🚨 SHOCK: Oda OFFICIALLY CONFIRMS GEAR 5 ORIGINATES FROM GEAR 4 SNAKEMAN – NOT A RETCON AS YOU THOUGHT! 😱🔥

It’s been a few years since Luffy’s Gear Five transformation completely took One Piece fans by surprise back during the climax of the Wano Arc. Since then, Gear Five and its goofy powers have certainly grown on fans, even those initially put off by it, with the series even welcoming a second Nika in Jewelry Bonney.

That said, for how unexpected the reveal initially felt, upon closer inspection, Gear Five seemed like a power-up that was a long time coming, with fans only discovering much of the foreshadowing after the fact. And now, One Piece has revealed yet another one of Gear Five’s unexpected inspirations, confirming the form was indeed in the works long before Wano.

One Piece Reveals Gear Five Was Directly Inspired By Gear Four

Along with the release of Chapter #1169, One Piece also most recently released a mini magazine called Legend&Next featuring a variety of rough sketches and never-before-seen concept art by Eiichiro Oda.

This notably included concept art for Gear Four, particularly the earliest drafts for Gear Four: Snakeman, which made its debut during the Whole Cake Island Arc against Charlotte Katakuri. Alongside the more familiar silhouette of Snakeman in the center, however, are also some sketches that appear suspiciously similar to Gear Five.

These early drafts of Snakeman sport many of Gear Five’s characteristics, such as the thick, curly white eyebrows, the floating white hair, and, of course, the smoke scarf around Luffy’s shoulders that is shared between both Gear Four and Gear Five.

The rough sketch to the bottom left also depicts Luffy’s Gear Five “muscle” mode, which was seen during the fight against Kaido, along with the note that “muscles can be freely used,” which likely refers to Luffy’s ability to inflate his muscles in both Gear Four and Gear Five.

The text accompanying the sketches reads, “Was Gear 4 Snakeman the root of Gear 5?” directly suggesting that Snakeman directly inspired Gear Five, or at least that it was during the process of creating Snakeman that Oda came up with what would eventually become Gear Five.

Gear Five’s Connection to Snakeman Is Secretly Genius

Overall, it makes sense for Gear Four: Snakeman to have shaped Gear Five. The Snakeman form was created as Luffy’s answer to combating Katakuri’s Future Sight and Mochi Mochi Fruit, and perhaps the initial white concept for Snakeman was an effort to emphasize the similarities between Katakuri and Luffy’s similarly stretchy abilities.

At the same time, this revelation also bolsters a popular fan theory that Gear Four as a whole was either a semi-awakening or an incomplete devil fruit awakening. The fact that Gear Four already sports the smoke scarf that accompanies most Zoan awakenings is perhaps the biggest piece of evidence that, physically, Luffy was long ready to awaken the Nika Fruit.

However, according to Kaido, an awakening takes place when the mind and body are in sync, and it has been strongly implied that Luffy reached this state mentally when he was prepared to die to liberate Wano. Perhaps Oda initially intended for Luffy to awaken his devil fruit against Katakuri, who, up until then, was one of the toughest opponents Luffy had ever faced.

All that said, these sketches prove Gear Five was anything but a last-minute addition or a retcon, and was, in fact, conceptualized long before the Wano Arc itself. It’s unclear whether One Piece has any more power-ups in store for Luffy, but seeing Oda’s design process suggests whatever comes next, if at all, will surely be just as incredibly well-thought-out.