Monkey D. Luffy

Monkey D. Luffy
One Piece character
Monkey D. Luffy from the anime and manga series One Piece
First appearance	Manga Volume #1-Chapter #1 Anime Episode #1
Created by	Eiichiro Oda
In-universe information
Nickname	"Straw Hat Luffy" "Anchor" (Red Haired Shanks)
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Pirate (Straw Hat Pirates, Captain)
Relatives	Monkey D. Garp (Grandfather) Monkey D. Dragon (Father) Portgas D. Ace (Brother)

Monkey D. Luffy (モンキー・D・ルフィ, Monkī Dī Rufi) is a fictional character and leading protagonist in the anime and manga series One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. He is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates.

About Luffy

The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy comes from Fuschia Town. He had the highest bounty in East Blue at 30 million Belli after his defeat of Arlong, but the bounty increased to 100 million Belli after he defeated Shichibukai member Sir Crocodile, and again to 300 million Belli (on level with the Shichibukai members) after defeating Rob Lucci of CP9, demolishing Enies Lobby and declaring war on the World Government.

Luffy is the son of Monkey D. Dragon, brother to Portgas D. Ace, and the grandson of vice-admiral Monkey D. Garp.

Appearance

His trademark Straw Hat (from which he gets his nickname 'Straw Hat Luffy') was entrusted to him by the legendary pirate captain Red-Haired Shanks. Aside from his hat, Luffy's customary outfit is a red vest, blue trousers (later changes to black trousers), and sandals. Luffy has a scar on his left cheek, beneath his eye, which he gave himself as a child to prove that he was mature and unafraid of pain (also to possibly look more like Shanks who is his idol). He has short black hair and black eyes.

Unlike the other main characters, Luffy wears the same outfit for most of the series. As he travels, he may change into clothing that is appropriate for the climate (as in the Drum Island or Alabasta story arcs). During the Enies Lobby arc, he wore a pair of black shorts because they had pockets he could use to carry food.

Eiichiro Oda has mentioned that the animal Luffy most resembles is a monkey. According to Oda, Luffy is represented by the color red, and smells like meat.

Personality and relationships

Luffy is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and, considering them his best friends, values them over all else. Even though they are all usually annoyed by his immaturity and simple-mindedness, they all respect him for his strength and his qualities as a leader.

At first glance, Luffy does not appear to be very intelligent, as he often sees things in childish manner and can easily be amazed by the simplest things. However, because he views the world in such a straightforward and simple manner, he is frequently the only person who can see what should be done. He likes to poke fun at other's imperfections and character traits, even though he is usually no better than those he mocks.

Luffy seems to have an insatiable appetite, a characteristic that is common to the Japanese archetype of the (at times simple-minded) young male hero/adventurer with a heart of gold; perhaps hunger in Luffy's case has to do with having an elastic stomach.

Although Luffy is fairly lighthearted, he has an unstoppable sense of determination, optimism, and courage, and will do anything to stand up for his friends and comrades. Ever since consuming the devil fruit he has not worried about his inability to swim, much like his brother. Many of these traits are common among Ds. The only thing which seems to frighten Luffy is his grandfather; the mere mention of him intimidates Luffy to such an extent that he does not fight back.

Luffy never kills any of the villains, no matter how cold-hearted they may be; instead, he frequently sends them flying, knocks them out, or leaves them beaten into submission (consequently, it is not uncommon for Luffy's former opponents to come after him for revenge, such as Buggy the Clown and Alvida). Oda explains that it is not a question of morality so much as a matter of punishing the villains for their crimes - he feels that killing the villains lets them off too lightly, whereas allowing them to live and see their dreams ruined is a far more fitting punishment.

Luffy's dream is to find the One Piece and become Pirate King. He knows that to achieve his goal, he will have to defeat many strong opponents, including the World Government and his childhood hero Shanks.

History

Luffy was trained from a young age by his grandfather Garp. Later Garp left Luffy and Ace in the care of a friend to continue his training.

Luffy and Shanks

When Luffy was seven years old, he met a gang of pirates led by a man named Red-Haired Shanks. After befriending them, Luffy decided that he wanted to become a pirate as well. It was one year later that Luffy cut himself under his eye to show he was tough enough to join Shanks's crew (a scene that was never reproduced in the anime). He swore over Shank's hat that one day he would assemble a crew stronger than the Red-Hair Pirates and become the pirate king.

During his time spent with Shanks, Luffy accidentally ate a Devil Fruit when it was left in an open case. The fruit, called the Gomu Gomu no Mi (ゴムゴムの実, Gum Gum Fruit, Rubber Rubber Fruit), turned Luffy into a rubber man capable of stretching, inflating, and bouncing back impact based attacks. Because Luffy did not know the nature of the fruit, Shanks and his crew did not hold the incident against him. They remained friends, but Luffy seemed to grow even more defensive of Shanks's seemingly meek band of pirates.

After Luffy stood up to Higuma the Bear, a local mountain bandit that insulted Shanks and his crew, he was beaten, held hostage, and almost killed by a Sea King before Shanks rescued him. However, the incident cost Shanks his left arm. Shortly thereafter, Shanks set sail along with his crew; before leaving, he and Luffy promised each other that one day Luffy would surpass Shanks and become the Pirate King. Shanks left Luffy his straw hat as a parting gift, saying:

"Do me a favor... keep this hat safe for me? This hat means a lot to me. Promise that you'll give it back to me someday... when you become a great pirate"

Luffy has since worked on upholding that promise, and Shanks' hat is his most prized possession. Luffy became enraged when Buggy and other pirates damaged his hat in their fight.

Straw Hat Luffy

As a child Monkey D. Luffy was inspired to become a pirate by listening to the tales of the buccaneer "Red Haired" Shanks. But his life changed when Luffy accidentally ate the devil fruit of rubber (Gomu Gomu No Mi) and gained the power to stretch like rubber, but at the cost of never being able to swim again (he didn't know how to swim to begin with). Years later, still vowing to become the king of the pirates, Luffy leaves his hometown. Setting out alone in a tiny rowboat, he started his search of the legendary "One Piece", said to be the greatest treasure of the world, to fulfil his wish of being Pirate King.

Luffy has since worked diligently on keeping that promise and is known famously as "Monkey D. Luffy", or simply "Straw Hat Luffy". Luffy now aims not only to be a grand pirate, but to become the Pirate King. Most people do not take his goal seriously, until they see his incredible strength. While the exact details of his training are unclear, it is known that his grandfather trained Luffy for a time by throwing him into deep valleys, leaving him alone in dangerous forests in the middle of the night, and tying him to balloons over high altitudes, all for the sake of making Luffy stronger.

Even the Marines started to take Luffy more seriously after he defeated the villainous Marine Captain "Axe-Hand" Morgan and several known pirates such as Buggy the Clown, "Pirate Admiral" Don Krieg, and Arlong The Fishman. A 30 million Beli reward was placed on his head after he defeated Arlong. This reward eventually became 100 million Beli after he defeated Sir Crocodile when the World Government deemed him a serious threat for beating one of their Shichibukai. After the events of Enies Lobby he received a bounty of 300 million Beli; this gives Luffy the highest known active bounty, and the third highest bounty known so far.

During his voyage, Luffy has had a few meetings with the Marines, from the not-too-serious looking return of Ironfist Fullbody, whom Luffy met first at the Baratie, to Commodore Smoker of Loguetown, to Admiral Aokiji and, most recently, with his grandfather Monkey D. Garp.

Luffy has passed several islands on his way to and along The Grand Line, including Drum Island, Little Garden, Alabasta, and Skypiea. He has met many new allies, as well as making several enemies, such as Buggy the Clown, Wapol, Sir Crocodile, Enel, CP9 and the entire World Government.

While on his voyage, Luffy also found out the identity of his father, Monkey D. Dragon, and that his father is still alive, details that before had been unknown to Luffy (in fact Luffy seemed to be unaware he even had a father).

Recent chapters

Luffy, along with Robin and Franky, wander around the mansion and encounter various horror-inspired creatures. He eventually realizes that Sanji is missing, and Zoro as well. Light-hearted as ever, Luffy soon puts on a nearby suit of knightly armor he finds in one of the hallways; it hardly seems to help, as he ends up fighting several of the stronger general zombies, who manage to surprise and capture him. While Robin and Franky are occupied with the fight, Luffy is inserted into a large coffin and is hauled away, deep into the heart of Thriller Bark.

Luffy winds up locked in a cage in a room surrounded by Dr. Hogback, Absalom, Perona, and the Shichibukai Gecko Moria. Though Luffy makes an attempt at escape, Perona prevents this with her signature 'Hollow Spirit' (effectively depressing Luffy to a helpless state), and Moria uses the power of the Kage Kage no Mi(Shadow Shadow Fruit), to remove Luffy's shadow from his body. Moria believes the shadow of a pirate with such a high bounty will be perfect for his latest zombie, the infamous 'Oz'. A giant among giants, the dormant body of Oz is reanimated with Luffy's shadow, and in turn, gives it Luffy's personality, as well as his desire to become the Pirate King.

Luffy was later found unconscious back aboard the Thousand Sunny, along with Sanji and Zoro. Moria had earlier stated that those with their shadows removed stay asleep for several days, but Usopp manages to excite all three back awake by gathering all of their interests into one big lie: a beautiful woman swordsman carrying meat. Now that everyone is together again, save for the captured Nami, the group begins to discuss their findings and to decide on a plan of action. After Franky divulges a past friendship between Brook and Laboon the Whale, Luffy decides that he wants the gentleman skeleton to join their crew, even if they must drag him back to the ship. It is also the captain's decision that the time for a counterattack has arrived, and the crew prepares to 'blow down' Thriller Bark.

The crew splits up into smaller factions, each one with their own goal in mind. Luffy's, naturally, is to head straight for Moria. He reasons that if he can beat up the Shichibukai member, all of the captured shadows will return to their rightful owners. Luffy manages to find Moria easily, resting in the smashed remains of Oz's freezer. Moria seems unalarmed by Luffy's presence, and even reveals the fact that simply beating him up will not release the shadows; instead, Luffy will need to force him to verbally command the shadows to return. Luffy agrees to the challenge and immediately launches into his usual barrage of attacks, but is quickly repelled by Moria's power to control shadows, including his own, which he utilizes as something of a puppet to absorb all of Luffy's direct attacks. Just before the chapter focusing on his fight with Moria ends, Luffy manages to surprise his opponent, using his quick wit in battle to deliver an attack not from the front, but from below, leaping over the edge of the balcony and ramming his foot straight upward beneath Moria. When Oz starts destroying Thriller Bark in search of the Straw Hats, Moria runs away while Luffy chases after him. After catching up to Moria, he then realizes that he has been chasing after his doppelganger/shadow all this while and is furious. And it seems that Barthomelew Kuma is looking for him as he asks Nami whether Luffy has a brother to which Nami replied that Ace is his brother.

Abilities

Luffy is the captain and is considered the strongest member of the Straw Hat Pirates, with a power maybe only matched by Zoro. He currently holds the highest bounty of any pirate from the East Blue. In his present journey, he has defeated extremely powerful foes, such as Sir Crocodile, Enel and Rob Lucci, as noted by his extremely high bounty of 300,000,000 Beli, equal to the amount of the former bounties of at least two Shichibukai.

Many times he has survived severe injuries and massive blood loss. His skills, developed by the hellish training he was subjected to as a child by his grandfather, are backed up by his unstoppable determination, making him nearly impossible to keep down during a fight. However, it also seems possible that he naturally has superhuman strength, as Luffy himself is never seen training on the ship like Zoro. Luffy is capable of crushing steel with his bare fingers and breaking through thick bedrock with relative ease. His most astonishing feat of strength by far was causing two huge buildings he was stuck in between to collapse by simply pushing them away with his bare hands.

Though seemingly dimwitted, Luffy is quite ingenious when it comes to combat and has shown great adaptability. For example, he figured out how to counter Enel's Mantra, found out Crocodile's vulnerability to water, and later learned Soru (a high speed movement technique) just from seeing it in action. Luffy is constantly developing new attacks to keep up with his foes, the most dramatic development being Gears 2 and 3 because of his loss to Aokiji.

Luffy gained stretching powers from eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi, which is one of the rare and legendary Devil Fruits. After consuming the Gomu Gomu no Mi (English: Gum Gum Fruit), Luffy's body became rubber, giving him the ability to stretch every single part of his body to great lengths. He is able to use the malleable stretchiness of his limbs to gain tremendous velocity and hit enemies with devastating impact. His rubber body is virtually immune to recoil from these attacks, and blunt objects such as punches, and even bullets, reflect off him harmlessly. Being rubber, Luffy also resists electricity, which gave him an advantage while fighting Enel. Luffy also seems to be able to store large amounts of liquids in his body (such as water) as seen in his second fight with Crocodile. However, he is still very susceptible to sharp objects such as swords, but still has more resistance than normal flesh and bone. Luffy can also be hurt by physical attacks if they are powered with an emotion, as demonstrated by his grandfather and Nami. In a proceeding scenes of these attacks however he usually doesn't have a scratch on him anymore so this fact is not definite. Like all Devil Fruit users, Luffy cannot swim, although he could not swim even before he ate his Devil Fruit anyway.

Due to the fact that Luffy hates missing his meal while asleep (especially after a battle) he developed an ability to eat while sleeping, as well as being able to figure out in less than a second how many meals he has missed if unconscious for a period of time (counting five meals each day). These traits also seem to be common with Luffy's family, as seen with his brother Portgas D. Ace and his grandfather.

Gears

Gears are a recent addition to Luffy's abilities, and are another example of his rapid progress in utilizing his powers more efficiently. However, both of his gears have huge downsides in their usages. It was revealed that this form was discovered by Luffy unknowingly in the fight against Ratchet during the adventure on Mecha Island in One Piece Movie 7: The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle, yet because the movies are non-canonical, as they happen outside the regular world of One Piece and several of them have even an illogical happening in comparison with the regular series (see trivia for One Piece Movie 3 Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals for details), this information is also considered non-canonical.

Gear Second

File:GearSecond.JPG

Luffy after entering Gear Second

After Aokiji defeated him, Luffy decided that he had to become much stronger if he wanted to pursue his dream and protect his friends. The result of his efforts was Gear Second, a technique first seen in Luffy's fight against Blueno. By vasculating excessive pressure within his legs to kick-start an accelerated blood flow, Luffy provides his body with more oxygen and nutrients, gaining a sudden burst in speed and strength both mentally and physically; Lucci compares this process similar to taking a stimulant. Luffy's attacks are likewise enhanced (he frequently adds Jet to their names to distinguish them); even superhuman fighters, like CP9 agents, have difficulty reacting to Luffy's Gear Second attacks.

While in Gear Second, Luffy's metabolic rate is so high that his sweat vaporizes nearly immediately, giving him the appearance of emitting steam, and his skin turns slightly pink from the increased blood flow. Since all of Luffy's organs are rubber, they can expand and allow the blood to move at the increased speed without over-stressing any one internal organ and causing it to explode.

Of Luffy's two gears unveiled in the same arc, this is still the currently preferred gear form as demonstrated by the brief, yet potent, advantage it gives Luffy in combat, enabling him to fight opponents that were out of his league. However, Luffy can only use Gear Second for a short period of time, since the accelerated speed at which nutrients are used up depletes his energy stores rapidly, leaving him thoroughly exhausted. The mechanics behind this enhancement also mean reduced strength and ability after significant use; with nutrient stores running low, having a faster blood flow would be quite pointless, since there are no nutrients to deliver. Luffy can immediately recover by ingesting food to replenish himself, as seen after the fight against Blueno.

During Luffy's fight with Lucci, a further downside to Gear Second was also revealed. Although Luffy's rubber form allows him to successfully perform Gear Second without killing him outright, the intensity exerts a tremendous strain on the body thus shortening his life. Although Lucci deems the technique as suicidal, Luffy shrugs it off, stating that saving his friends is worth the sacrifice.

Gear Third

To use Gear Third, Luffy corks his mouth with his thumb, bites into his thumb joint and blows very hard into it, inflating his arm. He is then able to transfer the air through his bones throughout the entire body, requiring the torso to act as an interface for his various limbs. Luffy blows so much air into his body that when it is all focused on a single limb, it becomes the size equivalent to that of a giant's.

Used with his already-strong physiology, this apparently gives his arm more mass and a larger area to attack with, but he sacrifices speed for this enhanced strength. The bones are the key difference between this form and his old "Gomu Gomu no Fuusen" move, where his balloon form was soft and squishy like a regular balloon, whereas the inflated bones are hard enough to withstand bullets, which was demonstrated when Luffy's inflated body was shot by several marine bullets, which harmlessly bounced off his body. He was even able to deal heavy damage to Lucci when he used his Tekkai using one Gomu Gomu no Gigant Pistol. The bones being much harder also mean a lot of compression of air takes place when using Gear Third, making Gear Third not just a "for-show" move, as Lucci initially thought, but like equipping Luffy with a giant mace of astounding mass when used in attacks. When he attacks in this form, he often uses the word Gigant before the attack, describing the giant nature of the attack. In between his attacks, Luffy brings the air back to his chest and then shifts it into another body part. Because he used Soru in his Gear 2nd form, some fans believe he is using (or has gotten as a side effect something similar to) Tekkai in this form. To leave the Gear Third form, Luffy exhales heavily, propelling himself backwards. The usage and deactivation of Gear Third brings about shrinking, which is a negative side-effect. The amount of time Luffy spends in his shrunken form is roughly equivalent to the amount of time spent in Gear Third mode. This shrunken form has shown no ability to stretch at all, and it has been shown that Luffy loses strength when he kept hitting Lucci's face to no effect, but apart from that, Luffy functions normally. A currently used strategy is to run and hide from an opponent for the duration of the shrinkage. Luffy's clothes seem to shrink along with his body after he exits Gear Third.

Gear Third's effects were first shown when Luffy, who was chasing after Robin and Spandam, had to break down a huge metal door, whilst the actual usage itself was first shown during Luffy and Lucci's fight at Enies Lobby.

See also

• Pirate King
• Straw Hat Pirates
• Red-Haired Shanks
• Romance Dawn
• World Government
• Gold Roger
• The Will of D
• Portgas D. Ace
• Monkey D. Dragon
• Monkey D. Garp
• East Blue

External links

• One Piece Encyclopedia - Monkey D. Luffy