Monkey D. Garp

Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp is the commanding officer of the 153rd Branch of the Marines, and the man in charge of both Coby and Helmeppo.

Personality
Garp displays an intelligence level that is on the same level as Luffy, however he seems somewhat more absent minded then Luffy. Due to his hot temper he is unable to accept excuses (and is really poor at creating his own) and at times likes to enforce his point of view on things with his fist. He also is somewhat an eccentric person with a rather strange approach to things - he rather burst through a wall then enter a door on the grounds its cooler to do so.

His crew and others around him often react with shock or uncertainty when hearing his reactions to things. At times he will say things that are random or seeming to be unaware of the true extent of what is going on around him.

He seems to hold high standards for Luffy and gets mad at the slightest mistake he does even when his own are sometimes no better (i.e. telling off Luffy for falling asleep yet falling asleep himself). Even when Luffy was too casual in saying goodbye to Garp at Water 7, Garp was disappointed by a lack of emotion after the two were separated for a long time. This often leads Luffy to be at the other end of Garp's punches and due to experience of his Grandfather he has become afraid of him. Garp also claims Luffy was poisoned by Shanks and his influence as Garp wanted Luffy to be a great Marine like him. However Luffy claims he told Garp even as a child he wanted to be a pirate.

As Nami stated at the time of Garp's departure, there seems to be an amazing ego that runs in Garp's family.

Abilities and Powers
Although lacking his youthful days, Garp is an incredibly physically strong person even in his old age.

Weapons
So far he has been seen throwing cannonballs (including one giant one one a chain) with his bare fists.

Past Story
Monkey D. Garp is a Marine hero, who was famous for cornering the late Pirate King, Gold Roger numerous times in his career. Garp is considered by Whitebeard as one of the few people that know the seas from the time of Gold Roger.

Early on in Luffy's life, he was trained by Garp to become a strong Marine. Luffy was thrown into valleys, left alone in dangerous forests, and tied to balloons over high altitudes, all for the sake of making him stronger. After this he left Luffy and Ace in the care of an unnamed friend.

Present Story
Garp is first introduced in Koby's mini-series as the Marine Officer in charge of escorting Captain Morgan. However after falling asleep, Morgan makes his escape by striking Garp and taking Helmeppo as a hostage, fleeing on a small dingy. Garp then wakes up unharmed, apparently breaking a cannon in the process of waking up.

When Koby begs to chase after the two, Garp allows Koby to persue them. Upon the boys return they offer themselves to be punished by Garp instead proposes a different course of action. He states that the pair of them are nothing but trouble and the only way to ensure they still in line is that he takes charge of the pair. He takes them back to Marine HQ where he begins to train them to become great Marine Officers.

Current Events (Spoilers)
In chapter 431 of the manga, the startling revelation was made that Garp is the grandfather of Monkey D. Luffy. He also punched a sleeping Luffy and actually hurt him severely, to which Sanji comments it shouldn't as Luffy is made of rubber(which should reduce the force of the blow) - at which point Garp comments that "there's no way to dodge a fist of love". It is also revealed Dragon, an infamous revolutionary and the man branded as "the worst criminal in the world", is his son (and Luffy's father).

He left Water 7, stating he wouldn't arrest Luffy and would tell Marine HQ this was because of him being his grandson (which one of his crew replied that it would be better to just say he got away). He then left Water 7, leaving the Strawhats to go through the rest of their stay in peace.

However, on their last day on Water 7, Garp returned under orders of Sengoku to finish off Luffy. Apparently Garp let slip Luffy was his grandson on a Den Den Mushi to Sengoku. While there, he picks up Aokiji who was in Water 7 at the time who claims he is making sure Garp obeys his orders. Luffy and his pirates find themselves under attack from Garp who claims Luffy will just have to die at Water 7. He throws cannonballs with his fists and finally a giant ball on a chain. The Straw Hats, using their new ship the Thousand Sunny managed to escape from Garp. Garp and Aokiji both seemed happy this had happened.

Major Battles

 * Vs. Gold Roger (none seen)
 * Vs. Koby and Helmeppo
 * Vs. Luffy

Early One Piece
While unnamed Garp was introduced in Romance Dawn V.2 (featured in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine itself) as Luffy's Grandfather. For a long time, it was first thought that Luffy's unamed Grandfather was a soul edition to Romance Dawn V.2.

Some aspects of his character remain from Romance Dawn version 2. He is as hot tempered as ever and intolerable to Luffy's antics. Like the final version, he was determined to make Luffy follow in his footsteps, however here he is a pirate captain, a complete opposite of his current occupation. Both stories have in return Luffy completely rejecting the idea of following in his grandfather's footsteps. Garp now adorns a dog hat and compared to his Romance Dawn V.2 version his upper body is much more musclaur compared to his chubby V.2 self. One feature carried over from Luffy's grandfather from V.2 to the final version of Garp was the scar on his right eye.

Also, Luffy got both his hat and the Devil fruit he ate from his grandfather in V.2, not Shanks. According to Oda the reason for not featuring Shanks was that he wanted Shanks to be kept a secret until One Piece was serialized so he would have a greater impact.

Trivia

 * Garp said his record for doughnut eating without sleeping or stopping was 842.