Since its introduction during the fight against Kaido in Chapter 1044 of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, Luffy's Awakened Gear 5 form has taken the world by storm. Celebrated for the cartoonish antics it has incorporated into the fighting style of the Straw Hat captain, as well as the massive step forward it represents in his journey to becoming the next Pirate King, Gear 5 has placed Luffy in an entirely new class of the power scaling system in One Piece, far beyond what its predecessor, Gear 4 could hope to achieve. It is with this form that Luffy was finally able to defeat Kaido — captain of the Beasts Pirates and the "Strongest Creature in the World" — to liberate the country of Wano from his tyranny, and in the process, become one of the new Emperors of the Sea. The debut of this form was also accompanied by the revelation that the Gomu Gomu no Mi was not actually a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit, but rather, a Mythical Zoan in disguise which was historically known as the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.
This piece of news also expanded on the lore of the fruit, where the Five Elders described it as one of the most ridiculously powerful ones in the story, having eluded the efforts of the World Government for nearly 800 years since the end of the Void Century. Considering the drastic change in the world order after the Wano Arc, it is certain that Luffy will now begin to take on some of the most powerful combatants in the world of One Piece from this point onwards. In terms of the World Government's strongest resources, the Three Admirals are said to be the most devastating fighters among the Marines, and it might not be long before Luffy goes toe-to-toe with one or more of them. With this in mind, the power up granted by Gear 5, although significant, has still not been explored to its fullest extent, much like the full capabilities of the Admirals themselves. A fight against the Admirals is quite inevitable, and may even occur during the Straw Hats' journey to Elbaf. In this regard, many fans will now begin to ponder how likely it is for Luffy to emerge victorious against an Admiral, now that he is an Emperor of the Sea.
How Strong Is Gear 5 Luffy?
Like other Awakened Zoan fruits, Gear 5 is a drastic improvement in Luffy's strength, speed, durability, as well as an upgrade to his standard rubber powers. As inferred from his fight against Kaido, this form far surpasses the already devastating power of Gear 4, at a level where he can easily defeat the likes of Rob Lucci's Awakened Zoan form without any hassle. When comparing how much Luffy struggled against Lucci during the Enies Lobby Arc, the power up afforded to him by Gear 5 is almost ridiculous, where no amount of development on Lucci's part can put him anywhere close to Luffy's current level.
His malleability in his rubber form also reaches new heights, where he can deform his own body to insane extents in order to absorb the force of an attack and return to normal virtually instantaneously. Luffy's recuperation also gains an added boost, and is active at all times, even when he is not consciously focusing on it. One of the most potent benefits of this new form is his ability to turn the surrounding environment into rubber and use it to his advantage. As such the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika's Awakening possesses properties that are similar to both Zoan and Paramecia types, making its powers an anomaly within the world of Devil Fruits.
An almost surrealistic and slapstick-influenced touch is imparted by Gear 5 to Luffy's fighting style, where Kaido himself remarked that it was "like something out of a picture book." Intangible substance such as lightning, or even the very ground itself can be reshaped to create or deflect attacks. Gear 5 permits Luffy to instantly switch between the limb and muscle inflation techniques of Gear 3 and 4, with the speed of Gear 2. He can even expand his entire body to gargantuan proportions and take on the form of a giant, as he did against Kaido. All in all, Luffy is only constrained by the limits of his imagination in this form, which speaks volumes of the explosive power it provides. The only downside is that Luffy is still not able to deal with its drawbacks as easily as his other forms, since he visibly ages after deactivating the state, even if he can trigger it once again by simply altering the rhythm of his heartbeat to match the Drums of Liberation.
Pitted Against The Navy's Strongest
In their original incarnation, the three Admirals were all Logia-type users, with only Fleet Admiral Sengoku in possession of a Mythical Zoan, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Daibutsu. Luffy and Fujitora have not fought in an outright confrontation, much like in the case of Ryokugyu, and the true extent of their power is still yet to be ascertained, but it is worth noting that Shanks completely overwhelmed the latter Admiral with little to no effort. If Luffy were to become Pirate King, he would definitely need to surpass Shanks. In this case, it is safe to say that with further mastery of Gear 5, to negate its drawbacks, as well as a bit more proficiency in his use of Conqueror's Haki-infused attacks, Luffy should be able to defeat the two Admirals by the end of the story.
It is safe to say that Akainu — now Fleet Admiral Sakazuki — boasts the most offensive power among the original trio which featured Aokiji and Kizaru, with his Magu Magu no Mi infused attacks shown to be able to destroy virtually anything in their path. Even if Luffy can withstand Kaido's Blast Breath attacks and incur little to no damage, it is highly likely that he will find Sakazuki's far more troublesome. His mastery of Haki might be the only difference between the two, as Sakazuki's own proficiency at using all three types of Haki is yet to be shown. A match up between Luffy and the Fleet Admiral is most likely on the cards, especially since he was the one responsible for Ace's death. Therefore, this battle would be a fitting resolution to the traumatic experiences the Straw Hat captain endured at Marineford, to showcase how far he has come from feeling completely helpless while watching his sworn brother die before his eyes.
Next among them, Kizaru's speed and devastating explosive powers are also issues that Luffy will have to confront when taking on this laid back monster. A similar situation arises in the case of Aokiji, although Luffy also has flame-based attacks in his arsenal to negate, or at least, alleviate the threat of Aokiji being able to subdue opponents inside massive coffins of ice. Once again, the battles may be very close to call, but with a little more training, Luffy might just emerge victorious due to the near infinite countermeasures he can now use to deal with the abilities of these two extremely powerful individuals.
Hence, it is quite possible that Luffy would be the victor in one-on-one fights against the current and former Admirals, save for maybe Sakazuki, although the battles will be extremely hard fought in each case. The question of whether he will win against two or more of them is a different matter entirely as there are far more variables to consider depending on the different permutations that can occur. As the final saga of One Piece is beginning to heat up, Luffy is likely to reach even greater heights in due time, growing immeasurably stronger on his path to attain true freedom on the seas and become the next Pirate King. As a result, this much awaited fight against the Admirals, the Marine's greatest assets, appears closer than ever, and it is anybody's bet to see who will come out as the victor.