One Piece: What Is Luffy’s Best Transformation?

From his early years in the East Blue to his current adventures as an Emperor of the Sea in the New World, Monkey D. Luffy has made leaps and bounds in his journey to become the next Pirate King in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece. In accordance with the stronger enemies he has encountered in his travels as Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy has developed several transformations to boost his combat ability, reaching new heights of power in the process.

Beginning with Gear 2's enhanced speed, to Gear 3's localized gigantification, Gear 4's combination of Haki and earlier forms, as well as the Mythical Zoan Awakening abilities of Gear 5, each one of Luffy's forms has afforded him a varied range of benefits. Over countless battles against some of the strongest pirates and Marines in the Grand Line, Luffy has honed each of these transformations and improved them, to better protect his allies. With this in mind, excluding purely situational forms, what is Luffy's best transformation in One Piece?

Gear 2 Was A Major Step Up

High Speed Movement And Deadly Offensive Power Combine

First seen during his fight against the CP9 agent Blueno in Enies Lobby, Gear 2 was Luffy's method to deal with CP9's Soru high-speed movement technique and Tekkai's defensive ability. By expanding his blood vessels to increase his blood pressure, Luffy could surpass the natural limits of his body by circulating oxygen and other nutrients through it at a much faster rate. In effect, this allowed him to move at heightened speeds and deal more damage with his attacks.

When using Gear 2, Luffy's body turns light pink and emits steam to reflect his accelerated blood flow and higher internal temperature. At first, each usage of Gear 2 sapped away his energy quite quickly, but this seems to have reduced considerably after the time skip. Luffy's use of Gear 2 has now reached a point where the speed and power behind his attacks can cause his fists to ignite, creating an attack he now calls the Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk, which delivers fiery blows with the enhanced impact of Gear 2. In Onigashima, even Kaido was forced to dodge this attack, highlighting how much Luffy has honed its destructive power.

In terms of design, there is not much of a change in Luffy's design, but the debut of this ability is still among the best moments from the Enies Lobby arc, as it was the first instance where Luffy had to develop his Devil Fruit powers to take on opponents who outclassed him. When used against Blueno, Luffy was able to overwhelm the CP9 agent completely, after being on the back foot in earlier parts of the fight.

Gear 3 Grants Luffy The Power Of A Giant

Sacrifices Speed For The Strength To Crush Battleships

Just like its predecessor, Gear 3 also made its debut in Enies Lobby. In this form, Luffy is able to inflate his limbs or other parts of his body by blowing air into his bones, expanding them to a massive size. Luffy's raw strength allows him to deliver incredibly destructive punches with this form, wielding strength on par with a giant. The caveat here is that Gear 3 sacrifices speed and mobility for pure strength, as Luffy has a hard time moving around while using this form.

Prior to the time skip, each use of Gear 3 temporarily reduced Luffy's size to a chibi-esque state, but he overcame this while training on Rusakaina Island. Eventually, Luffy was able to combine both Gear 2 and Gear 3 while augmenting them with Armament Haki to create giant fiery fists which even dealt damage to Kaido, who was the world's strongest creature. In the middle of the Raid on Onigashima, Luffy learned how to infuse Conqueror's Haki into his Gear 3 attacks, bolstering their offensive power by a considerable degree.

Once again, the design of this form is not too different apart from the comically enlarged limbs Luffy gains. That being said, its offensive power, when combined with advanced Armament and Conqueror's Haki is nothing short of terrifying, as it was able to clash evenly with Kaido on the rooftop of Onigashima. Luffy can now freely inflate parts of his body without having to blow air into them, and he often uses Gear 3 attacks in fights against strong opponents who have an advantage over him in terms of stature.

Gear 4 Combines Haki With Earlier Forms

Affords Flexibility In His Offensive And Defensive Capabilities Through Its Versions

The first new form Luffy revealed after the time skip, Gear 4 was developed during his training on Rusakaina Island, to deal with the larger beasts he had to tame. In essence, this transformation sees Luffy blow air into his muscles to expand them, after which he makes considerable use of Armament Haki to harden large portions of his body. So far, there are three known variations of Gear 4: Boundman, Snakeman, and Tankman. Each has its benefits, but they all have the drawback of preventing Luffy from using Haki for 10 minutes once the transformation wears off.

Boundman turns Luffy's body into a form akin to a rubber ball, such that he is constantly bouncing at all times. That being said, the offensive boost he gains is immense, to the point where he can send opponents such as Doflamingo flying with a single punch. In addition, this form also allows him to fly in a manner similar to the Geppo technique used by Cipher Pol and the Marines. Gear 4's focus on compression also grants Luffy the ability to withdraw his limbs into his body, and he can even redirect punches multiple times to confuse opponents.

Tankman is a consequence of Luffy overeating, and it bolsters his defenses at the cost of mobility and offensive power. Lastly, Snakeman is a more balanced version which has slightly less attack power than Boundman, but affords far more mobility and greater flexibility when it comes to redirecting attacks. Whereas Boundman's design is intimidating yet almost comical, Snakeman is quite unique in how it takes Luffy's rubber powers to an entirely new level of unpredictability. Both debuted during iconic fights against Donquixote Doflamingo and Charlotte Katakuri, so they hold immense narrative significance in One Piece as well.

Gear 5 Is Luffy's Peak

Limited Only By The Power Of His Imagination

As far as transformations in battle shonen anime and manga go, Gear 5 is exceptionally unique in how it grants its user to rewrite reality itself as they see fit. Its creation highlights Eiichiro Oda's knack for defying norms and not taking his characters' power ups too seriously. There is no shortage of entertainment whenever this form appears, given how its power provides Luffy with the ability to transcend the laws of physics and turn his imagination into reality in the blink of an eye.

Since it is the awakened form of Luffy's Devil Fruit, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika (otherwise known as the Gomu Gomu no Mi), the transformation has all the traits of a Mythical Zoan Awakening such as a shroud of clouds. The pure white appearance of this form also imbues a divine, otherworldly touch to Luffy's appearance. In terms of strength, Luffy is able to affect his environment and even his opponents with this Devil Fruit form, in a manner similar to the Awakening of Paramecia-type Devil Fruits. Combined with his Armament and Conqueror's Haki, Gear 5 is truly a force to be reckoned with.

When it debuted on the rooftop of Onigashima in Luffy's battle against Kaido, Gear 5 was a game changer that clinched the fight in his favor. Described as Luffy's "peak," Gear 5 has all the benefits of earlier forms, and permits him to switch seamlessly between them, as seen in how he can enlarge himself to the size of a giant, or gain more muscle in a way that resembles Gear 4. His fighting style is also far more cartoonish in this state, and he is always laughing maniacally. Luffy's speed, strength, elasticity, and recovery in this state border on the absurd, and the only drawback to this form is how exhausted he becomes whenever his stamina runs out.

What Is Luffy's Best Transformation In The Series?

Each of Luffy's forms has been pivotal to his journey so far, even if they did not fit the mold of a conventional transformation in terms of appearance, like in the cases of Gear 2 and Gear 3. When both these forms premiered, they were extremely memorable moments in the series as a whole, and Luffy has continued to call on their abilities in some of his most important recent fights. However, they might not hold as much as transformations when compared to Gear 4 or Gear 5.

Gear 4 has served Luffy well after the time skip, allowing him to defeat both Doflamingo and Katakuri in critical battles during the Straw Hats' journey through the New World. The designs of Snakeman and Boundman were also quite imaginative and a departure from Luffy's generally jovial demeanor. In spite of this, there can be little argument that Gear 5 is a brilliant subversion of the shonen transformation that does justice to what a power up is meant to be in its own distinct way. Moreover, it also gives series creator Eiichiro Oda a significant degree of creative freedom in writing Luffy's battles in One Piece, which is why it is arguably Luffy's best transformation in the series so far.

One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll.