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. He is the first member that makes up the crew. Being labeled as one of the "Monster Trio", he's one of the top three fighters in the crew. He is currently one of eleven pirates who have been referred to as "The Eleven Supernovas", having a bounty of 300,000,000. He has gathered up a reputation, even among the Three Great Powers, committing actions that were deemed dangerous by the World Government. Starting with the incident of Enies Lobby, Luffy has committed crimes against the World Government back to back in every major arc. This, in addition to his heritage, causes Sengoku to deem Luffy to be a "dangerous future element".

Description
Luffy is renowned for wearing his trademark Straw Hat (from which he gets his nickname "Straw Hat Luffy") which was lent to him when he was young by the legendary pirate captain, "Red-Haired Shanks". Luffy promised to give it back next time they meet, however he loses it at Marineford and Red-Haired Shanks picks it up without meeting Luffy again. However he gains the straw hat back after Shanks tricks Buggy in giving Luffy his hat back to him. His outfit somewhat mimics Shanks' own outfit in that he wears short pants (although his are much shorter than Shanks' because they are rolled up) and sandals. Luffy also wears a red vest and has a scar underneath his eye (he got it in Chapter 1, by stabbing himself below the eye (to get Shanks to recognize his courage) and black hair. He is a bit scrawny, but may show signs of further growth due to the size of his father (Dragon) and grandfather (Garp), who are both considered massive in size. Underneath his shirt he has a surprisingly good physique with protruding muscles.

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 hooded parka 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, he will wear his usual outfit in different colors. For example, in Enies Lobby he wears black shorts because they had pockets in which he could carry meat, on the Thriller Bark Island he wears an orange vest and red shorts, and on the Sabaody Archipelago he wears a blue vest and dark blue shorts, In the most recent part of the anime (prior to the separation) Luffy has been shown wearing a light blue vest with red shorts and after the fight between Magellan and Luffy, Inazuma gave to him a yellow vest. He does, however, no matter where he is, wear his Straw Hat through absolutely everything, though at the start the hat was prone to getting knocked off his head easily forcing Luffy to either put it aside or have someone hold onto it during battles. Since then he has gotten a string strap for it, allowing the hat to hang from his neck during fights.

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. [7] 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. He also has no knowledge of medicine, when Nami had a high fever he told her to eat cold food and later tried to make Zoro better (after battling Kuma ) by pouring Sake onto him because Zoro likes sake. 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. [8] His simple mind actually saved himself against Hancock's powers because he mistook it for another beam, which brought out a fear of being slowed down though later it is shown he is simply immune to her powers, because of his pure heart. [9] If Luffy finds something he doesn't understand, even if someone explained in detail, he calls it a "mystery thing"; like calling dance powder a "mystery powder". Another running gag is Luffy's slow reaction time, especially to Snow and freezing temperatures. One running gag of Luffy's is asking "non-humans" such as Keimi and Brook if they can poop. In which case the answer is usually a yes.

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 on the verge of death, how to use Soru from sight, and developed a number of effective counters 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" and refusing to let Crocodile help him escape Impel Down even when there was no alternative). When drawing him, Oda has said he tries to make Luffy very straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels. To compliment Luffys naivety and straightforward attitude, there is a running gag through the series where Luffy is capable of similarities that have little resemblance (like being able to see the resemblance between Sanji and his Wanted Poster, or being able to see Spoil as an old man with major wounds rather than a zombie), but is unable to see similarities with things with obvious connections (like being unable to tell that Sogeking is Usopp, or not seeing through Foxy's pathetic disguises). [10]

Luffy's simple attitude and naive comments during fights is often mistaken by his oppenent as poking fun at them. Due to this fact many of his opponents lose their cool and charge at him in anger. In many cases the opponents fail to understand whether Luffy is serious or just playing during fights due to the bizarre actions like drinking too much water in his fight with Crocodile or punching out Arlong 's teeth and using it as a weapon to bite him. Though Luffy has maintained that he is always serious during fights. In most cases once he starts to fight he maintains a serious attitude and is only seen laughing once he defeats the enemy or is certain the enemy will be defeated like in Buggy's case when he laughed before sending Buggy flying in the air. Though his comments and methods during the fights often lead his opponents to think that he is joking and not taking the fight seriously.

In battle, Luffy has shown signs of intelligence, high tactical and innovative skills. He can easily adapt to hindering situations such as Mr. 3's Candle Lock or Enel's Gloam Paddling into an attack. He also used a mirror to reflect Foxy's Noro Noro Beam attack. Recently in the "Ace Execution" arc, Mihawk mentions that Luffy seems unusually clear-headed by avoiding Mihawk's attacks. Additionally, during his battle against Mihawk, he uses Buggy as a scapegoat shield to help protect him and move forward towards Ace.

As a person with the middle initial 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, although he did have a look of shock and surprise in his eyes before this happened when Sanji and Zoro tried to rescue him. Luffy also has a habit of saying things with a lot more weight and (occasionally) wisdom than he realizes without even thinking or meaning to. [11]

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. 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'. [12]

Luffy seems to have an unstoppable appetite which is another common "D" trait, as well as a strong belief in dreams. [13] 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 [14] and because of this, a running gag is Luffy constantly stealing other peoples' food with his rubber powers, 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. Luffy believes that he is at his "coolest" when he is wearing armor. He also constantly insults his opponents by giving them degrading nicknames (such as calling Gecko Moria a "leek" or Enel "earlobes"). Luffy apparently has no skill with insulting people, usually taking either a physical aspect or unique ability and trying to make it degrading. 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 whenever 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

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. [15] Ironically though, some of the people he has defeated have become good after their defeat, most noticeably Wapol going to become a rich CEO of a toy factory.

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 least once by Ace, twice by Crocodile , once by Aokiji , once by Rob Lucci, once by Kuma, and once by Magellan 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 out the latter, Luffy only replied that it was nothing to get worked up over, for he and his crew were only there to take back a crew member who was taken from them. When Sengoku tries to figure out a way to cover up Gecko Moria's defeat (Ordering Bartholomew Kuma to kill the Strawhat Crew), Luffy's grandfather, Vice-Admiral Garp tells him, "Ah, don't worry yourself Sengoku! Luffy isn't the sort of guy who'd go around boasting about taking out Moria anyway!!" Despite his passion for fighting, Luffy also generally refuses to fight someone that he does not personally consider an enemy, preferring to either talk it over or run away from the confrontation. 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. [16] 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 than the actual species they were.

Luffy is very loyal to his crewmates and other friends, and can lose his temper quickly if they are harmed in anyway. Luffy is willing to do drastic things to avenge and defend those dear to him, even if it means breaking a promise to his friends (such as striking Bellamy down for attacking Montblanc Cricket 's crew and even though promising Nami he would not pick a fight, and punching Tenryuubito Saint Charloss in the face for shooting Hatchan, despite promising not to defy the World Nobles ). Aside from his own loyalty, Luffy also believes that all people should be loyal to their nakama, and if Luffy sees anyone betraying their own comrades, he would stand up for the victims (even if they are enemies). Notable examples of this are Captain Kuro killing his own crew, Don Krieg attacking Gin , and Boa Hancock petrifying her fellow Kuja tribe members. Luffy's apparent selflessness often inspires others to side with him as a result, notable among these people are Boa Hancock and Emporio Ivankov, who wouldn't have helped him in anyway, given their individual beliefs. He also shows respect for things that a person is willing to die for, be it a treasure or a secret, to the point of even fighting to protect that which the person would throw their lives away over. The most noticeable action to this would be when he protected the Gorgon Sisters secret by using his own body to cover the mark on Sandersonia 's back, even though they were trying to kill him. [17] However, despite all his peculiar traits and habits (with his trademark dimwitted behavior) Luffy's most defining part of his personality is his sheer ability to make allies out of absolutely anyone, (including former enemies, villains and even Whitebeard himself), which is said by Mihawk to be the most dangerous ability in the world.

'''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. [7] 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. He also has no knowledge of medicine, when Nami had a high fever he told her to eat cold food and later tried to make Zoro better (after battling Kuma ) by pouring Sake onto him because Zoro likes sake. 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. [8] His simple mind actually saved himself against Hancock's powers because he mistook it for another beam, which brought out a fear of being slowed down though later it is shown he is simply immune to her powers, because of his pure heart. [9] If Luffy finds something he doesn't understand, even if someone explained in detail, he calls it a "mystery thing"; like calling dance powder a "mystery powder". Another running gag is Luffy's slow reaction time, especially to Snow and freezing temperatures. One running gag of Luffy's is asking "non-humans" such as Keimi and Brook if they can poop. In which case the answer is usually a yes.

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 on the verge of death, how to use Soru from sight, and developed a number of effective counters 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" and refusing to let Crocodile help him escape Impel Down even when there was no alternative). When drawing him, Oda has said he tries to make Luffy very straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels. To compliment Luffys naivety and straightforward attitude, there is a running gag through the series where Luffy is capable of similarities that have little resemblance (like being able to see the resemblance between Sanji and his Wanted Poster, or being able to see Spoil as an old man with major wounds rather than a zombie), but is unable to see similarities with things with obvious connections (like being unable to tell that Sogeking is Usopp, or not seeing through Foxy's pathetic disguises). [10]

Luffy's simple attitude and naive comments during fights is often mistaken by his oppenent as poking fun at them. Due to this fact many of his opponents lose their cool and charge at him in anger. In many cases the opponents fail to understand whether Luffy is serious or just playing during fights due to the bizarre actions like drinking too much water in his fight with Crocodile or punching out Arlong 's teeth and using it as a weapon to bite him. Though Luffy has maintained that he is always serious during fights. In most cases once he starts to fight he maintains a serious attitude and is only seen laughing once he defeats the enemy or is certain the enemy will be defeated like in Buggy's case when he laughed before sending Buggy flying in the air. Though his comments and methods during the fights often lead his opponents to think that he is joking and not taking the fight seriously.

In battle, Luffy has shown signs of intelligence, high tactical and innovative skills. He can easily adapt to hindering situations such as Mr. 3's Candle Lock or Enel's Gloam Paddling into an attack. He also used a mirror to reflect Foxy's Noro Noro Beam attack. Recently in the "Ace Execution" arc, Mihawk mentions that Luffy seems unusually clear-headed by avoiding Mihawk's attacks. Additionally, during his battle against Mihawk, he uses Buggy as a scapegoat shield to help protect him and move forward towards Ace.

As a person with the middle initial 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, although he did have a look of shock and surprise in his eyes before this happened when Sanji and Zoro tried to rescue him. Luffy also has a habit of saying things with a lot more weight and (occasionally) wisdom than he realizes without even thinking or meaning to. [11]

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. 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'. [12]

Related Articles

 * Straw Hat Pirates
 * Shanks
 * Monkey D. Dragon
 * Portgas D. Ace
 * Monkey D. Garp
 * Will of the D.
 * Gol D. Roger

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