'One Piece' 1042: Clues On Luffy's Next Power-Up Fuel More G5/Awakening Theories [Spoilers]

"One Piece" 1042 is set to drop in a few days and while the spoilers and raw scans all point out that Kaido will knock out the straw hat-wearing pirate, fans are optimistic that Luffy's next and final stand against the Emperor of the Sea will showcase his next-level power-up the manga has never seen.

Heading the new order from the Gorousei, the CP-0 boss goes to the roof to eliminate Luffy, who was in the middle of a fight against Kaido. He runs to the area where the pirates are fighting, jumps and grabs Luffy's should at the opportune time when Kaido is about to unleash a devastating attack.

Surprised and upset by the appearance of the CP-0 boss, Kaido can no longer stop his attack and releases it in Luffy's direction. The scene reminds Kaido of his fight with Oden a couple of decades ago and in his point of view, he saw Luffy and Oden's faces as practically the same.

While the CP-0 boss managed to move away just in time when Kaido's attack hit, Luffy took it all and it knocked him out. Fans have seen Kaido defeat Luffy several times in this arc and this latest development is not surprising to them.

Instead, they believe this incident will awaken Luffy's Devil Fruit and give him a new power-up that's solid and powerful enough to defeat Kaido. For some Japanese fans, it is going to be Gear 5 as apparently hinted at in one of the panels of the manga.

Many believe the power-up would be Gear 5 since Luffy particularly mentioned he is at the end of his Gear 4. He highlighted this by saying, "This is the last Gear Fourth and I won't have any more time, I cannot lose."

Other fans believe the Devil Fruit awakening would be almost impossible since Luffy has no strength left in him. Several others believe that like Law and Kid, Luffy will awaken his Devil Fruit and will use its power to defeat Kaido, just like the two captains did with Big Mom.

There is a great chance that Luffy was just saying that he is at the end of his Gear 4 since that particular power-up uses haki and it only lasts for a certain period. This happened when he fought Doflamingo in the Dressrosa arc where he needed to rest for some time to regain his strength and haki.

However, "One Piece" creator Eiichiro Oda is unpredictable and fans know that regardless of the clues they thought Oda deliberately planted in the manga, they can never predict what the creator has in mind for the series. Things are getting more exciting in "One Piece" 1042 and what happens next is still anybody's guess.

"One Piece" 1042 titled "Winners Need No Excuse" is slated to release Sunday.