10 Bleach Characters Who Can Destroy Gear 5 Luffy (2024)

The incredible shōnen transformation of Gear 5 was a game-changer for Monkey D. Luffy late in One Piece's Wano saga. Gear 5 didn't just enhance Luffy's mobility and make him stretchier -- it broke One Piece's combat system with the power of cartoon physics. Thus, the carefree, laughing Luffy could ignore the series' power scaling and do whatever he wanted with his opponent, Kaido. That battle suggested that in battles of raw power alone, Gear 5 can't be beat.

That said, Luffy's fancy new Gear 5 has its limits, and characters from other anime series could take advantage of that, such as the cast of Tite Kubo's Bleach. For one thing, Gear 5 only lasts so long, and when Luffy gets tired, he turns into a weary old man, so anyone who can outlast Gear 5's power can take him out. Characters with "magical" abilities beyond sheer strength and speed also stand a very real chance of one-upping Gear 5 in battle, especially if Luffy is too slow to think of a cartoony way to counter what his opponent is doing.

10 Kisuke Urahara Could Seal Luffy Away With Kido Spells

Kisuke Urahara is an ex-Soul Reaper of many talents, which even includes stealth, though he rarely shows off the fruits of his ninja training. Instead, Kisuke focuses more on the power of science, as his many inventions show. His brilliant, analytical mind also makes him an expert in kido, one of Bleach's very best.

If Kisuke must face off against Gear 5 Luffy, kido is his best bet, because swordplay and shikai won't do much good with Gear 5's physics-defying properties. In the Bleach anime, Kisuke used an advanced kido spell called Kyujurokkei Kakafumetsu to seal away the seemingly unbeatable Sosuke Aizen, so if Kisuke had enough forewarning, he could use that spell or a variant of it to seal Luffy away as well.

9 Zommari Rureaux Can Control His Opponent's Entire Body With His 50 Eyes

Zommari Rureaux, the 7th Espada, is one of several Bleach villains who could have been far more powerful if it weren't for complacency and some sloppy moves. Zommari is quick in his sealed form, while his released form, Brujeria, focuses on control instead. With the power he dubbed Amor, Zommari can take control of his enemy's body parts by looking at them with his many eyes.

With such a power, Zommari can force Gear 5 Luffy to attack himself, and at the bare mininum, that would help Zommari incapacitate Luffy if need be. Or, Zommari could place a mark on Luffy's head to control his entire body, and force Luffy to destroy himself entirely, such as by jumping into the ocean if the coast is nearby.

8 Gremmy Thoumeaux's Imagination Trumps Luffy's Cartoon Powers

Gremmy Thoumeaux lost to Kenpachi Zaraki's unbreakable willpower and bloodlust in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, but Gremmy wouldn't have that problem against Gear 5 Luffy, since the latter is a total joker rather than a beast with a killer instinct. Gremmy would find Luffy frustrating, to be sure, but that would just motivate him to fight even harder.

Luffy can do almost anything with Gear 5, but the same is true for Gremmy's power of The Visionary. With it, Gremmy can create things out of thin air or even modify his or other people's bodies according to whatever he can imagine. All Gremmy would need, if he knew about that particular weakness, was to suddenly submerge Luffy in seawater and win the fight.

7 Ichibe Hyosube Can Defeat Gear 5 by Erasing Joy Boy's and Nika's Names

The thirteen Captains of the Gotei 13 have a solemn duty to protect the Seireitei against any and all intruders, while the Soul King's palace is a different matter. As Ichigo saw in the TYBW story arc, the Soul King is protected by five Captains who make up the Royal Guard unit, with each member being much stronger than typical Soul Reaper Captains.

Arguably, the strongest of the five is Ichibe Hyosube, who had the historic role of giving names to almost everything, including every zanpakuto ever forged. With his astonishing powers, he can modify or erase someone's name to alter their powers and abilities, which would work wonders if he used that on names like Monkey D. Luffy, Joy Boy, and Nika in a serious fight. No cartoon attack could stop Luffy from losing his name and all his powers with it.

6 Baraggan Luisenbairn is the Master of Time and Rot

The fearsome 2nd Espada, Baraggan Luisenbairn, was almost right when he claimed to be the master of time and death. With his incredible powers, he can rapidly age and rot anything or anyone who enters the range of his senescence aura, making him nigh-untouchable. In his released form, Arrogante, that aura is even stronger, and Baraggan can use it offensively with his fast-moving Respira attack.

Luffy can handle brute force from foes like Kaido when using Gear 5, but not even as the incaration of Nika and Joy Boy can Luffy handle time itself. Time is already against him when he uses Gear 5, since it tires him out after a few minutes, and Baraggan's aura would make that problem a thousand times worse. Then, Baraggan can rot Luffy to the bone with Respira, an attack that not even Color of Arms Haki can defend against.

5 Lille Barro Can Snipe Any Target Through Any Obstacle

Lille Barro is one of King Yhwach's four bodyguards, belonging to a small but elite unit called the Schutzstaffel. That rank is reserved for the strongest Sternritter of all, and Lille has already proven worthy of that rank. He can use his sniper rifle and The X-Axis to become anime's strongest marksman, a sniper who simply cannot miss his target.

Luffy has long since been shrugging off bullets and cannonballs even without his Gears, but Lille Barro's spirit bullets are another thing entirely. Luffy can't even block those projectiles, since Lille's bullets have the absolute power to go through anything whatsoever to hit their target. With The X-Axis, Lille could definitely shoot Luffy in the brain or heart to take him out.

4 Yammy Llargo's Size, Strength, and Rage Have No Limit

Despite being ranked last among the Espadas at #10, Yammy Llargo actually has unlimited potential as a furious warrior. His sealed form is nothing impressive with his fist attacks and cero blasts, but when Yammy releases his zanpakuto, Ira, he morphs into a brutal giant that keeps getting bigger and stronger according to his anger. In fact, enemy attacks merely fuel his own power, so he welcomes those attacks.

Perhaps for sheer plot convenience, Captains Kuchiki and Zaraki defeated Yammy off-screen, but given the nature of his powers, he could have become downright unbeatable. If he realized his true potential to grow infinitely bigger and stronger, then he could overwhelm Gear 5 Luffy, no matter the cartoon physics he faced.

3 King Yhwach Can Overcome Gear 5 with The Almighty

King Yhwach claimed to be the father of all Quincy, having incredible abilities such as moving Quincy powers from one person to another. As for his own powers, Yhwach can threaten his enemies with his sword, giant bows, and Sankt Zwinger, but all of that pales in comparison to his ultimate technique, The Almighty.

The Almighty is just as formidable as it sounds. With it, Yhwach can see all threads of reality, moving from different threads of the present to reach any future he desires, making him practically unbeatable in battle. Ichigo only stopped Yhwach because Uryu's silver arrowhead nullified The Almighty for a moment -- without that advantage, Luffy wouldn't last long against the Quincy king.

2 Sosuke Aizen's Illusions Won't Let Gear 5's Fists Reach Him

Captain Sosuke Aizen was the true villain of the fondly-remembered Soul Society story arc, using his shikai, swordplay, and kido spells to easily sweep aside anyone who got in his way. Even without the Hogyoku's bizarre power, Sosuke Aizen is strong enough to defeat almost anyone in Bleach, and he could overcome most One Piece characters too, Gear 5 Luffy included.

Sosuke Aizen's zanpakuto strikes wouldn't work well against Gear 5's physics-defying power, so he would make use of his two favorite weapons: illusions and kido spells. His kido would, at the very least, slow down and confuse Luffy, and his shikai would do even more. If possible, Aizen could use his perfect hypnosis to lure Luffy to the shoreline and trick Luffy into plunging right into the water, where his defeat is guaranteed.

1 Gerard Valkyrie is an Invincible Warrior of God

It's not entirely clear how much punishment Gerard Valkyrie can endure, because he was never properly defeated in the Bleach manga. Instead, he died when Yhwach used Auswählen to steal his powers from far, which spared the Soul Reapers from trying to finish a seemingly unwinnable fight. Even before using his full powers, Gerard is nigh-unbeatable with The Miracle, absle to turn a losing fight into a surefire victory.

That alone is a serious threat to Gear 5 Luffy, but Gerard, Sternritter M, can do more. In his true form, he's an unstoppable giant who can shrug off practically anything as a self-proclaimed warrior of God, and it's possible that, true to his word, he really can't be beaten in that form. At the very least, Gerard could keep Luffy busy in that form until Gear 5 wears out, then defeat Luffy once he's vulnerable.

• 

  Bleach

  Bleachrevolves around Kurosaki Ichigo, a regular always-grouchy high-schooler who for some strange reason is able to see the souls of the dead around him.

• 

  One Piece

  Created by Eiichiro Oda, the One Piece franchise explores the adventures of pirate Luffy D. Monkey and his crew, the Straw Hats. Since the manga first debuted in 1997, One Piece has been adapted into an ongoing anime that has seen multiple movies. Most recently it was adapted into a live-action series by Netflix.