ONE PIECE GOLD
The big question on everyone’s mind is ‘what is Gear Fourth’? How has Oda developed Luffy’s abilities and allowed him to push himself beyond his current limits? And how will Luffy’s fighting style and attacks evolve with Gear Fourth?
A theory I have for Gear Fourth is Luffy incorporating the use of vibrations into his attacks. With his rubber body Luffy can create vibrations/enter into a “vibrating state” through rapidly stretching and contracting his body (vibrating his muscles). By hardening his limbs with Haki, Luffy can amplify the vibrations created within his body and apply them to his attacks where the vibrations being produced within him are transferred onto and into his opponent when the attack lands. In effect Gear Fourth will allow Luffy to perform piercing/focused attacks with vibrations that can bypass the defense of his opponent.
Ever since witnessing the destructive nature of the Happo Navy’s Hasshoken (and how unblockable such attacks are), I have been of the opinion that such a technique/form would be incredibly useful in evolving the way Luffy attacks and fights. Vibrations imbued onto Luffy’s attacks would make them incredibly destructive as they would be able to pierce beyond the opponents defense and leave substantial damage. Vibration based attacks also don’t have to directly land on the target, they can affect the surrounding area of the source. Gear Fourth will leave Luffy in a “vibrating state” (like an active car engine) allowing Luffy to perform attacks that generate shock waves. With such a Gear, Luffy can increase the destructive nature of his attacks and avoid having to inflate his limbs, which slows him down, to increase his strength.
Using vibrations against Doflamingo would be an effective way to bypass Doflamingo’s defense and injure Doflamingo internally, which will also have the added effect of interrupting Doflamingo’s internal “repairing” whenever he has it active. Doflamingo did ridicule Luffy for having weak punches but with vibrations imbued onto his attacks, Luffy can soon have Doflamingo eating those very words when his attacks are able to penetrate through Doflamingo’s defenses. Vibrations can also be a good way for Luffy to affect the “string” power of Doflamingo by disrupting the resonance of the strings. I can imagine Luffy’s finishing move sending Doflamingo flying into the Bird Cage and with the vibrational power behind that attack being transferred onto the Bird Cage, the strings forming the cage around Dressrosa would end up being disabled and undone, thereby destroying Bird Cage along with Doflamingo (and removing the “thorn” in Luffy’s side).
The initial source of inspiration behind Gear Fourth is most likely Whitebeard and the way he utilised his Gura Gura no Mi during the Marineford War. Whitebeard’s vibration imbued attacks were devastating and completely overwhelmed all those who were subject to it – including Akainu, Blackbeard and the Marineford Island. Luffy may have gotten an idea from that experience about how to make his attacks more destructive.
The reason Luffy wanted his nakama away from the nearby area may be because of the destructive nature of Gear Fourth. Thanks to Luffy witnessing Whitebeard’s magnificence two years ago he realises how destructive vibrations can be and is aware that with the release of Gear Fourth (if it is focused around vibrations), not even the Palace on top of the plateau would be safe.
Another significant point to note is by Luffy having a Gear that can utilise vibrations in his attacks, a means to combat Blackbeard, the current user of the Gura Gura no Mi, has opened up. Luffy’s battle against Blackbeard will happen sometime in the future, it is an inevitable fate the two share. It is possible that with a Gear utilising vibrations Luffy can develop a way to counter Blackbeard’s Gura Gura no Mi attacks and avoid being completely overwhelmed by it. Additionally Luffy can give Blackbeard (and Akainu) a taste of what the Gura Gura no Mi’s power (vibrations) taste like again.
Gear Fourth incorporating vibrations (produced by Luffy’s muscles) would help to evolve the way Luffy fights. Overtime Luffy may find ways to use Gear Fourth in conjunction with Gear Second and Third, if he hasn’t already. A Gear Third attack used in Gear Fourth (vibrating state) would be a sight to see. A downside to Luffy using Gear Fourth would be overusing his stretching ability and tiring his muscles out ultimately leaving him in a fatigued state where he has reduced stretching ability. Upon using Gear Fourth Luffy will have to wait a while for his body to recover before being able to fully utilise the stretching ability his body offers.
Vibrations can evolve Luffy’s fighting style in an interesting way, but ultimately it rest with Oda to determine how Luffy grows stronger. Can’t wait for the next chapter.
*Theory by Syphin