Gear 5's Biggest Weaknesses in One Piece

 Gear 5 is Luffy's most recent power-up in One Piece and most likely the biggest he will ever receive. This power boost is amazing in every way and that's exactly why Luffy was only able to access it towards the end of the series. In the Wano Country arc, Luffy lost several times to Kaido and, in the end, ended up dying.

However, moments later, his heart began to beat differently, and thus, the greatest power increase in One Piece and potentially all of fiction was born. Gear 5 is essential for Luffy and allows him to fight at the highest level.

It also allows him to do absolutely ridiculous things that he just couldn't do without this transformation. However, Gear 5 is not unstoppable. There are ways to subdue Gear 5's power and potentially even outrun it.

The Power of Gear 5

Gear 5 is a unique transformation that Luffy transforms into after awakening his Devil Fruit. This transformation allows Luffy to fight at the peak of his form. In fact, Luffy refers to this form as his pinnacle, and for that reason, Gear 5 holds tremendous importance. It is essentially clear that this form is Luffy's last transformation. While he could still get stronger, it's very likely that he won't get another transformation going forward. When you look at what the Gear 5 offers, however, there's no longer any need for another transformation.

Gear 5 strengthens Luffy's body and allows him to behave more like rubber than ever before. Furthermore, it allows him to fight with even more freedom and even spread laughter and joy wherever he goes. Gear 5 allows Luffy to bring anything he can imagine to life, as imagination is the only limitation of this power. Luffy can create things out of thin air and even do impossible things like running on air, among other ridiculous abilities. Gear 5 Awakening is quite unique in the sense that it has the awakened powers of both Zoan and Paramecia. For example, Luffy gains a transformation upon his awakening, which is a feature of Zoan Awakenings.

However, at the same time, Luffy can also transfer his ability to his surroundings, which is a feature of Paramecia Awakenings. What's even more absurd is the fact that Luffy can also transfer his powers to other humans, making this ability unique and nearly unstoppable. This is precisely why even Kaido had a hard time fighting Luffy. However, there are certainly weaknesses in Gear 5.

Blackbeard in the Final Saga

While Luffy is incredibly free to do whatever he wants with his Devil Fruit power, one enemy he needs to watch out for is Blackbeard. Blackbeard is a Yonko companion of Luffy and has a bounty of 3.996 billion Berries. Blackbeard and Luffy already have a pretty deep history. The two met in Jaya for the first time and were already at odds with each other. Blackbeard was responsible for capturing Ace and, in a way, led to his execution. Luffy and Blackbeard fought each other in Impel Down and the confrontation was short-lived, however, it did give fans a glimpse of the future. In the One Piece Final Saga, this fight will take place and Luffy will certainly have significant difficulties against him.

Blackbeard is Gear 5's ultimate weakness, and a large part of that is due to his awesome Devil Fruit ability. Blackbeard possesses two Devil Fruit powers and the most dangerous ability he has is the Yami Yami no Mi. Fruit of it is incredibly powerful and also the most sinister of all fruits that ever existed. He is a Logia-type Devil Fruit type, however, he does not offer the intangibility of a Logia, simply because he sucks everything, including that intangibility. This fruit gives Blackbeard the power of absolute darkness, as well as infinite gravity. He can suck in anything like a black hole and even things like light cannot escape his grasp.

The biggest advantage of his Devil Fruit is that he can suck the ability of other Devil Fruit users as well. In essence, Blackbeard can simply prevent Luffy from accessing the power of Gear 5 with his incredible Devil Fruit powers and thus becomes his ultimate weakness.

Blackbeard's Awakening

Of course, fans know that Blackbeard is weak against counterattacks. While he certainly cannot stop the Devil Fruit's abilities, he needs to be in physical contact with his enemies to do so. For example, during his fight against Ace, the latter quickly realized that Blackbeard needed to come into contact with him for his power to work. Ace opted to attack on the counterattack and inflicted severe damage on Blackbeard, including piercing him with a spear through the heart at one point. However, to his surprise, Blackbeard still survived, presumably because his body is different.

However, a stronger fighter could certainly hit Blackbeard on the counter and potentially defeat him. This was seen during the Marineford arc, when Blackbeard faced Whitebeard. The latter was able to hit him with Murakumogiri on the counterattack and if not for his illness, Blackbeard would have already died. This opens up space for Luffy to do the same. After all, he has incredibly powerful abilities and the added power of bringing his imagination to life would certainly help him deal with an enemy as strong as Blackbeard.

However, all of this is nullified once Blackbeard awakens his Devil Fruit. Although the Logia powers have yet to be awakened, if Blackbeard displays the ability that Paramecia types have, he will gain the power to spread his darkness to his surroundings. In that case, Blackbeard wouldn't need to come into direct contact with his enemies to nullify their powers. Anyone who enters his domain will immediately lose their Devil Fruit abilities, and essentially, if Blackbeard is awake when fighting Luffy, it would pose a danger to the Straw Hat Pirate. Luffy wouldn't even be able to access his Gears. For that reason, Blackbeard remains Luffy's Gear 5 biggest weakness.

The Other Weaknesses

Of course, Blackbeard isn't the only weakness Luffy has. It should be borne in mind that Luffy is, after all, a Devil Fruit user, and the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses certainly apply to him as well. For example, being fully submerged in water leaves Luffy defenseless. The Prismatic Stone, which emits the same frequency as the ocean itself, is another major weakness of any Devil Fruit user, and Luffy is certainly not exempt from it. The Vegapunk blisters he has recently displayed are another incredible weakness of all Devil Fruit users, and thus Luffy as well.

There is also the threat of Imu over the world of One Piece. Fans have already seen that Imu possesses a Devil Fruit power, and in this case, that power could very well be the opposite of Luffy's power. If Luffy can bring things to life from nothing, perhaps Imu can erase things from existence with the power of nothingness.

Imu's abilities certainly look very dangerous and fans will see more of that in the One Piece Final Saga. What fans know for sure at this point is that Luffy and Imu will face off at some point, and when that happens, fans will find out if Imu possesses a power that could be Luffy's natural weakness as well.