The highly anticipated chapter 1129 of One Piece is set to be released on October 14, 2024, on Shueisha’s MANGA Plus app and its website. Early spoilers for this exciting installment hint at a significant milestone for the main character, Monkey D. Luffy. Early in the One Piece saga, Luffy consumed the Gum-Gum Fruit, endowing him with the remarkable ability to stretch, bounce, and inflate his body as if it were rubber.
However, the revelation that the Gum-Gum Fruit actually corresponds to the Mythical Zoan Human-Human Fruit Model: Nika introduces us to Luffy’s new transformation known as Gear 5. This unique form provides him with reality-altering abilities, empowering him to engage in combat driven by his imagination. Additionally, this transformation offers a power enhancement that outstrips all his previous Gear forms, including Gear 4, which played a crucial role in Luffy’s battles post-timeskip.
Within the Gear 5 form, Luffy boosts his power by enveloping his body with Armament Haki and retracting his limbs for explosive strikes. Luffy faced challenges in mastering Gear 4 because of its notable drawbacks. However, Chapter 1129 illustrates Luffy utilizing Gear 4 selectively on specific parts of his body, signaling that he has finally attained mastery over this transformation.
Disclaimer: This article contains significant spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1129.
Evidence of Luffy’s Mastery Over Gear 4 in the Elbaf Arc Shines Through in Chapter 1129
Understanding Luffy’s Gear 4 Transformation
Gear 4 is a transformation Luffy crafted during his two-year training period under the guidance of Silvers Rayleigh, the former first mate of the legendary Pirate King. This potent ability, derived from the elastic nature of Luffy’s rubber-like body enhanced by Armament Haki, encompasses three variations, each emphasizing a different strength.
Among these, Gear 4 Boundman offers a harmonious mix of offense, defense, and agility, making it Luffy’s go-to form. True to its name, Boundman allows Luffy to morph into a rubber ball that bounces relentlessly. While airborne, Luffy can maneuver freely, utilizing a technique akin to Geppo.
This fusion of rubber and Armament Haki significantly enhances Luffy’s defensive capabilities, enabling him to deflect most incoming strikes effortlessly. By retracting and rapidly discharging his inflated limbs, he can launch immensely powerful attacks with remarkable speed.
In contrast, Gear 4 Snakeman sacrifices defense in favor of maximizing attack power and speed. While in this form, Luffy is unable to deflect strikes, but he gains the ability to accelerate his movements, achieving peak attack speed and becoming extremely agile and unpredictable.
Lastly, Gear 4 Tankman prioritizes defense and attack at the cost of speed. This transformation inflates Luffy’s Haki-enhanced muscles to create an impenetrable barrier, providing exceptional durability and enabling the Gum-Gum Cannonball technique, which sends enemies flying back by countering their own strikes.
Despite the incredible advantages of Gear 4, it does come with limitations. The transformation is only sustainable for a short period, as it rapidly consumes Luffy’s Haki reserves. Once depleted, the form involuntarily reverts, leaving Luffy fatigued and incapable of using any Haki for approximately ten minutes.
Throughout the Wano Arc, Luffy partially refined his Gear 4 mastery by learning to cancel the transformation before its limits were reached. However, Chapter 1129 showcases his newfound ability to control Gear 4, allowing him to deploy it at will.
Chapter 1129 Highlights Luffy’s Latest Advancement
As fans anticipate the imminent release of Chapter 1129, the spoilers and raw scans reveal Luffy’s complete control over Gear 4. The leaks indicate the Straw Hat Pirates confront and swiftly defeat the self-proclaimed Sun God of Elbaf, a Giant known as Road.
Road previously attempted to capture the Straw Hats, aiming to keep them as pets in a diorama realm, which only ignited their fury. After Nami summoned Zeus to unleash a devastating thunderstorm on Road, Luffy activated Gear 4 Boundman and unleashed his Gum-Gum Kong Gun, obliterating the faux Sun God’s domain.
Interestingly, instead of transforming his entire body, Luffy only activated Gear 4 on the arm used for the strike, effectively conserving energy. This demonstrates Luffy’s progression in employing Gear 4 selectively on specific limbs.
It’s evident that Luffy has successfully mastered Gear 4, much like he did with Gear 2 and Gear 3 previously. After the timeskip, Gear 2’s enhanced metabolic rate is no longer taxing on Luffy’s physique, nor does Gear 3’s brute power cause him to shrink due to increased usage. This advancement mirrors his newfound proficiency with Gear 4.
Previously, in Chapter 1127, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji strategically teamed up to protect Nami and Usopp from a fearsome cat-turned-lion. Their teamwork resulted in a swift and triumphant defeat of the beast, showcasing each character’s unique attacks, with Luffy employing Gear 4’s Gum-Gum Elephant Whip.
Notably, Luffy achieved this feat without entirely transforming his body into Gear 4 during that encounter. Many fans initially speculated this may have been an oversight by series creator Eiichiro Oda, but it has now become clear it was an intentional narrative choice.
This newfound skill to activate Gear 4 on specific parts of his body vastly augments Luffy’s versatility. He can effectively employ Gear 4 Snakeman’s rapid attack speed using individual limbs, transform a single part into Gear 4 Tankman, and even mix techniques from Gear 2, Gear 3, and Gear 4 simultaneously without full-body transformation.
As a continually evolving fighter, Luffy has been known to adapt his Devil Fruit abilities in unexpected ways throughout the One Piece narrative. His strength appears to grow exponentially, and there’s potential for him to conquer Gear 5. Once he overcomes the form’s limitations of high energy consumption and brief duration, he could wield Gear 5’s immense power to surpass nearly any opponent in the One Piece universe.
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