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Can Luffy Gear 5 beat Shanks ?

can luffy gear 5 beat shanks

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With the Wano arc now over, Luffy has officially beaten Kaido and become one of the strongest characters in the One piece world. But just how strong has Luffy become? Is he finally stronger than the other Yonko? Can Luffy Gear 5 beat Shanks? Keep reading to find out. The contents of this article Throughout the course of this article, you will learn where Monkey. D. Luffy stands in terms of actual power with the Yonko. You will learn whether Luffy can go toe to toe with, and overcome the Captain of the Red-haired pirates, Shanks. The man who motivated him to become a pirate in the first place.

Luffy Gear 5 vs. Shanks

At this point in the series, we are still waiting to learn what Shanks is truly capable of even if, recently, we saw him destroy Kid with one attack ! we will go through the information we have to see if Luffy can beat Shanks in various categories. As someone who has been engaged in debates over the power scaling with One piece for over a decade, I will be your guide as we put the two owners of the legendary straw hat against each other. If you like this kind of match up, take a look on Gear 5 Luffy vs Blackbeard !

Can Luffy Gear 5 beat Shanks ? The categories :

The categories upon which we will be comparing Luffy and Shanks that will give us an idea if Luffy stands a chance are:
  • Strength
  • Speed
  • Endurance
  • Power
  • IQ
  • Experience
  • Haki

Can Luffy gear 5 beat Shanks in terms of strength?

We know very little about Shanks’ strength, as we have almost no feats to go by. But from what we saw at Marineford, Shanks is strong enough to block an admiral’s attack easily, and he has clashed with Kaido and Whitebeard, showing us that he is extremely strong. But his fighting style heavily relying on Haki indicates that he has little need for brute strength. Luffy, on the other hand, relies almost entirely on his destructive strength and has shaped nearly all his attacks around it. Being able to knock out Kaido and tear apart buildings means that Luffy has shown us the much greater potential for strength than Shanks. Luffy wins strength.

Can Luffy gear 5 beat Shanks in terms of speed?

Speed is also tricky, as we have seen Shanks appear out of nowhere on both Marineford and she rescued Luffy, indicating he can move unbelievably fast. As well as his newly revealed ability to be able to cancel out an opponent’s observation Haki while still being able to use future sight would mean any amount of speed would be meaningless. Luffy has shaped his own techniques on speed and agility and can move at a pace that allows him to dodge the attacks of the Pacifista and match Kaido, but with Shank’s ability to cancel observation and future sight, no amount of speed could get through his defense. Shanks wins speed as he can see the future, and his opponents cannot. (It was revealed in One Piece Film Red that Shanks is known as the Killer of Observation Haki, information that is considered canon).

Can Luffy gear 5 beat Shanks in terms of endurance?

Luffy has shown that he can take any amount of damage thrown at him and still continue to get stronger and improve during battles, as he did with Doflamingo and Katakuri and even with Kaido. Luffy has an insane amount of pain tolerance. But we have seen Shanks lose an arm and still not flinch, indicating that he can power through any amount of pain and blood loss. We have not seen any feats of endurance from Shanks beyond that, but it still levels the playing field. Endurance is a tie.

Can Luffy gear 5 beat Shanks in terms of power?

Shanks relies on his Haki and his strength for his power, as we can gather from what we know. Luffy, on the other hand, is a powerhouse capable of destroying islands. With Gear 5, there is no limit to what he is capable of, and even with Gear 4, he still has an unholy amount of power to throw around. Luffy wins in terms of power.

Can Luffy gear 5 beat Shanks in terms of IQ?

No surprise with this criteria. Shanks is a mastermind, he grew-up on the Roger’s crew, bonded with the world government. On the other side, Luffy is known to be dumb. So, Shanks wins in terms of IQ.

Can Luffy gear 5 beat Shanks in terms of experience?

Luffy has fought against warlords, emperors, and even the world government itself. He has faced all kinds of foes and still prevailed. But that does not change the fact that he has only been at sea for two years. Shanks has spent nearly his entire life at sea, he was with Gol. D. Rogers crew, and he has fought against the strongest characters that the Grand line has to offer. He has more experience and thus will have the upper hand in battle. Shanks wins in terms of experience.

Can Luffy gear 5 beat Shanks in terms of Haki?

We all know that Luffy has now mastered all three forms of advanced Haki and can even coat his attacks in conqueror Haki. This makes him one of the most powerful Haki users around. But Shanks is perhaps the strongest conqueror’s user in the entire series. He has been the only known Yonko without devil fruit, meaning he faced the other emperors simply through the use of his Haki. Making it certain that he must have a fearsome presence and is probably far stronger than Luffy in terms of the use of Haki Shanks wins Haki.

Conclusion : 

While Shanks has a clear advantage in terms of stats, it is the nature of the Gear 5 and Luffy’s considerable Haki powers that can make this fight uncertain. At this point (egg head arc), in my mind, Shanks is still stronger than Luffy! Luffy is just discovering the powers of his Gear 5 and he is « late » in using the haki! So Shanks can beat Gear 5 Luffy !  
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God D. Steees

I'm a One Piece fan. My passion for adventures on the high seas is as solid as a ship's anchor and I love writing about my favorite manga more than anything. So hoist the Jolly Roger and sail away with me!

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