Monkey D. Luffy/History

Shanks and The Straw Hat
Master Rayleigh, I was really surprised!! Over in the East Blue...! There was a kid who said the same things as Captain Roger...! Those exact same words as the captain! Luffy was born in Foosha Village. Seven years after his birth, he meets and befriends a crew of pirates led by an affectionate captain named Red Haired Shanks. Luffy, inspired by them, decided to become a pirate as well. Luffy stabs himself with a knife just under his left eye to prove that he is tough enough to join Shanks' crew.

During a scene with Shanks and Higuma, a local mountain bandit that insulted Shanks and his crew, Luffy accidentally eats a Devil Fruit known as the Gomu Gomu no Mi and unwittingly turns himself into a rubber man/boy. Initially this situation affects Luffy badly as it means he will never be able to swim again, which is a great weakness to anyone who wishes to journey the seas. This, however, does not deter Luffy's dream and he continues aspiring to become a pirate.

Later, Luffy stands up to Higuma on behalf of Shanks. However, he is easily defeated and becomes a hostage. His captors are easily defeated by the Red-Haired Pirates, but the bandit leader Higuma has fled out to sea with Luffy.



While out at sea, Higuma throws Luffy in the ocean, only to be attacked by a sea king moments later while he's laughing at Luffy. Higuma is eaten. Though Shanks manages to save Luffy, he pays a high price: his left arm is lost to the sea king.

Shortly after, Shanks sets sail along with his crew, but before leaving, he and Luffy promise each other that one day Luffy will surpass Shanks and become the Pirate King. Shanks then leaves Luffy his straw hat as a parting gift, telling him to return it once he surpasses him.

Luffy's New Family: Bandits and Brothers
Sometime later, Monkey D. Garp takes Luffy into the care of Dadan, which is the first time Luffy meets Portgas D. Ace. Garp took him to Dadan, while Luffy refused. Garp picked him up, knocked on the door and put him down. He then gets spit on by the newly arrived Ace, angrily glaring at each other.

Thinking back about the recent incident with Higuma, he tells Dadan and the rest of the bandits that he hates them. Dadan bitterly scolds the young kid for saying something like that, telling him he should stay there or starve to death. Luffy takes a look at the meat-eating Ace, asking if he can have a piece. He then gets scolded by Dadan, telling him he can do fine with just rice and water, but he sees Ace leave and follows him. Luffy says to Ace that he is not angry at Ace for spitting on him (since it is not something to get worked up about) and wants to be friends. Ace responds by knocking a tree down at Luffy. Luffy then follows Ace across a bridge. Ace notices him and knocks him off of the bridge. Luffy returns to Dadan's house a week later and tells Dadan that he was being chased by wolves and fell off a cliff. Luffy gets sent to bed. The next day, Ace goes out again and Luffy follows wanting to start a friendship only to get shunned by Ace. After three months of persistently trying to follow Ace, Luffy eventually comes across the Gray Terminal. Luffy overhears Ace and Sabo's conversation about buying a pirate ship. Luffy shows up to them and says that he wants to be a pirate too. Ace and Sabo then tie Luffy to a tree and decide that they should kill Luffy to keep their secret safe. While Luffy panics, Ace and Sabo have a hard time deciding who should kill Luffy since both Ace and Sabo have never killed anyone before. They hear someone coming and they untie Luffy and go hide. Porchemy of the Bluejam Pirates arrive searching for stolen money. Luffy then wanders off and gets caught by Porchemy. Luffy yells out Ace's name. Porchemy, recognizing that name, takes Luffy away for interrogation.

Porchemy then drags Luffy into a small house and ties him up. Luffy states that he is not going to say anything. Porchemy then hits Luffy with a giant hammer, but that doesn't harm Luffy due to his Devil Fruit powers. Porchemy then uses spiked gloves and no matter how many times Porchemy beats Luffy, he refuses to yield. Porchemy loses his patience, draws a sword and is about to kill Luffy when Ace and Sabo arrive. They cut Luffy loose and defeat Porchemy. Out in the woods, Ace asks Luffy why he did not tell Porchemy about the whereabouts of Ace and Sabo's treasure. Luffy then tells Ace that he wants a friend, he has no parents with him, and he hates to be alone. After that, Luffy joins Ace and Sabo and the trio start making a name for themselves.



Later on, Luffy is shown fighting Ace with the former losing (for the 50th time). After that, along with Sabo, they go to hunt gators, look for trash in the Gray Terminal, and eat and run. However, while they were running from the restaurant, a man calls out Sabo's name, causing Luffy and Ace to question him. Sabo says that the man who called out to him was his dad, a noble. He tells the others about his past and then says that he wants to be free as a pirate and write a book about the world. Everyone soon realizes that they can not agree to be on the same pirate ship as captain, so Ace comes up with an idea, telling Luffy and Sabo that they all can become brothers by exchanging drinks. As long as they have this bond, it will not matter where they are.

The Sabo Incident
But one day, everything changes. Sabo's father hires Captain Bluejam to bring back Sabo and get rid of Luffy and Ace. Sabo begs his dad to tell Bluejam to stop hurting them and he will do whatever his dad commands. Ace tries to stop him from leaving but the poor kid just walks away with his dad with tears rolling down his face.

Luffy and Ace then join the Bluejam Pirates at the request of the captain and carry cargo to marked locations in the Gray Terminal with the other pirates. Later, Bluejam reveals to Luffy and Ace that the cargo that they had carried was oil and gunpowder and that the Gray Terminal will be engulfed with flames. Luffy and Ace react in outrage and are quickly apprehended by the pirates. Bluejam then informs them that they can no longer be left alive and asks them about the location of their hoard of treasure. Later that night, the flames start and Luffy and Ace manage to cut themselves loose after being tied up. Luffy and Ace then run for their lives.

While trying to escape, the two run into Bluejam once more. Bluejam decides that if he is to die, that he will take the two with him; however, he first asks Ace one last time to reveal the location of their treasure. While Luffy is against it, Ace is willing to let the pirates have the treasure to ensure Luffy's safety. However, after Ace tells Bluejam where the treasure is, Bluejam has his crew restrain Ace and Luffy. As Bluejam begins to badmouth Sabo, Ace verbally retaliates, spurring Luffy to bite his captor's arm. The pirate responds by slashing him across the face with his sword; before the pirate can finish Luffy off, though, Ace lets out a scream of rage, unbeknown to everyone there (including himself) that he is wielding Haki. The blast knocks everyone out, aside from Luffy and Bluejam. Bluejam almost kills Ace, but then Dadan appears to rescue the two boys. Although she wants to run back home with them, Ace refuses to run away. Luffy decides to stay and fight as well, but Dadan forbids it, remaining in his place. Luffy is then taken back by the bandits to recover at home.

Luffy awakes the next day, crying that he wants to know if Ace, Dadan, and Sabo are all right. After Dogura goes to check the remaining ashes of Gray Terminal, Luffy is very upset for not being allowed to go look for Ace and Dadan. Suddenly, Ace arrives carrying Dadan on his back, Luffy jumps over to Ace, crying in relief for Ace being alive. He says that Luffy should not worry about him being dead, because he won't die, hitting Luffy on his head. Ace tells how he and Dadan got out of the burning Terminal after beating Bluejam, and Dadan rests while getting healed with the medicines Ace stole from the town. Later that day, while outside playing with two beetles, Luffy sees Dogura coming back from the forest, and tells him that Dadan and Ace were already home. Dogura then tells them that while looking for Ace and Dadan, he went to the city, and saw Sabo setting sail on a boat, and then get shot by a ship. Ace attacks Dogura, accusing him for lying, but he replies he's not lying, nor dreaming, and he saw it with his own eyes. Luffy realizes that Sabo was not happy at all for coming back to the city, and starts to cry, Ace tries to go to the city to avenge him, but is stopped by Dadan, because she is afraid of Ace being killed, blaming the country for killing Sabo, not only the nobles. Since Ace is still too angry, he is tied up to a tree, while Luffy cries the whole night.

A while later, Luffy, still mourning Sabo, asks Ace to never die, to which Ace makes the promise to Luffy that he will not leave his "crybaby brother" alone. Luffy then decides that he wants to be much stronger. After years of training, stealing food from the royal town and growing with Ace, Luffy witnesses Ace's departure at seventeen with Luffy being fourteen.

Waiting three more years, Luffy decides to train some more, finally mastering his Gomu Gomu no Pistol. Ready to depart when he turns seventeen, he thanks Dadan and the bandits, then waves goodbye to the rest of the village, saying he is the third, after Sabo and Ace, to depart.