Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece world has witnessed a lot of shocking events, but none of them compared to the Gear 5 mode, which was introduced in the Wano arc. The way that fans perceived Luffy and his powers was entirely altered by this transformation, which he accomplished during his battle with Kaido.
After gaining the ability to unlock Gear 5, Luffy transformed the anime series by ultimately defeating Kaido, an adversary he had been battling for three and a half years. Gear 5 opens up a whole new universe of opportunities for Luffy and is by far his most famous and distinctive transformation yet.
It gives a humorous touch to his bouts and completely fits with his persona. The transformation was first introduced in the manga series chapter 1044, which was released on March 28, 2022. The manga chapter became the most-read chapter ever, making history in the process. But Oda once revealed that he drew Gear 5 Luffy as a joke to mess with One Piece fans.
Eiichiro Oda Drew Gear 5 Luffy As a Joke
In an interview between Eiichiro Oda and Gosho Aoyama, the creator of Detective Conan, which was later shared by @sandman_AP, Oda-san talked about the iconic Gear 5 transformation that broke the anime industry since its release. Oda explained how he drew the Gear 5 as a joke to annoy his fans.
He stated:
“I drew Gear 5 as a big joke, knowing that my readers would be disgusted by it. Battle manga becomes more serious when they follow readers’ expectations. I hated that. I didn’t want my manga to be too serious, so I had fun achieving it with the fight against Kaido.”
According to Oda, he wanted to annoy his fans because they take fights and battles in the manga too seriously. He did not want his manga and his main character Luffy to be too serious, which is why he drew Gear 5 as a joke and made one of the most prominent fights of Luffy’s journey to the One Piece treasure look funny.
Eiichiro Oda’s Inspiration Behind Gear 5 Luffy in One Piece
While talking about his intention of creating Gear 5 Luffy in One Piece, Oda also explained what inspired him to create the iconic transformation. He talked about how Tom and Jerry became the models for the Gear 5 mode, but because the fight had Kaido, he had trouble designing a fight just like the iconic cartoon series.
Oda stated:
“Tom and Jerry are the models for Gear 5, but I was troubled because only Luffy jokes around in battle, but not Kaido. I like the traditional symbolic manga expressions such as character’s legs spinning around like a wheel when he runs. It’s sad they are outdated now.”
Oda explained how Luffy always jokes around and carries a silly persona, but Kaido is a completely different character. Oda talked about how he loved the traditional symbolic manga expressions that were a big thing in the past. However, as the manga world is progressing and upgrading, those iconic expressions have become outdated.
You can watch One Piece on Crunchyroll.
