3 years after Gear 5, One Piece finally confirms Luffy's next power-up

One piece is currently in the Elbaf arc, and fans can see some of the biggest reveals here one after the other. From lore to some of the greatest battles of the past, Loki's flashback showed fans it all. Through this incredible amount of chapters that fans have received recently, Oda has also made it clear that he has more improvements planned for the series' protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy.

As most fans are well aware, it has been quite some time since Luffy received his last power-up in the story. At the moment, Luffy's biggest and newest power-up is the Gear 5, and it was with the help of this incredible ability that he was finally able to overthrow Kaido, the King of Beasts. The final saga of One piece however, it brought newer enemies and Gear 5 is no longer enough. It was obvious to fans that Luffy needed a new upgrade if he was going to stand up and win against the likes of Imu, and Oda finally addressed this by showing fans exactly what turn on Luffy gets another one. Years after Gear 5, Oda officially lined up Luffy's upcoming new power.

Luffy gains advanced Haki in the Final Saga

The rocks showed new Haki abilities in God Valley

• Luffy needs to learn haki barrier and haki blasts

• Luffy's Haki needs improvement

Luffy had already done his best when it came to Devil Fruit abilities. Devil Fruit Awakening is the pinnacle of the Devil Fruit's abilities and Luffy himself expressed this in the Wano Country Arc. Upon awakening his Devil Fruit, Luffy clearly stated that he was now at his peak, naturally referring to his Devil Fruit powers.

Luffy can't get more from his Devil Fruit that much is clear, but he can still grow in terms of Haki and Scopper Gaban clearly told Luffy that he needs to be careful how he uses his Haki. Luffy's next upgrade comes in the Haki department.

IN One piece chapter 1165, Oda performed Rocks D. Xebec using a very unique power and this is the ability to use high level Conqueror Haki as a barrier. Essentially, Rocks Haki was so strong that it automatically nullifies any attack launched against it. It almost acted as a barrier between him and the enemy, and the stronger the Haki, the stronger the barrier.

Luffy has yet to learn this ability and still needs to learn how to use Haki shockwaves like Rocks, Roger, Garp and Shanks. In other words, Luffy hasn't fully mastered Haki yet, and Oda has finally revealed to fans exactly what he needs to do to get to the next level of the story.

Luffy greatly improves his Haki in Elbaf

Luffy's Haki needs to reach Shanks level

for now One piece he's in Loki's Elbaf arc flashback, but that won't last long. In the next few months, the flashback will officially end, and when it does, Luffy Vs Imu and the Holy Knights begin. This very battle will give Luffy the perfect foundation to master his Haki and take it to the next level. Fans should be ready to see Luffy reach a new level, and the fact that Oda revealed these Haki abilities in the flashback of the Elbaf arc means that they will be headed for Luffy soon. All fans have to do is wait for the flashback to wrap up and for Luffy to start fighting in Elbaf.

The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1165 is November 9, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.

Release date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imayomura, Yashiôhiro Mayuū Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

Writers

Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)