Explanation of Luffy's power after Elbaf

This article contains spoilers from One Piece's Elbaf Arc.

Key conclusions

• Luffy's current power is incredibly high: Yonko level, Mastered all Haki, Awakened Devil Fruit.
• Luffy needs to improve his Haki for the Elders and Imu: Supreme King Haki is the key.
• Luffy vs. Shanks in Elbaf can increase his power to surpass Kaido and reach the Pirate King level.

Monkey D. Luffy is now one of the Yonko after defeating Kaido in the Wano Country arc One Piece. In Egghead, Luffy managed to further improve his control over his Awakening, as well as many others, and fans know that he is constantly getting stronger even now. Even in the early parts of Elbaf, fans have seen Luffy make great strides, and if that means anything, it's that Luffy is still constantly growing in terms of strength and that he hasn't reached his ceiling yet.

Moreover, fans know that he needs to reach an even higher level, AMD after what happened with Egghead, Elbuf should be a stepping stone for him. Luffy should become even stronger in the future One Pieceand fans can't wait to see what level he will reach when he leaves Elbaf.

Luffy's current power level is incredibly high

• Luffy has all three types of haki
• Luffy awakened his devil fruit

Luffy is definitely one of the strongest One Piece characters at the moment. This emphasizes that he is one of Yonko. Even at the beginning of Elbafa's arc, Oda emphasized many times that Luffy was now seen as Red Hair's equal. Of course, this is not to say that Luffy is equal to Shanks in terms of power, which he very well could be, but more that Luffy and Shanks are now on the same pedestal and hold the same Yonko title. At the moment, Luffy is an extremely strong individual. Not only has he mastered all three types of Haki, but he knows all three advanced versions of this ability and can use them effortlessly.

You can cast the High King Color, right? – Luffy

Although Luffy's control over Supreme King Haki Infusion wasn't that strong at the start of his battle against Kaido, it has greatly improved since then. Luffy can use Haki effortlessly now, and he doesn't even suffer from as many disadvantages as before. When it comes to using the Devil Fruit, fans know that Luffy is a master of his powers. He connected to Gear 5 and managed to use it multiple times in one arc, as seen in Egghead.

In Elbaf, Luffy used Gear 5 even for small actions such as fighting Road's pet, Hilmangandram. It just goes to show how confident and comfortable Luffy is with these powers, and it's definitely an improvement, even though fans might not see it at first glance. To top it all off, Luffy has shown the ability to use powers like Gear 4 in limited parts of his body, such as only his hand.

It's a big step forward for him and it just shows that he's on a completely different level now compared to before. Luffy is still growing and will continue to grow throughout Elbaf's Arc, and fans know that he needs to reach a very high level if he really wants to defeat the likes of the Elders and Ima in particular.

Why Luffy needs to work on his haki in Elbaf

Luffy's Haki isn't at Joy Boy's level yet

The Egghead Island arc gave Luffy a blueprint of where he needed to improve and what he needed to do to be able to fight back against those from the World Government. Fans already know that Luffy's clash with the World Government is inevitable, which means that he will need to toughen himself up even more when he goes to fight against them. Right now, Luffy is very strong, but not strong enough to defeat the likes of the Elders and Imu. As seen in the Egghead Island arc, Luffy can fight Elders and even defeat them. However, what he can't do is break their immortality, which means he will lose to them in a long battle. Even though Luffy can stun them with his power, in the end, they can just keep recovering and not lose stamina. On the other hand, Luffy will eventually lose Gear 5, which is his biggest weakness as he will eventually fall. This means that characters like Elders will be declared winners.

That Haki… was it bigger than Red's? – Dory and Broggy

With the Elders being this strong, fans know that there is no way Luffy can now defeat Ima, who many, such as Ivanko, already believe to be immortal. So, Luffy needs to get a lot stronger if he wants to beat the Elders, and Oda has already given the fans an answer on where he needs to improve. In Egghead, the Iron Giant saved Luffy by freeing Haki Joyboy from the junction.

Using his strongest Haki, the Elders' transformations were nullified and at the same time this challenge was canceled. The elders felt real hurt, and even Immu felt pain when he felt Joyboy's Haki. Fans know that the answer to defeating the Elders and Imu lies in the Supreme King of Haki, specifically Haki of the highest order.

Luffy doesn't have that much access to Haki right now. This means that only characters like Shanks are capable of defeating the likes of the Elders right now, and that Luffy will have to reach that top level in Elbaf. That's where Shanks comes in.

Luffy vs. Shanks in Elbaf can improve him

Whenever Luffy fights someone, he makes sure to take a few tricks from their deck and add them to his own. Luffy did this in his fight against Katakura and even Kaido, so Shanks shouldn't be an exception. Luffy and Shanks are inevitably going to fight, and the best place for them to fight is Elbaf. If they did end up fighting here, Luffy would probably learn how to use the ultimate Haki from Shanks and then channel it himself. Essentially, this means that Supreme King Luffy Haki, along with other forms of Haki, can be worked on even further in Elbaf. Even though he's a Yonka, there are things Luffy doesn't know and will need to learn if he wants to defeat the World Government's strongest fighters. This is why Luffy's battle against Shanks is so important and why he needs to continue to grow.

Luffy's power after Elbuff

Once Luffy vs. Shanks is over and he's out of Elbaf, he'll be stronger than ever before. In fact, it can be said that Luffy will be much stronger than Kaido, and even above the level of an average Yonko. He will master his Devil Fruit Awakening, but more than that, he will use Haki on the same level as Joy Boy. Essentially, this would be the final step for Luffy to become the Pirate King and would signal to fans that he is now ready for the One Piece Final War which should be just around the corner.

Using these powers, Luffy should be able to counter the threat of the five elders and more than that, defeat characters like Imu. Even Blackbeard who would be able to nullify Luffy's Gear 5 should be defeatable using this new level of Supreme King Haki that Luffy could have learned from Shanks in Elbaf.

One Piece is available to read through Viz Media. Fans can read the series officially and for free on Shonen Jump and Manga Plus. The next One Piece chapter, One Piece 1131, is scheduled for release on November 11, 2024.