Episode 726

"Gear Fourth! The Phenomenal Boundman!" is the 726th episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
As the Birdcage closes in on Dressrosa, Luffy activates Gear Fourth, which causes his torso to balloon and forces him to constantly bounce. Doflamingo laughs at this new form, but Luffy retracts his fist into his arm and punches him, blowing him into the city far below. Luffy lands more large blows on Doflamingo as the Shichibukai struggles to keep on even footing. However, Luffy is able to change the direction of his punches and absorb Doflamingo's attacks.

Long Summary
As the citizens of Dressrosa continue running from the shrinking Birdcage, Marines and pirates alike assist the handicapped. Some citizens notice with a shock that the buildings not being sliced up by the Birdcage are being pushed along with it, making them even more afraid. On the second level of the palace plateau, Baby 5 explains how shrinking the Birdcage was Doflamingo's way of preventing his evil actions from being told. Sai then orders the Corrida Colosseum gladiators who are still standing to rescue the fallen and take them out of the plateau, and Baby 5 inwardly squeals in pride at her future husband's leadership, which Chinjao notes as well. Meanwhile, Viola, Usopp, and Hack climb down the King's Plateau, and Viola notices that the center of the Birdcage is shifting toward Doflamingo's location, meaning even the King's Plateau will be sliced apart. This causes Usopp to become frightened and order Hack to climb down faster. Zoro, Kin'emon and Kanjuro reach the streets of Dressrosa, and Zoro begins running in a direction. When asked where he is going, Zoro reveals that they are going to stop the Birdcage, shocking the two samurai. On the Flower Field, Cavendish examines Law's severed arm, which had been treated by Leo and Mansherry. Cavendish says that when he worked as a toy in the underground harbor shipping Underworld materials, he realized that it would not be enough to just defeat Doflamingo himself. He tells Law that defeating Doflamingo would cause ripples all over the world, and Law replies that that is what they were after.

On the palace rooftop, Luffy casts off his sandals and Doflamingo watches in interest as he activates Gear Fourth. Luffy coats his arm in Busoshoku Haki and blows into it, inflating his muscles to massive proportions. The air moves into his torso and causes it to balloon, and Luffy's Haki takes the shape of tribal flames on his chest. With that, Gear Fourth: Boundman has been activated, and Luffy keeps bouncing on the ground. Doflamingo laughs at the absurdity of Luffy's new form, especially the constant bouncing. However, Luffy says that he used this form during his two-year training in order to put the animals into submission, as he remembers struggling to keep up with them with normal attacks. Doflamingo is still not impressed, but Luffy begins compressing his fist into his forearm and flies toward the Shichibukai at high speed. Doflamingo attempts to block Luffy's compressed punch with his own Haki, but the punch sends him flying into the town far below.

Doflamingo slides into a building at high speed, causing it to fall over. The citizens nearby turn to see what has happened, and Viola reveals to Usopp and Hack in shock that Luffy has taken on a new form and sent Doflamingo flying into the street. The citizens stare at the fallen Doflamingo in shock and fear, wondering what has happened to their king. Two Marines attempt confronting Doflamingo, but the Shichibukai's anger causes them to lose their footing as the citizens run away in fear. Doflamingo looks up at the palace, angered and amazed that he had been sent flying that far. Suddenly, he sees that Luffy is flying toward him by compressing his legs and jumping off the air. Doflamingo tries attacking Luffy, but his attack misses as Luffy appears behind Doflamingo and dropkicks him, sending him crashing through several buildings. The citizens stare in shock at Luffy, and get even more confused as they watch the pirate bounce uncontrollably through the streets. On the third level of the palace plateau, Bartolomeo screams in delight at Luffy's new mode, and tries to tell Kyros how big of a deal this is. However, Kyros smacks Bartolomeo out of the way because he was blocking his eyesight.

Doflamingo ends up by the King's Plateau and struggles to comprehend Luffy's new form as he flies into the air. Luffy flies up to Doflamingo's location, and the two face off. Doflamingo attacks Luffy with several string attacks, but Luffy breaks them all as the two clash head-on. Doflamingo activates Busoshoku Haki and exchanges blows with Luffy, but the pirate physically overwhelms Doflamingo and headbutts him a long distance away. As Doflamingo flies, Luffy tries hitting him with a long punch, but Doflamingo dodges it and appears behind Luffy. Doflamingo kicks the defenseless Luffy with a Busoshoku Haki kick, but to his shock Luffy's body absorbs the blow despite also being covered in Haki. Luffy's body recoils from Doflamingo's kick and sends the Shichibukai flying back, and Luffy prepares another punch. Doflamingo dodges it again, but using his Python technique Luffy keeps changing the punch's direction. Doflamingo uses Overheat to stop Luffy, but Luffy's punch destroys it as it finally reaches Doflamingo and hits him in the face.

Anime Notes

 * The anime adds the following scenes:
 * Chinjao commenting on how Sai is acting like a leader.
 * Leo reattaching Law's arm and Mansherry healing it are shown onscreen.
 * A flashback to Luffy's struggle to beat the creatures on Rusukaina, which was only alluded to in the manga.
 * Viola noting Luffy's transformation.
 * Bartolomeo reacting to Gear Fourth and bragging about it to Kyros.
 * When Doflamingo is sent flying into the city, two Marines confront him, but his anger causes them to drop in fear.
 * When Luffy activates Gear Fourth and his torso is being coated by his haki, a silhouette of Luffys Devil fruit, the Gomu Gomu no Mi is visible instead for his torso. This is though no longer than a few seconds.
 * Luffy manages to stay in the same place at one point in the air, despite Gear Fourth keeping him in constant motion.
 * Luffy and Doflamingo exchange more blows in the anime than the manga.
 * Doflamingo uses Overheat twice. The first one misses, and the second one is destroyed by Luffy.
 * Luffy headbutting Doflamingo while fighting in mid air.
 * Luffy's second Gomu Gomu no Culverin takes longer to hit Doflamingo and takes more turns.
 * Despite Luffy throwing his sandals aside on the palace rooftop before using Gear Fourth, his sandals are present during his 'Kinniku Fusen' and 'Rhino Schneider' techniques, as well as throughout his mid air battle with Doflamingo.
 * This way the anime fixed an oversee in the manga where Luffy was drawn with his sandals on in every chapter after the one this episode adapted. The only time when he could have put them back on is after punching Doflamingo with Gomu Gomu no Kong Gun and before flying over to him