Why Gearshift works against Infinity. DEKU VS GOJO
People misunderstand the Gearshift vs Infinity discussion by reducing it to “speed,” when that was never the actual argument.
Gojo’s Infinity works through the Achilles and the tortoise concept. The closer something gets to him, the remaining distance is endlessly divided so the target never fully reaches the endpoint.
The manga itself explains this through convergence and infinite subdivision:
1 meter becomes 0.5 meters, then 0.25, then 0.125, endlessly.
The important part is that the target is being forced to obey a governing spatial process. Infinity works by making movement itself follow that endless division framework.
That means Infinity is not simply “a wall” or “raw force.” It is a law/process applied to interaction through space.
A good way to understand this is through Achilles himself. Achilles only fails to reach the endpoint because he is forced to follow the rule of covering half the remaining distance over and over again.
If Achilles did not have to obey that governing principle in the first place, then the distance would never become “infinite” to him at all. It would simply remain a normal finite distance that could be crossed directly.
That is exactly where Gearshift changes everything.
People constantly simplify Gearshift into “speed manipulation” or “inertia manipulation,” but the manga explicitly describes it as something much greater.
The narration outright states that Gearshift:
“can warp the very laws governing reality.”
Not merely acceleration.
Not merely inertia.
Reality itself.
The feats directly support this.
We literally see objects suspended in midair instead of immediately behaving normally. We see movement/state persist unnaturally even after being stopped. We then see movement resume again without normal interaction causing it.
The second user even explicitly states that Gearshift:
“adjusts speed without abiding by the law of inertia.”
And he only says this as one property of Gearshift before immediately calling out All For One by saying:
“Shouldn't you know that already, All For One?”
That line matters because AFO was still trying to predict Deku through conventional expectations even though Gearshift fundamentally does not behave according to conventional governing laws to begin with.
The manga then escalates the explanation further by outright clarifying that Gearshift can warp the very laws governing reality itself.
That is why Infinity does not properly apply to Gearshift.
Infinity only functions if the target is forced to obey the convergence/division process creating the infinite slowdown.
Normally:
1m → 0.5m → 0.25m → 0.125m endlessly.
But Gearshift explicitly bypasses the governing laws/framework responsible for creating that process in the first place.
So instead of being forced through infinite subdivision, the distance simply remains:
1m → crossed directly.
Because the law/process creating the forced infinite division is itself being bypassed.
Infinity works by forcing normal interaction through infinitely processed space.
Gearshift does not interact through that normal governing framework to begin with.