Highlights
- Luffy is one of the strongest characters in One Piece, but he struggles to deal lasting damage to the Five Elders.
- The regeneration factor of the Elders presents a challenge that even Luffy's Gear 5 cannot overcome.
- Luffy may need to tap into ancient energy with his Drums of Liberation to achieve a power-up necessary to defeat the Elders.
Luffy is the protagonist of One Piece, and over the years, he has certainly gone from strength to strength. Right now, Luffy can be considered to be one of the strongest characters in the entire series, alongside the likes of the other Emperors of the Sea.
One Piece: Why One Of The Elders Could Be A Traitor, Explained
York betrayed Vegapunk in One Piece. Could one of the Five Elders betray Imu?
While Luffy is certainly very powerful, he is not at the very top of the era just yet. There are individuals who have abilities that Luffy cannot deal with, despite being as strong as he is. To deal with such individuals, like the Elders, Luffy needs another power and fans might already have their first hint of what it could be.
Luffy's Inability To Hurt The Elders
Luffy Couldn't Do Lasting Damage To The Elders Despite Using Gear 5
In terms of strength, Luffy certainly is among the very best in One Piece. He might not be explicitly the strongest, but Luffy's abilities go far beyond what anyone can imagine. Luffy was the man who ended up defeating Kaido, and after that, he continued to grow in strength. In the Egghead Island arc, Luffy defeated Kizaru on more than one occasion, and at the same time, he was able to hold his own against Saturn and even dominate the fight against him. Against the other Elders, Luffy did equally well, if not better.
It is useless!! These guys cannot die!! - Luffy
However, while this performance was incredible, there was one thing that Luffy couldn't deal with in this arc, and that is the regeneration factor of the Five Elders. In fact, it seems that no matter what attack is launched at them, the Elders simply regenerate. This is an ability that will likely show up in Luffy's future battles, especially when he fights against Imu. If his underlings have this ability, it goes without saying that Imu themselves will have a similar power as well. This might be a very difficult thing for Luffy to deal with. Despite the power of Gear 5, which essentially bends reality itself, Luffy cannot contend with the incredible recovery factor of the Elders.
It is almost as if they take no damage in battle at all, regardless of what Luffy did to them, it was of no use. In the end, even Luffy himself concluded that the Elders are simply immortal, and defeating them is essentially beyond him at this point in time. Inevitably, Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates, along with many other powerful individuals, will have to fight against the Elders later down the line. They will have to be equipped with better abilities if they are to damage them permanently, and, more importantly, defeat them in battle.
However, right now, a proper way to deal with this issue hasn't been provided to the fans. However, Oda might have already hinted at what could actually be the weakness of these Elders, and this could very well become the next power-up for Luffy.
Luffy's Next Power And How To Hurt The Elders
Luffy Will Continue To Grow After Egghead If He Is To Beat The Elders
Throughout the Egghead Island arc, Luffy tried his very best to deal damage to the elders. Of course, the Elders did take damage, in most cases, at the very least. However, whatever damage they received vanished in thin air. The regeneration factor of the Five Elders is absolutely incredible and it simply cannot be dealt with easily. Luffy tried his very best and utilized the imagination abilities that he possessed to the fullest. Despite all his abilities, Luffy was not able to deal permanent damage to the Elders, and that certainly is a shame.
However, curiously enough, one place where the Elders certainly felt like they took damage was inside the Labophase, when they were searching for the Transponder Snail from Vegapunk. Specifically, fans saw Saint Saturn take some sort of damage when he was looking for the snail. When Saturn found himself inside the laboratory where Vegapunk's greatest creation, the Mother Flame, was resting, he screamed out in pain, almost as if he couldn't bear the presence of the Mother Flame. It appears that the Mother Flame might be the kryptonite to the Elders, after all.
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There is a reason why Saturn, who was in his Yokai form, returned to his human form, and then, he continued to maintain this form from there onwards, especially around the Mother Flame. The fact is that the Mother Flame ended up forcing Saturn out of his Yokai state, and this might just be the key to damaging these Elders.
If just the light that shines from the Mother Flame is strong enough to force these Elders into their human forms, then, perhaps utilizing it in battle is going to be the answer to dealing permanent damage to the Elders as well. This might be confusing for the fans, however, the Mother Flame can certainly be used to power up weapons. Fans already know that a piece of the Mother Flame was strong enough to power an ancient weapon, and as such, it can certainly be used for the creation of other weapons in battle as well.
That said, while one could easily build weapons created by the Mother Flame against the Elders, that certainly is not Luffy's style. He does not wield weapons, and as such, a weaponry power-up for him doesn't make much sense, and that is where the power of Gear Fifth comes into play.
Is There A Part Of Gear 5 Luffy Hasn't Mastered?
Luffy Will Have To Make Use Of Ancient Energy Against The Elders
While Luffy seems to have mastered the ability of his Devil Fruit, there might actually be a part of Gear 5 that he hasn't mastered just yet. This is the Drums of Liberation that Luffy knows he can channel once he starts tapping into this power. The fact is, the Drums of Liberation were able to somehow power up the Iron Giant. Fans know for a fact that the Iron Giant is something that works on ancient energy. Vegapunk failed to awaken the Iron Giant because he could not replicate the ancient energy source. Yet, Luffy was able to channel energy to the Iron Giant with his Drums of Liberation. Now, fans know for a fact that the ancient energy source that Vegapunk was talking about was, of course, the Mother Flame, which was confirmed in a recent message from the genius scientist. In the message, he concluded that the biggest achievement of his lifetime was to create an undying energy source, the mother flame.
Beat loudly, sound of the heart!
How Luffy is able to channel the same energy with his Drums of Liberation and power up the Iron Giant isn't known. This seems to imply that there is a part of Gear 5 that Luffy might not know how to tap into yet. If these Drums of Liberation can channel ancient energy to the Iron Giant, then, perhaps, they can channel similar abilities to Luffy as well. It is using this ancient energy that Luffy will be able to damage the Elders permanently, and, later on in the story, Imu as well. Right now, this looks like what could be Luffy's next power-up and it could be one of the most important ones in the story moving forward. It might not significantly boost Luffy's strength, but it is one that will give him the tools to deal with the immortality of the Elders.
One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1117, is set to be June 17, 2024.
