Gomu Gomu no Mi/Gear Second Techniques

Gear Second (ギア2（セカンド）) is a powerful form that was first seen in Luffy's fight against Blueno.

Overview
Luffy pumps his blood rapidly with his legs to kick start the process which in turn, increases the speed of his blood flow, thus providing more oxygen and nutrients to various parts of his body which makes him much faster and stronger. It uses even more oxygen and energy, hence using up more food and causing him to pant heavily. The increase in his metabolism causes him to be hungrier than usual or even a paralytic type effect after a long usage of it, like in the second fight with Rob Lucci, where Luffy was only able to lie on the floor. Lucci, one of the first of Luffy's opponents to witness it, compares the process to doping. Doping is adding more red blood cells to the body, which in turn allows for greater delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the body. In Luffy's case, his organs and blood vessels are made of rubber allowing them to expand and contract at greater amounts without tearing. Essentially Luffy increases the blood flow by forcing more blood through his blood vessels via his legs and thus increase his fighting ability. This mode's enhancements to Luffy's physiology gives him the ability to use a new, stronger set of techniques which are generally the same as his old ones, but are so fast that even a skilled assassin would have a hard time actually seeing them. This is called Gear Two in the Viz Manga, Second Gear in the Official Simulcast subs, and Gear Second in the FUNimation dub.

This form also enables Luffy access to his own version of the Rokushiki technique, Soru, which would make sense since he used Soru's principle, which is to kick the ground ten or more multiple times to propel the user over to a desired distance at imperceivable speeds, as the basis of Gear Second by incorporating it with his Gomu Gomu No Mi powers. In other words, Luffy practically uses his elastic body by compressing it and using it as the kick-off point when initiating Gear Second. As a result, he can not only utilize a much more refined form of Soru that is far superior to other Soru users, but the power of his attacks are also greatly enhanced by the great speed that they seem to break the sound barrier, generating sonic boom-like effects in the process (he may have gotten the inspiration for this ability from his fight with Bellamy, who used a similar method to achieve superhuman speed). He has been able to heavily damage some of the strongest characters in the series in this form with only one attack, such as Magellan, Blackbeard, Shiki and Garp. In this form, his metabolism rate is so high that his sweat vaporizes rapidly giving rise to a steaming appearance, and, in the anime, his skin turns slightly pink and shiny from the increased blood flow. He also says almost all of his attacks in English as opposed to Japanese. Luffy also tends to take a certain pose right after activating Gear 2nd with one hand making a fist and touching the ground in front of him and the other one touching his knee, possibly to maintain the increased blood flow until the process has stabilized.

At first, Luffy can only use Gear Second for a short period of time, because the accelerated speed at which nutrients are used up depletes his stores rapidly. The mechanics behind this enhancement thus also mean reduced strength and ability after significant amounts of usage, as pointed out by Lucci when Luffy's attacks start losing their speedy edge because with all his nutrients running low, having a faster blood flow would be useless as there are no nutrients to use. Due to this, as also pointed out by Rob Lucci, Gear Second hacks away Luffy's life force dramatically, increasing a chance of having a much shorter life because he is starving his body, though Luffy rebutles, saying that it doesn't matter as long he saves his nakama. After Gear Second wears off, Luffy can recover quickly through replenishing of his nutrient storage by eating meat. Later in the Impel Down arc, Luffy has demonstrated more excessive use of his Gear second ability without such exhausting costs like his fight with Rob Lucci, as well as being able to activate it at conveniently brief periods of time to save his stamina and strength reserves for more lasting durations. This is possibly because of Luffy's mastery over the form along with his desire to save Ace, and possibly the large amount of food he ate in Newkama Land at Impel Down.

While not in the anime and manga, in the 7th movie of the series which takes place before the Water 7 arc, Luffy briefly and unknowingly activated Gear Second during his fight against Ratchet, the antagonist of the film, when the sheer pressure of the machine Luffy is forced to hold up unknowingly causes his legs to end up pumping his blood flow. He then defeated Ratchet with a Gomu Gomu no Jet Bazooka, although he though that it was a regular Gomu Gomu no Bazooka.

After Time-Skip
After the time skip, it appears that Luffy has gained far greater control over this form as he was shown utilizing it in only parts not on his body but rather a set part or parts of it and on a much faster rate than he did before. How he does this is currently unknown. The advantage of using it in a set part of his body could be that it doesn't exhaust him as quickly, as he seemed to be fine after using it in rapid succession. Luffy also now does not need to perform his usual stance to activate his Gear Second like two years ago. Because of that, he has demonstrated being able to enter Gear Second in an instant to perform incredible airborne feats even while his upper body was restrained, as well as being able to enter it instantly after being vomited out by Megalo.

Techniques Utilized
All of the techniques in this mode are named the same as the regular attacks with "Jet" added after the "Gomu Gomu no" prefix, though at often times, when using several attacks in succession, Luffy will omit this prefix. The known named techniques that are used by Luffy so far in this form are as follows:


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol (ゴムゴムのJET銃（ピストル）): Luffy delivers a Gomu Gomu no Pistol so fast that the fist's movement is invisible, and it truly seems like he shoots his opponent, except that the resulting impact is not akin to an actual pistol, but to a small hand-held cannon and powerful enough to propel the unlucky recepient several meters away. The incredible speed both makes the strike far more powerful, and harder to dodge. In the Viz Manga and FUNimation dub, this is called Gum-Gum Jet Pistol. This was first seen being used against Blueno.
 * After Time-Skip: Luffy has shown to be able to use this attack in conjunction with Busoshoku Haki, making it even more powerful, to completely destroy a Pacifista.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Stamp (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴスタンプ): Luffy delivers a Gomu Gomu no Stamp, with the same effect as the Jet Pistol. In the Viz Manga, this is called Gum-Gum Jet Stamp. This was first seen being used against Blueno.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Bazooka (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴバズーカ): Luffy charges at his opponent at high speed, and delivers a very fast and very strong Gomu Gomu no Bazooka. In the Viz Manga, FUNimation dub, and FUNimation subs, this is called Gum-Gum Jet Bazooka. This was first seen being used against Blueno. It was apparently powerful enough to break through Blueno's strongest Tekkai technique, Tekkai: Gou. During the battle against Moria in his Shadow's Asgard form, Luffy demonstrated being able to use this move to propel himself from mid-air, allowing him to perform this attack continuously.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Whip (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴ鞭（ウィップ）): Luffy delivers a Gomu Gomu no Muchi, so fast, that only the slipstream is visible. In the Viz Manga and FUNimation dub, this is called Gum-Gum Jet Whip. This was first seen being used against Rob Lucci in order to protect Franky from him.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Bullet (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴ銃弾（ブレット）): An extremely fast, close-range punch with great force. When attacking head-on, the stretching of the original Bullet along with the resulting snapback seem to occur almost simultaneously at once, making it virtually inescapable. This was first seen being used against Rob Lucci. In the Viz Manga and FUNimation dub, this is called Gum-Gum Jet Bullet.


 * Gomu Gomu no Twin Jet Pistol (ゴムゴムのツインＪＥＴ銃（ピストル）): Luffy punches with both arms simultaneously. Visually, the move only differs from his normal Gomu Gomu no Bazooka in that instead of doing an open palm strike, he has clenched fists which leave two knuckle shaped imprints on his foe. As since the move hit so fast, the air from it really looks like Luffy is literally firing two pistols. This was first seen being used against Rob Lucci and is one of the few moves unique to Gear Second (unless the anime-only regular "Gomu Gomu no Twin Pistol" is included). In the Viz Manga, this is called Gum-Gum Twin Jet Pistol.




 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Gatling (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴ銃乱打（ガトリング）): This is one of Luffy's strongest techniques. Luffy stands still, bends forward and moves his arms upwards at speeds which they can no longer be seen, leaving only jet streams in their place, very much like how the Jet Pistol looks. This results in an effect comparable to Foxy's Kyuubi Rush, except that Luffy doesn't need to make use of Noro Noro photons to slow down his target in order to accumulate the hits. The hits land so fast that, after a volley, they seemingly connect simultaneously. The circles of air bursts from the punches surrounding Luffy, resemble the many barrels of an actual Gatling gun. However, due to the large amount of energy it uses, Luffy cannot sustain it for long, although the time it is used is considerably longer than the regular Gatling. During his fight against the combined efforts of Marigold and Sandersonia, Luffy demonstrated an omnidirectional version of this move by falling on his back, then, while lying down, launches a rapid barrage of powerful high-speed punches from the ground, effectively nullifying both sister's attacks. In the Viz Manga and FUNimation dub, this is called Gum-Gum Jet Gatling.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Rocket (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴロケット): A Gear Second version of Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Rocket technique. After grabbing onto something with stretched out arms, Luffy instantly propels himself forward with blinding speed. This was first seen being used against Moriah. In the Viz Manga, this is called Gum-Gum Jet Rocket.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Migawari (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴ身代り): Somewhat of a gag move where Luffy stretches his arms to grab a person (an ally, an opponent, or otherwise a simple bystander) from afar then pulls them close to where he is to block an attack that Luffy would otherwise be incapable of surviving on his own. Using his Gear Second's speed, Luffy can capture himself a shield very quickly. He has a normal (non-Gear Second) variant of this move where Luffy sends the recipient spinning towards the assaulter to preoccupy them as he makes his escape. This was first seen being used by Luffy on Buggy, using the latter as a human shield against Mihawk. This is called Gum-Gum Human Shield Jet in the Viz Manga and Gum-Gum Jet Human Shield in the FUNimation subs.

After the Time-skip

 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Hammer (ゴムゴムのJETハンマー): The Gear Second version of Gomu Gomu no Ozuchi, which was not used since Luffy's battle with Don Krieg. Luffy wraps his legs around his opponent and, at an extreme speed, smashes him into the ground. Unlike the normal version, Luffy doesn't twist, and then un-twist his legs during the execution of this technique. It was first used against Vander Decken IX while Luffy was tied up.

Anime Uses

 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Rifle (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴ回転弾（ライフル）): A Gear Second technique that first appeared in the anime. Luffy delivers a very fast Gomu Gomu no Rifle. The winding of the original Rifle along with its snapback happening almost at the same time as Luffy speeds towards the target makes this move impossible to evade. In the Viz Manga, this is called Gum-Gum Jet Rifle. This was first seen in the anime being used against Blueno.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Lance (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴランス): A Gear Second technique that first appeared in the anime, with the name of Gomu Gomu no Jet Yari (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴ槍), however time after, Luffy makes the same move with its official name. Luffy delivers a very fast Gomu Gomu no Yari that seems to connect instantly with his opponent. This was first seen in the anime being used against Blueno.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Missile (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴミサイル): A Gear Second technique that first appeared in the anime. Luffy stretches and grabs onto an enemy's body. Then, he very quickly retracts, crashing into the foe. This was first seen in the anime being used against Blueno.


 * Gomu Gomu no Jet Axe (ゴムゴムのＪＥＴ斧（アックス）): A Gear Second technique that first appeared in the anime. Luffy stretches his leg vertically and then crashes it down on his opponent, unlike the usual version however, rather than merely smashing his foot into the enemy the speed at which it is done is so quick that rather than attacking the area directly in front of him, his Jet axe strikes several metres in length, thus increasing its range. This was first seen in the anime being used against Lucci.

Trivia

 * In the anime, Gear Second visually resembles the Kaioken technique from Dragon Ball.

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