Although it seems almost impossible, ‘One Piece’ is already entering its final stretch. But don’t worry, we still have several years of manga ahead of us. That yes, the last chapters have been somewhat frantic and have given us a good number of fights, revelations, twists, a new partner… and a new form for Luffy.
And as revealed by himself Eiichiro Oda, I was very clear about the tone I wanted to achieve with Luffy’s Gear Fifth And where did he get the necessary inspiration from?
Be careful, there are spoilers for the ‘One Piece’ manga!
No serious fights, thanks
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the series, Eiichiro Oda He has given more details about what it has been like to work all these years in ‘One Piece’ and what has been one of the most important moments for him. So considering everything that has happened in the manga, Oda revealed that for him Luffy’s transformation into Gear Fifth has been one of the high points of the story.
This new transformation has marked a before and after in history, with Luffy’s Devil Fruit powers giving him the push he needed to defeat Kaido.
Some fans are somewhat skeptical about the new powers of Luffy, which allow him to do things like become giant and turn not only his body but also everything he touches into rubber. This has given rise to the fact that the combats can be quite crazy, but it is that According to Oda, the most important thing is that they were also fun.
“I drew this playing a little bit with the idea that it’s okay if people don’t like it,” Oda said. “I wanted the battles to have humor. Since I was an assistant, the expressions that were the symbol of the manga have been lost. For example, putting a light bulb when a character thinks, or making a character’s legs go in circles like the wheels of a car when they run”.
As the mangaka explained, he wanted to recover that feeling somewhat cartoon with exaggerated elements to give more humor to the battles. In fact in the joint interview with Gōshō Aoyama, Oda revealed that une of his inspirations for the tone of Gear Fifth was precisely the classic cartoonsand especially in ‘Tom and Jerry’.
“The concept was a bit like I was suddenly drawing ‘Tom and Jerry,'” Oda explained. “Manga fights have become more and more serious to connect with fans, and I’ve always hated that trend. I don’t want to turn [‘One Piece’] in a serious manga, I want it to be fun. That’s why I drew this, and I had a lot of fun doing it.”