Monkey D. Luffy/Misc.

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 and he had a slightly different jolly roger. 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.

Translation and Dub Issues

 * 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. Up until this point, this had previously been noted by fans and some considered it intentional.


 * In the Viz English manga, 4Kids and FUNimation dubs, 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"). This is, however, often considered an unfortunate necessity, as fitting "Rubber-Rubber" into the allotted animation "lip-flap" and time is nearly impossible without sounding rushed or otherwise ridiculous; "Gum-Gum," naturally, fits perfectly.


 * Other alterations in the 4Kids dub 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 Ono/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. With the recent changeover of the dubbing company, FUNimation took a more relaxed approach to editing, and retained the firearm references, as well as a gratuitous level of blood shown. By episode 177, the anime appears to be fully uncut.


 * 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 a 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. In this story, 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. Being able to ride the Kinto'un, in the universe of Dragon Ball, means that Luffy is pure of heart.
 * 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



 * In Dragonfable, an online RPG, there was an enemy pirate monkey dressed up like Luffy called L.D. MONKEE, seen frequently during the Ninja VS Pirate War event in 2007.
 * Luffy's Devil Fruit the Gomu Gomu no Mi was referenced in the Japanese TV Drama show Trick and in the manga Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01.
 * 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 an episode of Inuyasha while at the school, a kid dressed like Monkey D. Luffy makes a minor appearance.
 * In Episode 2 of the anime Hayate the Combat Butler, when the "very generous people" are planning to deport him by boat, Hayate goes though a scenario in his head where he is kidnapped by pirates, joins them and dying at the hands of sea monkeys. He ends it with "Thus ends my dream of being king of the pirates" while wearing Luffy's trademark hat.
 * In an episode of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, in Harumi's room, action figures of Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Sogeking are visible.
 * In a chapter of the manga Rookies, a girl is shown having a Luffy doll cell phone strap.
 * In Episode 7 of the anime Macademi Wasshoi!, Suzuho uses the attack Gomu gomu no Pistol.
 * In Gintama volume 4, page 70, 2nd panel, Gintoki is seen reading a copy of Shonen Jump with Luffy on the cover.
 * In Episode 3 of the anime Highschool of the Dead, a zombie bearing a resemblence to Luffy and wearing his Straw Hat is seen walking outside a convenience store but is hit by the bus the main characters are driving.
 * Bakuman is a story of two students who want to become mangakas and publish their works in Shonen Jump (parodied as Shonen Jack in the anime). It frequently makes references to or features One Piece as well as various other Shonen Jump mangas in its artwork and storyline.
 * In the MMORPG Gaia Online, there is an item called "King of Fruits" that is based on One Piece and contains Luffy's signature straw hat as a pose.
 * In Episode 9 of Asobi ni Iku yo! Muttley is seeing an anime that mentions a man of rubber - possibly Monkey D. Luffy.
 * In Episode 10 of Kyōran Kazoku Nikki Do Gone use the attack Gum Gum Arm.
 * In Episode 12 of Mayoi Neko Overrun! at the costume race, Nozomi did a cosplay Tony Tony Chopper, one of the characters of One Piece, while other players did the cosplay of Usopp & Luffy.
 * In Chapter 90 of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Bo-bobo uses a move against Torpedo Girl called "Nosehair Bazooka", an obvious parody of Monkey D. Luffy's' attack, Gomu Gomu no Bazooka.
 * In a chapter cover of D.Gray-Man, there is a volume of One Piece with Luffy on the cover laying on the floor.
 * In episode 13 of Gintama, Gintoki and Katsura disguise as pirates to get into an alien ship. They said they were searching for the treasure "One Park", an obvious play-on-words of "One Piece"
 * In the anime episode 467 of One Piece, Luffy finishes off a giant Marine officer with a spinning Gigante Pistol similar to Gurren-Lagann's Giga Drill Break attack, including the sketchy animations. It should also be noted that both attacks not only need time to start up but seemingly gain mass out of nowhere.

Anime and Manga Differences
In the anime, Luffy's past did not include the scene where he stabbed himself under 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. Also in the manga Luffy didn't know how to swim, even before he ate the devil fruit. In the anime, he was said to be a really good swimmer.

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's jolly roger is also the Straw Hats' flag. Interestingly his Jolly Roger was drawn by Usopp, after a failed attempt to draw it himself.
 * He was the first person in One Piece seen to have consumed a Devil Fruit.
 * Luffy is described as being like the fourth son of the Straw Hats family.
 * Due to the nature of the One Piece time-line against the real world time-line, Luffy didn't age before the two year time skip; after the time skip, he is 19.
 * In the Fan Polls, Luffy is consistently the most popular character. Also, in attack popularity poll his Gomu Gomu no Gatling came in 1st.
 * Luffy's favorite food is meat.
 * One of Oda's SBS questions asked if Luffy's penis could stretch, to which Oda replied that it could. It actually does stretch (though it is never actually shown).
 * Luffy, during the Jaya Arc, displayed a fascination for Hercules and Atlas beetles to the point where he became distracted from everything else. Both species are highly prized in Japan and are used for fighting.
 * If Luffy lived in the real world, his nationality would be Brazilian.
 * Like many characters, Luffy has a distinct laugh (shishishi). In the anime, his laugh is different (Shijijiji)
 * During the Cross Epoch, Luffy can ride Goku's Kintoun. Which means Luffy has a pure heart.
 * In an SBS, when asked which flower Luffy resembles the most, Robin's Voice Actress replied he most resembles a cosmos.

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