Deku from My Hero Academia can also use Luffy’s “transmission” power in One Piece.
It is no secret to anyone that the narratives, the construction of characters and many other elements that make up shonen manga often inspire other mangaka to tell their own story. In fact, several renowned authors, either in interviews or question sections, have admitted that they took as a guide other creations that they enjoyed reading.
However, the truth is that there are times when this is not revealed in the first instance and it is the fans who find these similarities between franchises. Either by direct winks or simply because, when comparing the strength or technique of their characters, they came to the conclusion that they shared many characteristics.
And, well, My Hero Academia is no stranger to this industry phenomenon. But do you already know the similarities between Izuku Midoriya and Luffy? Read on to find out.
Luffy’s powers reached Deku
The protagonist of My Hero Academia,** Izuku Midoriya** aka Deku) has revealed that among his attacks he has one very similar to the characteristic movements of the Straw Hat Captain, Luffyfrom One Piece.
For his part, the Captain has used the word “Gear” to describe the progression of his own powers, however, Deku has recently shown that his last power unlocked in his One for all quirk, Transmission, has a similar mechanic to Luffy’s. and even has exactly the same name.
In case you don’t know Luffy’s powers, we give you a little context. So far, the Captain has displayed four different “Gears” throughout One Piece. It started with the second and the last one was the fifth. Each one of them uses the characteristics of Luffy’s elastic body, due to consuming the Gomu Gomu no Mi Devil Fruit.. As a user of said fruit, you have gained more speed, stamina, or power during battle. However, the fifth gear has a difference from the previous ones, as this one is based on Luffy’s devil fruit awakening, although once it was revealed, fans found out that it had another origin. Be that as it may, each gear is a progression in which a new level of strength is unlocked by Luffy to protect his loved ones and reach his dream of becoming the Pirate King.
So, in My Hero Academia, Deku has a superpower called One for All., which unites and improves different powers. The One for All can be transferred to another person, so each successor inherits the powers of the previous users, but Izuku is the only one who has the ability to access all of them. One of them, the quirk of the second user, had not been revealed until now, however Deku made use of it during his complicated battle against Shigaraki/All of One. The name of this power is “Transmission” and it allows the user to change the speed at which objects and people travel through space. During My Hero Academia chapter #368, Deku attacks Shigaraki with the Transmission move, known as Gear Shift: Overdrive. After hitting her opponent three times, Midoriya enters three different Gears, progressively increasing her target’s speed.
After realizing that Deku calls his progressive blows “Second Gear”, “Third Gear” and “Top Gear”, One Piece fans surely remembered Luffy and his remarkable power-ups. In a way, it could be a tribute to Eiichiro Oda, one of the mangakas most admired by Kohei Horikoshi, the author of My Hero Academia. But the fact that they have the same name indicates that they are not simple coincidences. While Izuku’s “Gears” are part of the same move, Luffy’s are completely different from each other. For example, the second gear uses the legs as pumps to make the blood flow faster and dope the body; the third, inflates the air in the bones to make Luffy’s limbs gigantic; the fourth also uses air, but inflates the muscles instead and makes them hard after using Haki; and finally, the fifth gives Luffy a cartoonish appearance and gives him abilities that could only exist in cartoons.
As for Deku’s Gear Shift, the Overdrive attack is amazing and it achieved its goal: taking the enemy by surprise. It doesn’t require creativity though, just like Luffy’s Gears. Fortunately, Deku still has a lot to reveal about the Transmission power of him within the One for all in the upcoming episodes. So maybe My Hero Academia will give an unexpected twist to the powers of its protagonist.