Manga
One Piece: This is why Luffy’s Gear 5 wouldn’t defeat Goku’s Super Saiyan form
Luffy’s newest power-up has rekindled the eternal fight between fans of Dragon Ball and One Piece when in reality it can’t really be compared.
In the last 24 hours, I have watched more Dragon Ball videos than in my entire life. And considering the love our previous editor had for it, that’s saying a lot. My Twitter timeline has been plagued with Gokus just exiting the hairdresser’s doing tantrums and funny dances with which they supposedly demonstrate what “a real transformation” is like. Because yes, you guessed it, the saiyans have returned and It’s not because anything concrete happened in Toriyama’s series, but because his fans couldn’t stand that One Piece is living one of the greatest moments in its history.
But the same can be said for the Straw Hat nakamas. The show has been selling us the idea that Luffy’s Gear 5 would break the internet and that it would mark the moment in which the student would surpass the teacher. We joke a lot about skipping Skypiea, but it seems that the moment that people have skipped the most is actually the end of Dressrosa, when Luffy refused to form his own fleet. “I just want to be the King of the Pirates”, he yelled then. “I do not care about the rest. I don’t want to become someone important”. Comparing him to Goku and discussing which transformation is better and which is stronger is the same as making a monumental tantrum. Or not even that, because even he understood it.
Maybe there are those who have not realized it, but sometimes it is not necessary to impose anything on anyone. You don’t always have to stay on top. Surprise: you can like something without therefore having to be better than it was invented. The four themed pseudo-celebrities who live from it in networks need to provoke to generate debate and attract attention, but we insist that if you really like something, you don’t need to look down at others. There is a much healthier option: not to pronounce yourself, not to splash, to be like Luffy and go to your ball, with yours and what you like. No trouble. Hakuna Matata, if you’d like.
It is clear that Dragon Ball has influenced Eiichiro Oda. The mangaka himself admits it, just like Masashi Kishimoto doesn’t fall for the rings when he says that Naruto owes a lot to One Piece. and today, the new generation of shonen isn’t scared of references to their elders. Just like Jujutsu Kaisen did with showing a Rasengan, they feed each other. The relationship between some works and others is precious and it is a pity that the same does not happen between communities. The best of these days have been the fan art in which Goku and Luffy go hand in hand, not the tenth reuploaded clip on how ultra instinct would annihilate the new heir to Tom and Jerry.
At the end of the day there is a simple reason why Luffy’s Gear 5 would never beat Goku’s Super Saiyan. The same reason he wouldn’t lose either. And it is that none of them would have the slightest interest in facing the other.