Monkey D. Luffy/Abilities and Powers

Overview
As one of the Four Emperors, and at the young age of 19, Luffy is one of the four most powerful pirates in the world. He captains the Straw Hat Pirates, holding the greatest authority over a mighty and diverse crew consisting of several infamous members, many of whom are extremely powerful in their own right. Luffy has a tremendous amount of influence over his crewmates, so much so that they all trust him with their lives, despite his reckless behavior and, in some cases, even because of it.

He is also one of twelve pirates who have been dubbed as the "Worst Generation", a group of individuals who have become infamous for the bold and major actions they have committed against the World Government, and all have bounties of over 100,000,000. Indirectly, he also has claim over the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, a massive fleet consisting of seven powerful New World crews numbering 5640 people in total, who all swore to serve under him of their own will and come to assist him whenever he may need them. The scope of Luffy's authority was considered by the World Government to be close to on par with the Four Emperors, the four most powerful and influential pirates in the world, and the press dubbed Luffy the "Fifth Emperor" as a result.

However, Luffy officially became an Emperor after defeating one of the previous Emperors, Kaidou, and his meteoric rise in status (in over two years) caused panic around the world; he currently holds a bounty of 3,000,000,000, which is currently the lowest Emperor bounty, the ninth largest bounty in recorded history and equals the bounties of two of his fellow Worst Generation members—Kid and Law. His bounty is only surpassed by the bounties of the former Emperors Whitebeard, Big Mom, Kaidou, fellow Emperors Shanks, Blackbeard and Buggy, former Warlord Mihawk and the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger himself.

Luffy is a fierce and formidable combatant who can invent extremely creative fighting techniques even during intense battles and has gone through harsh and rigorous training ever since he was a child. He has been taught by two legendary figures, his grandfather Monkey D. Garp, the "Hero of the Marines", and Silvers Rayleigh, the retired first mate of the Pirate King's crew. Despite acting goofy and eccentric most of the time, Luffy has proven to be a natural born leader.

Luffy has exhibited his threat most notably by invading all three of the World Government's main strongholds in Paradise: he defeated over a thousand Marines on Enies Lobby by himself and took down two CP9 agents—Blueno, and Rob Lucci, with the invasion ultimately resulting in the destruction of Enies Lobby via Buster Call; he infiltrated the great prison Impel Down and orchestrated the only mass breakout in its history; he invaded Marine Headquarters during the Summit War of Marineford and greatly aided the Whitebeard Pirates in their ultimately unsuccessful effort to rescue Portgas D. Ace from execution.

One of Luffy's greatest qualities is that he can become massively more powerful in an unthinkably short amount of time. To the amazement of friend and foe alike, Luffy has continuously defeated people who are renowned throughout the seas for their incredible strength and skill. Luffy has also significantly threatened the balance of the Three Great Powers by defeating three members of the Seven Warlords of the Sea—Crocodile, Gecko Moria, Donquixote Doflamingo—and allying with three others, which caused Jinbe to defect from his position and Trafalgar Law to lose his. The World Government also views Luffy to be a grave threat simply because he is the son of Monkey D. Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army.



Despite his ever-growing list of accomplishments in battle, Luffy continues to be frequently underestimated by opponents due to his appearance, age and disposition. These traits have often proved to be an advantage for him, as it gives him leeway toward options opponents would not expect. For example, Crocodile dismissed Luffy as a greenhorn and left him for dead twice, only for Luffy to recover from his defeats and ultimately claim victory in their third match.

Donquixote Doflamingo attempted to trap Luffy in the Corrida Colosseum, expecting him to fall victim to it, only for Luffy to escape and win over the gladiators there to his side. With constantly improving skill in battle combined with his almost unbreakable willpower, Luffy has found ways to defeat increasingly powerful opponents that have blocked his path, all while having been out at sea for less than a year, not including his two-year training on Rusukaina.

In the New World, he has contended with the Four Emperors' top officers, having defeated two of the Big Mom Pirates' Sweet Commanders: Charlotte Cracker and Charlotte Katakuri, seeking to aim further by taking down the Four Emperors themselves, along with the Marine Admirals. During the Raid on Onigashima, Luffy's recently heightened mastery of advanced Busoshoku and Haoshoku Haki allowed him to fight on par with Kaidou of the Four Emperors before awakening his Devil Fruit's true power upon suffering a third defeat from a finishing blow, which finally allowed him to emerge victorious against Kaidou in one-on-one combat.

Physical Abilities
What happened after I destroyed him in Kuri?!! There are only a scant few capable of fighting me!!! How high will your ceiling go?!! Contrary to what his size would suggest, and even without his Devil Fruit powers or Haki, Luffy has strength, speed, agility, durability, endurance and vitality that are the stuff of legends; ranging from accomplishing feats that would be physically impossible for a normal human to achieve and surviving dangers that most would think impossible to survive.

Strength
His grandfather Garp used harsh and unorthodox training methods to make him grow stronger, such as leaving him alone in the wilderness as a young child, tying him to balloons so he would float away, or throwing him into a bottomless pit, as well as several years of further rigorous training in the extremely harsh environments of Mt. Colubo and Rusukaina. By the time he began his quest to become Pirate King, Luffy had attained incredible physical strength, which he demonstrated by knocking out the Lord of the Coast with a single punch. In Skypiea, he was capable of moving around during his fight against Enel despite having a massive golden ball molded around his hand, and even climbed up a massive beanstalk with it. When caught between two large brick buildings in Water 7, he was eventually able to push them apart to free himself. Even in a severely weakened state after his calamitous battles at Impel Down and Marineford, Luffy was still able to cause massive destruction on Amazon Lily and hurl a boulder several times larger than himself with enough force to destroy a nearby rock formation. Despite these feats, however, his strength still paled in comparison to certain other powerful characters at the time, such as several participants in the Summit War of Marineford.

After training with Rayleigh in Rusukaina for two years, Luffy's strength seemed to have increased dramatically. Initially, he was at the mercy of every animal on the island, but then he became their official boss after several months of training. Other examples are when he effortlessly defeated a Pacifista in a single punch, whereas it took him and his whole crew to defeat two years prior. On Dressrosa, he easily flipped over the massive gladiator Spartan, and used his foot to block a stomp by Donquixote Doflamingo, a man nearly twice his height with immense physical power of his own, without any leverage.



Luffy has utilized his Gears, transformation techniques made possible by his Devil Fruit powers, to tremendously increase his physical strength and subdue powerful opponents like Blueno, Rob Lucci, and Donquixote Doflamingo. He took out a member of the Marines' Giant Squad with a single Gear 3 punch, and two years later, he defeated the powerful giant Hajrudin with a single Gear 2 punch to the face. On Fish-Man Island, the Sea Kings believed he would have completely destroyed the gigantic ship Noah before it would have landed had they not stopped him. With a single, enhanced Gear 4 punch, Luffy was capable of obliterating an entire town.

When he was imprisoned in Wano Country, he wore Seastone handcuffs that significantly weakened him and prevented him from using his Devil Fruit powers, and he exploited his prison labor as a new training method to get stronger in his weakened state, being able to lift and carry hundreds of blocks several times his size. After much training, he was able to break through the helmet of the vice warden Daifugo and injure him with a simple kick, and later on was capable of physically hurting Kaidou.

Luffy is also capable of becoming physically stronger through psychology. When Jango accidentally hypnotized him to become stronger, Luffy went on a tear through the Black Cat Pirates and ripped the stem and figurehead off their ship. During the Davy Back Fight battle against Foxy, Luffy attempted to increase his fighting prowess by donning an afro.

Speed and Agility
Luffy possesses tremendous speed, agility, and reflexes. While knocked on his back, he was quickly able to escape from a point-blank explosion during his fight with Foxy, jumping onto a nearby mast before he was caught up in the blast. When he fought Blueno and Rob Lucci on Enies Lobby, Luffy was able to keep up with their incredibly fast Soru movements even without using the massive speed boost of his Gear 2 form. When battling Dracule Mihawk during the Summit War of Marineford, he was able to dodge the strikes of the world's greatest swordsman, including ducking under one that completely cleaved through a faraway glacier.

After his two-year training, he has been able to dodge attacks even while using Gear 3. He was able to avoid being attacked by Cavendish in the Corrida Colosseum by dodging the pirate's sword strikes and clasping the sword with his hands. Against Charlotte Katakuri, he showed the ability to dodge a considerable amount of the Sweet Commander's strikes, as well as all of Katakuri's attacks with his trident Mogura (barring one in which Luffy was impaired by Flampe's dart), despite Katakuri being able to foresee his movements. Luffy being able to see into the future with his Kenbunshoku Haki aids his dodging ability considerably, and during his fight with Kaidou on Onigashima, Luffy managed to partially dodge Kaidou's Raimei Hakke attack despite the Emperor being capable of moving at near-blinding speed; earlier, Luffy had been powerless to avoid that strike.

Durability
Luffy has shown the ability to take massive amounts of physical punishment but still remain conscious and able to fight. As a child, Luffy was brutally beaten by Porchemy's spiked gloves to get information out of him, but Luffy took the beating without revealing anything. He was poisoned in Arabasta Kingdom by Crocodile's poison hook but remained conscious long enough to defeat the Warlord. He took multiple blows from Foxy's spiked gloves but did not fall. On Upper Yard, Luffy was directly hit by Wyper's Burn Bazooka, which disintegrated a massive hole in a giant tree, but he only started bleeding as a result. Most notably, during his fight with Charlotte Katakuri in the Mirro-World, Luffy fought for over 9 hours and received significantly more blows than he gave, including being gruesomely pierced in the side by Katakuri's trident Mogura, but he was able to keep standing up until Katakuri went down. During his first encounter with Kaidou, the Emperor's might was so immense that he could knock out Luffy with a single strike of his mace; however, after training in the Prisoner Mine and confronting Kaidou again, Luffy managed to emerge conscious and without serious injury after being partially struck by the same attack. Eventually, he becomes able to take multiple hits from Kaidou without being knocked out.

After surviving being poisoned by Magellan, Luffy developed an immunity to most poisons, causing him to be unaffected when Caesar Clown attacked him with poisonous gases. However, he did later fall victim to poison after consuming the skin of the Armored Stonefish; though the skin normally causes instant death, Luffy's poison resistance merely put him in a coma. Despite that incident, he seems to be quite proud of his immunity. When he witnessed Queen's Excite Bullets, he claimed they would not work on him. However, Chopper needed to treat him later on.

Endurance
Luffy possesses immense endurance stemming from his great durability and willpower. As a child, he developed endurance when his grandfather put him through various training methods. When following Ace on a long and dangerous trek from Mt. Colubo to Gray Terminal, as he accompanied Ace and Sabo on their adventures through the wilderness. By far his most noteworthy feat was surviving exposure to an incurable amount of poison after fighting Magellan in Impel Down. When brought before Emporio Ivankov, Luffy was given hormones to give him the chance to fight for his life for two and a half days at the cost of his lifespan. He not only successfully fought to stay alive but returned to consciousness in just 20 hours. By doing this, he proved his connection to his father who has a similar will. With the help of Ivankov's Tension Hormones and his willpower, Luffy was able to keep fighting through Impel Down immediately after his near-death experience and continued fighting at Marineford with little rest in between until his body eventually gave out after he failed to save Ace from death.

In Enies Lobby, Luffy pulled off another feat of endurance, as although he quickly pushed his limits by repeatedly using Gear 2 and Gear 3, and was heavily injured by Lucci's Rokuogan attacks, he was able to keep fighting until he had defeated Lucci. Luffy also demonstrated his endurance at Whole Cake Island, as he battled Charlotte Cracker for 11 hours without resting, using Gear 4 at least twice. He then proceeded to get heavily beaten by his crewmate Sanji, but when a Big Mom Pirates army arrived soon after to take him down, Luffy fought hard for a considerable period of time, before ultimately being knocked out. After being temporarily frozen in time in a book prison, Luffy singlehandedly made his way out of the Whole Cake Chateau and beat up every enemy he encountered, despite still being extremely weak from fatigue and hunger, the latter of which he refused to address until Sanji returned to him. Another testament to his endurance was that he was stabbed by Charlotte Katakuri's trident in their fight but still got back on his feet to continue the battle. At Udon, Luffy was able to continue fighting while he was infected with Queen's Mummy virus. Even after being knocked out by Kaidou's (who had assumed his Human-Beast Form) Kosanze Ragnaraku, he got back up after a few moments. Later, when struck by the more powerful Warai Jogo Ragnaraku, Luffy although injured, retained consciousness.

Luffy's immense willpower was also seen in Thriller Bark when his body was able to take in 100 shadows without issue, while a normal person could only take in two or three.

Instinct


Normally, Luffy can be prone to making bad decisions. However, while fighting, he possesses an uncanny instinct that has often resulted in him performing atypical actions that end up helping him. When confronted by multiple duplicates of Mr. 3 on Little Garden, Luffy was instantly able to find and attack the real one thanks entirely to instinct. When his arm got bitten while fighting Arlong, Luffy slammed the fish-man's head into the ground to dislodge his jaw instead of trying to pull his arm out, which allowed his arm to remain intact. To overcome Enel foreseeing his attacks with Mantra, Luffy used moves such as shutting down his mind and throwing his punches off walls to ricochet them randomly, which ended up being successful. Against Cracker, Luffy taxed the Sweet Commander's power by eating his never-ending biscuit creations.

Luffy has excellent situational awareness during battle. While fighting Mihawk on Marineford, he noticed Buggy nearby and used him as a human shield, allowing him to run away from Mihawk. When he fought Katakuri on the Thousand Sunny in Totto Land, he noticed Charlotte Brûlée watching from the Mirro-World and managed to grab onto her by surprise, allowing him to pull himself and Katakuri into the Mirro-World and prevent Katakuri from threatening his crew.



Luffy also possesses tremendous creativity, and frequently comes up with unusual methods to get ahead in a fight. In his first fight with Crocodile, Luffy noticed that he could make his opponent's body tangible with liquid, and before their second fight he consumed large quantities of water to use against the Warlord. He took it a step further in their third and final fight by using his blood as the liquid. When possible, Luffy likes to power himself up with outside objects and often uses things from the enemy against them. He knocked out sets of Arlong's teeth and tried to use them, although was not particularly successful. When Mr. 3 bound his arms and legs with candle-shaped wax bindings, Luffy immediately began using these bindings as powerful blunt weapons to demolish Mr. 3's other wax creations. When he became allies with Mr. 3 in Impel Down, Luffy requested that he be powered up with the wax once again to fight Magellan, and he was successfully able to hit the warden without being poisoned.

Charisma
Luffy possesses a notable ability to recruit allies to his side everywhere he goes, which Dracule Mihawk describes as the most dangerous ability in the world. Luffy is capable of making friends rather quickly, and people typically have to do little for Luffy to consider them as a friend, such as Rebecca, who earned Luffy's friendship by buying him food. Although Luffy does not fancy himself a hero, he will do anything to help his friends, which can earn him the respect of people around him, as seen with the Whitebeard Pirates being impressed with his desire to save Ace on Marineford. Luffy is not afraid to take audacious actions to help himself and his friends, and this fearlessness is another key to gaining allies.

Before Jinbe met Luffy, he initially had no intention of building a relationship with him, only wanting to accompany him through Impel Down and Marineford to appease Ace's wishes. However, after getting to know Luffy, Jinbe quickly developed a deep respect for him, and risked his life to get Luffy out of Marineford safely. Two years later, he would join Luffy's crew. Boa Hancock, who hates all men, took a liking to and soon after fell in love with Luffy after finding out that he had attacked a World Noble. On Dressrosa, once the Corrida Colosseum gladiators were liberated from Doflamingo and Sugar's enslavement, they rallied behind Luffy's crusade against Doflamingo, and Luffy's determination to bring down the Warlord eventually earned him the support of everyone on Dressrosa as they wished to be freed from Doflamingo's tyranny. Luffy curried enough favor in this effort that the allies he made went far beyond Dressrosa; seven of the groups who fought with him pledged to serve him whenever he needs them, forming the massive Straw Hat Grand Fleet; even people like Cavendish and Chinjao who once wished to kill him declared their servitude. When the prisoners inside Udon's Prisoner Mine had doubts about defeating Kaidou even after Raizo and Kikunojo revealed themselves, Luffy managed to win them over.

After his exploits at Marineford, Luffy became incredibly popular to the pirates of both halves of the Grand Line. The trickster, Demaro Black, was able to take advantage of this popularity to gather many powerful pirates under his supposed leadership by posing as Luffy.

Devil Fruit


When he was 7 years old, Luffy unwittingly ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit, after finding it in a chest owned by the Red Hair Pirates. It gives his body the properties of rubber, allowing him to stretch, bounce, bend, twist, and inflate any part of his body. Initially, Luffy was unable to control his stretching, but was able to master it after ten years of training on Dawn Island, and further master it during the two years he spent training with Silvers Rayleigh on Rusukaina.

During the Wano Country Arc, it was revealed that it is actually a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, which allows the user to become an incarnation of Nika, an ever-playful Sun God known for liberating slaves and bringing smiles to people's faces. This grants Luffy's body a rubber physiology and allows him to fight however he pleases, just as long as he can imagine it. According to the Five Elder St. Shepherd Ju Peter, because of the smiles Nika can put on the faces of others, he is known as the "Warrior of Liberation", and that "there is no power more ridiculous in all the world".

He is able to stretch any part of his body; he can stretch his arms to extend the reach of his punches, stretch his legs to extend the reach of his kicks, and stretch his neck to extend the reach of his headbutt. His stretching also allows him to reach faraway places, as he can stretch and grab onto something at that location and pull himself there. He can further enhance his attack power by twisting his body parts around each other and spinning them.

Defensively, Luffy, being made of rubber, is completely immune to lightning. He also cannot be harmed by blunt attacks not imbued with Busoshoku Haki, including punches, blunt weapons, and even being stepped on by gigantic opponents. If struck by blunt projectiles, such as bullets or cannonballs, he can bounce them back toward the place it came from, potentially threatening the one who launched it. He can also easily survive falling from great heights.

He can suck in a large amount of air to inflate his torso like a balloon. His inflated belly greatly enhances his rubbery defense and his ability to bounce things back. It also keeps him from sinking if he falls into the water.

Over the course of his voyage in the Grand Line, he developed techniques he calls Gears to utilize his Devil Fruit to combat stronger opponents, such as speeding up his own blood flow to increase his speed or enlarging his bones and muscles for more powerful strikes. During his training on Rusukaina, he learned how to combine his Haki with his rubber abilities, making his already destructive attacks inconceivably faster and stronger.

In Wano Country, his fruit awakened after his apparent "death" and third loss against Kaidou, granting him immeasurably awesome powers that the World Government itself greatly fears. Among these astonishing abilities are strengthening his rubbery body and granting him even more freedom. In addition to this, Luffy is afforded the enhancements common among Zoan Devil Fruits, including greater strength, speed, and a faster recovery rate. He also displayed the ability to bestow the properties of rubber into the environment around him.

In Road To Laugh Tale, it is revealed that Luffy's true power is not his rubbery physiology, and instead something much different. In truth his power allows him to bring forth whatever he can imagine into reality, however, this is only possible if the Devil Fruit awakens and is limited to Luffy's own imagination.

Gear 2


Gear 2 was first seen on Enies Lobby. Luffy increases the speed of his blood flow, and thanks to the rubber nature of his blood vessels and organs, his body can withstand the pressure. This allows more oxygen and nutrients to be pumped throughout through his body. Gear 2 greatly increases Luffy's physical capabilities, allowing him to easily surpass the movement speed of Soru users and smash through the defensive power of Tekkai.

Initially, Luffy activated this by pumping blood through his legs to activate the effect across his entire body, but after the timeskip, he has shown to have more control over it and can activate it in any select part of his in his body. Before his two-year training, the usage of Gear 2 depleted his energy quickly and even threatened his lifespan, but in the present day, its effects appear to have been reduced.

By using a combination of Haki and Gear 2, Luffy is able to punch opponents at with such speed and force that it causes his fist to ignite into a shroud of flames, which Luffy calls Red Hawk. By the time of the Raid on Onigashima, his Red Hawk was strong enough that it forced Kaidou, one of the strongest pirates in the world who is renowned for his near-indestructible body, to actually dodge the attack.

Gear 3


Gear 3 was first seen on Enies Lobby. By blowing a massive amount of air into his thumb, Luffy can inflate the bones of a particular part of his body, making it gigantic. These inflated body parts are capable of inflicting damage on a massive scale, being able to destroy steel doors and large buildings with ease, and Gear 3's power became magnified when Luffy learned to use Busoshoku Haki during the timeskip, and Haoshoku Haki infusion during the Wano Country Arc.

Initially, Gear 3 would cause Luffy to shrink to the size of a child after its use, temporarily limiting his fighting capabilities until his body returned to normal. However, this no longer happens after Luffy's two years of training.

Gear 4


Gear 4 was created during Luffy's two-year training on Rusukaina and was first seen on Dressrosa. By blowing into his arm, Luffy inflates the muscles in his entire body and covers it with Busoshoku Haki, taking one of three forms. The first form, Boundman, makes his composition akin to a rubber ball, causing him to bounce all the time. Luffy is capable of retracting his arms and legs inside of his body, unleashing blows of devastating power, as well as being able to change the direction of his attacks. His defense also increases, with most attacks bouncing off his body.

The second form, Tankman, makes Luffy much bigger and increases his defensive abilities, allowing him to use his body as a weapon via the recoil from attacks blasting opponents away. The third form, Snakeman, is slimmer and focuses on offense, lacking the defensive capabilities of the other two forms. Luffy is granted a tremendous increase in attack speed, and frequently changes the direction of his attacks to assault his opponents from every direction.

However, in addition to being weakened, he will be unable to use Haki for ten minutes until it recharges. Using Gear 4 multiple times in a short amount of time will take a toll on his body.

Gear 5 (Awakening)


Gear 5 was created during the climax of the Raid on Onigashima, as a result of Luffy awakening his Devil Fruit for the first time since the Void Century.

After awakening, Luffy gains even greater freedom and demonstrates many new abilities such as being able to freely manipulate the shape and size of his body; instead of focusing more on hardening himself using Busoshoku Haki, he takes on a more cartoonish fighting style, as well as being able to grant the environment around him the same properties as rubber, which allowed him to deflect a Bolo Breath by bouncing it back at Kaidou, as well as being able to stretch objects he touches like rubber, including living things and even lightning. As pointed out by Kaidou, Luffy's power now has the characteristics of both Paramecia and Zoan-types.

Haki
Luffy is one of the few people in the world capable of using all three forms of Haki, and so far, he is one of only two people in the series to be confirmed to be capable of utilizing the advanced application of all three types, the other being Kaidou. Most notably, Silvers Rayleigh, the former first mate and right-hand man of Gol D. Roger, instructed him during the two-year timeskip, and stated he has a noticeable talent for Haki, having mastered the basic applications of all three forms of Haki in only a year and a half.

Even before finding out what Haki was, Blackbeard noted that his Haki had grown stronger by the time of the mass breakout in Impel Down compared to their first meeting on Jaya.

Through fighting against and training with powerful Haki users in the New World, in particular, those related to the Four Emperors, in addition to the Emperors themselves, Luffy strengthened his skill with each form of Haki to a much greater degree and learned how to use their advanced applications.

Haoshoku Haki


Luffy is an immensely skilled user of Haoshoku Haki, a very rare form of Haki whose users are said to have the qualities of a "king". It remained latent within him, until he used it unintentionally multiple times: first, stopping Motobaro, the Rosy Life Riders' bison; at Amazon Lily's arena to stop Sandersonia from killing a petrified Marguerite, as well as knocking out multiple Kuja warriors; on Level 5 of Impel Down, knocking out attacking wolves; and at Marineford, knocking out Galdino and an executioner, along with several elite Marines and New World pirates.

Over the two-year timeskip, Rayleigh taught him about Haoshoku Haki, thus gaining conscious control over it, becoming his expertise concerning Haki. After training with Rayleigh, he became capable of using it on his designated targets without affecting anyone else, as seen when he knocked out some of the members of the Fake Straw Hat Crew, without affecting any of the innocent civilians standing nearby. Additionally, on Fish-Man Island, he displayed the ability to knock out 50,000 members of the New Fish-Man Pirates in an instant. His exceptional expertise is further proven in Wano Country, even after Kaidou knocked him out, Luffy was still able to use Haoshoku Haki while unconscious, knocking out the small number of Beasts Pirates' members who tried taking him into custody.

Notably, when he fought against fellow Haoshoku Haki users Chinjao, Donquixote Doflamingo, and Charlotte Katakuri, their clashes created a notable effect similar to lightning.



During the Raid on Onigashima, while fighting Kaidou, Luffy came to realize that he could "infuse" himself with Haoshoku Haki, doing so on his arms, legs and his body. which dramatically increases his attack power; thus, becoming one of the small "handful" of Haoshoku Haki users known to achieve this advanced application. Using this, combined with his higher grade advanced Busoshoku Haki, he could deal immensely powerful blows against Kaidou, whereas his previous attacks were "too shallow". Much like other users, a sign of this advanced application is the black lightning emanating from his arms, legs and body when infused with this Haki. However, having only discovered it a few moments prior, his control over this application was stated to be "crude" and "clumsy" by Kaidou, leading to him being swiftly knocked down by the Emperor, after managing to briefly clash on equal ground with him.

Not long after, when Luffy and Kaidou clashed for a third time, their imbued Haoshoku Haki attacks resulted in the "heavens being split" in half, causing the clouds to part, something that had previously only ever occurred whenever two of the Four Emperors clashed against each other, or when Roger himself fought against one of them. As such, this might indicate that Luffy's Haki has ascended to the same level as that of the strongest pirates in the world.

Busoshoku Haki


Luffy is an extremely skilled user of Busoshoku Haki, having learned it from Silvers Rayleigh during the two-year timeskip. Since then, he uses it in combat in the New World to increase his offense and defense, in addition to being able to touch and damage Logia users, such as Caesar Clown, and those with features similar to them, like Charlotte Katakuri, a Special Paramecia user.

Busoshoku Haki has been an exceptional benefit to Luffy in the New World, as he is capable of fighting against and damaging much stronger opponents that he could not before. It is most noted as he uses Gear 4, which relies on using Busoshoku Haki, the compressed Haki forms a coating that resembles flames. Though it overuses it, his offense and defenses has enhanced, to the point of being able to damage and defend himself against powerful opponents, such as Doflamingo, Cracker, and Katakuri, whom he could not defeat without using Gear 4. However, once overused, Luffy was unable to fight against those same opponents while his Haki was recharging, as noted on Nuts Island, where he could not punch through Perospero's Candy Wall, even with Gear 3.



While trapped in Udon, Luffy started training to advance his Busoshoku Haki to bypass Kaidou's dragon scales, after recalling Rayleigh deflecting and harming an enormous elephant on Rusukaina without touching it. Amid Hyogoro's instruction into this advanced application, he inadvertently advanced to a much higher-grade application known as Internal destruction, where he channeled the Haki into his target, letting Luffy destroy them from the inside-out. He first achieved this ability in a desperate attempt to save himself and Hyogoro from Queen's Death Collars.

After relentless nonstop training under Hyogoro's supervision for a week, while striking thick steel blocks using his hardened arms, he could emit Busoshoku Haki at will, blasting a hole through a tree's opposite side. He later removed Yamato's explosive cuffs by destroying them from the inside out, showing conscious control over internal destruction. During the Battle on Onigashima, he advanced his Busoshoku Haki to the point where he could hurt Kaidou using his hardened Gear 3, whereas he previously could not, even while using Gear 4.

Additionally, his stronger Busoshoku made it so he was able to endure a hit from Kaidou's kanabo while he was in his standard form and Kaidou was in his Human-Beast Form, whereas he was previously defeated by a single strike from the kanabo while he was in his Gear 4 form and Kaidou was in his human form, though Luffy's arms were hurt after blocking the blow.

Although he successfully dealt damage to Kaidou using advanced Busoshoku Haki, Luffy noted that it was only superficial, describing it as "too shallow"; he later learned to supplement it with advanced Haoshoku Haki infusion to make his attacks tremendously more powerful. During his final attack, Luffy's combination of advanced Busoshoku and Haoshoku Haki through the emission technique allowed him to emerge victorious over Kaidou.

In the anime, when Luffy uses advanced Busoshoku Haki, it is shown as an orange-colored flowing aura.

Techniques



 * Busoshoku: Koka (武装色 硬化): Luffy uses Busoshoku Haki to harden his body (or parts of it). It was used for the first time against the Kraken in conjunction with Gear 3 to harden his enlarged arm to the point of it attaining a completely dark and shiny appearance, in order to use his Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun. In the VIZ manga and Funimation adaptations, it is called Armament; Hardening.
 * Atama Buso (頭武装): Luffy imbues his forehead with Busoshoku Haki to harden it. This is first used in preparation for a Gomu Gomu no Kane against the Iron Shell Squadron. In the VIZ manga this called Head Armament, while in the Funimation adaptations, it is called Head; Hardening.
 * Gear 2 Buso (ギア武装): Luffy imbues his fist with Busoshoku Haki while under the effect of Gear 2 to harden it, which also seems to have the added effect of igniting it. It was first used in preparation for Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk against Hody Jones. In the VIZ manga this is called Gear Two Armament, while in the Funimation adaptations, it is called Second Gear Armament.

Kenbunshoku Haki
Luffy is an extremely skilled user of Kenbunshoku Haki, which he learned during the two-year timeskip. With it, he is capable of sensing the presence, emotion, and intent of others, greatly aiding his ability to dodge attacks, such as bullets. During his two-year training period, Rayleigh noted that Luffy is particularly attuned towards sensing the emotions of living things.

He is highly proficient at using this Haki; he can even predict attacks from beings with little to no emotion, as shown when he dodged the laser of a Pacifista. He also casually dodged Hody Jones' Yabusame, a barrage of thrown water droplets, as well as volleys of thrown weapons from Jean Ango, a master marksman.



While in Totto Land, he significantly strengthened this Haki by battling Charlotte Katakuri, who had mastered the advanced form of this type of Haki which allows him to see a little bit into the future. After many hours of applying his Kenbunshoku Haki and pushing it to the limit, Luffy finally unlocked the advanced application himself and was able to visualize Katakuri's next moves extremely well, as well as develop his Haki enough to dodge many of Katakuri's attacks and prevent Katakuri from dodging his.

After leaving Totto Land, Luffy has been able to dodge attacks with even greater ease, as shown when he instantly took out a scout of the Beasts Pirates in Wano Country as soon as he began to try to attack him, and afterward dodged multiple strikes from the sumo master Urashima without displaying any effort.

By the time of his imprisonment in the Prisoner Mine in Udon, Luffy further developed his ability to see the future and can now see the short-term future as fluidly as Katakuri can, as shown when he instructed Hyogoro on how to dodge multiple attacks from Alpacaman and Madilloman several seconds before they happened. He later stopped the warden Babanuki's Excite Shot before he could actually launch the attack, stating that he did it because he "saw a terrible future".

Gluttony
Notably, Luffy possesses massive jaw strength and a large appetite. Before being freed from the Buggy Pirates' cage, he made considerable progress in biting through the iron bars, and he also caught and destroyed one of Buggy's daggers with only his mouth. Much later, on Thriller Bark, he was able to actually eat through the metal bars of the cage he was trapped in. He was also able to cause Jinbe, a strong fish-man with high pain tolerance, great pain by biting him. His extreme gluttony also proved useful in battle during Totto Land, as with the help of Nami's rain, he was able to eat Cracker's Biscuit Soldiers to render them unusable, and his stomach was able to handle ingesting these biscuits for 11 hours. He also escaped from being suffocated in a massive pile of Katakuri's mochi by eating through the mochi. Luffy can also rapidly heal from his wounds and exhaustion by eating massive amounts of food, and he was able to regrow a missing tooth simply by drinking milk. He can also quickly heal himself by sleeping, and after returning to Water 7, he became able to eat and sleep at the same time.



Despite his gluttony, however, Luffy cannot cook. While on the way to Whole Cake Island, he squandered the ship's entire week's worth of rations due to repeated mistakes, and the end result was a huge pot of inedible substance that tasted so horrible that he himself called it disgusting and also led the people on board to badly starve as a result. Nonetheless, due to the intense survival training of his youth, Luffy is capable of roasting meat, and has limited knowledge on edible flora as seen when left alone on Amazon Lily and Rusukaina.

Voice of All Things
It has been implied that Luffy has the ability to hear the Voice of All Things, as the Sea Kings on Fish-Man Island sensed that he had picked up their voices, much like Gol D. Roger once did. Luffy was also one of only two people, along with Kozuki Momonosuke, to be able to hear the voice of the giant elephant Zunesha, although he was overwhelmed by Zunesha's voice and unable to communicate with him, unlike Momonosuke.

Luck
First Impel Down and then Marine Headquarters. That's like an ant diving into a hurricane! Returning alive is something only a god could do. What do the heavens want from that man?!

Luffy possesses a significant amount of luck. When offered an apple by Doc Q, he managed to pick the lone one that was a dud. During his second fight against Crocodile, he misfired a shot of water into the air, which ended up coming back down on him after he had been dehydrated and saved his life. During Big Mom's Tea Party, Luffy and his comrades were narrowly saved from execution when the Tamatebako, which he and the citizens of Fish-Man Island had sent to Big Mom after being unable to provide her with candy as a result of the fight against the New Fish-Man Pirates, exploded and tipped over the entire Whole Cake Chateau. His gamble on offering Speed Tama's Kibi Dango prove to be a key element in the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance's fight against the Beasts Pirates and their allies. Most notably, he survived being executed by Buggy thanks to the execution platform being struck by a lightning bolt, which did not harm Luffy due to his Devil Fruit ability.

Artistic Skill
A running gag is Luffy's utter lack of artistic ability. Before reaching Arlong Park, imagining how a fish-man would look, Luffy drew a fish with tentacle-like paws and an anthropomorphic fish with arms, legs and hair. Before the Straw Hats arrived at Water 7, Luffy drew a childish picture of what he wanted the future shipwright to look like (coincidentally, it resembled Franky). This lack of skill 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 after winning the Davy Back Fight.

Afro Luffy


During the Long Ring Long Land Arc, Luffy had to face Foxy the Silver Fox in the final event, Combat. Beforehand, he got to choose what he would wear for the fight. Usopp, who was with him, spotted a big black afro, and had Luffy wear it. Thus, Afro Luffy (アフロルフィ) was born.

Usopp claims that the afro gives Luffy extra power. While donning the afro, Luffy also donned boxing shorts, boxing gloves, some type of straps on his feet, and had a temporary tattoo of a flaming skull and crossbones on his chest. While wearing the afro, Luffy also tends to say things such as "Hell yeah!". Although only Nami and possibly Zoro think that it does not help anything, the others say "Because of the afro..." is how he gets more powerful (but they might be joking or just playing along).

Although this form only appears once in the original manga, Afro Luffy returns again in a filler episode. When Foxy tries to get his ship and crew back, he is forced to ask for Luffy's help. When doing so, he hands over the afro he had before, and Luffy uses it to fight.

Nightmare Luffy


Before his fight against Gecko Moria and Oars during the Thriller Bark Arc, the Rolling Pirates helped Luffy become temporarily stronger by infusing him with the power of one hundred shadows that were separated from their owners by Moria's use of the Kage Kage no Mi. This enabled Luffy to become Nightmare Luffy (ナイトメア・ルフィ). With Luffy's strong spirit, he was able to contain one hundred shadows within him when most normal people could only contain two or three. In this form, Luffy was several times bigger than his normal self and his skin turned completely blue. He was roughly the same size as Moria and his body was similar to Chopper's post-timeskip Heavy Point. Luffy also talked differently, losing his usual carefree tone and instead speaking with a grim seriousness.

As Luffy possesses the Gomu Gomu no Mi, he is made of rubber and is thus able to stretch his fists to increase his range and attack momentum. By being further augmented by the 100 shadows, all of his normal techniques are further increased, enough to topple even Oars.

While in this form, Luffy was capable of using the combined strength and skills of the shadows within him. With this strength, Luffy was even capable of stopping a giant Gomu Gomu no Rifle attack delivered by Oars with one hand and delivering massive attacks onto the zombie behemoth. Because one of the shadows belonged to a swordsman, Luffy also gained the ability of fighting with swords, something he never knew before. He also appears to be able to move at an incredible speed, having safely snatched up both Nami and Usopp away from a rampaging Oars and it was only when Luffy made his presence known did Oars and Moria learn about it. In Unlimited Cruise, Nightmare Luffy also demonstrated archery skills and could shoot fireballs from his mouth after drinking sake.

This form however only lasted for ten minutes. After that, all of the shadows within Luffy returned to their original owners.

Weapons
Luffy has rarely used standard weapons, due to his inexperience and inability to use them. During his childhood, he wielded a metal pipe. At Arlong Park, Luffy briefly tried to fight Arlong with swords and briefly attempted to use Arlong's teeth. At Wano Country, he borrowed the cursed sword and Meito, Nidai Kitetsu, though it was mainly used as a prop for his disguise.

Luffy has made use of some nonstandard weapons, though it was mainly due to the situation. On a few occasions, he made use of the hard-as-steel wax created by Galdino's ability as a type of armor. Enel also once shackled him with a giant golden ball which he effectively used as a weapon. Furthermore, in his second battle against Crocodile, Luffy briefly used a barrel of water with a pump to help counter the Warlord's Suna Suna no Mi ability.