@Count:
Luffy's rubber powers are very simple and operate purely on intuitive principles of elasticity/malleability. They're not even as conceptually fantastical as Sanji creating Diable Jambe with friction heat or whatever the hell Zoro's Asura was (which is probably just a Hinduism aesthetic Oda thought looked cool, he always love surface level coolness with swordsman abilities). I daresay that the most absurd things Luffy has done with his Devil Fruit are Gear Second and Culverin, everything else is as simple as "my bones are rubber like balloons, so they'll enlarge like a balloon if I bite into them and blow air".
I would like to comment this before anything… to me, Gear Second is practically the best ability obtained thanks to his fruit.
I get your reasoning, Count. After Lucci's explanation you can really think that things blowed up to a whole new level, anyone may think like you did, yet before... children might think that this new ability of Luffy, with steam and getting red of it, may be compared to trains... in a train arc. Luffy also stated that needed to become stronger after Aokiji's fight, trains are the most usual way to make an analogy of life itself and keep pushing forward, to me it really compels with everything that is Luffy as character.
The most flawed part of G2 is how Luffy thinks that fast to catch with his new speed, and that's when shonen' standart rules apply, and it becomes a fantasy, like enlarge limbs.
@pRopaaNS:
One exception can't be proof for a trend beign broken. Why throw an entire concept away just because there is one instance where it didn't seem to work?
Anyway, the story is written in way for the blood loss to make sense. Luffy was throwing the Gear 3 elephant gattling to destroy Noah with the open wounds, making him spill the huge amount of blood through the process. After he stopped the attack Shirahoshi commented on how his wounds are wide open and he's covered in blood, with him promptly fainting afterwards. Also he fainted after the fight was over, because at that point he no longer had reason to exert willpower to defy his physical limitations.
Luffy can be cut yes, but one thing that I think have to be considered is that since he's Rubber he doesn't get damaged by stabbing wounds that much, because damage from getting stabbed is only partially due to cut itself. Another reason for stabbing wounds to be severe is because object inside of wound tears and squashes flesh around and causes additional damage, but because Luffy is rubber you can twist a sword pierced through his body and it won't aggravate the wound.
As for the instance itself, Luffy dind't actually get pierced by spike, his head got bent in. Guess the spike just wasn't sharp enough.
I don't have a problem with healed wounds, or wounds in a battle, my problem goes to make something that Oda trivialize into something important all of a sudden. Now we returned to what we're used to, and doesn't feel the same, just that.
That is very logical explanation… I just would've liked to see Luffy getting a wound from that thorn, to my eyes it really fits Katakuri's clothes to be sharp enough to induce damage. I lower my point because today remembered Cracker's cut including its development after the battle and at Paradise, Luffy was really devoted to his most awesome skill, agility; preventing almost any cut to be made. As long as Oda continues to put a somewhat wall to an user about using CoA and CoO at the same time, i'm ok with Luffy avoiding cuts
@MiyamotoMusashi:
That was a Haki sphere, just like Sento used against Luffy, or Shanks used around his sword to prevent the magma, a DF product so to speak, advancing further. Looked like a wall that the magma could not penetrate, hence was redirected in all directions.
I loved those times… when Rayleigh says: "that is Color of Armament, […] which allows to make an armor around you"
That truly was an armor, and it felt to have a remarkable difference with the Color of Conquering, that for sure meddles with ppl directly, in the outside and the inside.