One Piece Day 2023 Unveils Giant Gear Fifth Luffy Balloon

One Piece Day is officially underway. Too big for one day, the event celebrating the Straw Hat Pirates and the world of the Grand Line is taking place on both July 21st and 22nd. The shonen series has become so big that this year will offer English fans to watch the event as well with English subtitles. With numerous marketing materials for the event focusing on Monkey D. Luffy’s Gear Fifth, One Piece Day 2023 also has a large representation of Luffy’s ultimate form via a new float.

One Piece’s manga has already shown off quite a bit of Gear Fifth, but we have yet to see the form in the shonen’s television series. While it was brief, we did have the opportunity to see Luffy’s ultimate transformation for a few brief moments in the latest shonen film, One Piece Film: Red. Fighting alongside the Red-Haired Shanks, the transformation was only briefly able to show Luffy using his new cartoon-ish capabilities. Luckily, One Piece fans won’t have too wait too much longer for Luffy’s Gear Fifth debut in the television series, as the latest events of the War For Wano are setting the stage for the transformation in the fight against Kaido. 

One Piece: The Gear Fifth Float

In Japan, One Piece Day 2023 unveiled the new Gear Fifth balloon as the pre-event also streamed online, which you can check out below. Unlike Goku and his fellow Saiyans whose hair turns blond or red or blue, Luffy’s form takes on a white aesthetic when he unlocks his full potential. Considering that Gear Fifth turns Monkey D. Luffy into a living cartoon, the animators at Toei Animation are going to have their work cut out for them as the War For Wano continues.

Presently, a release date has yet to be revealed as to when the anime episode introducing Gear Fifth will arrive, though it’s a safe bet that we’ll see the transformation as early as next month. Following the War For Wano Arc, Luffy has made good use of his Gear Fifth transformation, recently unleashing it in a fight against Rob Lucci. While the franchise might be in its final saga, we expect Monkey to use his ultimate form more than a few times before the Straw Hat Pirates’ journey comes to an end.

Are you hyped for Luffy’s Gear Fifth to arrive in the anime series? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Grand Line.