One Piece: Fans overlook this Tom & Jerry reference before Gear 5

The fight between Gear 5 Luffy and Kaido in One Piece is inspired by Tom & Jerry. However, the series was already similar to the cartoon long before Gear 5 was introduced.

As One Piece airs its highly-anticipated Gear 5 episodes, fans can’t help but adore the animation and the goofy appearance of their favorite protagonist. The fight is entertaining and provides some comfort after years of heart-breaking episodes of Wano Country Saga.

The series creator, Eiichiro Oda, revealed drawing inspiration for Gear 5 from the popular cartoon Tom & Jerry. He also didn’t expect the transformation to be so well-received by fans.

Furthermore, the Gear 5 transformation reflects Luffy’s character development instead of focusing on just his strength. However, long before Gear 5 was introduced in One Piece, the series had already featured something very similar to Tom & Jerry.

Luffy’s Gear 3 in One Piece is the same as Jerry’s attack

Crunchyroll/Prime Video

After introducing Gear 5 in One Piece, Oda speaks about the inspiration behind it. He says, “I drew this playing around a lot, thinking that it’s okay if people are against it. I just want to be playful with battles. Since the moment I was an assistant, the expressions that are the symbol of mangas have been continually lost.

For example, Putting a light bulb mark when a character thinks about something or making the character’s legs go in circles like a car when running. I loved those types of expressions, but it’s ceasing to be drawn. 

No one is drawing it even though our predecessors created and left several formulas. Battle mangas have to keep getting increasingly serious to meet the fans’ expectations, and I’ve always hated that. For the concept, think of it as if I suddenly drew Tom & Jerry.”

However, Luffy first uses Gear 3 in the Enies Lobby arc, which is very similar to one of Jerry’s attacks. He can inflate the bones of a certain part of his body by blowing an enormous quantity of air into his thumb. These inflated body parts (particularly his fists) can cause immense damage, capable of destroying steel doors and large structures. 

Initially, Luffy would shrink to the size of a child after using Gear 3. Although fans adore “Tiny Luffy,” it reflects the protagonist’s weaknesses. However, after relentlessly training with Rayleigh for two years, Luffy can now use Gear 3 without any drawbacks. 

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