The years spent in the vast treacherous seas have landed the Strawhats in numerous life-threatening situations in One Piece. However, they have always managed to fight their way through them or have been saved by allies. In Egghead, both of these factors ensured their safe escape. But not without a reality check about the strength of those they’re up against.
After the debacle of Egghead, the World Government won’t sit quietly for too long. Making Elbaf the only arc where the Strawhats might get some time to level up before the final war. And the final saga of One Piece calls for a final power-up for Luffy.
Egghead Was a Wake-Up Call in One Piece
With the ability to bend the laws of physics and inhuman physicality, Luffy fought an admiral and one of the five elders all by himself in Egghead. The show of strength he put up was truly fascinating but still not enough. If it hadn’t been for Emet and Joyboy’s Haki, the Strawhats would have been in serious trouble. Additionally, there is someone even more sinister than the World Government waiting for Luffy, Blackbeard.
Unlike the other opponents Luffy has faced, Blackbeard doesn’t seem to have any moral compass. He is truly evil and willing to risk it all to accomplish his goal. There’s a lot of uncertainty regarding Shanks’ goal and alignment as well. With so many forces against him, Luffy undoubtedly needs to get stronger, for his dream and his crew.
Gear 5 is a menace and Luffy was able to put up a great fight against the strongest characters. Even though a fight against Gear 5 was stressful for both Kizaru and Saturn, it wasn’t enough to overpower them. Luffy also experiences severe exhaustion after using Gear 5, making it the one weakness with his awakened devil fruit that could prove detrimental in the future. Besides tackling that weakness, his next power should ideally focus on his Haki.
Luffy’s Next Power Up in Elbaf
Elbaf was mentioned for the first time in Little Garden and it has been more than a decade since then. Oda must have planned something significant for this arc, especially for Usopp and Luffy. Whatever skills these two acquire can be tested against the Giant Warriors of Elbaf. Fighting against the Giants will not serve as great training, but also be quite necessary.
At the end of Dressrosa, there was a scene that teased the Usopp’s potential with Observation Haki. We might finally get the follow-up to that development. As for Luffy, he already wields all three forms of Haki, but they are not as strong as they should be ideally.
Two characters who have demonstrated really strong Haki are Shanks during Wano and Emet in Egghead. Joyboy’s Haki that Emet used might be an advanced form of Conqueror’s or a new category altogether. Whatever it is, Luffy needs to attain it. Emet’s attack single handedly pushed back all Five Elders at once. To overpower the likes of Blackbeard, Shanks, and Imu, Luffy needs to be able to use the strongest form of Haki.
Eiichiro Oda has always followed a pattern with the introduction of new power-ups for Luffy. Most pre-time-skip power-ups have been centered around his devil fruit powers whereas post-time-skip, the focus has been on both Haki and the devil fruit. Luffy has been trained by Rayleigh, Hyogoro, and Katakuri. A mysterious figure has been shown to be waiting for Luffy on Elbaf, and they might be the next person to lead Luffy to his final power-up.
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