Ok, so this is a little research I did about luffy's attack schemes and names. It is in response to this week's chapter as to why I DO NOT think gomu gomu no thor elephant gun created lightning.
1.) Luffy has used the word thor in naming one of his attacks before.
This is absolutely correct but this was based in a movie. Also, the name of that attack was gomu gomu no giganto thor axe
You can hear him say the words in the video…..
also the difference in the name is slight but its important. the attack schemes of luffy's attack follow the pattern of ...
gomu gomu no attack, i.e gomu gomu no pistol this is for his basic attacks... it is then taken a step further to ....
gomu gomu no "description" attack, i.e gomu gomu no jet pistol. the description is there to show the specialty of the attack. and on rare occasion
gomu gomu no description (descriptive attack) i.e gomu gomu no giganto jet shell. this is done where it is an improvement and/or a situational adjustment of a previous attack
there are also special cases he renames the moves b/c of the circumstance of the attack... i.e. gomu gomu no storm and
since the time skip new and improved moves with new names... i.e. gomu gomu no red hawk, gomu gomu no grizzly magnum; their basic counter parts being gomu gomu no pistol and gomu gomu no bazooka respectively.
2.) Now that we know how luffy's naming scheme works, based on the information stated, i think it can be assumed with fairly good accuracy that a gomu gomu no giganto thor _____ is different than a gomu gomu no thor elephant ______ (disregarding haki as thats the only difference between elephant and giganto that we know of). Why? because the first is a thor based move drawing power from the clouds that is improved by Gear 3, the latter is a gear 3 move that is either improved and/or experienced a situational adjustment.
Now you're probably saying that i still havent proved that its not the same, but wait, there's more.
The situational adjustment is the key factor for this point.
3.) Luffy has a move called gomu gomu no gatling that i'm sure everyone is familiar with. This move has been adapted into many different variations based on situational adjustments. to name them
gomu gomu no storm
! ![](http://img.batoto.net/comics/2011/05/03/o/read4dc082b0e41ce/One Piece - 209 - 16_17.jpg)
gomu gomu no rain
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and ofcourse gomu gomu no gatling (didnt fell like finding a pic).
These are all pretty much the same moves. the differences are; storm is a rage of fist from above that is precursored by gomu gomu no fusen and a twist… rain is similar with storm but instead of fusen and twist, luffy just jumps into the air first and gatling is just the basic form.
Lets leave this a bit for now but i'll return to it in a sec, but before i do lets talk a bit about thor.
4. ) What is he known for? his lightning and his hammer from above. Lets look at the hammer from above concept. For luffy to do gomu gomu no thor elephant gun he used rocket to propel himself up in the air and come down from above with his fist, JUST LIKE thor would do. If we take from above that there are situations where luffy names his attacks on situational adjustments (gomu gomu no storm) then gomu gomu no thor elephant gun can be likened to such a feat as being named For the adjustment of going into the sky and slamming his hammer (luffy's elephant gun) downwards onto his foe.
5.) now, lets look at the move in question gomu gomu no thor elephant gun
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on the impact, there seems to be electrical charges being given off but in my opinion these "charges" are because of the force of impact. If we take a step back and look at the attack leading up to before the collision there are NO lightning charges being given off like gomu gomu no giganto thor axe had and the after the impact which i feel a lot of people are neglecting there isnt anything of the sort. infact looking above as at the impact point of luffy's fist and don chinjao's head on the left panels there isnt even a trace of a lightning charge.
Now lets look at red hawk.
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NOW THIS is an elemental attack. the before, during and after you can see the effects of the heat (fire) of the attack. This and all the reasons above are why i believe that gomu gomu no thor elephant gun is NOT a lightning based.
disclaimer: I am not the author and as such everything above is just a speculation based on my understanding of the manga.