At first glance, being overwhelmed by One Piece isn’t hard. The manga penned by Eiichiro Oda was first published in 1997 and is still ongoing.
However, it also benefits from being one of the most popular stories in manga and anime mediums. Part of the “Big Three” in the Shōnen genre (along with Bleach and Naruto) One Piece has stood the test of time. The series follows Monkey D. Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka), an ambitious young pirate and leader of the Straw Hats. He and the rest of his crew aim to be the ones to discover the titular One Piece – a part of a famous treasure.
One Piece could fall into the trap of any other predictable pirate story, but it gets around that with fully developed lore at its center. In addition to swashbuckling fun, the series also contains the concept of devil fruits, which are essentially just what they sound like. Characters eat fruit that gives them special abilities. Luffy notably eats the Gomu Gomu no Mi, or “Gum Gum Fruit,” which gives his body the ability to behave like rubber.
An unequivocally absurd power, Luffy’s abilities give levity to the series that can veer into serious territory. But it is more than that. Luffy develops his powers into different gears that can become devastating.
Gear 5 in One Piece explained
Upon first consuming the devil fruit, Luffy obtains the basic powers of rubber. But no matter how stretchy he gets, there are limits. While the Paramecia fruits are versatile, it takes an extra step for Luffy to expand the powers available to him. After the Awakening, however, Luffy achieves previous untapped abilities. The pirate develops different techniques — or gears — that make him an even more formidable opponent.
Gears 1 to 4 allow Luffy to use his powers in different ways, from circulating his blood faster to simply getting bigger. But no matter how large Luffy can get, none of these techniques compare to the final stage: Gear 5. After his Awakening, Luffy transforms into the Sun God Nika, which is basically One Piece’s version of Omega-level mutants. This gear makes the powers of the Devil Fruit limitless, an inevitability that the World Government was afraid of.
The use of Gear 5 transforms Luffy’s hair white and causes his eyes to glow. Now, he can also cause objects around him to become rubber, not just his own body as well. Being able to manipulate the world around him turns him into a god. And with unchecked power comes unmatched responsibility. For a series that has been going on for two decades, you have to raise the stakes somehow.