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A very prolonged and protracted debate constantly forms every time a hero like Luffy from One Piece gets a power-up, this time Gear 5 Luffy. One Piece and Dragon Ball Super fans have clashed before, but this one has been going on for a while and hasn't really abated since Gear 5 Luffy was first introduced in One Piece's manga.
Likewise, Ultra Instinct Goku has been touted as "the new god" of shonen anime and the pinnacle of power scaling if some opinions are to be believed.
There's more than a bit of evidence to argue for both. There's plenty of evidence to state that Gear 5 Luffy is actually stronger than Ultra Instinct Goku, and more than a few facts to continue to make such a claim. The term "stronger" can mean many things, as this article will prove.
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Disclaimer: This article will be highly opinionated, and all opinions are exclusive to the author.
Disclaimer: This article will likewise contain spoilers for One Piece and Dragon Ball Super. It should also be taken with a pillar of salt.
Gear 5 Luffy is stronger than Ultra Instinct Goku explored and explained
One of the more important parts of any shonen anime is where the power-up or power system fits into it. Luffy's Gears have had plenty of narrative buildup than Ultra Instinct did, with Gear 5 representing a turning point for One Piece's story. The status quo is effectively shattered when it's introduced.
The "Gears" are representative of Luffy's depth of understanding of the Gum-Gum Fruit. They've gone from his basic rubbery form to a massive tank form. Gear 5 Luffy was introduced in chapter 1044 of the manga, showcased during a fight against the Dragon Emperor of the Sea Kaidou.
Therein lies one key difference between Gear 5 Luffy and Ultra Instinct Goku: Gear 5 Luffy fits into the story better. It comes after a ton of buildup, resulting in the defeat of one of the Pirate Emperors, and overall is a fantastic climax to the Wano Country arc. Luffy is named a new Pirate Emperor after this, alongside Shanks, Blackbird, and Buggy.
Gear 5 Luffy's victory records
The defeat of a villain, or at least giving them a major wound, with a power-up like Luffy's Gears or the Super Saiyan state is a staple of shonen anime and manga. Luffy managed to defeat Kaidou with Gear 5, and likewise overpower Rob Lucci's awakened Zoan Form. That's two major villains that have hounded the narrative and the characters for a long time taken down.
Goku's Ultra Instinct wasn't able to score the finisher on Jiren in the Tournament of Power, especially considering that tapping into it nearly broke his body in half during the tournament. Since he was still learning, he wasn't able to beat Gas or Granolah with it. It took a power boost from Vegeta and others for him to beat Moro.
Luffy was able to trounce one of the most powerful adversaries in his series shortly after attaining the new form. That speaks volumes about the applicability and adaptability between the two forms, Gear 5 wins out on that score over Ultra Instinct.
Ability differences
The difference in abilities between Gear 5 Luffy and Ultra Instinct Goku cannot be stated enough. Gear 5 affords Luffy Mythical Zoan-level abilities, the rarest Zoan type, and the most powerful. It affords Luffy far more freedom in strength, speed, durability, and even fighting style. The signature ability is to make the entire world cartoonish around the user.
Gear 5 likewise added environmental control, making even the ground rubbery and elastic. Luffy has the ability to make his opponent rubber, as he did many a time to Kaidou. Finally, one of the smoother advantages is Luffy's ability to reassume using it by forcing his heart to beat in time to the rhythm of the Drums of Liberation.
Compared to this unique form, Ultra Instinct is more traditionally in line with the idea of ascending traditional martial arts. It basically allows every part of the body to think and react on its own, the body moving freely on its own. It's more of a support transformation to increase the accuracy of strikes and evasive moves than anything big or environment-changing, though it is an Angel-level technique.
Difficulty curve, learning curve, and maintenance curve
The learning curve for both abilities is a very, very complicated process to explain and even more complicated to summarize. In Goku's case, Ultra Instinct requires clarity of mind combined with emotional control, and to break their hidden potential without losing clarity. In Luffy's case, it required him to nearly die to unlock that potential.
Another of the ways in which both powers are tied is in maintaining the powers and drawbacks of their usage. Ultra Instinct's drawbacks and limitations are well documented: it can rip the user's body apart, cause them severe pain to the point of unconsciousness, maintaining the composure necessary to keep it up is a huge weakness for Goku, and overuse threatens to destroy the user's mind.
Ultra Instinct is on a time limit, heavily draining the user's stamina as shown with Goku vs. Granolah. Gear 5, on the other hand, requires just as much energy and concentration to use, to the point where Luffy visibly ages when de-transforming and experiences excessive exhaustion. These are relatively minor, however, compared to Ultra Instinct drawbacks and last all of 30 seconds.
Symbolism and reinforcement of themes
To elaborate on how Gear 5 Luffy is better integrated into One Piece's story, the form is considered "the most ridiculous power in the world", owing to its history. The history of Gear 5 harkens back to the days of slavery, and the Sun God Nika. To summarize, Nika was a legendary figure worshipped by slaves as a symbol of freedom, and the "Drums of Liberation" would herald his return.
Gear 5 Luffy is a culmination of all of One Piece's themes about freedom and other oral histories that have been ruthlessly burned away by the World Government, like the Void Century. It's a symbol of hope in a world that's largely abandoned hope of anything save for gold and treasure, a theme that echoes through the entire series.
Dragon Ball has plenty of themes of hope, optimism, and doing the impossible likewise, and the history behind them forms too. The trouble with Ultra Instinct is that it doesn't feel like it fits a deeper purpose other than giving Goku another power-up. The fact that Goku struggles with it, however, is something that hasn't been seen since Kaio-Ken and Super Saiyan 3.
Ultimately, all this means is that Gear 5 Luffy is much stronger than Ultra Instinct Goku in many ways from narrative strength to the ability difference. While this will surely not convince hardcore Dragon Ball fans, and some One Piece fans, the evidence speaks for itself.
Again, fans are recommended to take this entire thing with an ocean's worth of salt. If there are any disagreements, however major or minor, readers may leave them in the comments.
