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. 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.

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 couldn't swim, even before he ate the devil fruit, which was why Shanks called him "Anchor," hence the shirt Luffy wore; while in the anime, Yasopp told Luffy that being a good swimmer doesn't make him a pirate. In the manga, when Nami was about to be hit by Jango's ring, Luffy got up and was hit in the head. In the anime, he caught it in his teeth.

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



 * 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 online RPG called Dragonfable there was an enemy pirate monkey dressed up like Luffy, and was called L.D.MONKEE which is backwards for Monkey.D.L.
 * In a episode of Inuyasha while there at school you can see a kid dressed like Monkey D. Luffy.
 * 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, we can see action figures of Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Sogeking.
 * In one chapter of the manga Rookies, a girl is shown having a Luffy doll cell phone strap.
 * In Macademi Wasshoi! episode 7, Suzuho use the attack Gomu gomu no pistol.

Merchandise


As the main protagonist, Luffy has been the choice character in many forms of merchandise and is arguably only out produced by Chopper. He has been featured in the series of models Portrait of Pirates. He was released in the One Piece DX Figure - Swim Suit Style set which included him and Nami. When the Wii game One Piece: Unlimited Adventure was released Luffy was one of the crew produced as a figure in the One Piece Locations Trading Figures series. He has also appeared as a plushie in a number of sets such as the One Piece Fishing Plushies pair.

He has featured in One Piece Gashapon sets on numerous occasions and he also featured in the 5 piece One Piece VS Figure Gashapon set. Another Gashapon set he featured in was the One Piece Full Color R Gashapon, of what he was featured twice. He was issued alongside Shanks and Lord of the Coast in a One Piece Block Figures set featuring the Straw Hats and their past mentors/loved ones. He has featured in trading figure sets such as One-Piece Motion Figure box and the One Piece Styling Figures.

Luffy has also featured on many Keychains/cellphone Straps sets including the One Piece Desert Kingdom Mascot Keychain/Cellphone Strap collection, alongside his brother Ace. He is part of the One Piece Sky Island Mascot Keychain collection. Another set he featured in was the One Piece Monkey Island Mascot Keychain/Cellphone strap series. In the Keychain pairing, he was released alongside Nami, however in the Cellphone strap series he was released alongside Shoujou.

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 is described as being like the fourth son of the Straw Hats family.
 * Due to the nature of the One Piece timeline against the real world timeline, Luffy does not age, remaining 17 no matter what the year is in real life. However, technically in One Piece time one year has yet to pass.
 * In the Fan Polls Luffy is consistantly the most popular character. Also in attack popularity poll his Gomu Gomu no Gatling came in 1st.
 * Monkey D. Luffy is the second character that carries the initial D., however he is the first D. to be named in the story. He is also the youngest D shown thus far in One Piece.
 * 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.
 * Luffy has a tendency to suck his lips in and turn his head to the side when an attack or technique fails to affect him, such as Enel's various electrical attacks or Boa Hancock's Mero Mero Merrow.
 * In an SBS, Oda stated that the reason Luffy acted in an aroused manner when Nami stripped, yet remained neutral when Hancock did so, was that he was with Usopp at the time Nami did so, as Usopp is his age and a bad influence on his behavior.
 * If Luffy lived in the real world, then his nationality would be Brazilian.
 * All members of the Monkey Family have shown to have a noticeable mark on the left side of their faces. Both Luffy and Garp have a scar while Dragon has a large tattoo.
 * It should also be noted that Shanks who is Luffy's hero has a scar on the left side of his face as well.