Future of Gear 4?

[Future Warrior]

With all the hype surrounding Gear 5 possibly appearing in this arc, how do we reconcile the fact that Gear 4 still seems to be a last-resort form even at this stage? By the time Luffy achieved Gear 4, he had already completely mastered his Gear 2/3 into his base skillset. You would think the same would apply to Gear 4 at this point, even at the current chapter it is considered a high-risk high-reward thing that needs to be carefully utilized.

I think it would be pretty wack if Luffy just achieves a new form despite his previous form already being draining as is.

 

[SSJ2]

I think he could master it to avoid the immense Haki drain. Maybe that's what Awakening would allow him to overcome. We've already seen him improve his usage of it in Wano as he can switch it on and off without penalty, so it's fair to say there is far more room for improvement.

 

[Future Warrior]

So let’s assume his Gear 5 is awakening this arc. What’s next? He’s gonna be at his peak before he fights Blackbeard?

 

[SSJ2]

Maybe mastering 5? If he does get 5 and beats Kaido, it should be at a primitive level imo. Would be absurd if Luffy has it mastered straight away.

 

[Future Warrior]

True. Though I will say that him getting 3 power ups in 1 arc alone is pretty nuts.

 

[SSJ2]

Yeah it makes all of the stress on the advanced Busoshoku completely pointless.