User blog comment:Lasaro Ginjou/Gears to come.../@comment-29997233-20161011130943/@comment-5536072-20161011214223

We don't know, however, how the awakening is achieved. The way Luffy uses his fruit to push all aspects of his body to the limits might actually be his instictive effort to awaken his powers. Luffy's insticts are abnormal after all.

So, as he progresses with gears he probably gets closer to awakening. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.