All 5 Luffy Gears In One Piece, Ranked

Power-ups are ubiquitous in anime and manga. Though titles like "Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac" already had power-ups, it was "Dragon Ball" that made them an expected and essential part of the medium. It's but one of the many ways in which Akira Toriyama's creation became a seminal work and went on to shape the next 40 years of anime and manga.

Among the works most profoundly influenced by "Dragon Ball" is, of course, Eiichiro Oda's "One Piece," which is now tied with "Superman" as the best selling comic series ever. The property takes place in a fantastical world of talking reindeer, gods, monsters, guys who can turn into jackets, and much more. At the same time, it's a story that can make people cry over a pirate ship and wait 20 years to pay off a silly Marco Polo joke.

Unsurprisingly, "One Piece" is also packed with power-ups. From the likes of Nami and Usopp gaining new weapons to Zoro and Sanji acquiring new abilities and attacks, just about every major character in this franchise gets an upgrade once in a while. But for devil fruit users such as Monkey D. Luffy, however, their supernatural abilities come with incredible transformations. In Luffy's case, that means gears, i.e. special techniques he uses to channel his devil fruit abilities in powerful ways. He develops these gears at critical moments in the story, and each one is distinct and brings something interesting to the character and the world of "One Piece" at large.

Still, not every gear is the same, and some are clearly better than others. With that in mind, here are all five of Luffy's gears, ranked.

There's technically no Gear 1 in "One Piece." Rather, this is just Luffy's base form without any fancy transformations. Because of that, it ranks at the bottom of the list, although that doesn't mean it's useless or even weak.

In his base form, Luffy still employs a variety of attacks beginning with the words "Gum-Gum," with Luffy's devil fruit being the Gum-Gum Fruit. Many, like Gum-Gum Pistol and Gum-Gum Gatling, are quite strong and powerful. (For instance, Luffy defeated the Lord of the Coast as a kid by using Gum-Gum Pistol.) Others, meanwhile, are ridiculously funny. Take Gum-Gum UFO, which consists of Luffy twisting back his legs midair and spinning them around and around like a discus. This allows him to sort of hover in the air like a UFO.

These techniques are vastly improved by Luffy infusing his attacks with haki, the most mysterious power in "One Piece." With haki, Luffy can harden his fists (or even his forehead, in the case of Armament Gum-Gum Bell) to greatly increase the strength of his regular attacks. So, while it's still Luffy's weakest form, Gear 1 is nevertheless fun, as it relies on different techniques rather than the raw power of the form itself. (In a way, it's similar to Son Goku before he goes Super Saiyan in "Dragon Ball.") Sure, he's not as strong, but it's very entertaining to watch Luffy have to rely on his wits to win a fight rather than simply punching harder.

Unfortunately, Gear 3 is such a forgettable upgrade we don't even see Luffy unleash it for the first time. Instead, we just learn about it after the fact, when Luffy uses it to knock down a steel door in Enies Lobby. Gear 3 involves Luffy inflating a part of his body with air, blowing it up like a balloon to enhance its strength. Normally, he just inflates his arm to give it the size and power of a giant. When infusing his fist with haki, in particular, Luffy can use Gum-Gum Elephant Gun, which allows him to gain extraordinary power. As such, Gear 3 serves the purpose of being Luffy's primary strength-based upgrade, as compared to the speed-based Gear 2. (More on that later.)

Still, this doesn't look that different from Luffy's normal attacks. Sure, the sight of his balloon arm is funny (it's like something akin to a "Popeye" cartoon), and in the post time skip era, Gear 3 was Luffy's strongest finisher for a while before he developed Gear 4. (More on that to follow as well.) Still, as a power-up, it's not all that visually impressive, and it's hardly ever used creatively.

That being said, Gear 3 has the absolute funniest drawback. You see, whenever Luffy uses a power-up, it ends up draining his stamina and leaving him in a weakened state. In the case of Gear 3, Luffy shrinks down to the size of a small child with long arms, looking quite silly for the future King of the Pirates. Nevertheless, this isn't enough to save Gear 3 from being fairly low in the ranking of Luffy's gears.

Gear 4 is the closest "One Piece" gets to pulling a "Dragon Ball," so to speak, as it's more about Luffy becoming generally stronger thanks to haki. This specific gear is the natural evolution of the previous ones, as it allows Luffy to employ different techniques to adapt to a particular situation. Tankman, for instance, focuses on defense and can resist a great deal of damage, which Gear 3 doesn't allow for. Snakeman, on the other hand, gives Luffy a lot of mobility and can even counter those with observation haki (something that allows them to predict their opponent's movements).

The first time Luffy enters Gear 4 results in one of the most ridiculous power-ups in all of "One Piece," as his torso and arms grow in size while his legs remain quite small. What's more, this form, known as Bounce-Man, is incapable of standing still. Instead, as the name suggests, Luffy constantly bounces on the spot like a clown. Really, it's a great distillation of Eiichiro Oda's approach to action and battle shonen tropes. Again, this is Luffy's Super Saiyan moment, a physical transformation that makes him stronger than ever before while also being utterly absurd and cartoony.

Gear 4 even makes Luffy look like his father, Dragon, which is rather rare in the anime and manga.

Sadly, even if the silliness of Bounce-Man makes Gear 4 fun to watch at first, it still makes for a somewhat boring form. Beyond the fight between Luffy and Katakuri (which is one of the best anime fights of all time), the reliance on haki means Gear 4 is not that different from the other gears. It's merely a way for Luffy to punch harder, as opposed to fundamentally changing the way he fights.

Gear 2 is neither a flashy power-up nor one that marks a huge increase in Luffy's power. And yet, the way Eiichiro Oda presents this gear in "One Piece" makes it feel like the most important development in the world.

Luffy comes up with Gear 2 after witnessing members of CP9 exhibit superhuman speed. In Enies Lobby, during a fateful fight against Blueno where all hope seems lost, Luffy leans forward and puts a fist to the ground in concentration. Then, steam starts emanating from his body, and he gains incredible speed that matches even Blueno's skills. This is Gear 2, an ability that allows Luffy to pump blood throughout his body at a faster rate and provides him with more oxygen. He essentially dopes himself to achieve greater speed.

As a transformation, Gear 2 isn't all that visually striking beyond the steam and Luffy's body seemingly glowing with a red-ish color. Still, the thing that makes this gear work as well as it does is that it feels different from Luffy just unlocking some secret skill he was unaware of. Instead, it's the result of him achieving something through practice and training that began prior to the events of "One Piece." Gear 2 is also one of the most iconic Luffy poses and even resurfaced during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo when an athlete recreated it before winning the gold (via Kotaku).

Here it is: Gear 5 is not just the best transformation in "One Piece," it's also one of the best and most creative power-ups in manga and anime since Akira Toriyama first made Goku go Super Saiyan. As the man himself puts it, this is Luffy's peak and the ultimate expression of his powers. Gear 5 is not just a technique or power-up; it's an awakening of Luffy's devil fruit that unleashes his full potential.

Eiichiro Oda was influenced by Hanna-Barbera cartoons when he came up with Gear 5 for "One Piece" (specifically, "Tom and Jerry"). Luffy hits harder, that's certain, but he does much more. In this form, he has the freedom to let his imagination run wild and harness the power of rubber hose animation. Case in point: Gear 5 allows Luffy to spin his legs so fast that he can run in midair, grow bigger than a giant, and even turn the environment around him into rubber. Indeed, when he battles Kaido in Gear 5, Luffy punches his opponent so hard Kaido's skull wraps around Luffy's fist and extends to unnatural proportions (with Luffy's eyes constantly popping out of their sockets when he's shocked). Basically, this is Luffy by way of Bugs Bunny, a chaos god who can chew a tree into the shape of a baseball bat and then conjure a baseball hat out of thin air mid-fight.

This power-up isn't just silliness for its own sakje, either. It's Eiichiro Oda hitting on the core theme of freedom in "One Piece," with Luffy achieving the power to become free of even gravity and logic. He's always been a comical yet creative and imaginative figure, and Gear 5 is simply an expression of that. It's that same sense of fun that makes this the best gear.