Greetings, One Piece fans!
Fans of the series know well enough that Luffy has recently gained a new form that has left everyone, both within the series and in the real world, confused. Gear 5 is a truly amazing phenomenon, with its powers being limited only by Luffy’s imagination.
So a burning question is coming : Is Gear 5 awakening ? And we will be trying to answer it today.
We will be trying to answer this question today, and I will act as your guide. I have been following the One piece franchise for years and now we turn to that knowledge for your answer.
What is Awakening in One Piece?
We know very little about the idea of awakening. By definition, it is the complete realization of a devil fruit’s latent abilities.
We have only seen a handful of characters with this ability. Doflamingo and Katakuri are the only two characters whose awakenings we have really seen in action within the anime.
From what we know, awakening seems to be a unique concept that almost entirely depends upon the nature of the devil fruit itself. With that knowledge, it is almost impossible to predict what the awakening of any certain devil fruit may look like.
Let’s try to compare the boosts that Gear 5 gives Luffy to the other abilities that awakening has given other characters.
However, the fact that Luffy’s fruit is a Zoan type may mean that Gear 5 is actually Luffy’s hybrid form. To read more about that, check our article “Is Gear 5 hybrid ? »
Doflamingo’s awakening
Doflamingo’s fruit is a paramecia type that lets him produce strings and use them to control the objects, and people around him.
Awakening of his devil fruit gives him the power to turn the objects around him into strings, giving him full power over his surroundings.
We know that Gear 5 gives Luffy similar abilities, allowing him to turn his surroundings into a rubber-like substance and control them.
This similarity between Luffy’s new powers and Doflamingo’s awakening lets him do, suggests that Gear 5 is indeed an awakening ability.
Katakuri’s awakening
In the case of Charlotte Katakuri, his awakening gives him the power to control his own logia-type abilities to a great extent and similarly turn his surroundings into Micohi.
It also allowed him the power to have more control of everything around him, as we saw when he turned the entire mirror world into mochi. Again we see the similarities between Katakuris awakening and Gear 5’s powers.
Luffy, too, has similar control over his own body and surroundings.
So, by the conventional powers associated with awakening, Gear 5 does seem like it can be the awakening of Luffy’s fruit.
Other awakenings in One Piece
Other characters, such as notably Law and Kidd have also awakened their powers, which they used to defeat Big Mom, but we know too little to compare their abilities to that of Gear 5.
That being said, the mere fact that Law and Kidd gained their awakening at Wano while fighting a Yonko leads to more evidence of the fact that Gear 5 is an awakening.
The possibility of Gear 5 as an Awakening
Gear 5 Luffy’s awakening is supported by the fact that it gives Luffy generally awakening-like abilities, and though the concept of awakening is itself shrouded in great mystery there are many hints that it is more than just a new form for Luffy.
If Gear 5 does indeed turn out to be Luffy’s awakening, it could provide Luffy and the Strawhats with the power needed to overcome greater challenges in the future.
Another idea that needs to be considered is that Luffy’s fruit is actually a Mythical Zoan type, the strongest kind of Devil fruit.
Is Gear 5 awakening ? Final words :
Up to this point, we have never actually seen the awakening of such a fruit, so, by all metrics, Luffy’s awakening is unpredictable and unprecedented.
So, only Oda can truly say whether or not Gear 5 is Luffy’s awakening, but all logical indicators do point to that being the case.
