Sakazuki would he be happy enough for him to activate Joy Boy?

[@KittSpiken]

Genuine Nika foreshadowing seems likes something that slipped through the cracks. If Wano, like Japan, is the land of the rising Sun, having a direct or at least oblique reference to Nika (in something crazy like, oh I dunno, a prophecy maybe) is forgetting your car keys on the counter. You might overlook them in a frenzy to get the car packed and out the door but will have to go back for them eventually to go anywhere. This is where you could point a finger at an editor. Creative genius can buckle story structure, particularly in weekly serialization. It was their job to make sure Oda hit necessary plot beats for the story's climax and cut beats that didn't contribute, and they fumbled the ball in Wano.

[@bobbob-zc1nx]

Boom, great way of putting it

[@my.pfp.say.it.all.5u5]

if oda came out with it in last minute why did shanks steal the devil fruit from the wg in the first place oda knows what he's doing