Here are the names of Luffy’s five gear attacks

Monkey D. Luffy uses different attack forms depending on what form he is in. In his basic form, he names his attacks after weapons. In Gear Two, he introduced the “Jet” version of his attacks. Gear 3 introduces the Gigant series. In Gear 4, his attacks are named after animals. Not all of his attacks in these forms fit these naming formulas, but many did.

Now that Luffy has Gear 5, he has also come up with a new naming system. In One Piece chapter 1070, “Humanity’s Strongest Form”, he introduced the “Dawn” attack series. At least, that’s what Wiz’s translation calls them. Amateur translators reading raw scans of the manga may disagree. Anyway, Luffy should have a new form ready to be tested for many of his old moves.

Why does Luffy use the word “Dawn” for the names of his Gear Five attacks?

Luffy showed off his new attack series during his fight with Rob Lucci. First, he used his Gum-Gum Dawn Whip to cause the CP0 agent to spin around and even sink to the ground. He then used the Sand-Sand Dawn Missile, where he used his rubber surround to throw it at his opponent and hit them; he also wore glasses made of hair. These are the only two attacks that follow this naming convention so far, but there will likely be more to come.

As for the meaning behind the attacks, it can be tied to a common theme in One Piece’s story. Several characters in the story spoke of the dawn coming after a dark night or something similar; night usually refers to terror, oppression, or other darkness that engulfs a nation or group of people; , on the other hand, points to a new era of freedom and prosperity. Coincidentally, Luffy recently received the titles Boy of Joy and Sun God Nika, both of whom will return to the world as Saviors. You could even say that Luffy and his crew liberated countries and brought dawn wherever they went. In that light, it makes sense that Luffy’s final form would have techniques named after Aurora.

Is there another way to read the names of Luffy’s attacks?

As obvious as the dawn reading seems, it’s not something Luffy made up, at least not on purpose. He still doesn’t know what role he plays, like Joy Boy or Nika, and he doesn’t imagine himself as a hero like Liberator. He is content to save his friends and himself from what will come after them; saving the country is just a bonus. While it might be thematically appropriate to call his attacks the morning after, it might not be on his mind. It was as if he knew Gear Five was a form of freedom.

This is where studying the original Japanese text becomes important, as it gives a better sense of the wordplay during gameplay. The kanji reading for “dawn” reads Shiroi (白い, しろい), meaning “white”; this could represent the white color Luffy got in Gear Five. However, the intended reading is written as “dōn” (ドーン) in furigana rōmaji. It can be read as “dawn”, but the first reading is used as a particularly loud and booming sound effect; it is also often found in dramatic scenes.

Luffy may have originally intended his attacks for a sense of loud sound effect, so some fans have translated the structure of the name to the Booming White series. It also makes sense because when the word ‘dawn’ is mentioned in One Piece, the Japanese term used for it is yoake (夜明け, literally ‘break of dawn’). However, the “dawn” reading of ドーン can still be applied backwards due to its homophonic reading.

There are a few potential puns here, and what Luffy meant may become clearer later. Official translation or fan translations may change as details become clear. At least the pronunciation of the word “dawn” should be correct, whatever its meaning.