One Piece's first two Gear 5 episodes will reportedly premiere this August.
A One Piece leaker, who goes by @OP_SPOILERS2023 on Twitter, reported that "Gear 5" episodes, 1071 and 1072, will air in August "due to another postponement." While their post did not include screenshots, it features a fanart of Luffy wielding lightning in his Gear 5 form. OP_SPOILERS23 also shared a message from One Piece's animation team that anyone caught releasing "photos or clips" from Episodes 1071 and 1072 before the official release would be reported.
Gear 5 is Luffy's most powerful stage, famously giving the food-loving pirate the abilities of a deity. Rumors about the aforementioned Gear 5 episodes started circulating earlier this month. On Jun 3, a Twitter user called @EriesuInformer reported that the "legendary" events of Chapter 1044 would occur in Episode 1071 of One Piece. Their post also included what appeared to be a screenshot of Luffy in his Gear 5 form. Other anime leakers, including @OP_SPOILERS2023 and @WeeklyLeaks promptly shared the news.
One Piece Luffy's Gear 5
Luffy's Gear 5 stage originates from a mythical character called Nika, who was widely hailed as a "Sun God" by slaves in ancient times. Like Luffy, Nika's signature ability was the power to stretch his body out like rubber. After Luffy consumes the Hito Hito no Mi Model Devil Fruit, his power multiplies tenfold, boosting his strength, speed and endurance. Additionally, the fruit also grants Luffy the ability to perform any feat he can imagine, allowing him to stand toe-to-toe against even the mightiest of opponents. Despite this, Oda once admitted that he created Gear 5 merely as a joke to "disgust" his fans, as he expected that the character's overly cartoonish mannerisms would be a turn-off to most readers.
Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga launched in Weekly Shonen Jump in July 1997. Over two decades later, it is now the best-selling manga series of all time, with over 516.6 million copies sold. Toei's One Piece anime premiered in October 1999 and now consists of over 1,000+ episodes spanning 20 seasons. Currently, Oda is taking a four-week hiatus from One Piece due to undergoing corrective eye surgery for severe astigmatism. The series' hiatus officially began on June 11 with the release of Chapter 1086: "The Five Elders." The manga will resume serialization on July 18.
One Piece is available to stream on Hulu, Netflix and Crunchyroll. The manga is available in English from VIZ Media.
Source: Twitter