Gear 3 Theory

[Wrath]

Okay. Just a quick theory that someone else may have posted already, I don't know. I don't think that Luffy turning into a kid is an after effect of Gear 3, I think it actually is Gear 3. Luffy compressing himself so that he can unleash a massively powerful punch.

In fact I think all the Gears are different transformations of Luffy, rather than staggered power levels like Kyuubi tails or SSJ forms. The first was vulcanisation, as we all believe, making his body tougher so it could handle greater speed, and this was compressing all of Luffy's physical power into a denser form.

That begs the question of what further forms would be, though... Maybe he'll find a way of being stretchier than he is right now, kinda like the Gomu Gomu no Baka where he let his body go loose. Really, Luffy has always been strong and fast, but never all that stretchy compared to other rubber men.

[Freija]

i thought more like gear 3 is something like you just said, but the attack he used was a rankyaku combined with a gomu gomu mushi..

[RockLee]

That the Gears may be different transformations is interesting, like Tony's Points. It makes sense, too, seeing the short lived chibi transformation. Gear 3 is probably good for 1 shot, and that's it. Gear 2 seemed to last longer to allow him to achieve greater speeds.

If this holds true, then a likely Gear 4 would be greater resilience by making him super strechy or going the opposite way into a Tekkai-like state.

As for not being like other rubber men, I find this a good thing.

I think that this is possible. Hell, anything is possible with Oda.

[Moridin]

I've wondered if it would ever be possible for luffy to stretch himself very thin and sort of float around on the air. I've not really come up with any practical purpose for this, i originaly thought it'd be a way for him to cross over to the gate of justice but he used the boat.

I like the idea of each gear being a different form, its quite possible luffy got some ideas from chopper and the rumble ball

[Kimi Sama]

Me and a friend came up with the super-compressed-rubber-for-extra-power thing last night, and I definately agree with you thats its one of the more likely explanations, and probably the most interesting one too.

Yey for Oda deviating from Shounen manga norms and avoiding generic power ups! Yet further proof that hes probably the most original manga author around.

I wonder how many more gears there might be after this one? I'm thinking at least one more, maybe something defence orientated as RockLee said.

This gears thing is definatly gonna make his showdown with Lucci very interesting indeed

[Wrath]

Yey for Oda deviating from Shounen manga norms and avoiding generic power ups! Yet further proof that hes probably the most original manga author around.You know, the interesting thing about that is... the name. The concept of gears, and numbered ones, immediately makes you think of progressive power boosts. Like, as I said, Kyuubi tails and SSJ forms. It's deliberately designed to evoke that same feeling.

And yet, it looks like the actual transformations don't work on a scale like that at all. Oda made us think he was going in one direction only to really go somewhere completely different. Like with the current fights, too, he made us think they were pairing off for standard duels, only for the SHs to run around, switch and work together instead.

Sneaky bastard.

[Kimi Sama]

You know, the interesting thing about that is... the name. The concept of gears, and numbered ones, immediately makes you think of progressive power boosts. Like, as I said, Kyuubi tails and SSJ forms. It's deliberately designed to evoke that same feeling.

And yet, it looks like the actual transformations don't work on a scale like that at all. Oda made us think he was going in one direction only to really go somewhere completely different. Like with the current fights, too, he made us think they were pairing off for standard duels, only for the SHs to run around, switch and work together instead.

Sneaky bastard.
I think you're right there, Oda probably did give it a linear sounding name on purpose just to suprise the fans. He's a huge DB fan afterall, so it's probably a little joke on his part.
It's so refreshing to be able to wonder what Luffy will be able to do next, and knowing that he can do almost anything, rather then just thinking "I wonder how much longer his hair will be this time" and "I wonder how much bigger an energy blast it'll be"

Also, getting slightly off topic, I agree about the fights too, I mean, he even gave us a shot of everyone lined up against someone only to totally mess it about.
Looking at Bleach and Naruto, neither of them have ever done anything like that.

[RockLee]

Having battles where the members interact and switch targets is unusual, and I rather like it.

Also, it seems that the "Yoyoyoi!" guy is going to be in one of those cover side stories. He's going to be one of those villains that just got left out of the fighting for some silly reason, like falling through a cloud, or getting locked in a refridgerator.

There goes my spelling.

[Tenrow]

You know, the interesting thing about that is... the name. The concept of gears, and numbered ones, immediately makes you think of progressive power boosts. Like, as I said, Kyuubi tails and SSJ forms. It's deliberately designed to evoke that same feeling.

And yet, it looks like the actual transformations don't work on a scale like that at all. Oda made us think he was going in one direction only to really go somewhere completely different. Like with the current fights, too, he made us think they were pairing off for standard duels, only for the SHs to run around, switch and work together instead.

Sneaky bastard.

That's the thing about Oda, have you guys just noticed that he's unbelivably creative. I mean look at every arc that he has done in the manga. Notice he never uses generic overused manga stereotypical scenes, he uses plot twists at just the right moments at just the right time, and he always shows new and very original concepts and that it's never the same.

For instance, during the Sky Island arc, when Eneiru was talking about the "Endless Earth" how many of you guys thought it was the continent of the One Piece world and NOT the moon?

[Kimi Sama]

Hah good point RockLee, I hadnt considered the fact Kumadori might just stay in the fridge for good, which definatly means a cover story. Which is kinda annoying, cause I really dont like him, he probably has the most annoying mannerisms of any manga character I've ever seen. Oh well, I can always skip the title page when he turns up on it.


To be a bit more on topic, for the other gears, I'm thinking defence and the abilty to fly or jump high, since that way Luffy will have a unique abilty to match all of the cp9's special ones.

[Wrath]

I think Luffy might get a flight gear, but if he had it now... wouldn't he have used it to get across the water? He had no problem using gear 3 to break the door, after all.

[Kimi Sama]

I think Luffy might get a flight gear, but if he had it now... wouldn't he have used it to get across the water? He had no problem using gear 3 to break the door, after all.

Good point, if he could fly/jump he wouldnt have nearly killed himself in that rickety little boat. Plus now I think about it, it wouldnt really be all that much of an improvement anyway since he can already catapault himself and use gomu gomu balloon.

Ah well, if Luffy does have extra gears, whatever they are I'm sure Oda wont let us down. I've never ever been bored with a Luffy fight so far, so I have every confidence he's gonna stay suprising even 400 chapters in.

I'm thinking Luffy's next ability might be something that lets him counter Lucci's ability to simply poke a hand right through his chest

[Wrath]

Yeah. Lucchi said that it did less damage to Luffy because he was a rubber man, so that might be prompting for him to make a form that was even more like rubber, so that attacks like that would be no good at all.

[SeruraRenge]

OT: well, it looks like the Gears will be in the anime sooner than we think. Gear 2nd is in One Piece Movie 7. For proof, watch the video I posted for the movie in the OP anime section.

One Topic, this is quite an interesting theory. SOmeone at K-F compared his small body to squeezing a spring.

[Sunuvmann]

I like that theory because it works well in explaining the shrinkage and power up. :thumbs

Heres to Luffy having more gears then a 12 speed bike! :beer

[shibigoku]

Just take an encyclopedia and see the properties of rubber. There may be something about compressing rubber. That would explain gear 3. I think gear 3 came way too fast. Gear 2 takes a lot out of him and now gear 3? I like the fact that Luffy finally opened his eyes and started to reach the full potential of the Gum-Gum fruit.

[d.Lughie]

I think he acquired gear 2 and 3 at almost the same time.. remember in the fight between blueno and luffy... Blueno still stood up even after Luffy used gear 2.. and at that moment.. He was preparing for another gear..
http://groups.msn.com/OnePieceMangav-3/chapter388.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=8291

[jaks5555]

yeah i remeber that he might have been going for gear 3,

a nice gear would be to not be rubby at all but to compress it all and not be able to streth as the compression as an impact when he attacks

[Vaizard]

I wonder why he's shown biting his thumb when he goes into gear 3? I can't figure out what the purpose of that would be.

[Tapp Zaddaz]

When did Luffy shrink?

[d.Lughie]

when he destroyed the thick door when he was pursuing Robin.

[Pr1de]

the same as Vaizard. I dont know why he's biting his thumb