Monkey D. Luffy

Monkey D. Luffy (モンキー・D・ルフィ) is a pirate and the main protagonist of One Piece. He is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, which are sometimes referred to as the "Luffy Pirates". He is currently one of eleven pirates who have been referred to as "The Eleven Supernovas".

Appearance
Luffy is renowned for wearing his trademark Straw Hat (from which he gets his nickname 'Straw Hat Luffy') which was given to him when he was young by the legendary pirate captain Red-Haired Shanks. His outfit somewhat mimics Shanks' own outfit in that he wears short trousers (although his are much shorter then Shanks') and sandals. Luffy also wears a red vest and has a scar underneath his left eye and short black hair.

Luffy, for some reason, has the same outfit over most of the series, as opposed to the rest of the crew. Luffy may wear a different outfit to suit the climate of an island (like a winter coat on Drum Island or desert robes in Arabasta), but will switch back to his trademark vest and shorts after the adventures on that island are over. Notably, in Enies Lobby he wears black shorts and on the Thriller Bark Island he wears an orange vest and red shorts. He does, however, no matter where he is, wear his straw hat through absolutely everything. Eiichiro Oda has mentioned that Luffy mostly resembles a monkey (he sometimes even makes a monkey face). According to Oda, Luffy is represented by the color red, and smells like meat.

As of Thriller bark, he has been wearing a glass armband that he found in the loot stashed on their ship.

Personality
At first glance, Luffy does not appear to be very intelligent; his apparent lack of intelligence is the source of his brave attitude towards life. Luffy can easily be amazed by the simplest things, such as hermit crabs, and can be confused by concepts such as that by digging a hole right next to another he may be unintentionally filling the other hole. When attempting to think up a plan to get off of Amazon Lily, while he managed to make some logical sense of where to look, he is seen to strain himself and notes that he is going to feel sick from too much thinking.

Because he views the world in a straightforward and simple manner, he occasionally is the only person who can see past events that have taken place and realize the true goal, yet at other times he can fall into the simplest of traps. He is, however, a genius when it comes to fighting, such as when he figured out how to defeat Crocodile's Devil Fruit power, how to use Soru, and developed an effective counter to Enel's "Mantra" ability. He does have a habit of holding a grudge even in dire situations (such as calling Franky a "bastard" in the middle of his fight with Rob Lucci causing Franky to retort "Now's not the time to be mad at me"). When drawing him, Oda has said he tries to make Luffy very straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels.

As a person with the initial letter D, Luffy shares the common trait of not fearing of death. He will often state that if he reaches his goal, that's fine, but if he dies on the way, that's fine too. He even smiled when he was nearly executed by Buggy the Clown in Loguetown, alhough he did had a look of shock and surprise in his eyes before this happened when Sanji and Zoro tried to rescue him.

Luffy also has an extreme thirst for adventure, which he has stated is the main reason he wants to become the Pirate King, having the belief that the Pirate King would be the one on the entire ocean with the most freedom for adventuring. This adventurous nature also makes him tend to avoid taking 'the easy way out' at times, such as when he destroyed the Eternal Pose to Arabasta given to him by Robin(Miss All-Sunday at the time), stating that he did not want an enemy to decide his destination (although in the 4kids anime, he allows Vivi to use her Eternal Compass to head straight to Arabasta). He also has no intention of trying to learn what or where One Piece actually is until he finds it himself, and once stated he would quit being a pirate if his crew tried to find out, not wanting to 'go on a boring adventure'.

We are NOT asking him where the treasure is hidden!!! We're not even asking him whether there IS any treasure or not!! I'm not sure, but... ...everybody set out to sea, risking their lives to search for it!!! If you ask this old man anything about it here and now... Then I'll quit being a pirate! I don't want to go on a boring adventure like that! - Luffy speaks out on learning what One Piece is from Rayleigh.

Luffy seems to have an unstoppable appetite which is another common "D" trait, as well as a strong belief in dreams. Like other D's so far, he also is a glutton, despite his skinny appearance: he especially loves meat and can eat a fish whole - bones included, because of this, a running gag is Luffy constantly stealing other peoples' food with his rubber arms, causing them to yell at him and sometimes hit him. Another running gag is his habit of being amazed of various abilities of villains often yelling out "AMAZING" with stars in his eyes and around his head. He also constantly insults his opponents by giving them degrading nicknames (such as calling Don Achino a "Naked Balloon" and calling Gecko Moria a "leek"). Luffy also seems to have a slight obsession when it comes to outfitting himself with full-body armors, and has a knack of wearing himself one whenver he gets the chance, but every armor that he manages to find and outfit himself with usually ends up destroyed either in a battle or by some other comedic scenario.

Luffy never kills any of the villains (no matter how cold-hearted they are); instead, he frequently sends the villain flying, knocking them out or until the point that they are almost near death. Oda explains that it's 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 he considers letting them live to see their dreams be ruined a far more fitting punishment.

Another dominant trait of Luffy is his humble nature: he doesn't brag about the powerful foes he's defeated in the past, though he's not above about claiming that no one has ever beaten him in the past, - which is not true, having been defeated at several times times, at least once by Ace, twice by Crocodile and once by Aokiji in the past. Despite this, he remains humble despite having done outrageous acts like defeating Shichibukai-level pirates and issuing the order to burn down the World Government Flag back at Enies Lobby. When Franky pointed this out, Luffy only replied that it was nothing to get worked up over, for he and his crew were only there to take back a crewmember who was taken from them. Over the series Luffy has become more mature and levelheaded, though he only shows this part of his personality when he and his friends are in dire situations or someone insults him, calling people like him and their beliefs foolish; other than that he still acts the same as he was at the start of the series.

Luffy calls every mixed-appearance creature he finds by whichever creature is its secondary (non-dominant) part. On Gaimon's island, the dog/chicken was referred to as a chicken when it was mostly a dog, the snake/rabbit a rabbit even though it was mostly snake and the pig/lion a lion even though it was mostly pig. This becomes a running gag: later when he meets Bananawani, he calls them bananas with crocodiles attached to them. Also, after seeing Pierre transform, he continued to refer to him as a "horse" instead of a bird. And related to this running gag, when on Longring Longland island, he called every animal by what he thought they resembled rather then the actual species they were.

Crew
To find such loyal companions... your son is indeed amazing... Dragon. -Bartholomew Kuma, commenting on Luffy and his crew Because he is the captain and recruited all the crew mates, Luffy cares tremendously for his crew. As far as captaincy to Luffy is concerned, he sees his other crewmates as equals in contrast to other pirate captains, who mostly sees theirs as subordinate underlings (his crew mostly calls him by name, rather than with an honorific or "Captain"). Much like his idol, Shanks, Luffy is the kind of benevolent pirate captain who doesn't seek to actively harm others unless they give him and his crew (or anyone he cares about) a very good reason to.

Luffy also has the rare ability to cheer up just about anyone with his idiotic antics, even pulling a smile every now and then from the serious Zoro and Robin. Usopp and Chopper, as the youngest of the crew, often join him in singing and fooling around. Brook, the newest member, also joins in with the three because of his fun-loving personality. Nami often scolds Luffy's airheaded-ness, but he never gets angry at her, even when she manipulates him. Zoro also sometimes gets impatient with Luffy, but respects him as his captain. Robin is especially grateful to him for taking her in despite the risks it involved. He adores Sanji's cooking, especially meat, dropping anything he's doing for a meal and liking it despite Sanji's claim that he puts considerably less effort into his food than for the women's meals.

He likes to make fun of other's imperfections and character traits, such as Zoro's bad sense of direction (though he is rarely better). Luffy also likes to comically imitate his crew members, and sometimes even himself; despite nearly dying from being frozen by Aokiji, he covered himself in flour and hopped while frozen in a pose to imitate the experience.

Friends
Luffy shares a strong relationship with Shanks, the pirate who saved his life ten years ago in his hometown, and looks up to him as his role model of an ideal pirate. Shanks and his crew are the ones Luffy proclaimed he would beat as they were leaving Luffy's hometown. Luffy will often defend his friend when others insult him and was relieved to hear from his grandfather that Shanks and his crew were okay. Part of Luffy's dream is to return the hat Shanks gave him when he becomes a great pirate.

Luffy has since worked diligently on keeping that promise and is known famously as "Monkey D. Luffy", or simply "Straw Hat Luffy". Most people don't take his goal seriously, until they see his absurd strength. Mihawk and Blackbeard are one of the first who truly acknowledged his dream right at the start.

Luffy befriends most of the civilians he meets on his journey, who normally fear him for being a pirate but hold him in admiration by the time he moves on to the next adventure. He is especially quick to befriend people, often calling people whom he has known less for a day his friends and being willing to go as far as necessary for them.

He's also good friends with Vivi, who was with them all throughout the Arabasta arc, and he even considers her an honorary nakama and Straw Hat crew member. Luffy also made a friendly rival in the whale Laboon and has declared the two will finish their fight with each other the next time they meet.

Enemies
Even the Marines started to take him more seriously after he defeated the villainous Marine Captain "Axe-Hand" Morgan and several known pirates such as Captain Buggy the Clown, "Pirate Admiral" Don Krieg, and Arlong The Fish-man. A 30,000,000 bounty was placed on his head after he had beaten Arlong and the Marines were cautious about Arlong's defeat because it had brought to questioned the worth of their units. This reward eventually becomes 100,000,000 after he defeated Sir Crocodile, when the World Government deemed him a serious threat for beating one of their Shichibukai. After the invasion of Enies Lobby, the government raised the bounties of the entire crew; Luffy's was raised to 300,000,000.

His personality has left an imprint on a few of his rivals, with both Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid being left with respect for him after he boasted he will be the one to find One Piece. They departed on good terms and all three agreed to met up again in the New World. Other rivals among the Eleven Supernovas are not so happy with Luffy, with Bonney claiming that she will finish them off herself if she ever meets them in the New World.

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 by the Baratie) and Commodore Smoker of Loguetown, to Admiral Aokiji. While some are easy to defeat, Luffy has been unable to defeat Smoker or Aokiji due to their powerful Logia abilities, and has resorted to running away from Smoker when he encounters him.

Luffy has passed several islands on his way to and along The Grand Line, including Drum Island, Little Garden, Arabasta, and Skypiea. He has met many new allies, as well as making several powerful enemies, such as Sir Crocodile, Eneru, Rob Lucci, and Gecko Moria, often inadvertently becoming an obstacle to their schemes, befriending one of their enemies, or being targeted by them, and then proceeding to fight against and defeat them. Some of Luffy's enemies, such as Alvida and Buggy the Clown seek revenge on him for defeating them.

Monkey D. Garp
Luffy is completely afraid of his grandfather Garp. This is due to the extreme training he was put through in his younger years in his bid to make Luffy a Marine, as well as Garp's tendency to punch Luffy to discipline him. Garp has high expectations for Luffy, but to Garp's dismay, Luffy does not share his grandfather's ideas on his future. . However, Garp respects Luffy as a great person, even if he is a pirate; when Sengoku is talking with Garp and Kuma, Garp says that Luffy isn't the type of person that brags about defeating someone of Moria's caliber, arguing that Bartholomew Kuma did not need to kill Luffy to keep Moria's defeat a secret.

Monkey D. Dragon
Luffy has only just recently discovered that Dragon the Revolutionary is his father, so the two have yet to talk to each other. In fact, their only meeting is where Dragon rescues Luffy from being captured by Smoker, and the only thing Luffy talks to him is when he asks "who's there?" while being pinned headfirst into the ground by Smoker. It is unclear whether he cares for his son's life, however Dragon saved Luffy in Loguetown and seems to expect great things from him, much like his grandfather. However, unlike Garp, Dragon seems content with letting him find his own place in the world, although he believes they will meet someday.

Portgas D. Ace
Ace and Luffy are close to each other. They grew up together back in their hometown and from time to time fought, with Ace always winning even after Luffy acquired his powers. Luffy displayed no grudge against Ace for always winning, but instead boasted that he could win now. It has yet to be explained why Ace has a different family name. In the one-off supplement Grand Line Times, the question of their different surnames was raised and the idea put forth that Ace and Luffy may be stepbrothers.

Other
Though neither his mother nor his grandmother have been shown, in the Grand Line Times a "?" was left in the place of both Dragon and Garp's wives. Though Oda may not decide to ever state who the women in Luffy's family are this leaves the spot open to suggest they may be mentioned later. It is unknown how they may be related, but anyone carrying the Will of D may also be related to Luffy, such as Jaguar D. Saul and Marshall D. Teach.

Abilities and Powers
One of the top three fighters of straw hats, Monkey D. Luffy has extraordinarily inhuman strength, and can move at superhuman speeds, eventually catching up to even the speed of weaker CP9 agents without the use of his Gears. Luffy's sheer physical strength and dexterity is a result of his grandfather's unorthodox training methods and he claimed he had a punch as powerful as a pistol even at seven years of age. However, it should be also noted that all of the known members of Luffy's family have superhuman strength. His strength is only exceeded by his enormous willpower, as demonstrated on several occasions throughout the series, most noted of all in the Thriller Bark Arc when he manages to take in 100 shadows without passing out.

Unlike Zoro or Sanji, Luffy's fighting style is freestyle and improvised; it follows no particular code of honor, and so if necessary he will attack women or animals, hit below the belt, attack even if enemies have their backs turned on him or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use enemies as human shields or even bite his opponents. While fighting, Luffy can also think on the spot, and come up with creative counterattacks against his enemies. He also appears to be intelligent enough to at least understand fundamental concepts, such as rubber being a natural insulator, which might be why he did not bother ducking out of the way of Eneru's lightning attacks as it would have been pointless to do so since he is immune to such attacks. He also is heavily influenced by any form of hypnotism and doesn't have the sense to turn away, such as Jango's hypnotism powers or Miss Goldenweek's Colours trap. Regardless, while easily noticeable as the least strategic member of his own crew, due to his tendency as the type to simply just barge in head-first into battle (often without a battle plan whatsoever). Luffy is a highly adaptive combatant; constantly coming up with ways to keep ahead of his foes, either by taking advantage of his own strength and Devil Fruit powers or utilizing the opponent's own strengths (along with their weaknesses) against them. This causes even warriors long considered unbeatable to have trouble keeping up.

Luffy has also begun to awaken a similar "Spirit Energy" ability similar to one used by his hero Shanks. This power first manifested itself when Luffy calmed down Motobaro, Duval's bison steed.

Luffy also has the mysterious and uncanny ability to, while completely asleep, eat as if he were awake, even able to know when more food has been placed on the table. This is probably purely based on muscle memory since all Luffy does best is fighting and eating. Another running gag in the series is about Luffy is his inability to draw. In the start of the Arlong Arc, imagining how a mermaid would be Luffy drew a fish with tentacle-like paws and an anthropomorphic fish with arms, legs and hair. Before the Straw Hats arrived at Water Seven, Luffy drew a childish picture of what he wanted the future shipwright to look like. This inability also extends to Jolly Rogers: the first Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates was a bad drawing designed by Luffy himself (he later used a similarly bad drawn version of his Jolly Roger as a promise marker on the face of Laboon) while also drawing a bad version of Foxy's flag after taking it from him in the Davy Back Fight arc.

Devil Fruit


Luffy has gained extraordinary stretching powers from eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi (lit. Rubber Rubber Fruit, Gum Gum Fruit in the English anime), which is one of the rare and legendary Devil Fruits. After consuming the Gomu Gomu no Mi, Luffy's body becomes like rubber, giving him the ability to stretch long distances. Having trained hard for ten years, Luffy is able to supplement his stretching powers with immense strength, agility, and creativity in combat. His fighting style is largely improvised, and heavily reliant on his Devil Fruit.

Luffy uses his stretching power in ingenious ways. 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 also virtually immune to blunt objects such as bullets (in One Piece, bullets are still round pellets), punches and electricity, either reflecting off his body harmlessly or being absorbed into him. It's even become a running gag that people find out the hard way Luffy is made of rubber when they shoot at him, only to have the bullets bounce right back. However, he is still normally susceptible to sharp objects such as swords and knives. He can not only use his ability to increase the range and strength of his attacks, but he can also use it to restrain and even control foes like puppets.

Like all Devil Fruit users, Luffy cannot swim (although he couldn't swim before he ate the Devil Fruit). Even though blunt objects do little damage to him, sharp blades or points can harm him and blunt attacks can also hurt Luffy if enough force is put into it, as well as nonphysical attacks like flames, explosions, freezing and dehydration.

Romance Dawn
Master Rayleigh, I was really suprised!! Over in the East Blue...! There was a kid who said the same things as Captain Roger...! Those words, that the captain once said...! -Shanks to Rayleigh, talking about Luffy. When Luffy was young he met a band of pirates led by a kindly pirate captain named Red-Haired Shanks. Luffy befriended that band of pirates and from that moment on wanted to become a pirate as well. Luffy stabbed himself under his eye to show that he was tough enough to join Shanks's crew, a scene that was never reproduced in the anime. During a scene with Shanks and Higuma the Bear, a local mountain bandit that insulted Shanks and his crew, Luffy accidentally ate a Devil Fruit known as the Gomu Gomu no Mi and unwittingly turned himself into a rubber man/boy. Initially this situation affected Luffy badly as it meant he could never be able to swim again. This was a great weakness to anyone who would journey the seas as a pirate or otherwise. This however didn't deter Luffy's dream and Luffy was once again determined to become a pirate.

Later Luffy stood up to Higuma, however, got caught up in a hostage situation. His captors were defeated by the Red-Haired Pirates, but the bandit leader Higuma had fled out to sea with Luffy. While out at sea, Higuma threw Luffy in the ocean, only to be attacked by a Sea King moments later while he was laughing at Luffy. Higuma was eaten, but Shanks managed to save Luffy, however the incident cost Shanks his left arm.. Shortly after, Shanks set sail along with his crew, but before leaving, he and Luffy promised each other that one day Luffy would surpass Shanks and become the Pirate King. Then Shanks left Luffy his straw hat as a parting gift, telling him to return it once he surpassed him.

After ten years of training, Luffy left his village on a small boat. He then waited out upon the open sea for the Lord of the Coast. With a rubber fist, he punched the Sea King in the face. With plans to create his own Jolly Roger and to get at least ten crew members, he then decided to begin his journey as a pirate and sailed on.

Luffy's first battles and crew mates
While sailing across the ocean, Luffy accidentally came across a whirlpool. To escape from it, Luffy hid inside a barrel as the whirlpool sucked his boat in. He and his barrel were recovered some time later by some pirates who were in service of Alvida. Luffy then came out from his barrel much to their surprise and met up with Koby. After defeating Alvida, Luffy was able to free Koby from his servitude and acquire a small boat. As he and Koby were sailing to the next island so that Koby can enlist in the Marines, Luffy decided to seek a bounty hunter who was imprisoned there. Luffy decided to ask the infamous pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro, to become the first of his crew.

Upon arrival in Shell Town, Luffy and Koby learned the truth about Zoro through Rika. With this in mind, Luffy decided to free Zoro from Captain Morgan and Helmeppo. With the promise of giving Zoro's swords back if he'd join Luffy's crew, Luffy went into the Marine Base and caught Morgan's wrath. After witnessing Zoro's unique fighting style, Luffy fought with Morgan in which he defeated the captain. The Marines seeing their corrupt leader finally defeated rejoiced and allowed Luffy and Zoro to go free. However as Luffy and Zoro were pirates, the Marines asked them to leave the island. As they were leaving, Commander Ripper asked about Koby's past. To help Koby fulfill his dream, Luffy pretended that they weren't friends and a brief fight broke between them. After Luffy beat Koby, Luffy and Zoro upon leaving were saluted by Koby and the Marines for their efforts. Luffy and Zoro then sailed onto their next destination.

While sailing, Luffy realized that neither he or Zoro knew how to navigate. With this, they decided to get a navigator for their crew. While pondering on this, Luffy decided to get them some food. Luffy spotted a bird named Pinky flying above and decided to catch it. Unfortunately, the bird instead caught him and flew away with Luffy in his beak. Luckily, the bird was shot at and Luffy was dropped in the middle of Orange Town. While in Orange Town, Luffy met up with Nami and asked her to become the navigator of his crew when he learned of her abilities. Nami was initially not thrilled at first at Luffy's offer and instead tricked him into being captured. Luffy was then sent before the captain of the pirates that had taken over the town, Buggy. Through some luck where in Zoro came to Luffy's rescue, Luffy and his companions were able to escape from Buggy. Unfortunately, Luffy had been locked in a cage and the three had learned that Buggy had eaten the Bara Bara no Mi.

After escaping from the cage during some incidents with Shushu and Mohji, Luffy decided to battle against Buggy and his crew. Using one of Buggy's cannonballs against him, Luffy was able to take out most of Buggy's crew. With most of Buggy's crew defeated, Luffy and Zoro battled against Buggy and his second mate, Cabaji, respectively. During the battle, Luffy's hat got torn and Luffy learned of Buggy's past with Shanks. With fierce determination for his treasure, Buggy decided to attack Nami also. Luckily during the fray however, Nami was able tie Buggy's body parts up so that Luffy could deliver the final blow.

After defeating Buggy, Luffy and his companions found themselves in a situation. Due to Luffy knocking out the village chief, Boodle, the villagers got mad at them and decided to chase them. Luckily for Luffy and his companions, Shushu decided to repay his debt with Luffy by stopping the angry villagers. As Luffy and his companions decided to sail on to the next island, they were thanked by Boodle for all their hard work. Luffy, with his new navigator, Nami, then sailed on to the next destination.

Of Forest Guardians and Liars
After sailing for awhile and getting his hat restitched thanks to Nami, Luffy and his crew then went to an island in hopes of finding some food and possibly a new crew member. The island they came however was deserted and was apparently filled with all sorts of strange animals. As Luffy and Nami explored the forest, a mysterious voice called out to them. This voice threatened them with forest judgment unless they left the island. Luffy was then shot but was luckily saved thanks to his powers. Nami and Luffy then found that the shot came man with a large green afro in a box, Gaimon. After sorting out the misunderstandings, Gaimon, Luffy, and Nami talked about One Piece and the Grand Line. Gaimon then explained his predicament and his past. Luffy, learning about this, decided to help Gaimon. Luffy, with his powers, scaled the hill where Gaimon's treasure was supposedly located. However when he found the treasure boxes, Luffy revealed that they were unfortunately empty. Gaimon however, was grateful that he was able to learn the truth before he died. Afterwards, Luffy then decided to continue on his journey. As Luffy and his crew were leaving, Luffy asked Gaimon if could come along too. Gaimon replied however that couldn't join them as he had some responsibility for the animals on the island. With some thanks from Gaimon, Luffy then sailed off to the next island. In the anime, these series of events happened after Luffy and crew defeated Kuro.

Luffy and his crew then came upon Gecko Island. Upon landing, they met Usopp, the local troublemaker of Syrup Village. After some misunderstanding about coming to the island, Usopp told Luffy and his crew that they could get a ship from the owner of the large mansion in town. Luffy and his crew, following Usopp, then learned of Usopp's father and his relationship with the mansion's owner, Kaya. Later while talking with Usopp about his father on a cliff, Luffy and Usopp learned a scheme to steal Kaya's fortunes being discussed by the caretaker, Kurahadol, and Jango. They learned that the caretaker was actually Captain Kuro and he had planned for the past three years for this. Luffy, not liking this, revealed himself to Kuro and Jango, and accidentally got hypnotized by Jango. Luffy then fell off the cliff. Luckily, because of his rubber body, Luffy was able to survive.

Later upon learning that no one would believe Usopp, Luffy and his crew decided to help Usopp defend his village. They then set a trap for Kuro's crew at the coast where Kuro and Jango discussed their plans. Early the next day however, they suddenly realized that the pirates would attack from the other coast. Luffy realizing this, asked Usopp for directions and dashed ahead. Unfortunately, Luffy misinterpreted on where to go and ended up going back to the village. Luffy, along with Zoro, were then luckily able to find the right coast and give Nami and Usopp a hand.

In the midst of the battle, Luffy accidentally got hypnotized by Jango again. Luckily, this was a good thing as Luffy was able to beat most of the pirates. Just as Luffy was about to crush the pirates with the figurehead of Kuro's ship, he was hypnotized once again and fell asleep. Luffy was then awoken by Nami and got one of Jango's rings lodged at the back of his head. In the anime, this scene was altered so Luffy instead caught it in his mouth. Luffy then seeing Usopp's determination to save Kaya and his village, decided to fight Kuro who gotten there. In the midst of the fight with Kuro, he and the caretaker discussed briefly on what a pirate was. With firm belief, Luffy boldly told Kuro that Usopp was better than him. After witnessing Kuro's ability and the slaughter of some of Kuro's own crew, Luffy defeated Kuro. Luffy then threw an unconscious Kuro back to his crew and told them to remember him.

Later, after everything settled down, Luffy and his crew were given a ship for helping save Kaya. The ship, the Going Merry, impressed Luffy alot. Luffy and his crew then saw Usopp rolling down the hill with a large backpack. They then offered Usopp a place on the crew for which Usopp accepted. Luffy, his crew, and his new crewmate, Usopp, then sailed off on their new ship.

A Floating Restaurant and A War between Pirate Captains
While sailing on the Going Merry, Luffy decided to draw his Jolly Roger. His drawing however was bad which everyone onboard commented about. Usopp fortunately drew a better version of Luffy's design. With this, Luffy's crew decided to paint it on the sails. After painting, Luffy decided to try practicing cannon firing. Usopp helped Luffy with this and they were able to shoot a nearby island. Later, as Luffy and his crew were discussing who they should get next, somebody had climbed aboard the ship and called out to them.

After a brief bout with Luffy, Johnny, the one who had climbed aboard, revealed that he came aboard to get at people who fired at him and Yosaku while they were on the nearby island. Luffy and Usopp, realizing their mistake, asked for forgiveness. As they were talking, Nami explained that Yosaku was suffering from scurvy. Luffy and Usopp luckily helped Yosaku gain some strength back by giving him some lemon juice. Seeing this, it was mutually agreed amongst Luffy's crew that they need a chef to supply them during their long voyage. Johnny, grateful for their help, told Luffy where he could get a chef. With this info, Luffy and crew then sailed to the sailing restaurant, Baratie.

Upon arrival in Baratie, Luffy and his crew unfortunately met up with the Marine Lieutenant, Ironfist Fullbody. With orders from Fullbody, his men shot a cannonball at Luffy and his crew. Luffy luckily diverted it away with his Fuusen technique. Unfortunately, he redirected the shot to the restaurant ship. For damaging the ship, Luffy was brought before the restaurant's owner, Zeff. Since Luffy had no money at the time to repay for the damages done, Zeff asked Luffy to repay by working in the restaurant for one year. Luffy, not wanting to wait for one year, tried to negotiate with Zeff. Unfortunately the negotiations didn't go so well and the two of them ended up creating and falling through a hole in the restaurant. The two then landed in between an argument between the second head chef, Sanji, and Fullbody. Luffy then learned that a prisoner from Fullbody had suddenly escaped. This pirate, Gin, demanded food through force. He was however instead denied and kicked out. As Gin was crawling outside due to lack of food, Luffy witnessed Sanji give him some food despite having no money. Luffy upon witnessing this, declared that he had found a good chef for his crew.

Luffy then asked Sanji to join his crew. Sanji in response refused Luffy's offer. Luffy however refused Sanji's refusal and insisted that the chef should join his crew. As the two argued, Gin interupted and warned Luffy not to go to the Grand Line. Later after Gin left, Luffy was put to work. Only making things more difficult in the kitchen, Luffy was told to take some orders from the customers. Upon leaving the kitchen, Luffy was surprised to see the rest rest of his crew relaxing. This agrivated Luffy and thus he tried to dirty Zoro's drink with his booger. This scheme however failed as Zoro easily saw through this plow and in retaliation, shoves the tainted water down Luffy's throat. Luffy then witnessed Sanji's more womanizing side and brief argument between him and Zeff. Afterwards, Luffy was sent back to work.

Two days later, Luffy witnessed a huge ship come to Baratie. The ship, the Dreadnaught Sabre, belonged to Don Krieg, the most feared East Blue Pirate and Gin's captain. Luffy then witness Krieg enter the restaurant and demand food. For this, Sanji complied. Unfortunately, the Don then demanded to take over the restaurant ship.

Alot of things happened afterwards. Luffy learned that the Going Merry was taken by Nami and witnessed the Dreadnaught Sabre get destroyed by Mihawk. After witnessing a fight between Zoro and Mihawk, Luffy told Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku, and Zoro to try to catch up with Nami. Luffy then decided to repay his debt to Zeff by fighting off Krieg's pirates. Luffy asked Zeff if this was acceptable. Zeff replied that it was and Luffy joined the chefs in the battle to protect the Baratie from Don Krieg.

During the battle, Luffy witnesses Sanji's amazing kicking ability. Then while receiving an attack from Don Krieg, Luffy accidentally hit Pearl. This caused the pirate to become scared at the sight of his own blood. Pearl then threatened to burn everyone including Luffy due to fear. Luckily, with the help of Sanji and one of Don Krieg's attacks redirected by Luffy's Gomu Gomu Bazooka, Pearl was knocked out. Suddenly, Luffy and the other battling chefs then saw Zeff get taken hostage by Gin.

Gin, trying to reason with everyone, told everyone, including Luffy, to back down from the fight. It was then Luffy saw Sanji's resolve to save Zeff's restaurant no matter what. Finding Sanji's reason stupid, Luffy tried to destroy the Baratie in order to stop the pirates from attacking. Luffy then explained to Sanji that he wasn't repaying Zeff at all by letting himself die. In the confusion, Gin suddenly stopped holding Zeff hostage and attacked Pearl. He then asked Don Krieg if he could kill Sanji himself. Luffy, seeing these events, claimed them as part of his plan to get Krieg's pirates confused. For this, Sanji simply replied that Luffy was a liar since it wasn't part of Luffy's original plan at all.

Witnessing Luffy's cockiness and unseriousness towards him and his crew, Don Krieg decided to fight Luffy. As the two pirate captains prepared to fight, Krieg also ordered Gin to get rid of Sanji. While Krieg was witnessing Gin and Sanji's fight, Luffy then attempted to attack while he was looking. Luffy however was stopped by a barrage of Krieg's spikes. For this Luffy insulted Krieg for insulting him. Luffy then witnessed Gin's inability to kill Sanji.

Angered by Gin's disobedience, Krieg decided to use his poison bomb, MH5. Luffy, in response to this, stole two gas masks from two of Krieg's men for Sanji and Gin. Before Luffy could steal one for himself, all of Krieg's men had dived in to the ocean. Luckily, Luffy was able to find one laying around. After the bomb was fired and the gas subsided, it was revealed that Gin had given his mask to Luffy. With this act by Krieg towards his own man, Luffy became enraged. Luffy then charged at Krieg and punched him directly in the face through a barrage of spikes and a coat of thorns. With this fighting spirit displayed before them, Zeff told Sanji to watch Luffy closely. The fight between the two captains then intensified as they argued over whose grave will the battlefield, the wreckage of Krieg's ship, will belong to.

With Luffy's performance before them, Krieg's crew started to wonder who exactly Luffy was. Krieg, on the other hand, thought otherwise and created his special spear to battle Luffy. With Krieg's spear's ability to create explosions on impact, Luffy was given a tough battle. Just when it looked like Luffy had succumbed to Krieg's spear, Luffy was able to get up. He then revealed that he was able to hit it five times as the tip of the spear crumbled. With his spear's power decreased by half, Krieg decided to fight against Luffy more furiously. Luffy's battle with Don Krieg raged on further as Luffy attempted to punch through Krieg's armor. Nothing apparently seemed to work.

A frustrated Luffy proceeds to send Krieg flying with a Gomu Gomu no Bazooka which actually cracked Krieg's armour. However just when it looked like Krieg had defeated Luffy with some bombs he threw at the last minute, Luffy was able to emerge from the blast and break through Krieg's armor with a second Gomu Gomu no Bazooka attack. With Don Krieg's armor destroyed, all seemed finally over. However, Krieg had one last trick up his sleeve. With a net, Krieg attempted to drag Luffy with him into the ocean. Luffy however dealt with with this tactic also. Using his legs, Luffy grabbed Kreig's face and slammed him onto the porch of the Baratie. With this Luffy defeated Don Krieg. However despite Luffy defeating Krieg, he still fell into the ocean. Luckily, Sanji then dove in after Luffy and thus saved him from drowning.

After awakening from being knocked out conscious by falling into the ocean, Luffy is told by Sanji of Gin's final words to Luffy. Seeing as his debt to Zeff was finally repaid, Luffy then once again tried to convince Sanji to join his crew. Though rejected once again by the chef, Luffy and Sanji talk about Sanji's dream of finding All Blue. After discussing about Sanji's dream for awhile, Luffy and Sanji decide to join the other chefs for a meal. During the meal, Zeff and the other chefs angered Sanji by saying the soup he made was bad. Luffy on the other hand, thought the soup was good and asked them why they acted as such. Zeff and the others then explained themselves to Luffy and asked him to take Sanji along with him. Luffy however, refused to take Sanji along unless he agreed to go by his own free will. Just as Luffy and the chefs were discussing, a half eaten Yosaku came barging into the restaurant.

After getting Yosaku out from the Panda Shark, Yosaku explained to Luffy that the others needed his abilities to deal with the situation with Nami. Just as Luffy and Yosaku were about to leave, Sanji decided to join Luffy's crew. After making some preparations, acquiring the Shimashima Shopping to travel on, and witnessing Sanji's farewell to Zeff and the other chefs, Luffy, Yosaku, and Luffy's new chef, Sanji, sailed on to where Nami was.

Faith in a Traitorous Navigator
As Luffy and those with him sailed off to where Nami was, Luffy was informed by Yosaku that Nami had headed to a place called Arlong Park. Yosaku explained to Luffy that Arlong Park was ruled by a Fishman named Arlong and due to him originally being under Jinbei, a Fishman Shichibukai, he was very strong compared to Don Krieg. Luffy however didn't pay much attention to what Yosaku was saying and instead attempted to draw some interpretations of what a Fishman would look like. Being unable to grasp the situation fully any further, Luffy then simply just stated that they'll understand it when they get there. With that, Luffy decided to join in a meal prepared by Sanji. As Luffy and company were enjoying the meal, a giant sea cow called Mohmoo appeared before them. Drawn by the smell of the food, the monster attacked them. The monster however was beaten off easily by Luffy and Sanji. With the monster subdued, Luffy and company decided to continue their meal. After finishing their meal, they hooked Mohmoo up to the ship and used him to travel on further to Arlong Park.

Eventually Luffy and company reached Commi Island where Arlong Park was located. However due to some unfortunate events, the Shimashima Shopping was hurled further into the island, through a forest, and onto Zoro. After recovering from the wreckage, Luffy was then informed by Zoro and further by Johnny about the current situation. To Luffy's disbelief, he was told that Usopp had been captured and then killed by Nami. Nami then suddenly showed up where Luffy and company were. With her on the scene, Luffy tried to reason with Nami to come back to his crew. Nami however refused Luffy's pleas and told him and the rest of his crew to get out before it is too late. Unable to reason any further, Luffy simply then decided to fall asleep in the middle of the road with the intention of not leaving the island without Nami. After awhile, Luffy woke up to find out that Usopp was alive and in actuality saved by Nami. Luffy and crew were then greeted by Nami's sister, Nojiko, who decided to tell them why Nami was with Arlong's crew. This she hoped would explain things to them so they could then leave.

Luffy however refused to listen to Nami's past as it would mean that he would then have to leave. With that in mind, Luffy alone left as Nojiko told about Nami's past to the rest of his crew. As Luffy wandered into Cocoyashi Village, he spies a peculiar sight. On top of a town officer, Genzo, leading some Marines, is a pinwheel. After awhile, Luffy suddenly noticed a commotion in town. Seeing Nami amongst the other people, Luffy offered to help. However much to his confusion, she once again told at him to leave and hurriedly left out of town leaving Luffy to ponder what exactly was happening. Later Luffy witnessed Nami stabbing herself where her tattoo on her shoulder was. He stopped her and was once again told to leave by a crying Nami. After much attempts however, Nami gave in and asked Luffy for help. With that Luffy placed his Straw Hat on her head and agreed to help her. With the rest of his crew, Luffy then barged into Arlong Park and called out for Arlong.

Within Arlong Park, Luffy and his crew began fighting against Arlong and the rest of his Fishmen. In the midst of the battle, the Octopus Fishman, Hatchan, called out for Mohmoo to aid in the fight. The monster at first was reluctant to fight against Luffy again but after some persuasion from Arlong, began attacking Luffy and his crew. As the monster came forward, Luffy embedded his feet in the ground and twisted his body abit. Then using his Devil Fruit powers and his strength, Luffy grabbed onto Mohmoo's horns and spun the monster off far away. As Luffy spun the creature, the majority of Arlong's Fishmen were all completely knocked out. While the attack was able to take out most of the Fishmen, it however left Luffy in a predicament. Because he had embedded his feet in the ground, Luffy had unintentionally made himself unable to move anywhere from the spot and in turn made himself vulnerable to Arlong and the remaining Fishmen. As Luffy's crew attempted to protect him from any of the Fishmen's attacks, Arlong suddenly came towards Luffy. The Fishman then suddenly pulled up the cement block that Luffy embedded himself in and decided to throw Luffy into the pool nearby, knowing full well that Luffy would be completely trapped underwater. Luffy immediately tried to stop Arlong before the Fishman could throw him in. His efforts were in vain however and Luffy was thrown into the water with the cement block encasing his feet by Arlong.

Unable to do anything but hold his breath, Luffy sank to the bottom of the pool as the rest of his crew were forced to deal with their Fishman opponents. Fortunately however, Genzo and Nojiko decided to dive in after Luffy in order to rescue him. Initially, they couldn't do anything to help Luffy because of the cement block. However through quick thinking, they were able to at least keep Luffy from drowning by pulling his head up to the surface. This way they could get the water out of Luffy's system as they figured out a way to free him from the block. After several incidental events with Luffy's crew, Sanji then dove into the water and broke the block encasing Luffy's feet. With his feet freed, Luffy's neck snapped back to normal and his body was catapulted into the air. With himself saved, Luffy immediately saved Zoro from Arlong and began pummeling the Fishman with several of his attacks. Arlong however merely got back up from the attacks and the battle between Luffy and Arlong began.

As the two began to battle each other, Arlong and Luffy started to debate the differences between their two species. Arlong, as he attacked, explained to Luffy that humans are completely inferior to Fishmen due to what they are incapable of doing. Luffy however countered by stating that he himself is incapable of doing certain things but he has friends who he can depend on for such problems. As the argument continued, Luffy was able to smash Arlong in the face and broke the Fishman's teeth. Arlong however rectified the situation by pulling out his broken set of teeth and grew a new one. The Fishman then pulled out two sets of his teeth and started attacking Luffy with them. Luffy fortunately managed to grab a nearby Fishman and use him as a shield. As Luffy witnessed this, he came up with a good idea. The next moment that Luffy got an oppurtunity, he kicked a set of teeth out of Arlong's mouth and began fighting with them in his mouth like Arlong. While Luffy then gets a good shot and bites Arlong with his own teeth, the attack however doesn't do much damage and Arlong countered instead by biting Luffy's arm. Fortunately however, Luffy slammed Arlong onto the ground before he could do any real damage.

As Luffy stood up to recover from that last attack from Arlong, he noticed that Arlong had dove into the pool nearby. Luffy then found himself dodging Arlong's high speed attacks using his nose like a spear. After several attacks, Fishman dove back to the water to repeat his barrage of attacks on Luffy. Luffy however decided to stand his ground and face Arlong head on. Through some inivated moves using his hands like a shield and a net, Luffy countered Arlong's attacks and kicked the Fishman in the chest onto the ground. This attack however angered the Fishman and Arlong began to attack Luffy more viciously. With Kiribachi, a massive sword with a saw for a blade, Arlong then chased Luffy up across Arlong Tower. The two then ended up in the highest room of the tower, the room where Nami was forced to draw maps for Arlong.

Within the room, Luffy was then explained by Arlong what the room was used for, and how Nami had been used for the last eight years to fulfill the Fishman's desires. Having learned a bit more of Nami's past and relationship with Arlong, Luffy became enraged. With this, Luffy broke Arlong's Kiribachi and started wrecking the room. Arlong angered by this, grabbed Luffy and bit him. Luffy however then countered by breaking Arlong's nose, stating that he didn't care if the Fishmen are so great or about charts, but that he now knew how to help Nami. Luffy then said that she hated being in the room and he was gonna destroy it for her. Luffy then stretched his leg high above the tower in order to destroy the room. As Luffy stretched, Arlong lunged at Luffy with a spinning bite attack and bit deep into Luffy. Despite this however, Luffy brought his leg down on Arlong and sent him straight to the bottom of tower through several floors of concrete. With that Luffy had defeated Arlong. That last attack however broke the stability of the entire tower and the whole thing collapsed with Luffy still inside it.

With Arlong and his gang defeated, and Arlong Park completely destroyed, Luffy rose from the wreckage and proclaimed Nami as one of his crew. With this, everyone began to celebrate. Their celebration however was momentarily stopped by the Marine Captain Nezumi who decided to take everything after Arlong was defeated. Fortunately however, the Marine was beaten up and sent packing away with his men. This action however proved to be a bit bad for Luffy as the Marine decided then to report Luffy in to his higher ups.

After the whole commotion at Arlong Park, Luffy was sent to Dr. Nako to heal his wounds along with the others who were injured. As Luffy watched the doctor restitch Zoro's wounds, the doctor gave Luffy the idea that his crew should have a doctor. For the next several days, Luffy and his crew then celebrated alongside the people of Commi Island over being finally freed from Arlong. As Luffy was looking for some more meat to eat in the party, he came across Genzo at Bellemere's grave. There, Luffy promised to Genzo that he would take care of Nami and not hurt her feelings.

After all the partying, Luffy and crew were ready to set sail once again. They thus bid their farewell to the villagers of Cocoyashi Village as well as Johnny and Yosaku. As Luffy and crew awaited for Nami to come aboard before they could set sail, they suddenly witnessed a peculiar a sight. Nami came running towards the Going Merry and told them to immediately raise the anchor. As Nami went through the villagers jumped on board the Going Merry, Luffy and the rest immediately realized that she had stolen the wallets of the villagers as she passed through. After this final hilarious incident, Luffy and his crew then set sail once again with Nami.

At Loguetown and up Reverse Mountain
As Luffy and crew sailed towards the Grand Line, they were startled by a wanted poster included within a newspaper bought by Nami. The wanted poster was of Luffy and included his first bounty of 30,000,000. Luffy had become the most wanted pirate in all of the East Blue. As Luffy's crew sailed on, the island where Loguetown was located came into sight. Wanting to see the place where Gold Roger was born and executed, and also to refresh the crew's supplies for the voyage ahead, Luffy and crew decided to dock in the place. Upon arriving there, Luffy decided to visit the scaffold where Gold Roger was executed.

As Luffy explored the scaffold, he was ambushed by Buggy and his crew, and a now skinny Alvida. Luffy was then all of a sudden trapped in a wooden restraint by Cabaji and sentenced to death by Buggy. With the execution being publicly shown atop the scaffold before all of the people of Loguetown, Luffy was asked by Buggy if he had any last words. To this Luffy shouted out that he will become the next Pirate King. As he stated this, Zoro and Sanji came to Luffy's rescue. However despite their efforts to get to their captain through Buggy's crew, they weren't fast enough. Considering his inescapable situation, Luffy merely smiled and said he was sorry as Buggy's sword came down. However just as Buggy's sword was about to decapitate Luffy, a lightning bolt suddenly struck the platform, shocking Buggy and freeing Luffy. As Luffy escaped with his crew, Smoker, a Marine Captain who was watching the whole spectacle, noted that the way Luffy was smiling was very similar to the way Gold Roger smiled before his death. As Luffy ran to his ship through the raging storm that appeared in Loguetown all of a sudden, Luffy met up with the very Marine, Smoker. Despite all his efforts Luffy was unable to fend off Smoker and was caught by the Marine. Just as Smoker was about to gain the upper hand on Luffy, Dragon, Luffy's father, stopped Smoker. A big gust of wind then came by and freed Luffy from Smoker.

Not knowing exactly what happened, Luffy continued escaping towards his ship. Back onboard the Going Merry with the rest of his crew, Luffy and his crew decided to enact a ritual before going into the Grand Line despite the ongoing storm. With their dreams proclaimed out load, Luffy and crew smashed a barrel with their feet and sailed off to the Grand Line. As Luffy and his crew sailed through the storm, they were explained by Nami that they needed to enter the Grand Line through an entrance in the Reverse Mountain. This rather indirect route puzzled most of Luffy's crew. Their questions however were soon answered when they found out that the Going Merry had accidentally veered into the Calm Belt. Having fortunately escaped from the Sea Kings dwelling there, Luffy and crew continued sailing through the storm and towards the Reverse Mountain.

Luffy and crew soon came upon the mountain and headed into the canal that was the entrance. Despite some tough maneuvering which was helped by Luffy using his Gomu Gomu no Fuusen technique to bounce the Going Merry away from the gate, the ship was able to go into the canal. Within the canal, Luffy and crew then rode it up to the top of the mountain. Reaching the top, Luffy and crew saw and entered into the Grand Line.

A Whale and a Spying Princess
As Luffy and his crew sailed down Reverse Mountain, they came to an unexpected surprise, a gigantic whale was in their way. Fortunately, Luffy was able to slow down the Going Merry before it could hit the whale by firing a cannon. However in the process, Luffy's favorite seat, the Going Merry's figurehead, was broken. Angered by this, Luffy punched the whale's eye to the shock of the rest of Luffy's crew. The whale in response to Luffy's attack shallowed the Going Merry. Fortunately Luffy was able to grab the whale's tooth and jump on to it's back before it could swallow him along with his ship and his crew. As Luffy desperately tried to persuade the whale to spit out his ship and his crew while on it's back, Luffy found a hatch on the whale's back leading into the very whale itself.

Unable to do anything else from the outside, Luffy entered the whale from the hatch. While inside the whale, Luffy accidentally bumped into two strangely dressed characters and into the whale's stomach as the whale began thrashing at the Red Line from the outside. Within the whale's stomach, Luffy was reunited with his crew and witnessed a scene between the two characters he bumped into earlier and an old man living in the whale. From the scene, Luffy learned that two characters, Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9, were planning to kill the whale for food and not even allow the old man, Crocus, to stand in their way. Seeing this and Crocus' attempts to save the whale, Luffy took out the two trouble makers. For doing this, Luffy and his crew were led out of the whale by Crocus.

As Luffy's crew and ship were led out through a canal in the whale and outside to nearby cape, Luffy and his crew were told about the whale's, Laboon, tale. From it, Luffy learned that Laboon had been waiting for over fifty years for some pirate friends of his who left him behind in the cape to circle the Grand Line. Luffy also learned that after Laboon heard in disbelief that the pirates might have abandon him, the whale was ramming the mountain itself in a futile attempt to reunite with them. Seeing Laboon's loyalty, Luffy decided to ease the whale's lonely pain, by ramming the Going Merry's mast into an open wound. Having caught the whale's attention, Luffy and the whale began to battle. In the middle of it however, Luffy told Laboon that they'd have to put on hold since he's planning to circle the Grand Line. With this statement, Luffy touched Laboon's feelings and the whale in response agreed. Having given hope once again to Laboon, Luffy painted a crudely drawn painting of his Jolly Roger on Laboon's scars as symbol of their pact to meet once again.

After rekindling Laboon's hopes once again, Luffy and the rest of his crew suddenly realized that their compass doesn't work. With that matter at hand, Luffy and the rest were then taught by Crocus about how the Grand Line works and how they needed a special compass called a Log Pose. Having discovered one of these compasses earlier after beating the two characters earlier, Luffy presented it to Nami but unfortunately broke while in a small scuffle with Sanji. Fortunately, Crocus had an extra one for Luffy and his crew to use. In the midst of what was happening, Luffy and his crew also encountered again the two characters who tried to kill Laboon. Learning that these two needed to report back to the company they working for, Luffy and the rest were requested by them to give them a ride back to their island of Whiskey Peak. Though a bit suspicious, upon learning that Whiskey Peak is on one of the paths that the Straw Hats needed to follow to travel the Grand Line anyway, Luffy and his crew took the two aboard and sailed towards Whiskey Peak, leaving Laboon with the promise of returning once again.

Upon arriving in Whiskey Peak, Luffy and his crew were in for a surprise. Though the two characters that they took aboard left before they could land, Luffy and his crew were welcomed graciously by the townspeople of Whiskey Peak. There, Luffy and his crew were treated as gods with a grand party. Luffy even ate more then the cooks could put out. Eventually, Luffy passed out from all the excitement of such a celebratory day. However when he awoke later that night, Luffy came to a shocking sight. Scattered everywhere before Luffy, were the beaten up bodies of the townspeople that served him and his crew.

Upon learning from one of them that they were defeated by Zoro, Luffy thought that Zoro beat had beat them up as an act of ungratefulness. Confronting Zoro, Luffy and his first crew mate collided into a battle that apparently nothing could deter them from. The two were so immersed in their battle against one another that they completely ignored and defeated two other characters in same scene, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, who were apparently distracting them for some reason. It was only however when Nami stepped in and interrupted their fight that the two calmed down to listen to reason.

Having been subdued, Luffy learned everything that happened while he was asleep. He also learned that one of the two strangely dressed characters that tried to kill Laboon before, Miss Wednesday, was actually Princess Nefertari Vivi of the kingdom of Arabasta in disguise. From her, Luffy learned that she, along with her pet duck Carue and loyal retainer Igaram, had infiltrated a secret criminal organization known as Baroque Works in order to learn the organization's reasons for meddling in their country's affairs. From Vivi also, Luffy and his crew not only learned of Baroque Works' scheme to take over Arabasta but also that the criminal organization was led by none other than the Royal Shichibukai, Crocodile. Having gotten involved in all this, Luffy and his crew decided to help Vivi by taking her and Carue to Arabasta while Igaram distracted Baroque Works with a disguise. However in the midst of this plan, Luffy and the rest witnessed Igaram's ship blow up and met the perpetrator of the crime, Miss All Sunday, Crocodile's partner and vice president of Baroque Works. Fortunately, apart from some tense formalities between them and her, Luffy and his crew didn't have to fight her as she let them go for her own reasons. Luffy and his crew were also warned by her of their next destination and even offered them an alternate route. Luffy however declined her offer despite protests from the rest of his crew.

Having survived from the ordeals of Whiskey Peak, and gaining a mission to help a princess, Luffy and his crew sailed forth Whiskey Peak to their next destination, Little Garden.

Adventure in a Prehistoric Land
Luffy and his crew eventually arrive in Little Garden. The jungle island fascinated Luffy not only because of the adventure it could provide, but also because it contained all sorts of prehistoric animals, which ranged from saber toothed lions to dinosaurs. From Vivi, who decided to travel with Luffy as he explored the place, Luffy learned about the reason the island was like this. The reason being that because of the Grand Line's unique environmental conditions, the islands within in develop much more differently than they normally would, and the very island they were on was still in the dinosaur era. As Luffy ventured around the island with Vivi and Carue, the three soon discovered something much larger than the dinosaurs on the island. In the midst of Luffy messing around with a Brontosaurus, he and his accompanying companions met a giant.

Meeting Dorry, Luffy and his companions were invited over to the giant's place. There, Luffy was treated to some dinosaur meat and got acquainted with Dorry. From the giant, Luffy learned that he was staying on Little Garden in order to settle an argument with another fellow giant, Brogy, in battle. As the matter was being discussed, the island's volcano erupted, signaling the next match between the giants. With it, Luffy saw a gigantic clash between two giant warriors that awed him. Eventually the match ended in a tie and thus Luffy continued talking with Dorry. Learning further about Little Garden's magnetic field from Dorry, Luffy also learned about two of his crew staying with Brogy. Just as things seemed going well at the moment, something suddenly shocked Luffy and those with him. A barrel of rum that Dorry was drinking exploded. Since the rum was taken from Luffy's ship and given to Dorry by Brogy, Luffy and his crew were suspected of sabotaging the barrel. With this, Luffy and Dorry got into a fight. Fortunately, Luffy was able to knock Dorry down during their fight. However with this sudden turn of events, Luffy started to suspect that his crew weren't the only ones in the island as neither they nor Brogy would do such a thing. But before Luffy and those with him could do anything else, the volcano erupted again and Dorry in response got up.

With the next match being signaled and knowing that the giants' fight was tainted by someone else, Luffy tried to convince Dorry to not go. Luffy's words however did not reach Dorry's ears due to the giant's pride and instead Luffy was pinned down by Dorry with the giant's home. Unable to get out of this predicament to help Dorry, Luffy suddenly encountered Usopp, who had wandered into Dorry's home. Reunited with his crew mate, Luffy and Vivi recounted what had just happened and were likewise filled in by Usopp. As Luffy was and his companions were figuring out what to do next, they heard the awful scream of Dorry being defeated by Brogy due to the tainted fight. Angered even more by this, Luffy was filled with more determination to find out who blasphemed the giants' fight. Luffy fortunately didn't have to wait long though to find out who it was, as two of the perpetrators of the crime, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, suddenly came before Luffy and his companions, bringing a beaten up Carue. Because of his current predicament, Luffy was unable to aid his companions and was hit with an explosive kick caused by Mr. 5's Bomu Bomu no Mi powers. Unable to protect Vivi from these Baroque Works agents, Luffy and the other two with him were left for dead.

As Luffy and the two with him were lying, they decided to get revenge for the atrocity caused by the Baroque Works agents. They eventually got back on their feet and charged immediately to where the Baroque Works agents were holding their friends. Seeing that their friends were being made into candles by Mr. 3's Doru Doru no Mi powers, Luffy engaged in a battle with the artist while his comrades battled with the the rest of the agents. Despite some complications from Mr. 3 and his partner, Miss Goldenweek, Luffy was able to free his captured friends with a little help from Usopp.

After finishing off Mr. 3, Luffy rejoined the rest of his crew to the marvelous relief. Due to the giants' weapons being worn out from one hundred years worth of fighting, Dorry was actually okay and had instead passed out from the wound inflicted. With everything done, Luffy and the rest went back to Dorry's place to treat his wounds. As Luffy and everyone were resting from the ordeal and wondering how to deal with the island's magnetic field, they were rejoined by Sanji, who brought with him some great news and stuff while everything else was happening. From Sanji, Luffy and the rest learned that not only did Sanji trick Crocodile into thinking they were all dead by pretending to be Mr. 3 via a Den Den Mushi call, but the cook also brought with him the solution to their current problem, an Eternal Pose to Arabasta. With the Eternal Pose, Luffy and crew bid their farewells to the giants and set off.

As Luffy and crew sailed off from Little Garden, they were provided by the giants with an act of gratitude. With help from the giants' strength, Luffy and crew were able to pass through a giant goldfish and sail on.

Adventure in a Doctorless Island
The crew eventually comes to a snow-covered land with no name. There the current inhabitants try to scare away the crew until Vivi lowers her head with Luffy. The leader of the islanders takes them to the nearest town. Dalton, who is revealed to be the "leader" of the islanders tells the crew about the "witch" of the island, who is the only doctor left on the island. Luffy, along with Sanji, decides to take Nami up the mountain where she lives.

Sanji, Luffy, and Nami run into some Lapahn and are forced down by an avalanche. Wapol soon catches up to Luffy, Sanji (who is unconscious from saving Luffy and Nami), and the already unconscious Nami and attacks them after Luffy doesn't stop. Just when Luffy is about to be killed, the Lapahns attack Chess and Kuromarimo because Luffy had saved one of them earlier.

Luffy climbs the mountain and reaches the top. Luffy and Sanji awaken earlier and try to cook and eat Chopper until Chopper shows his transformations. Luffy then decides to add him to his crew.

Luffy comes in and kicks Wapol. Wapol decides to open the weapons room with his one-of-a-kind key which is stolen by Nami. Wapol is chased up to the top of the castle where he tries to attack using his special cannon, but fails due to the snow birds living in there. Wapol turns his tongue into a cannon for one final attack but Luffy dodges it and sends him through the roof. Luffy does one more Gomu-Gomu no Bazooka and sends Wapol flying far off.

The Straw Hats regroup at the summit and Dalton thanks Luffy and Chopper. After some confusing talk, Chopper decides to go with Luffy and his crew. As Chopper leaves and sees Hiluluk's finished research, a powder that makes pink colored snow fall.

The Straw Hats formally welcome Chopper to the crew and head to their planned destination, Arabasta.

Showdown in the Kingdom of Sand
With their new nakama, the Straw Hat pirates make their way to Arabasta. While still a few days away, Sanji questions Luffy over the disappearance of their food rations. After revealing he ate it, by accident, he is smacked by the angry cook. With no food, the crew resolved to fishing, with no bait (thanks to Luffy, again). To counter this, both Luffy and Usopp use Carue as bait, which doesn't go over well with Vivi (who smacks both their heads together). Soon after, they run across an undersea volcano, which they recognize from the steam out of the sea. To keep time, they cross it, and come out to find that Carue actually caught something: Mr. 2 Bon Clay.

After falling into the sea and being rescued, Mr. 2 offers to give them a show by displaying his ability of the Mane Mane no Mi. With this he copies almost all of the crew (Vivi was never touched, and Sanji was looking for food at the time). Mr. 2 made instant friends with Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper. However, his ship came looking for him, and he bid a sad farewell to his new friends. As he left, his name was revealed, much to the shock of the whole crew, especially Vivi (her father, King Cobra, was one of the faces Bon Clay could copy). As a result, Zoro suggested that they put on a double mark, consisting of an X on their left wrist, with a white bandage wrapped tightly over it (the X being a secret), so they could tell who was the fake.

Upon arriving at Arabasta, they stop at the shore near the town of Nanohana, where Luffy, still hungry, immediately rushes of to find food, only to get lost in the desert. He then finds a shack and bags he thinks contain food, only to be proven wrong as it's just filled with powder. He decides to burn the bags, at which the smoke becomes rain clouds, and rain starts pouring. The owner of the shack comes out and berates Luffy and tries to kill him, unsuccessfully. They soon make up and the man tells him about Dance Powder, which made the rain. Luffy dismisses it as Mystery Powder, and is offered food to keep his mouth shut. Luffy responds, saying that it doesn't matter, as he's a pirate.

Luffy, quickly finishing his food, is still hungry and wandering, until he spies Nanohana, and rushes off to find food. He eventually finds it, smashing two unsuspecting men with his Gomu Gomu no Rocket. He then proceeds to eat when one of the men confronts him: Captain Smoker. After a while, Luffy realizes who he is, and after stuffing what was left of the food in his mouth, runs off with Smoker hot on his tail, and the other man, Portgas D. Ace, right behind them. Luffy is them chased by the Marines and catches up with the rest of the gang and they're all now being chased. As the Marines surround them, Smoker is about to capture Luffy but Ace, revealing the powers of his Mera Mera no Mi. Luffy is suprised to see Ace, especially with his new Devil Fruit powers. Ace says he'll hold Smoker off, and tells the Straw Hats to escape. As they escape the Marines, the crew asks the connection between Ace and Luffy, to which Luffy replies he's his older brother. Smoker's and Ace's powers cancel each other out causing a huge explosion, and Ace escapes from Smoker. Smoker notes that Nefertari Vivi is among the Straw Hats, and is going on her own accord, meaning something is going on in the country. Luffy and Ace have time to catch up, after Luffy gets lost again. Ace reveals he's one of the Whitebeard Pirates and plans to make Whitebeard the Pirate King. He offers Luffy to join them, to which he declines saying he's going to be Pirate King and Whitebeard is just another person he has to beat. As the Going Merry sets off, Ace catches up with them and tells them to look after his younger brother. A group of Baroque Works Billions ships arrive, and Ace using a small scooter ship destroys them with his Mera Mera powers, before returning to the Going Merry. Ace reveals he's after a man named Blackbeard. Before sailing off, he gives Luffy a strange piece of paper so that they can meet again.

Jaya
After escaping the Marines near Arabasta, Luffy and the others are shocked to see Nico Robin, a.k.a. Miss All-Sunday from Baroque Works, onboard their ship. However, Luffy allows her to stay, since she can't stay anywhere else due to Luffy defeating Crocodile and saving her from certain doom along with Cobra. Not long afterwards, a massive ship falls down from the sky and into the sea, and Luffy decides to investigate it. Onboard, he finds a map of a place called Skypiea, an island in the sky. However, they are unable to obtain more information on this island, as the ship has now sunk completely. Luffy, along with Zoro and Sanji, dive into the sea with Usopp's diving suits, where they find nearly nothing of value, except for some broken plates, swords, and a strange contraption. Suddenly, the ship is raised, and filled with air. To top it off, a monkey-like person burst straight into the room where Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are sitting. Although Luffy and the stranger get along, the ship is eaten by a giant turtle.

Luckily, Zoro and Sanji got Luffy back onto the surface, neither of them having noticed the turtle until Usopp pointed it out for them. However, before Masira could extract his vengance on the crew for intruding on his territory, everyone present (including the turtle) witnessed a horrifying sight: Massive silhouettes in the sky, which were presumably monsters. In fear, the Straw-Hats escape, unintentionally letting Masira tag along, before they literally kick him overboard.

Three-Coin Showdown with the Foxy Pirates
After returning from Skypiea, the crew reach Longringlongland island, where he meets Tonjit and frees him from his stilts. Meanwhile, his crew is confronted by the Foxy Pirates. They say they want to challenge the Straw Hats to a Davy Back fight. Luffy is lured to accepting, after the Foxy pirates captain, Foxy shoots Sherry, Tonjit's horse. Luffy challenges him to a duel for the horse's sake. During the course of the main event, Luffy is determined to win in order to keep his crewmates, regardless of what price he must pay. Shortly before the main event, Luffy and Usopp to an outfit store. Usopp convinces him to buy an afro wig, claiming it will bring "the true wild man" out in any fighter. Under this belief, Luffy purchases it, getting a painted tattoo on his chest, dressed in boxing gear and enters the stage under the guise of "Afro Luffy". While many are dumbfounded by Luffy's new look, others are amused, while some even love it. Foxy himself compliments Luffy on his new look.

When the fight begins, Luffy tries to hit Foxy but the latter dodges and uses his Noro Noro no Mi powers to slow him down. When Luffy's hand returns to normal, he trips as Foxy makes a faux attack which lets Luffy lower his guard when he tries a counter attack, and fires his Noro Noro Beam slowing Luffy down again, before delivering a barrage of punches called Foxy Rush. While Luffy appears not to have taken damage, the beam's effects last for 30 seconds, with the accumulated damage taken all at once. Thirty seconds does run out and Luffy is sent flying. Luffy almost falls into the sea before stretching back onto the deck, chasing him to the brig as Foxy has more tricks in his sleeve in the form of slowed down arrows and floating cannonballs, short on their 30 second limit. When he sees Foxy on a floating cannon ball, he chases him by jumping on another only to find 30 seconds passed on two of them, and it regains its speed falling before blasting him to the ground. Foxy then fires face bombs, even posing as one of them before sucker punching Luffy with a spiked glove delivering more damage to his rubber body, before the face bombs reach him. Luffy narrowly escapes, as Foxy lauhs confidently in the shroud of smoke left, only to reveal he himself took most of the damage. Foxy fires his Noro Noro Beam again, but this time Luffy reads it an gives a Gomu Gomu no Hook on his opponent's upper back. Foxy departs into the smoke again. Seeing a silhouette of Foxy, Luffy attacks only to find it was a board in his likeness, before Foxy fires his beam again. As Foxy gloats that there are several boards in the area and he can't find his real opponent. Luffy insults Foxy, making him feel down and Luffy punches him while his guard is down.

Foxy tricks Luffy into a trap door, which almost evicts him from the ship. As Foxy runs into the ship 's interior, Luffy follows suit running into the cannon room, witnessing Foxy escape into the next room. While Foxy expects him to charging into a room full of spikes, Luffy instead fires a cannon into the room, blasting him into the spikes. Foxy gives another sucker punch to Luffy before running into the infirmary, in a terrible disguise. Luffy follows him and asks the "nurse" if "she's" seen Foxy. When Luffy leaves, he notices the "nurse" and Foxy look similar, and enters again to ask if their related, only to be sucker punched with a metal fox biting his face by the man he was looking for. Foxy escaped into the kitchen, wearing a chef disguise there. Luffy again asked for Foxy, this time insulting him. Foxy feels down again, and Luffy realized it is Foxy. He also revealed the "nurse" was him as well and fires his beam, then delivers a Kyoobi Rush knocking Luffy into yet another trap.

The room is now a room with Foxy inside his ultimate fighting machine: Gorilla Puncher #13. While it appears to be a slow machine, Foxy fires his Noro Noro Beam on the mirror, for Luffy to dodge them so that he can be punched by the burning punches of the machine. Between the punches and the beam firing on Foxy's mirrors, Luffy is caught between a rock and a hard place, until he breaks the mirrors behind him and delivers a successful punch to Foxy in the machine. Foxy counters by delivering his beam again, and Luffy dodges, he gets it by the Gorilla Puncher #13, seriously burning him. Both combatants surface, with Foxy believing himself to the victor, only to Luffy getting up again. Foxy commends his tenacity, before releasing his trump card: the Noro Noro Blade. This traps Luffy's arms and legs, allowing Foxy to give him his Kyoobi Rush attack. Even through that punishment, Luffy is on his feet again. Foxy fires a Noro Noro Beam again at Luffy, and in desperation punishes him with his Megaton Nine-Tails Rush blasting Luffy through the mast. Foxy is clearly exhausted himself, and seems to have finished Luffy, only for the Straw Hat captain to rise up again, declaring him to save his nakama, he will fight even if it means his death.

Amazed by his incredible willpower, Foxy's own nakama start cheering for Luffy, until Foxy angrily reminds them they're cheering for the wrong person. Foxy uses his Noro Noro Blade again to trap Luffy before firing a cannon, then slowing it with his powers. Foxy attaches a glider on to it, dubbing it Foxy Fighter. Although Luffy frees himself inn time, Foxy's glider curves towards him giving Luffy a powerful punch, then jumping off the glider for his enemy to be blasted. Still, Luffy refuse to give up, and a frustrated Foxy decides to all-out delivering his Megaton Nine-Tails Rush, while Luffy gives his Gomu Gomu no Gatling, turning the match into a massive slugfest. Luffy narrowly gains the upper hand, forcing Foxy to fire his Noro Noro Beam, but it gets reflected back to him when Luffy uses a mirror on it between his gloves, he found in his afro. With this, Luffy delivers a powerful Gomu Gomu no Flail to finish him off. As the effects shortly take hold, Zoro, Robin, Usopp and later, the rest of the crowd counts down the seconds before Foxy's eventual defeat. With Foxy sent flying, Luffy stands triumphant as the winner of the Davy Back Fight.

After a lot of rest, Luffy wakes up been told he indeed did win the fight. Foxy comes to congratulate Luffy on how he fought in the match, giving a handshake gesture, then attempting to throw him overhead, forgetting his arm is rubber. As Luffy won, he gets to choose a crewmember from the Foxy Pirates, but instead choose their flag, but as the sail is their flag, Luffy opts to "redesign" the flag, then give it back. Luffy's poorly drawn Jolly Roger is given to them, officially ending the Davy Back Fight. Although obviously grateful, Foxy vows revenge on Luffy for losing the match. The Straw Hats return to Tonjit giving him the Foxy Pirates' old flag as a sign of their defeat. Chopper uses it as a bandage for Sherry, the horse.

The Unstoppable Ice Admiral
After the incredibly intense Davy Back Fight, Tonjit invites the Straw Hats to his home to thank them for helping them, only to bump into a very tall man standing in front of his doorway and sleeping at the same time. When he wakes up and removes his sleeping mask, Robin falls to her knees and trembles. It turns out the man is Aokiji: One of the 3 Admirals in the Marines who are only subordinate to Sengoku himself. It also seems that he and Robin are already personally familiar with each other. Hearing this Luffy threatens to kick his ass with Usopp and Sanji holding him back. Aokiji notices Luffy and remarks on the resemblance between him and his grandfather but remarks he wasn't sure if it was their single-mindedness or simple-mindedness that makes them similar. Luffy freezes in shock that the mere mention of his grandfather. Aokiji informs them he didn't come to attack Robin or the Straw Hats but merely to confirm Robin's whereabouts after the collapse of Baroque Works. Luffy threatened to kick his ass again, with the other Straw Hats holding back again, but after meeting him for a short time, they also found Aokiji's eccentric behavior, particularly his laziness, irritating. They even question if he's really an Admiral. Aokiji heard of Tonjit's dilemma and decides to help him, and walks to the ocean dipping his hand in it. Just as as a Sea King rears its ugly head, Aokiji uses the powers of the Hie Hie no Mi to freeze the entire ocean, including the Sea King. With that, Tonjit can now meet his long lost friends, and waved a final goodbye to the Straw Hats. Luffy and Aokiji are now on good terms, however the admiral revealed his true colors decides they should all just die...

Aokiji begins to tell the Straw Hats half-truths about Robin's past, and says she's a dangerous woman, cursing her as the child of demons. However, the Straw Hats refuse to listen to him. After much taunting from Aokiji, Robin angrily uses her powers to break him in two and fall into several ice particles. The Straw Hats decide to make a run for it, but Aokiji reforms himself, takes some grass and uses his powers to blow air and form his Ice Saber technique to attack Robin but it is blocked by Zoro's sword, while Sanji kicked it away, and Luffy gave a straight punch to Aokiji. However, the admiral grabbed Zoro's arm, Sanji leg and used his ability to freeze Zoro, Sanji and Luffy simultaneously on the limbs they used to attack. Aokiji then turned his attention to Robin, then uses his Ice Time technique to freeze her completely. The admiral then informs the Straw Hats that there is a slim chance that Robin can saved, but while frozen Robin became brittle, so Aokiji attempted to smash her into pieces, only for Luffy to lean and grab Robin's body. Aokiji attempted to kill Robin again by stomping on her frozen body, but quick thinking from Usopp and Chopper allowed to take Robin before he could do it, in the process hurting Luffy. They are ordered to return to the Going Merry to save Robin, while Zoro and Sanji prepared themselves to fight the admiral. However, Luffy also ordered them to return to ship, and wanted a one-on-one match with Aokiji, despite the seemingly likely risk it would be fatal.

Luffy was utterly overwhelmed by Aokiji's strength, while the admiral claimed his opponent is stronger than he expected. Luffy charged towards the Marine Admiral and dodges a punch from him to kick him into the air. Luffy then delivered Aokiji a Gomu Gomu no Storm but Aokiji simply reformed himself and used his Ice Time technique to completely freeze Luffy. After contemplating why Luffy would dare to fight him, Aokiji deduced that the pirate captain deceived him. By accepting a one-on-one match with him, Aokiji cannot go and harm any member of the Straw Hats, including Robin. However, he went on to tell Luffy (although he might not have heard it) that Nico Robin is a dangerous woman who will eventually wipe out the Straw Hats, and escape. He decided to spare Luffy's life because a favor his grandfather did for him, and thanked him for defeating Crocodile. He also remembered his message from Smoker but decided it was "something stupid [Smoker said]", and departed for Marine Headquarters. Zoro and Sanji returned to retrieve Luffy and return him to the Going Merry. After a day, Chopper confirmed both Luffy and Robin's hearts are beating making the defrosting a success. The next day, not only was Luffy in high spirits but he went as far as to joke about his brush with death by pouring flour on himself and emulating his frozen pose to humor Usopp and Chopper, much to Nami's chagrin. Robin also recovered to say a brief hello to the crew, but Nami advised her to rest some more, and as Luffy is exceptional, she also told Robin to ignore his antics.

After Enies Lobby
With the Going Merry, everyone has managed to escape Enies Lobby safely. However, after escaping, Iceburg arrives in a Galley-La just in time to pick up the Strawhat Pirates as the Merry suddenly breaks apart. Luffy then gives the Going Merry a viking funeral by burning it as the crew tearfully says goodbye.

As everyone relaxes at Water 7, Franky decides to build a ship for the crew out of the special wood called Adam Wood. However, at that point, Marines led by Garp break into Iceburg's mansion, where everyone is staying, and punches the still-asleep Luffy to wake him up. At this point, Luffy reveals that Garp is his grandfather. Sanji reveals to the Straw Hats that Usopp is planning to rejoin the crew. While Luffy, Nami and Chopper want to join and invite him back, Zoro insists that Luffy should be a firm captain on his position, Usopp shouldn't return full of pride, and should return on their terms, not his. Zoro even threatened to leave the crew, if Usopp was allowed to rejoin without asking for forgiveness for his behavior. Luffy got the message, and agreed with Zoro's view of the situation.

With the help of the rest of the Franky Family, he is holding Franky's pants hostage as a bargaining chip to get him to join his crew. Franky simply poses naked and he says "I'm still a man naked". Meanwhile, Sanji comes running with Zoro tell that Vice-Admiral Garp, has sailed on the opposite shore in attack position. Luffy then throws Franky's speedo back and tells him to sail with them. Franky then says he does want to see his dream ship. Franky then agrees to join.

In chapter 438, Luffy is trying to battle his grandfather with his new ship. At this moment Usopp tries to rejoin the crew, however because of Zoro's speech, he is ignored until he apologizes. During the struggle between Garp and the Straw Hats, Usopp finally apologizes and admits he wants to rejoin, and with that note, Luffy tearfully accepts him back into the crew.

Meeting Brook and Into the Belly of the Beast
After sailing for some time on the Thousand Sunny, Luffy and the rest of the crew came across a mysterious barrel floating on the ocean. Upon opening it, a flash shot up from it. After braving a storm that mysteriously came afterwards thanks to Nami and Franky, Luffy and the rest of the crew found themselves in the presence of a ghost ship.

Wanting to explore the ship, Luffy along with Sanji and Nami climbed aboard. There they met a skeleton named Brook whose being interested Luffy. Luffy then asked Brook to join his crew which in turn the skeleton accepted. Luffy then brought Brook back to Thousand Sunny to show to the rest of the crew. Over dinner, Brook explained his past and later explained that he really can't join Luffy due to his current condition of having his shadow stolen.

Luffy really wanting to have Brook as a member, promised to get Brook's shadow back no matter what. This pleased Brook so much that the skeleton decided to perform before the crew with his violin as he was a musician. Just as Brook was about to perform before an even more determined Luffy and the rest of the crew after dinner, a ghost appeared and some clanking sounds were heard. These sounds were caused by the gates of the island that suddenly appeared, Thriller Bark, closing. These events prompted Brook to head to the island before Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats' eyes.

With Luffy's resolve to go to the island to get his long awaited musician and to explore the island, Franky and Robin decided to join him also. After witnessing Franky's present to the Straw Hats, Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats decided to look for Nami, Usopp, and Chopper who had not returned. However before Luffy and the rest could go to the island, they were stopped by an invisible thing. This thing tried to stab Luffy with one of Zoro's swords. Luckily, Franky kicked the sword away before it found it's mark. The thing later left Luffy and the rest baffled.

Exploring Thriller Bark
After the Thousand Sunny got caught in what was apparently a spider web, Luffy and the rest descended to the island. There they met the Cerberus which Luffy thought of eating. Luffy decided to tame the beast seeing as it was a big dog. The creature bit Luffy and in retaliation slammed the creature to a nearby wall. After Luffy tamed the beast, Luffy and the rest met two more of the island's creatures. Luffy caught the "Geezer Tree" while Franky caught the unicorn. Luffy then tried to get the tree to join his crew. He was fortunately stopped by Zoro and Sanji.

Later as Sanji was scolding him for asking Luffy, Luffy and the rest then came across some ghosts which he tried to catch one. The ghost was unaffected and instead passed through Luffy and temporarily drained his will to go on. After Luffy and the rest who also affected by the ghosts recovered, they pressed forward. Luffy and the rest later met with some Zombies which Luffy mistook one for an old man with a big wound after he tried to shove it back into it's grave as it was climbing out. He and the rest defeated the zombies with a combo technique. Luffy then asked the zombies about his three friends that came by earlier. The zombies inadvertently revealed that they attack them earlier with one of them selling out the other. For this, Luffy and the rest shoved the zombies back into their graves head first.

The group then met with an actual real old man with a big wound who looked like a Zombie, Spoil. The old man asked them to defeat Gecko Moria who had stolen his shadow and the shadows of others like him. Robin then explained that Moria was a Shichibukai with a former bounty higher than Luffy. With plans to actually beat Moria, Luffy agreed to help the old man and the others who had their shadows stolen by the Shichibukai. As it began to rain, Luffy and the others discovered that Thriller Bark was a actually a ship. With determination, he and the others ventured into Moria's mansion.

Inside the mansion, Luffy and the others fought against the Zombies in the dining hall. One of them, a Bear's Skin Rug fascinated Luffy as he fought against it. Luffy was so fascinated with the bear that he commented that he would've liked to have it join his crew if only they weren't enemies. After the battle, he and the others noticed that Sanji was missing. With nothing else to do in the room, Luffy and the others decided to take Buhichuck, the leader of the Zombies in the room, along in order to have him guide them to the rest of their friends. As Luffy left the room, the Zombies told him to be scared of Moria's wrath for what Luffy and his friends did in the dining hall. Luffy in response, merely replied that he will kick Moria's ass.

After walking awhile with Buhichuck as their hostage, Luffy, Robin, and Franky suddenly noticed that Zoro too was now missing. The situation was begining to become suspicious. Later, Luffy found a suit of armor and decided to don it. Franky questioning Luffy, asked why he put it on. Luffy then explained to Franky that it is a man's romance to don armor even if he is made of steel. After a performance by Franky, the three came upon an arena like area. There, Luffy and Robin witnessed a bout between Franky and a General Zombie. After witnessing it for while, Luffy's group were suddenly trapped in the room by Buhichuck. There they were forced to fight a large group of General Zombies. In the middle of the battle, Luffy found himself face to face with General Zombie with three swords like Zoro. Before Luffy could get a clear answer from Jigorou, he was caught off guard by some Spider Mice Zombies. Luffy was then sealed in a coffin by the Spider Mice with their webbing and then sent to the main mast of Thriller Bark.

Luffy was then brought before Gecko Moria. While Luffy was able to escape for abit by eating through the cage he was in, he was unfortunately subdued by some ghosts that were emitted by Perona. After being stripped off of his armor, Luffy had his shadow stolen by Moria through the use of powers of the Devil Fruit Moria ate, the Kage Kage no Mi. Upon being separated from his shadow, Luffy fell into a coma. With Luffy's shadow in Moria's hands, Moria decided to put in the 900th Zombie, Oz. Having his shadow finished being extracted, Luffy was then brought back to the Thousand Sunny by some Spider Mice.

Counter Attack against Moria
After being placed in the Thousand Sunny's kitchen along with Sanji and Zoro, Luffy was then awakened by Franky and the Straw Hats with him. Upon awakening, Luffy's first immediate thought was kicking Moria's butt. After calming down for abit, Luffy and the others briefed on what happened while he, Zoro, and Sanji were out. With Nami and three of their shadows taken, Luffy and the others planned to take them back. Luffy was then informed by Franky of Brook's relationship with Laboon. Ever more excited by this information, Luffy then decided that he will make Brook join their crew, even if he has to drag the skeleton onto the ship himself. With this, Luffy and his crew decided to take back from Moria what he stole from them and their friends.

With the determination to get everything back before dawn arrives, Luffy and his crew split into two teams. With part of his team headed to save Nami and himself headed to defeat Moria, Luffy's team purified several zombies with some salt from Usopp on their way to their goals. As they rampaged through and purified Moria's zombie hoard, Luffy and Sanji unfortunately got subdued by more of Perona's ghosts. Fortunately however, they were saved by the rest of the team before the zombies could get to them. Just as things were getting chaotic enough, Oz, the zombie with Luffy's shadow, came crashing into the part of the building Luffy's team was in and separated part of the building as well as part of Luffy's team. With only Robin and Chopper left with him, Luffy and the two decided to continue towards Moria, seeing that the others wouldn't be beaten so easily. As the three continued onwards, they were stopped in Moria's dance hall by Hogback and Cindry. Fortunately however, Robin and Chopper were able to hold those two off long enough for Luffy to slip pass them and continue onwards to Moria. After running through a long hallway and into the freezer that contained Oz's corpse, Luffy finally reached Moria.

Despite some negotiations with Moria, Luffy immediately started attacking Moria. However as soon as he through a punch, Luffy immediately found out it wasn't gonna be easy landing a direct hit on the Shichibukai as Moria could just simply use his own shadow, Doppelman, to fight in his stead. Undeterred by this seemingly invincible being, Luffy was still able to land a hit on Moria himself by attacking the Shichibukai from an indirect place. However despite using this tactic for some time, Luffy was still unable to land a direct clean hit on Moria. This continued until Oz came back to freezer and started obeying Moria's orders fully. With his zombie completely under Moria control, Luffy witnessed as Moria gave Oz his mission to completely annihilate all of the Straw Hats. With that order, Luffy dodged a attack from the zombie and started to chase after Moria, who had then decided to run away from the chaos that was to ensue.

As Luffy chased after Moria, he was led deep within the forest of Thriller Bark. However as Luffy was chasing Moria, the Shichibukai tricked Luffy into chasing Doppelman. Upon realizing what happened, Luffy was left stranded in the middle of forest. Seeing that dawn was fast approaching, Luffy immediately tried to find his way back to the Mast Mansion. However while running around lost in forest, Luffy encountered the group that the old man, Spoil, was head of, the Thriller Bark Victim's Association. With some convincing by members of the association, the Risky Bros. of the Rolling Pirates, Luffy was told that they knew a way to beat Moria.

Through some explanations by the Risky Bros.'s captain Lola, who tried to but failed to ask Luffy's hand in marriage, Luffy was told of the process of using captured shadows to power oneself up for ten minutes. With one hundred shadows  that the Thriller Bark Victim's Association had collected over the years, Luffy was implanted with them and became a vastly larger blue being that was dubbed "Nightmare Luffy". With his newfound strength and skills bestowed by the shadows, Luffy rushed off to Mast Masion, where, as he was also informed by Lola, was the site of a mammoth battle between Oz and Moria against his crew and Brook.

Arriving just in the nick of time to save both Nami and Usopp from Oz, Luffy immediately started battling against the zombie and overpowered him with some devastating attacks. In the midst of the brawl, Luffy was able to finally land a direct hit on Moria. As Luffy battled on, Luffy unleashed a powerful Gomu Gomu no Storm onto Oz so devastating that it not only inflicted huge wounds onto the zombie but also caused severe wounds onto Moria who was caught in the crossfire. With the execution of this one last move, Luffy's ten minute limit to stay in his Nightmare form was up. However, Luffy had inflicted so much damage onto Oz that the behemoth completely toppled over onto the Mast Mansion.

Though Luffy was exhausted by having so many shadows implanted within him, the battle was still not over. As if to dash the hopes of all of the victim whose shadows were stolen by Moria, Oz rose back up to continue battling on. Despite their wounds, Luffy, his crew, and Brook rose back up as well and started one last combined attack against the zombie. While the rest of his crew began to restrict Oz's movements, Luffy was brought to top of Thriller Bark with help from Brook's high jumps and Robin's ability. At the top, Luffy was then thrown down towards a restricted Oz. As Luffy fell, he activated Gear Third and landed a crippling blow to Oz, in the form of Gomu Gomu no Gigant Bazooka, which completely pulverized all of Oz's already battle worn bones thus rendering the zombie incapable of moving anymore.

With his last attack on Oz, Luffy thus rendered the behemoth incapable despite Luffy's strong will within him. However, while Oz was indeed finally defeated, Luffy and the other shadowless victims still had to overcome the original obstacle before them, getting Moria to return all of their shadows before the rising dawn incinerates them. This was a task made more urgent by the fact that not only was time was running out but due to some actions caused by Oz earlier, Thriller Bark was no longer covered by the dark fog of the Florian Triangle. As Luffy and the others decided to find a way to finally solve this problem, they were startled by one last sight. Despite also receiving the blunt of Luffy's attack while he was powered up by one hundred shadows, the cause of the entire nightmare that was Thriller Bark, Gecko Moria, rose back up.

Though Luffy and the others threatened Moria to give back their shadows else he be beaten up more, the Shichibukai instead replied to them with one horrifying move, Shadow's Asgard. With this, Luffy and the others witnessed Moria implant one thousand shadows from his zombie minions into himself and become a gigantic monstrosity. Despite Moria's transformation, time getting dangerously over before dawn, and all the fatigue and wounds from earlier however, Luffy readied himself to fight Moria one last time. As Luffy battled against Moria to the limit with Gear Second techniques that made Moria spew out some shadows, dawn was quickly approaching. Eventually, with time practically almost over, Luffy decided to stack his Gear transformations on top of one another in order to perform a reckless move, Gomu Gomu no Gigant Jet Shell, to use against Moria. As Luffy attacked Moria with this move and just as the first signs of dawn started to incinerate both Luffy and the others, Luffy asked his own shadow to come back to him if it wanted to become Pirate King. Then with one last use of Gomu Gomu no Gigant Jet Shell on Moria, Luffy was able to topple down both Moria and the Main Mast of Thriller Bark. With the latter falling ontop of the former, Moria's hold on all of his stolen shadows was broken and he spewed out every last one of them out. With this, Luffy's shadow and all of the other shadows of those on Thriller Bark returned to their original just in time to save them just in time as dawn finally arrived.

Just escaping the Tyrant's Clutches and Finally getting a Musician
With everyone's shadows finally returned and Moria finally defeated, Luffy collapsed from all the fatigue and pain he experienced from the night beforehand. While things seemed finally over, the celebration was however cut short with the arrival of Bartholomew Kuma in the scene. The second Shichibukai, having seen and reported the whole event to the World Government, was ordered to take out Luffy as well eliminate everyone else on the island who witnessed Luffy's victory over Moria. A battle for an unconscious Luffy thus then ensued between the second Shichibukai and everyone else left standing willing to protect Luffy. As the battle went on, it became clear to the Straw Hats, the Thriller Bark Victim's Association, and Brook that Kuma was just as hard as Moria and they were no shape to battle another opponent of such caliber. Kuma however, instead of blindly following his orders to the letter, offered them a compromise, surrender Luffy and live or die from an attack he was preparing with his Devil Fruits powers of the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. Despite faced with these choices, they all refused to surrender Luffy and received the full force of Kuma's attack.

The blast from Kuma's attack devastated most of what was left of Thriller Bark and left an unconscious Luffy with seemingly no one left to protect him from Kuma. Though all seemed lost, Zoro was able to withstand Kuma's attack and was able to protect Luffy with an attack on Kuma just in the nick of time. However, while Zoro's attack saved Luffy from being harmed, it didn't stop Kuma. Left with no other options, Zoro decided then to exchange his life for Luffy's in order to save him. This choice didn't sink well with Sanji, who also withstood the attack, and thus he too asked to sacrifice a life in exchange for Luffy's safety, only his instead of Zoro's. Despite this little scabble between Zoro and Sanji, which ended with Zoro being the one to sacrifice his life, Kuma was impressed by their loyalty to Luffy and decided to comply. Using his Devil Fruit powers, Kuma pushed out all of the intangible pain and fatigue out of Luffy's body that was accumulated from the night before, and offered them to Zoro in the shape of a giant pawprint. With this, Kuma thus explained to Zoro that this was how he could exchange his life for Luffy's. Zoro would take all the pain that Luffy felt from before by touching it while Luffy would on the other hand be cured from it. With Zoro accepting these terms, Luffy was thus saved from Kuma by Zoro despite the incredible risk of dying from the process.

Now Luffy without his pain and fatigue no longer in him has been shown to be more energetic than ever and has been eating at the with his crew and those he and his crew saved. While Brook was playing a song on the piano he states that he knows this song since Captian Shanks and his crew used to sing it all the time and he tells Brook that they have met his whale friend Laboon at Reverse Mountain.

Brook stops playing his Piano and begins tearfully retelling the story of how the Rumba Pirates used to play for Laboon before they left. He then reveals a Tone Dial with the last musical performance of the Rumba Pirates on it. Brook then states that since he now has new friends in Luffy and the Straw Hats, he no longer needs it and will give it to Laboon the next time they meet. Brook then asks if he can still join Luffy and his crew and Luffy casually agrees, shocking the rest of the crew.

An Old Nemesis and the Man in the Iron Mask
After sailing off from Thriller Bark and encountering several more phenomenon of the Grand Line, Luffy and his crew finally reached the Red Line again and the location directly above Fishman Island. Deciding to look for the island, Luffy, along with Robin and Brook, took the Shark Submerge to investigate the depths below. However due to the submarine's limits, they couldn't dive deeper than five thousand meters. As they decided to resurface, a giant sea rabbit followed them up to the surface. Luffy however made short work of the beast as he punched it away. As he punched the beast, two figures were spat out of it and onto the deck of the Thousand Sunny. To Luffy's and everyone else's amazement, the two figures were a mermaid, Camie, and a talking starfish, Pappug.

Thankful for having being saved, Camie decided to reward Luffy and his crew with some Takoyaki. However before Luffy and his crew could get their reward, they then suddenly learned that Camie's friend who provides the Takoyaki had been kidnapped by the Macro Fishman Pirates with help from the Flying Fish Riders. He, "Hachin", was then being held in the Flying Fish Riders base five kilometers east of Grove 44 of the Sabaody Archipelago. Seeing that in order to get their reward of Takoyaki Camie's friend has to be rescued, Luffy gladly accepted to help rescue her friend. Luffy jumped to Camie's aid by this reasoning despite a more practical request by Nami that Camie would led the crew to Fishman Island if they helped.

After following an arrow made by Camie's fish friends leading to the Flying Fish Riders' base, Luffy and his crew found themselves under attack from the Flying Fish Riders. Despite this attack, the Riders however retreated under orders from their boss, Duval, upon recognizing a certain person amongst Luffy's crew. After this attack, Luffy and his crew continued towards the base with Luffy all the while amazed by the Flying Fish Rider's steads.

Upon reaching the Flying Fish Riders' base, Luffy and crew found out that it was a floating town of sorts. As they entered the place, they found the place to be completely empty except for a suspended cage in the middle containing Camie's friend, "Hachin". Though he was completely covered in ink in a sad attempt to fool the Straw Hats from recognizing him, Camie's friend was revealed, to Luffy and his crew to be Hatchan through some clever questioning by Sanji. Realizing that the one he agreed to save was actually a former member of Arlong's crew, Luffy was slightly torn between not rescuing him due to past crimes, and rescuing him for some Takoyaki. Hatchan's past crimes also affected the rest of Luffy's crew's judgment that Camie and Pappug decided to rescue Hatchan by themselves and in the process got themselves captured by Macro and his crew. Seeing those two captured and despite the dilemma, Luffy and his crew decided to save them and Hatchan for a way to Fishman Island and some Takoyaki. With a leap from the Thousand Sunny to the deck of the floating town, Luffy rescued both Camie and Pappug with outstretched hands as well as told Zoro to free Hatchan. Upon landing, Luffy and his crew readied themselves for the fight against the incoming Flying Fish Riders. Upon facing them, their leader, Duval reveals why he held such a long-held grudge against the Straw Hats: His face looks remarkably like Sanji's ugly wanted poster. First, Duval attempted drowning Sanji by ordering his men into throwing an iron net. Luffy and Zoro attempt to rescue him,Hatchan says he'll save him as he is a Fishman, but Duval warns that Sanji will sink too fast for their attempts. Camie later rescues Sanji, giving him a nosebleed. Duval attempts to sink the Thousand Sunny, but Franky and Usopp activated its latest weapon: the "Roar Cannon", obliterating the Flying Fish Riders' base. Duval finally tried charging his bison, Motobaro but Luffy's "aura" calmed the beast down, like Shanks did to the Sea King ten years earlier. . Sanji finally reached the surface and gave a Parrage Shot on Duval's face destroying the one thing he can't stand: The face his horrible wanted poster. The kick made Duval very handsome, and his feeling towards the Straw Hats, specifically Sanji, changed from bitter to joyful. He thanked them and promised to be an aid to them whenever needed by givng his number on the Den Den Mushi before setting off to return to his country life.

On the Yarukiman Mangrove
On their further journeys through the Sabaody Archipelago. The Straw Hats meet Shakuyaku aka Shakky in her bar. She said she had quit being a pirate fourty years ago and Luffy asked her how old is she. She then warns the Straw Hats of nine other pirates that are on the island as well as the Straw Hats. Shakuyaku tells the Straw Hats that Luffy, as well as Zoro, along with the other pirates are the Eleven Supernovas: rookie pirates worth more than 100,000,000. Camie is then kidnapped and Sanji calls the Flying Fish Raiders for help. After they arrive and meet up with the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates they start looking for Camie. Meanwhile Camie is being mistreated by Disco, the manager of the slave auction, "Silvers" Rayleigh helps her in a way and is revealed to be Gol D. Roger's first mate.

An Incident Occurs
He breaks into the auction house in an attempt to free Camie, Hatchan is shot by Saint Charloss, causing a furious Luffy to punch him in the face. After several guards appear which the rest of the Strawhats defeat but Saint Shalulia tries to kill Camie while they were fighting but was stopped by Silvers Rayleigh who proceeds to knock out all the guards with a burst of spirit energy and claiming that he's been waiting to meet Luffy. In all the pandemonium, while Eustass Kid doesn't like the idea of facing a Marine Admiral, Luffy and Trafalgar Law insist they move forward to the challenge as they move further. Along with the two other captains, Luffy was the first to demonstrate his Devil Fruit Abilities to repel the incoming cannonballs fired at them by the marine's mortars. He later activates Gear Third to summon up a massive left arm while Kid uses his own powers to create a massive right arm of his own after drawing in all the metallic weapons within the vicinity while Law causes more havoc using his own powers to switch the marine's body parts with each other. Together, the three captains ultimately brought down the opposing formation. With the three Supernovas finally clearing the way, Kid vows to meet Luffy at the New World but as rivals, instead of allies. Luffy accepts saying he's going to be the Pirate King, Kid replies that it's an odd and laughable ambition in this day and age, but he's never allowed to anyone to laugh at himself and get away with it. The Kid and Heart Pirates depart, while Duval's Rosy Life Riders meet up with the Straw Hats to make a getaway.

A Story of the Pirate King from the Legendary First Mate
Duval and his crew take the Straw Hats back to Shakky's Rip Off Bar to rest and find out more about Silvers Rayleigh. As they arrive Shakuyaku is shocked to find Hatchan wounded, and takes him inside to recover. As Silvers Rayleigh explained, Hatchan knows him so well because at one point 20 years ago, he was shipwrecked in the ocean until Hatchan saved his life when he was just a kid, and have been good friends ever since, even up to when he joined Jimbei's crew.

Rayleigh then revealed to Straw Hats that he was Gold Roger's first mate. When Sanji questioned why he wasn't executed, Rayleigh explained that the group was never captured. Rather, Roger gave himself up. Roger contracted an incurable illness, and with the help of Crocus (whom Brook recognises), he fought off the illness for four years, while finally conquering the Grand Line, gaining the title "Pirate King". In three of those years, the Gold Roger Pirates disbanded, with its members never heard from again, and in his final year gave himself up to the Marines. Amazingly, he told Rayleigh on last meeting him he isn't going to die. The Marines claimed to have captured him, and used his public execution in his home town as a warning to all pirates. However, Roger's last words started the very "Great Pirate Age". Although Rayleigh never saw Roger's execution, he knew Shanks and Buggy, two former members of Roger's crew were present.

Rayleigh got to know of Luffy when Shanks reunited with him explaining how he lost his left arm, and told him of Luffy's remarkable personality. Rayleigh congratulates Luffy and his crew for finishing the first half of the Grand Line, and says that Shanks is waiting for him in the New World. Luffy is excited at the idea of meeting Shanks again, as Rayleigh agrees to coat the Thousand Sunny, and even with no charge to the crew. However, since Rayleigh had experienced the end of the Grand Line, Robin and Usopp asked about secrets at the end of the Grand Line, the latter asking of considerable importance to many pirates: the location of One Piece. Luffy admonished Usopp for asking that question, saying until he's not sure if there even is treasure there, and wants to find out for himself. As many risked their lives searching for One Piece, it wouldn't be fair if Rayleigh revealed where it is. He also threatened to quit pirating if any of his crew asked Rayleigh where One Piece is, not wanting a boring adventure.

Rayleigh asked if he was sure he doesn't want to know, due to the New World being beyond his imagination, and incredibly strong rivals there, and asked if he wanted to conquer the Grand Line. Luffy replied he had no wish no conquer the Grand Line, but believes the person with the most freedom in the sea is the Pirate King. Unfortunately, Rayleigh will take three days at least to coat the ship, and with an Admiral currently on the archipelago, Rayleigh will move the ship as the Straw Hats plan to split up, and will rejoin at Rayleigh's location, and with the Biblicard they'll be able to find him. As the Straw Hats say their goodbyes to, Shakky, Hatchan, Camie and Pappug, they are about to split up but are confronted an unknown figure.

Nakama Lost In Front Of His Eyes
This figure turned out to be the Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma. As Luffy was unconscious during his Thriller Bark, the other members warned him that he was immensely strong, and of his ability. However, he demonstrated was wasn't only able to shoot "paw prints" out of his hands and shot a laser beam. Luffy was fascinated by this. Despite the danger, the Straw Hats were confident about being able to defeat him, as while they were exhausted when they first faced him, they were now at full strength. Luffy realizes the strength of his opponent and activates Gear Second. The battle continues between the Straw Hats and Kuma, as the cyborg continues to blast beams out of his hands and mouth. However, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji make a successful counter-attack as they give Kuma a combo named Gomu Gomu no Diable Mouton Jet 600 Pound Hou. While "Kuma" is successfully repelled, Zoro points out it may not be the real Kuma as thus far he hasn't demonstrated any of his Nikyu Nikyu no Mi abilities. However, this presented a problem, as it means there's one or several more clones on par with the real Kuma.

The Straw Hats after fierce battling manage to severly damage the Pacifista when Usopp fires gunpowder into its mouth. After then the Straw Hats deliver powerful attacks to weaken the Kuma clone in its weak spots and when its wide open. To deliver the final blow, Luffy activates Gear Third and uses Gomu Gomu no Gigant Rifle to finish off the Pacifista.

After the fight, Luffy shrank to chibi size due to the side effect of using Gear Third as the rest of his crew contemplate having such a powerful opponent so early in their three-day period. Luffy returned to normal and as soon as as they caught their breath, a warrior with a broadaxe named Sentōmaru appeared with yet another Pacifista, referring to the defeated cyborg as "PX-4". Worn out and with another Pacifista appearing, The Straw Hats decide to separate and go in different teams to escape them and Luffy ordered them to meet up at the Thousand Sunny's location in three days. However, Sentōmaru then ordered Pacifista "PX-1" to stop the escaping pirates and the cyborg caught up to Robin's group. While Luffy grew worried about his nakama from the Pacifista's attack, Sentōmaru confronted the captain as he was escaping and sucessfully countered his Gomu Gomu no Gatling attack. He also revealed he is not a Devil Fruit user. To make things worse, Sentōmaru's superior, Admiral Kizaru finally appeared and attacked Zoro. With no-one able to stop him from finishing the already worn-out Zoro off, Silvers Rayleigh finally appears and successfully counters Kizaru's light-blasting kick warning him not to interfere with the "new era" of the Straw Hats.

He thanks Silvers and orders everyone to escape but he is repelled again by Sentōmaru and Chopper is forced to transform into his Monster Point form, going on a rampage. Luckily Robin manages to carry him away in time. However, Zoro wasn't so lucky as the real Bartholomew Kuma made his appearance and teleported him to another location. After Zoro's disappearance Luffy orders the crew to escape but all of the crew, one by one, was teleported to different and unknown locations by Kuma. Luffy desperate for being unable to help any of his nakama is the last to be teleported by Kuma and with his disappearance the Strawhats were defeated.

Current events (spoilers)
Luffy is next seen flying through the sky, over the sea, cursing Kuma. He falls asleep while still flying, and after flying for at least one day and night, ends up landing on an unknown island, protected on landing by a paw print. Upon waking up he remembers Rayleigh's biblicard, and follows its directions, before dropping down from hunger. Luffy in his hunger eats a wild boar, and several mushrooms, one of which causes mushrooms to start growing all over his body. He is found and saved by a tribe of amazon women, who while washing him in a river, to treat his wounds, are shocked when their elder points out Luffy is actually a man.

When Luffy finally awakens, he is completely naked, in a prison cell, which is surrounded by curious women. He realises he is missing his straw hat first, and snatches it back from one of the women, before realising he is completely naked. Having not seen a man before, the women believe that all men are like Luffy from seeing his ability to stretch and being generally slow. In addition, the women notice the physical differences between men and women, which Luffy explains is his personal "treasure". Margaret gives him some new clothes they made to match his old ones, but these ones have flowery frills. After an angry out burst about his frilly clothes, the warriors prepare to attack him, simply for being a man. Luffy quickly escapes the prison cell, just wanting to find his nakama.

He then grabs Margaret, and jumps out and over the mountain walls surrounding the village, using his Gomu Gomu no Fuusen technique to land safely. Margaret is distrusting of him at first but she gives him back his biblicard, and just can't control her curiosity, so they talk, and Luffy tells her he is a pirate. She already knows about pirates since their leader, Hebihime, better known as Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, is also a powerful and beautiful pirate.

Luffy gets Margaret to remove the flowery frills from his new clothes and vows that if his nakama are still alive, they will get stronger and eventually defeat everyone who's against them. He begins his efforts at getting stronger by trying to run all the way back to Sabaody Archipelago on his hands, giving up after realising he needs a boat. Margaret tells him they are in the Calm Belt so the islanders have no boats. Luffy then attempts to build his own raft so he can row back to Sabaody. It quickly falls to pieces and Margaret has to save him. She decides she can't continue being nice to him or she will get attached, so she attempts to kill him with arrows imbued with "haki" making them very powerful. Some of the other Kuja find them so Luffy begins to run away again.

Later, after shaking off the Kuja chasing him, Luffy decides to see the person in charge of the Kuja, and determined that she would be living in the biggest building since she was the leader. However, thinking too much about it made him feel uneasy, so he simply jumped off the wall he was on, which made him land right in the bath where Boa Hancock was taking her bath. He noticed what was supposedly a pair of gorgon eyes on her back, and seemed to recognize them from somewhere.

Early One Piece
When drawing One Piece, Eiichiro Oda was heavily influenced by the manga Dragon Ball, and had the series in mind when designing his characters. Oda has said that when he was creating Luffy, he was thinking about "manliness", because Dragon Ball had already done all the things that a child could possibly be happy about. .

Luffy was first featured as the main protagonist in the first pilot of One Piece Romance Dawn V.1 in the Shonen Jump specials showcasting upcoming artists, about a year and a half before One Piece began. He would remain as the main protagonist in the second release of Romance Dawn, Romance Dawn V.2 (featured in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine itself) and the final version Romance Dawn V.3.

Luffy's character changed throughout all three versions of Romance Dawn. Starting from Romance Dawn version 1, Luffy was much smarter than his final incarnation and while he had the power of the Devil Fruit he did not seem to have any named attacks. He claimed to be a candidate for pirate and a Peace Maine type of pirate. His background story was near enough identical to the final story released with Romance Dawn version 3, with a number of note worthy differences. The major difference being that Higuma the Bear was absent from the story in this version. Another minor difference was that Shanks' arm was bitten off by a shark instead of a Sea King. In Romance Dawn V.1 there was also a panel that featured a Luffy as captain of his own crew. This is the only time a older version of Luffy has been drawn by Oda in regards to One Piece storyline.

Version 2 of Romance Dawn feature a Luffy closer to the final version then Romance Dawn version 1. He now had a named attack (though it featured a different naming scheme to the final version) and lacked the intelligence he displayed in Romance Dawn version 1, however, it is arguable that he was less intelligent than his final design overall. His story, though still featured him eating the Devil Fruit, did not feature Shanks and instead Luffy got both his hat and the Devil fruit he ate from his grandfather. Luffy remained a Peace Maine type of pirate in this version and was still promoting himself as a candidate for a pirate while seeking to join up with a crew.

In both versions, Luffy was missing the scar under his left eye. Apart from this the only difference in Luffy's overall appearance was the adaptation to suit the drawing style of each Romance Dawn. The most note worthy change from each version was of Young Luffy, whose head and body shape, though remained roughly the same, was different enough to notice.

Anime and Manga Differences
In the anime, Luffy's past did not include the scene where he stabbed himself in the eye to prove to Shanks he was a man. The anime also skipped over all the scenes before Shanks gave Luffy juice, these scenes showed Shanks making fun of Luffy for being a child as well as some of the interaction between Shanks, Luffy and the rest of Shanks' crew.

Translation and Dub Issues
In the 4Kids dub, Funimation dub, and Shonen Jump manga, the most common alteration seen to Luffy is the reference to his devil fruit, the Gomu Gomu no mi, as the "Gum Gum fruit". The correct term would be the "Rubber Rubber Fruit", which has not been used outside the Odex version of the series (For example, Gomu Gomu no Fuusen is translated as "Rubber Balloon").

Other alterations are mainly directed around the renaming of most of his attacks, most away from references to guns (such as the Gomu Gomu no Pistol, which becomes Gum Gum Blast), but not traditional weapons (Gomu Gomu no/Gum Gum Axe). Other than attacks, Luffy is constantly the center of attention for the removal of blood in battles against foes. All of these are common censorship edits made for American TV.

In the book The Anime Encyclopedia - A guide to Japanese animation since 1917(2001), there was a short article about One Piece. In it there were 3 mistakes concerning Luffy; his age was written as 16, his name was spelt Rufy and he was written to have saved Shanks' life instead of the other way round.

Crossovers

 * Luffy appeared in an Shonen Jump special, where Enel attacks Tokyo and Odaiba. Goku arrives to fight Enel and Luffy appears to help him. Luffy and Goku make an attack called "Gomu Gomu No Kamehameha" and they destroy Enel.
 * Luffy and other characters also appeared in Cross Epoch with Dragon Ball characters.
 * Luffy has appeared in the games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars for the DS. He also appeared in Battle Stadium D.O.N on the GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Cultural References

 * Luffy's Devil Fruit the Gomu Gomu no Mi was referenced in the Japanese TV Drama show Trick.
 * Luffy had a small mention in the PS2 game Ape Escape 3, where it is revealed that Pink Monkey is angry over Luffy's popularity, and seems to believe he is a real monkey.
 * In Yakitate!! Japan, episode 56, there is a parody of One Piece where Kuroyanagi turns into a "Tenobi Man" as a reaction from trying Azuma's Japanese-Style Ja-pan dumpling. To this effect, he dons a straw hat and starts stretching his arms like rubber to unbelievable lengths like Monkey D. Luffy.
 * In a fake movie preview during an episode of Gintama, Isao Kondo (playing a lookalike of Crocodile) is seen charging towards heroine Tae Shimura. Tae defeats him with a "Gomu Gomu" move. Similar enemies and attacks are also performed connected to Dragon Ball and Bleach in the same film.
 * In To Love-Ru, Ren Elsie Jewelria is reading a copy of Weekly Shonen Jump where Luffy's head can be seen as the picture on the binding.
 * In one chapter of the manga Eyeshield 21, a Luffy-like character was seen.
 * In a online RPG called Dragonfable there was an enemy pirate monkey dressesed up like Luffy, and was called L.D.MONKEE which is backwords for Monkey.D.LUFFY.

Merchandise
As the main protagonist, Luffy has been the choice character in many forms of merchandise and is arguably only out produced by Chopper. He has been featured in the series of models Portrait of Pirates. He was released in the One Piece DX Figure - Swim Suit Style set which included him and Nami. When the Wii game One Piece: Unlimited Adventure was released Luffy was one of the crew produced as a figure in the One Piece Locations Trading Figures series. He has also appeared as a plushie in a number of sets such as the One Piece Fishing Plushies pair.

He has featured in One Piece Gashapon sets on numerous occasions and he also featured in the 5 piece One Piece VS Figure Gashapon set. Another Gashapon set he featured in was the One Piece Full Color R Gashapon, of what he was featured twice. He was issued alongside Shanks and Lord of the Coast in a One Piece Block Figures set featuring the Straw Hats and their past mentors/loved ones. He has featured in trading figure sets such as One-Piece Motion Figure box and the One Piece Styling Figures.

Luffy has also featured on many Keychains/cellphone Straps sets including the One Piece Desert Kingdom Mascot Keychain/Cellphone Strap collection, alongside his brother Ace. He is part of the One Piece Sky Island Mascot Keychain collection. Another set he featured in was the One Piece Monkey Island Mascot Keychain/Cellphone strap series. In the Keychain pairing, he was released alongside Nami, however in the Cellphone strap series he was released alongside Shoujou.

Songs

 * Wanted!
 * We Are HERE!
 * Every-One Peace!
 * Holy Holiday (with Zoro)
 * Akuma no Mi (Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji)
 * Hi! Ho! Ready Go! (Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji)
 * Family (with other crew members)
 * We Are! (with other crew members)
 * Utae! Jingle Bell (with other crew members)
 * You Are the One (with other crew members)
 * Jungle Fever (with other crew members)
 * Respect! (Luffy, Zoro and Sanji)
 * Doctor Tony Tony Chopper (as backup to Chopper)
 * A Thousand Dreamers (With other crew members)

Trivia

 * Luffy is described as being like the fourth son of a family.
 * Due to the nature of the One Piece timeline against the real world timeline, Luffy does not age, remaining 17 no matter what the year is in real life.
 * Monkey D. Luffy is the second character that carries the initial D., however he is the first D. to be named in the story.
 * Except for the Gears, Luffy's Forms (up to now) have all been him messing around hoping something will work, and just doing goofy stuff, but they have saved him each time.
 * Luffy's favourite food is meat.
 * Oda has claimed that at the time of naming Luffy, he did so because he felt the name "Luffy" was right for his main character. Later Oda found out there is a Maritime term called a "Luff" and has insisted this is pure coincidence but one he was delighted by.
 * In the Dragon Ball and One Piece crossover Cross Epoch after Luffy falls from a cliff Goku orders the Kinto'un to save Luffy from the fall and then he rides the Kinto'un until they arrive in the tea party. Riding the Kinto'un, in the universe of Dragon Ball, means that Luffy is pure of heart.
 * One of Oda's more mature SBS questions asked if Luffy's lower regions could stretch, to which Oda replied that they could. They actually do stretch (though it is never actually shown) in chapter 514.
 * When Luffy activate his Gear 2nd, in the original manga Luffy skin doesn't turn red, the anime made it to turn red to show the difference. The game One Piece Unlimited Adventure when Luffy activate gear 2nd his skin stay the same colour but glow brighter.
 * Luffy during the Jaya arc displayed a fasination for Hecules and Atlas beetles to the point where he became distracted from everything else. Both species are highly prised in Japan and are used for fighting.

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