Powers & Abilities Anyone else like the concept of G5, but not the way it’s implemented?

[Blax Blah]

I don’t like it much because the fights have lost their seriousness. Luffy now spends all his time laughing and pulling things out of nowhere, and that’s the second point… Luffy would be practically invincible if Gear 5 lasted forever, not even the immortality of the Gorosei would come close because Luffy has toon force.

I get it, but I think the laugh is just a sign of strength

Luffy is so strong that few people can defeat him, he can just laugh and win

He had serious moments against Kaido

 

[Kizaruber Eats]

nah i hate everything

 

[Boing]

Yah SWORD kinda makes G5 feel redundant

 

[Longleg Larry]

I love it, nearly everything about it. Only thing, Gum-Gum still sounds better. Any gag Odas got, I'm ready

I would’ve preferred if it instead just expanded Luffy’s stretching capabilities and made him more like Mr. Fantastic or Plastic Man

MF is boring as hell & PM is sillier than Luffy

 

[LolonoisZolo]

Very badly implemented imo
Nika isn't a bad concept in it self and it could have been Luffy awakening it (a la Ashura) or something.
Gomu should have remained Gomu, the retcon brings out way too many plotholes; some may argue that the story isn't finished and it's fair but for now it feels awfully ''patched-up''.
I'm no Goda though so what do I know.

 

[Robin swan]

Only real thing I hate about g5 is how it completely takes over Luffy's personality. All the sh's and luffys friends and family could die and he'd still be acting goofy and laughing. It's like g5 only allows him to express 1 emotion which is a downside to me. It's also why I think luffy will get another gear because this takes away any serious tone in the story.

 

[Cozy Sofa]

I really don't like the current G5. Back then people theorized over what G5 could enable Luffy to do, for example an awakening such as making the ground and surroundings rubber to take away the opponents foothold or vulcanization to make Luffys durability and punches super hard.

G5s one reedeeming future is that it apparently is a huge commercial success that resonates with the younger audience, it supposedly is what enabled OP to cross over like SSJ or Sharingan.

 

[Yere93]

The recton sucks but everything else makes sense, Oda always wanted the most ridiculous power, One Piece was always a Laught Tale.

He always conceived Luffy as a classic cartoon character, the problem was that that power level would be too big at the beginning of the story so from that base he reduced his power and got to the stretching. It could easily have been a paramecia with cartoon powers, the god is unnecessary

Post automatically merged: Oct 6, 2025

The recton sucks but everything else makes sense, Oda always wanted the most ridiculous power, One Piece was always a Laught Tale.

He always conceived Luffy as a classic cartoon character, the problem was that that power level would be too big at the beginning of the story so from that base he reduced his power and got to the stretching. It could easily have been a paramecia with cartoon powers, the god is unnecessary

 

[Album]

I like gear 5 in a vacuum, my problem with it is that Luffy became the chosen special one with an overpowered fruit. It was very clearly a retcon and I don't understand why.

One of the biggest charms of Luffy was that he took a lower tier fruit and through sheer creativity turned into one of the greatest fighters. It was actually a major plot point for a long time that some people just have special fruits that make them invincible, or are just born special. But it's not unsurpassable because as Pekoms said 'logias who think they're invincible die young in the new world'. It was one of the major reasons Ace got slapped.




Edit: Not to mention Oda is doing the exact same thing with Shanks and will probably do it with Roger too... it's depressing.

It’s not a retcon it doesn’t contradict anything we knew about it before
And the reveal doesn’t change th fact the fruit is only good because luffy trained wi it (see kid Luffy) the fruit only becomes special

 

[Oliver]

It’s not a retcon it doesn’t contradict anything we knew about it before
And the reveal doesn’t change th fact the fruit is only good because luffy trained wi it (see kid Luffy) the fruit only becomes special

They called it a rubber fruit in chapter 1

 

[Xione]

I actually like the looney tunes shit, makes Luffy's fighting style more lively, the G2/G3/G4 made him way too serious. What I don't like is it being connected to potential "reincarnation" type shit, but it's not exactly an issue for me, just not something I like.

 

[Logiko]

Everything here is amazing.

The toon force is a perfect narrative extention of the character of Luffy. And One Piece has always been about destiny and a bloc universe. The critics are therefore completely subjectives and frankly, unwarranted. + gear 5 is funny as heck.

It’s not a retcon it doesn’t contradict anything we knew about it before

To be honest I also rejected this appelation because of the negative bias coming with it. But technically it's true. It is a retcon, but people simply don't understand what retcon are.

They called it a rubber fruit in chapter 1

Retcon, are really just retroactive revelations, mostly prepared in advance like this one. So, yes, it's a retcon, but not the way people think

Because they are not good or bad. Retcon are NARRATIVE TOOLS. In this case, the retcon recontextualizz Luffy's power. It would be bad if it it were misshandled, but it's not. This retcon was prepared throughout the ENTIRE serie. Gear 5 is therefore an amazing retcon.