When does Luffy use Gear 2 for the first time? Or when does he use his Gear 3 and Gear 4 form for the first time, and against whom? If you are a fan of the One Piece series, you might already know against whom he used these techniques, but you might have forgotten the episode number or the manga chapter when the forms debuted. This article will give you a quick refresher about them!
On the surface, Monkey D. Luffy comes across as the classic laidback and chill shonen main character. But as the series goes on, we see him get serious and fight many opponents with very different outcomes. But it’s how he deals with them that sets him apart from other protagonists.
Luffy isn’t pulling off his incredible victories on guts alone; the guy is brilliant in battle and seems to be able to analyze his opponent’s strengths and come up with ways to counter them. His power-ups, or use of his “Gears,” prove our point.
I would agree that in the beginning, when “Gear 2” appeared, it didn’t make much sense to me. Even during his fight against Kaido, the way he utilized his Gear 4 form, Kaido had to note that that is not how rubber is supposed to work.
But now, with the true nature of Luffy’s devil fruit revealed, we have a proper explanation of why he could do all those things with his devil fruit and come up with unique gears that initially made no sense!
In this article, we look at the first time Luffy used all his gears in the series and against whom he fought. So, if you haven’t caught up to the series, stop because there are spoilers ahead!
When Does Luffy Use Gear 2?
We first see this power-up during the Enies Lobby assault. Luffy and company had already faced the World Government’s CP9 agents back in Water 7. Luffy found himself utterly helpless against the fighting techniques of these CP9 agents.
Not one to be discouraged by this, Luffy takes inspiration from their techniques, especially “Soru,” a skill that allows them to move from one place to another at high speeds.
Fighting against CP9’s Blueno, Luffy activates Gear 2 for the first time in manga chapter 387 and anime episode 272.
With this form, Luffy basically speeds up his blood flow through his body to provide it with more oxygen and nutrients to help execute faster and more powerful attacks. Most of his attacks are the same but done at an overwhelming speed. When he activates it, his body glows red and starts emanating steam.
While in Gear 2, Luffy is able to not only keep up with Blueno’s attacks but easily overwhelm him!
After defeating Blueno, Monkey D. Luffy fights Lucci, another CP9 agent, who possesses the Cat Cat Fruit, Model: Leopard, a fruit that gives Lucci the edge in the physical aspect. Lucci faces an already tired Luffy and gives him a good run for his money; in fact, he manages to put Luffy against the ropes, but our boy manages to pull through.
The main consequence of Gear 2 is how it drains Luffy’s stamina; he’s literally going on overclock, putting his body under enormous stress and leaving him weak and out of energy. The one way he can recover from Gear 2 is by eating a lot of food.
We see the technique used more often during the Impel Down Arc. Here, Luffy has to go through many levels of literal hell and defeat enemies to get through the whole prison, using Gear 2 on multiple occasions for brief moments with almost no visible repercussions.
Post-time skip, we see Luffy defeat a Pacifista with a single punch combining Gear 2 with Armament Haki. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as something else happens in the Luffy vs. Lucci fight.
When Does Luffy Use Gear 3 in One Piece?
Gear 3’s Actual Appearance: Chapter 421 & Episode 304
Although Luffy’s used his Gear 3 earlier in the series, the first time it appeared visually was when Luffy was engaged in a do-or-die battle against Lucci!
During the fight against Rob Lucci in Ennis Lobby, Luffy realizes that speed alone will not be enough to defeat him, so he unveils Gear 3.
This form differs from Gear 2, as it focuses more on strength than Gear 2’s speed. Luffy inflates his body parts, mainly his arm, by biting his thumb and blowing up his whole arm, including his bones; he calls it “Hone Fuusen” or “Bone Balloon” in English.
Luffy then uses Gear 3 to punch Lucci through a wall; Lucci takes a lot of damage, even with his guard up and trying to protect himself. With Gear 3, he gets incredible destructive power to use in a short amount of time, in contrast with the agility and speed that Gear 2 provides.
Although Gear 2 exhausts Luffy after he uses it, he can quickly recover from it. But the consequences of Gear 3 are way more dangerous. If he were to use it for a long time and deactivate the power, he’d go flying like a deflating balloon.
Moreover, when he reaches his time limit in Gear 3, his entire body shrinks, leaving him in quite a vulnerable state, with almost no strength and no ability to stretch. When this happens, he has to spend the same time he spent in Gear 3 hidden until his body returns to normal.
When Does Luffy Use Gear 4 in One Piece?
The very first time Luffy used his Gear 4 form was in Dressrosa arc, in his fight against Donquixote Doflamingo, one of the Warlords of the Sea!
After the 2-year time skip, the Straw Hat Pirates find themselves in an alliance with Trafalgar Law’s crew to take down the Yonkos. Following the plan, Luffy and his crew go up against Doflamingo, who proved quite a dangerous opponent.
To overcome Doflamingo’s insane strength and his fearsome devil fruit ability, Luffy unveils his Gear 4 form, the strongest technique he had in his arsenal at that time.
Like in Gear 3, Luffy bites into his arm and blows himself bigger to enter his Gear 4 form. His chest, shoulders, and arms grow a lot in comparison to his legs, giving him some ridiculous proportions. He coats his arms and legs with Armament Haki, hence the black color of the limbs.
In this case, he takes the form of Bounce Man, in which he can’t stop bouncing and uses the power of compression to improve his attacks rather than speed and elasticity. The use of Haki and his body made of rubber make him resistant to both blunt and bladed attacks (including Doflamingo’s thread attacks). And the steam he poured in previous power-ups now engulfs his body.
With the compression and the ability to bounce, Luffy gets improved endurance, power, and speed, but most of his attacks are now short-ranged. He can still stretch but only focus on one body part at a time.
This form proved very powerful as Doflamingo couldn’t defend himself against it. Even after putting in an insane amount of effort, the Warlord couldn’t overcome Luffy’s insane abilities and was defeated!
Later in the series, Luffy unveils variations of his Gear 4 form. He uses “Gear 4 Tankman” in his fight against Charlotte Cracker, and he uses “Gear 4 Snakeman” in his fight against Charlotte Katakuri on the Whole Cake Island arc.
Gear 4, like the other power-ups, has its downside too. He can use it for a limited time, and when Luffy reaches his limits, he will be rendered almost immobile and incapable of using Haki for 10 minutes. Though, the consequences seem to dial down a bit after the Dressrosa Arc.
Conclusion
Luffy is reasonably competent in adapting to the opponent and situation at hand. But the three transformations have two main consequences, there’s a time limit for their use, and Luffy’s left too tired to move after reaching that limit.
Lucci speculated that using Gear 2 could reduce Luffy’s life expectancy, as after a few minutes of exchanging blows in Gear 2, Luffy is barely able to move and needs minutes to return to his normal state.
In Gear 4, he can only use it for a few minutes before being almost incapacitated and unable to use Haki at all for 10 minutes. But Luffy has gotten better at utilizing these forms, and the limitations have somewhat reduced in the later parts of the story.
And now, with the revelation of Gear 5 form, Luffy wouldn’t need to rely on his other Gears, as he can do whatever he wants in his Gear 5th form!
So, I hope your question regarding when does Luffy use Gear 2, Gear 3, and Gear 4 has been answered. If you liked the article, share it with your friends and tell them when Luffy’s iconic gears first appeared in the story!
Also Read: When Does Luffy Use Gear 5?