[Question] So was Gear 2nd an asspull or not?

[Caliburn]

I had to actually look back through the entire Water 7 and Ennies Lobby arc and saw no mention or hint of Luffy acquiring to learn this ability before he used it against Blueno, so by definition, isn't this considered an asspull, or could you make the argument that this is just another component of his DF power, so technically it is not really an asspull?

I don't really see what was wrong with the introduction of either Gear 2nd or 3rd.

Yes it was quite convenient and came almost out of nowhere with the exception of a small foreshadowing mentioned several posts above this one, but in the end I don't really see anything wrong with it and certainly wouldn't call this an asspull.

Luffy ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi at an early age and trained for several years just so he could efficiently use the most basic skills. Yes we only learned the latter just before the time skip, but it's something you could have easily assumed because he ate a DF when he was young. Luffy has a solid foundation and knows the limits of the DF better than anyone. The moment he conceptualizes an idea, he instinctively knows whether it's within the limits of his own powers.

This doesn't mean the results are 100% perfect as both Gear 2nd and 3rd were still very well flawed, but his foundation was strong enough to make them work. Same thing happened with Kaku who immediately was able to incorporate his DF into his fighting style. Not perfectly, but enough to yield decent results.

Besides any alternative would probably have been worse. I mean Enies Lobbies Luffy beating Lucci without being any different than Water 7 Luffy I reckon would have been more of an asspull than him developing his Gears rapidly.

one piece is not naruto, you don't learn stuff, they're part of your fruit arsenal and get unlocked the stronger you get.

DF users aren't video game characters that learn and master new skills automatically when they reach a certain level. It has been clearly mentioned by several characters that mastering a DF requires training, which has also has been shown. OP characters are no different than Naruto characters in that they need training to become stronger. In fact you're even contradicting yourself as you don't become stronger if you don't do anything.

Ace laughed and mocked Luffy for his DF, which he deemed useless as he kicked Luffy's ass without a problem. Now however it's coveted enough for Burgess trying to steal it from Luffy. Despite it not having been specifically said, it's pretty certain that Mother Caramel and Big Mum ate the same DF. The latter is a Yonkou, the former made a living with child trafficking.

Drawing out the full potential of a DF depends on who ate it and this requires, one way or another, training and obtaining experience.

Yes Ennies Lobby power ups were bullshit. inb4 we get excuses smh

Mainly cause of how the story depicted M3 against cp9 prior to their fights. They couldn't even compete with the lower agents like buleno but were later on keeping up with them in base. You could say Luffy was hungry but he should have still preformed better

At least in the new world oda could always fill the gab with their 2 year training but w7 and El strawhats seemed like entirely different characters in terms of power.

CP9 consists out of highly trained professional assassins, something the Strawhats weren't really expecting. That Kaku, Lucci and the others were a part of CP9 might have been less shocking for the Strawhats than for Iceburg or Paulie, but that didn't make it any less confusing for them, especially when you take Robin's situation into account. Luffy has a one-track mind that easily gets distracted, but once he has a clear goal he can transcend above himself. There's even a specific scene where this switch occurs. When Luffy couldn't get out of the buildings he got stuck between, Nami explained Robin's situation and after he understood what he had to do, he was able to get out of his predicament.

Yes many manga have the tendency to blow this emotional aspect of characters out of proportion, but that doesn't take away it's still an important factor in a fight. The circumstances the Strawhats confronted CP9 in Water 7 were completely different than those when they confronted them on Enies Lobbies. It's the same principle of comparing taking a penalty on training with taking one in the last minute of the World Cup Football final a day later.

 

[chopstickchakra]

Drawing out the full potential of a DF depends on who ate it and this requires, one way or another, training and obtaining experience.

I thought so too but BB's made me rethink it. He seemed to be able to jump right in and everyone acted like he was equal to WB the second he got the fruit. Maybe there's not that much to the Gura? I always thought Teach shouldn't have just been regarded like WB once he got the GGnM and the quakes strength should rely on the users physical strength or something but it didn't seem to be that way.

 

[Punk Hazard]

I thought so too but BB's made me rethink it. He seemed to be able to jump right in and everyone acted like he was equal to WB the second he got the fruit. Maybe there's not that much to the Gura? I always thought Teach shouldn't have just been regarded like WB once he got the GGnM and the quakes strength should rely on the users physical strength or something but it didn't seem to be that way.

Blackbeard straight up id he couldn't control the Quakes yet.

 

[chopstickchakra]

Blackbeard straight up id he couldn't control the Quakes yet.

Control them but the power level seemed to be there from the bat. He was able to shake the planet just like WB did with one of his bigger attacks at MF

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Actually looking at them side by side it seems Teach's may be just a bit bigger(1st image) there are more wave rings in Teach's instance.

Like I said, I always figured it took time to tap a DF's true power but the power may always be there it just needs the user to learn how to use it? Especially since we saw Luffy train and Doffy and the talks about Awakening, it seems like you can train your DF to grow but maybe all it really is is the user learning how to access the true skills/essence of the fruit.

 

[Punk Hazard]

Control them but the power level seemed to be there from the bat. He was able to shake the planet just like WB did with one of his bigger attacks at MF

Spoiler

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Actually looking at them side by side it seems Teach's may be just a bit bigger(1st image) there are more wave rings in Teach's instance.

Like I said, I always figured it took time to tap a DF's true power but the power may always be there it just needs the user to learn how to use it? Especially since we saw Luffy train and Doffy and the talks about Awakening, it seems like you can train your DF to grow but maybe all it really is is the user learning how to access the true skills/essence of the fruit.

That doesn't betray Cali's point though. His note was that all DFs require training to be used effectively. For a fruit like Quake, Flame, or Magma, for instances, you get tremendous power off the bat, but that makes using the fruit dangerous. Yeah, Blackbeard could rampage like Whitebeard could, but he can't effectively use the fruit(in ways that wouldn't cause collateral damage that'd come back and hurt him/allies) without training it and increasing his control.

Some fruits you need to take a weak effect and make useful and powerful(Buggy, Luffy) and some fruits have tremendous power and use right off the bat, but need training to control and use properly and max out the effectiveness(Quake, Mera, Ope). But at the end of the day, it's still all the same: Training and practice.

 

[Caliburn]

I thought so too but BB's made me rethink it. He seemed to be able to jump right in and everyone acted like he was equal to WB the second he got the fruit. Maybe there's not that much to the Gura? I always thought Teach shouldn't have just been regarded like WB once he got the GGnM and the quakes strength should rely on the users physical strength or something but it didn't seem to be that way.

BB isn't really a character that's suited to be a reference point considering he's pretty much on all fronts unusual. Still don't forget that he was already a fighter of the caliber that even made Shanks wary of him before he was a DF user, but above all he served WB for several decades and saw him using his powers on numerous occasions. Considering BB's lifelong obsession with the Yami Yami no Mi and the Gura Gura no Mi, you might say that he was the person that knew the most about the Quake fruit second only after WB himself.

And they didn't consider him equal. At least not in an overall sense as after the war the Goorosei were discussing that BB had an edge on everyone else to take over WB's position, but it's only after he beat Marco and the remnants of the WB pirates that he was commonly accepted as one of the Yonkou.

In the end BB was an experienced warrior who saw, fought with and against numerous DF users. So he might not have had any direct experience with the GGnM, but he definitely had obtained decades of training that provided a strong foundation for him to quickly adapt to the DF.

 

[Dibattista27]

I'm going yea it was it honestly came from nowhere the explanation of rubber makes sense. But also the power up at this point in the series was long over due and does help luffy after a loss. But straight outta left field for sure asspull maybe a 4/10 in that regard. But in retrospect after the 2nd gear being established third gear has less reason to be an asspull so it did set third gear up

 

[Tyrance sasuke]

Its not necessarily an asspull, like out of nowhere. He said he trained cuz he began to comprehend the power levels of new world and stuff. But could be. Because there werent any mentions of luffy training to get that power, but since its a devil fruit ability any explanation can be given by the director, like first the black colour of rubber of luffy was because of vulcanisation of rubber but suddenly, everyone in the new world started using black hands and all sorts of black shit and gave some lame excuse "haki is hardening us" lmao, it was never shown like the before timeskip.