Soon after Chapter 1042 was released, many Japanese Twitter accounts started speculating about Luffy’s imminent Gear 5, foreshadowed by Oda in the following panel.
What do you think? In my humble opinion Chapter 1042 tends to disprove this theory.
Importantly, we learn that Luffy wasn’t exaggerating last week when he said this would be his final barrage with Gear 4.
He’s truly at his limit and makes clear he’s not holding anything back. Yet, despite the fact that Kaido has sustained some serious damage, it’s clear he’s still faring much better than Luffy and hasn’t truly been pushed to his limit. Above all else, what this strongly indicates is that Luffy doesn’t have any Gear 5 waiting in reserve.
He says that if this assault doesn’t work, he’s going to lose – which means, as far as he’s presently aware, he has nothing left in the tank – no tricks left up his sleeve. Or in other words, he placed his bet and played his hand.
Although they came as a surprise to readers, Luffy made clear he had invented Gears 2 and 3 before his battles with Blueno and Lucci on Enies Lobby. Similarly, Gear 4 was something he developed during the timeskip – long before he tried it for the first time on-panel against Doflamingo.
Gear 5 would likely be something Luffy had already workshopped rather than something he invents on the spot, particularly when he’s already completely drained of stamina. All that is to say, I believe this week’s chapter takes Gear 5 off the table as a power-up to defeat Kaido, despite any perceived hidden patterns you might see on Luffy’s face, in the clouds, or on a slice of toast.
I’ll admit my bias in that I never really believed Gear 5 will be the solution for Luffy in toppling Kaido. At this point, it seems there are only two possibilities remaining – Awakening or, my preferred solution, reliance on the nine shadows from Toki’s prophecy.
*by Straw Hat Jedi
