Gomu Gomu no Mi/Gear 2 Techniques

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

Overview
This technique involves Luffy speeding up the bloodflow in all or selected body parts, in order to provide them with more oxygen and nutrients thus making him much faster and stronger. The technique uses even more oxygen and energy, using up more food and causing Luffy to pant heavily. The increase in his metabolism causes him to be hungrier than usual or even have a paralysis type effect after prolonged use 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 part/s, which in turn allows for greater delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the body part/s. In Luffy's case, his organs and blood vessels are made of rubber allowing them to expand and contract at greater rates without tearing. Essentially Luffy increases the blood flow by forcing more blood through his blood vessels thus increase his fighting ability. This mode's enhancements to Luffy's physiology give 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.

Before the Timeskip
Prior to the timeskip, Luffy would initiate this technique by using his leg as a pump to increase the blood flow in all of his body parts. As a result, all of his body parts become stronger and faster. The technique used more oxygen and energy, using more food and caused him to pant heavily during use. This technique also enabled 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 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 could utilize a much more refined form of Soru that is far superior to other Soru users, but the power of his attacks were 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 high speeds). He has been able to heavily damage some of the strongest characters in the series whilst this technique was active, such as Magellan, Blackbeard, Shiki, and Garp. When this technique was in effect, his entire metabolic rate went so high that his sweat vaporized rapidly making his body look as if it were steaming and, in the anime, his entire 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.

At first, Luffy could only use Gear Second for a short period of time, because the accelerated speed at which nutrients are used up depletes his body rapidly. The mechanics behind this enhancement thus also mean reduced strength and ability after prolonged use, 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 at Luffy's life force dramatically, increasing a chance of having a much shorter life because he is starving his body, though Luffy rebukes it, saying that it doesn't matter as long he saves his nakama. After Gear Second wears off, Luffy can recover quickly by replenishing his body's nutrients by eating meat. Later in the Impel Down arc, Luffy demonstrated a 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 longer fights. 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 thought that it was a regular Gomu Gomu no Bazooka.

After the Timeskip
After the timeskip, it appears that Luffy has gained far greater control over this technique as he was shown to be capable of activating it without using his leg or any visible part of his body as a blood pump. It is currently unknown how he now triggers this technque; however, it can be seen that the trigger works very fast as he is capable of activating Gear Second in an instant and doesn't even have to assume his usual stance to initiate it. Thanks to his new found control of this technique, Luffy now has the ability to select which body parts Gear Second will be active in instead of having to activate it in his entire body. To perform any actions with Gear Second, Luffy will now initiate Gear Second in the part of his body he wishes to use and deactivates it once he has accomplished the task. Thus Luffy uses Gear Second for his usual fighting without using it on his entire body.

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.
 * Gear Second Armed Gomu Gomu no Red Hook (literally meaning "Fire Fist Rifle"): A powerful Gear Second attack similar to Gomu Gomu no Rifle, but enhanced with Busoshoku Haki. When cocked back he also releases a stream of what looks like fire. If it is the same steam that is normally released from the Gear Second side effects or if it actually fire is unknown. When the attack hits, it appears to create an explosion. The name of this attack is a clear tribute to Ace's Hiken. Used against Hody Jones in his transformed state after the air bubble engulfed Noah.

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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