How do Luffy’s Gears in One Piece rank when considering their strength?

Monkey D. Luffy is the protagonist of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga. Hailing from the East Blue, Luffy leads the Straw Hat Pirates crew and aims to become the King of the Pirates. Over the years, Luffy has become one of the strongest people in the world, and much of that is down to his Devil Fruit ability.

Using the powers of the Gum-Gum Fruit, Luffy has become a rubber person. When required, his empowered body allows him to access certain powers known as Gears. With time, Luffy has developed Gears that make him strong enough to fight even the top tiers of the verse on equal footing.

Update on December 15, 2023, by Louis Kemner & Ajay Aravind: Throughout One Piece’s extensive history, Monkey D. Luffy steadily built up his own fighting style with the imaginative use of his Gum-Gum Fruit powers. From long-range punches and dropkicks to the incredible power of Luffy’s Gears, which became a reality about halfway through the pre-timeskip era, he has become a powerful force. All of Luffy’s Gears accurately reflect his personality and One Piece‘s overall tone. Now, with Gear 5 having made its much-anticipated debut in the anime, the time has come to review all Luffy Gears once again and see how they have contributed to his many victories.

8. Gear 1 Doesn’t Technically Exist As A Named Ability

Luffy’s base form isn’t technically dubbed a Gear, but it can be considered the first of his Devil Fruit techniques that he has mastered. With close to 100 attacks that simply involve Luffy stretching his rubber limbs for offense, including such iconic variations as Gum-Gum Pistol and Gum-Gum Bazooka, the base form is far from weak.

The more complex evolved Gears might grant Luffy more power. Yet, he still often falls back on the reliable attacks of Gear 1, which come to him naturally. Best of all, “Gear 1” doesn’t take any particular toll on Luffy’s body, so it will last much longer in battle and won’t exhaust him. More importantly, Luffy’s most iconic techniques fall into this category, further proving how much he depends on his base form.

7. Gear 2 Forces His Blood To Circulate Much Faster Than Usual

Gear 2 debuted during the Water 7 Saga, when Luffy fought Blueno on the Tower of Law. He came up with it after seeing the members of the CP9 use their feet to move extremely fast. Although CP9 had years of training to pull this off, Luffy used his Devil Fruit powers to pump his blood faster and thus dope his body, giving him an extra surge of energy.

This power also makes his sweat evaporate, giving the impression of steam coming off his body. Gear 2 makes him incredibly fast and powerful; however, in terms of physical strength, it’s certainly not the most impressive. Among all of Luffy’s Gears, Gear 2 is the most basic, being roughly similar to a demon slayer mark in Demon Slayer, though it was still enough to beat the likes of Blueno.

6. Gear 3 Uses Air To Transform Luffy’s Limbs Into Gigantic Versions

Also learned by Luffy during Water 7, Gear 3 is another technique that drastically boosts Luffy’s power. To use this Gear, Luffy bites his thumb and pumps air into his bones, making them huge and thus turning his limbs into those of actual Giants. Expectedly, all the attacks that Luffy has in his Gear 3 arsenal hit much harder than any average attack.

However, instead, he ends up sacrificing his speed. After the time skip, Luffy overcame this drawback as he learned to control Gear 3 better and avoid shrinking after using this power. In addition, Luffy has also figured out how to combine his Gears with Haki, creating far more devastating attacks in the process. It can be argued that his true rise to power began with Gear 3.

5. Gear 4: Tankman Hasn’t Been Used In The Story So Far

Gear 4 was invented during Luffy’s training at Ruskaina, the island of 48 seasons, under Rayleigh’s guidance. Tankman is one of the many forms of Gear 4 that Luffy has developed. As the name suggests, this Gear focuses on defense and can tank a great deal of damage.

In return, however, Luffy sacrifices his mobility as he isn’t able to move too much in this form due to the mass. Interestingly, Tankman hasn’t been used in the story so far; however, another version known as Gear 4: Tankman – Stuffed Version debuted during the Whole Cake Island arc.

4. Gear 4: Tankman – Stuffed Version Tanked A Direct Attack From Charlotte Cracker

Luffy used this form of Gear 4 during his fight against one of the Three Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates, Charlotte Cracker. During this fight, Luffy ate a tremendous amount of biscuits thanks to Nami’s help, and became massive in size. Not letting this power go to waste, Luffy used Gear 4 and entered the Stuffed Version of Tankman.

As expected, this form packed a much greater defensive capability. It was strong enough to tank a direct attack from Charlotte and one-shot him with his counterattack. In fact, Gum-Gum Cannonball sent Charlotte miles away and knocked him unconscious for days. Among all of Luffy’s Gears, Tankman Stuffed Version looks the most ridiculous, but it still works frighteningly well.

3. Gear 4: Snakeman Doesn’t Change Luffy’s Physical Stature Much

Gear 4: Snakeman is one of the most impressive forms Luffy used during his fight against Katakuri, another of the Sweet Commanders. Unlike Tankman, this form focuses more on speed and is designed to counter people with incredible Observation Haki. Further, Snakeman vastly augments Luffy’s Kin’niku Fusen and Python techniques, making them vastly stronger.

Even someone like Charlotte Katakuri, who could see the future with his Observation Haki, had trouble keeping up with its speed. All of Luffy’s attacks in Snakeman are ranged and hit the target unpredictably. The weak point of this form, however, is that it sacrifices the extra defense that Gear 4 offers for additional speed.

2. Gear 4: Boundman Is The Strongest Of The Three Versions

The strongest form of Gear 4 is Boundman, one of the most bizarre but aggressive Luffy Gears of them all. This technique debuted during Luffy’s fight with Doflamingo and, since then, has become his go-to Gear 4 form. Although not as tanky as Tankman or as fast as Snakeman, it finds the right balance between the two.

Boundman uses elasticity that comes from the heavy contraction of rubber due to Haki and thus launches attacks carrying great power behind them. It also allows Luffy to fly using the same principle, giving him yet another dimension during fights. Boundman’s raw power was enough to send even Kaido flying with a Kong Organ, although the mighty Emperor took no damage due to Luffy’s relatively weak Haki.

1. Gear 5 Awakened Luffy’s Devil Fruit For The First Time

The spectacular finale of the Wano Country arc climaxed with the reveal of Luffy’s newest technique – Gear 5. During his showdown with Kaido, Luffy awakened his Devil Fruit and transformed into the Sun God Nika, an event that the World Government’s leaders had feared would come to pass. The most impressive of all Luffy Gears, this form gives Luffy almost unlimited powers bound only by his imagination.

Gear 5 lets Luffy use all Gears and Haki types freely while altering his shape and the surrounding reality to his will. So far, the only thing limiting Luffy’s usage of Gear 5 is his inexperience. That said, even when Luffy was experimenting with Gear 5’s potential against Kaido, he was practically unstoppable. He easily broke all the rules with Looney Tunes logic, subverting the combat system in ways only Monkey D. Luffy possibly could.