Gomu Gomu no Mi/Gear 4 Techniques

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Gear Fourth Techniques
Statistics
Japanese Name:	ギア4（フォース） 弾む男（バウンドマン）
Romanized Name:	Gia Fōsu: Baundoman
Official English Name:	Bounceman
Debut:	Chapter 784
Literal Meaning:	Gear Fourth: Bouncy Man
User(s):	Monkey D. Luffy
Fighting Style Focus:	Fists, Rubber body, Inflated muscles, Limbs compression, Haki

For the chapter of the same name, see Chapter 784.

Gear Fourth: Boundman is a technique first seen in Luffy's battle against Donquixote Doflamingo. It was developed by Luffy during his training on Rusukaina.

Overview

File:Kinniku Fusen.png

Luffy inflates his muscles.

Luffy coats his arm in Busoshoku Haki before biting into his forearm. Similar to how he activates Gear Third, he blows an incredible amount of air into his body, but this time he inflates his muscular structure before distributing the air throughout his body, with emphasis on his upper half.

Luffy's proportions become warped and his body becomes much larger in size, with his arms, upper torso, and legs coated in Busoshoku Haki. The coating across his torso resemble the wispy ends made from flames, giving it the appearance of tattoos, and he also gains shading around the inner and outer edges of his eyes. As a side-effect, he is incapable of standing still on the ground, and instead constantly bounces on the spot. This form was created in order to combat the many powerful and large animals on Rusukaina. This form (except for the hardened Busoshoku Haki 'tattoos', the enlarge biceps and a more rounded torso) resembles his appearance when he became Nightmare Luffy due to Luffy's increased muscle size, haircut's shape and sinister expression.

File:Gear Fourth Air Bounce.png

Luffy's arm changes direction in midair.

While Luffy is using Gear Fourth, his physical strength and speed are increased to the point where he is able to overwhelm a member of the Shichibukai, Donquixote Doflamingo, whereas before Gear Second power and Gear Third speed were ineffective in the fight. Unlike the previous forms, Gear Fourth focuses on compression more than stretching. While the compression grants Luffy's moves overwhelming speed and power, the range of his attacks is severely decreased, though he can deliver long-ranged attacks by stretching the part of the body he wants to attack with while retaining great power and speed, as his body is still greater in size and covered in Busoshoku Haki. Luffy also shows a much more versatile side of the Gomu Gomu no Mi's powers by changing the direction of his attacks mid-strike to hit a moving opponent without losing momentum.

File:Gear Fourth Bounciness.png

Doflamingo's kick bounces off of Luffy.

According to Doflamingo, the power of Luffy's attacks is greatly magnified in this form. His durability is also enhanced: despite being hardened with Busoshoku Haki, his body is still rubbery, so physical blows (even ones enhanced with Busoshoku Haki) simply bounce off of him.

This form, much like Gear Second, seems to utilize the principles of Rokushiki. It possesses both high speed movement reminiscent of Soru and the ability to kick off the air, similar to Geppo, cleverly adapted to work even better with his body's elasticity: Luffy not only bounces off the air, but allows attacks to bounce off his own body. His body is also now strong enough to defend against cutting attacks head-on.

However, there appears to be a limit to how long Luffy can keep Gear Fourth active, as noted by both Luffy himself and Doflamingo. Once this limit is reached, Gear Fourth is automatically deactivated, and Luffy is left lying exhausted on the ground, barely able to move. He is also left unable to use Haki for ten minutes after using this technique.

Techniques Utilized

• Kinniku Fusen (筋肉風船, Kin'niku Fūsen^?, literally meaning "Muscle Balloon"): By coating his arm in Busoshoku Haki and biting into his forearm, Luffy is able to blow a large quantity of air into his body and inflate his muscular structure, with the air blown into his arm spreading out to the rest of his upper body. In this form, his durability is enhanced to the point where a kick from Donquixote Doflamingo, a Shichibukai, bounced back harmlessly, due to his body retaining its rubber properties despite being coated in Haki.

Luffy uses Gomu Gomu no Kong Gun against Doflamingo.

• Gomu Gomu no Kong Gun (ゴムゴムの猿王銃（コングガン）, Gomu Gomu no Kongu Gan^?, literally meaning "Rubber Rubber Monkey King Gun"): After compressing his fist into his enlarged forearm (and making it look like the barrel of an actual cannon), Luffy unleashes a devastating short-range punch with massive power. This technique had enough strength to break through Doflamingo's own Haki-enhanced defense and blow the Shichibukai all the way from Dressrosa's palace to the middle of the city.
• Gomu Gomu no Rhino Schneider (ゴムゴムの犀榴弾砲（リノシュナイダー）, Gomu Gomu no Rino Shunaidā^?, literally meaning "Rubber Rubber Rhinoceros Howitzer"): After compressing both legs into his body, Luffy delivers a double flying kick, similar to Gomu Gomu no Yari. It has enough power to send the opponent crashing through dozens of buildings and across a town center. This was first used as a surprise attack against Doflamingo. A howitzer is a type of short-barreled artillery cannon, and "Schneider" refers to the Canon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider, a howitzer used by several countries during World War I.
• Gomu Gomu no Culverin (ゴムゴムの大蛇砲（カルヴァリン）, Gomu Gomu no Karuvarin^?, literally meaning "Rubber Rubber Great Serpent Cannon"): Luffy delivers a punch like a regular Gomu Gomu no Pistol, but if it is dodged, he can redirect his punch an unspecified number of times, without losing momentum, to still land with tremendous force. In addition, this punch does not need to retract back to his body right after being "fired" as the regular Gomu Gomu no Pistol does. A culverin is a relatively simple firearm, ancestor of the musket and cannon.
• Gomu Gomu no Double Culverin (ゴムゴムのダブル大蛇砲（カルヴァリン）, Gomu Gomu no Daburu Karuvarin^?, literally meaning "Rubber Rubber Double Great Serpent Cannon"): Luffy pulls back his arms before punching his opponent with them. This was first used against Doflamingo, but was countered by his Offwhite.

Luffy attacks Doflamingo with Gomu Gomu no Leo Bazooka.

• Gomu Gomu no Leo Bazooka (ゴムゴムの獅子（レオ）・バズーカ, Gomu Gomu no Reo Bazūka^?, literally meaning "Rubber Rubber Lion Bazooka"): The Gear Fourth version of Gomu Gomu no Bazooka. After retracting both of his fists into his arms, Luffy "fires" them at his opponent. This was first used against Doflamingo.
  

Trivia

• In this form, Luffy's Busoshoku Haki takes the shape of tribal flames on his body; this is the first example of Busoshoku Haki forming a recognizable pattern.
• The form is likened to Nightmare Luffy from the Thriller Bark Arc due to its similar structure and design. Oda seemingly alludes to this in the chapter it debuted, Chapter 784, with the color spread featuring zombies.

External Links

• Rubber - Wikipedia article about rubber
• Yubari King - Wikipedia article about the actual fruit the Devil Fruit is apparently shaped after
• Rubber Man - TV tropes wiki article on the rubber super power trope
• Firearm - Wikipedia article about firearms in general for which a majority of Luffy's Devil Fruit techniques are named after
• Blood Doping - Wikipedia article on the process Gear Second utilizes
• Ruffys Attacken - German One Piece Encyclopedia article listing Luffy's attacks

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