Monkey D. Garp

Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp is the father of Monkey D. Dragon and the grandfather of Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy. He is also the commanding officer of the 153rd Branch of the Marines, and the man in charge of both Koby and Helmeppo.

Appearance
Garp is an old man with a broad chest. He is bearded and has a scar on his left eye. Due to the fact that he had appeared in Romance Dawn V.2 with his face, he wore a dog mask when he was first introduced, so fans would not realize he was Luffy's grandfather. After it was revealed he was Luffy's grandpa, he discarded the mask.

Personality
Garp displays an intelligence level that is on the same level as Luffy, however he seems somewhat more absent-minded than 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'd rather burst through a wall than enter a door on the grounds that its cooler to do so even when he has to fix the hole. He, like his grandson, has an extreme fondness for food ,in his case, especially donuts.

Garp has shown signs of narcolepsy. He is seen in the post Enis Lobby arc randomly falling asleep while punching Luffy. Coincidentally Luffy fell asleep at that very same moment, suggesting that narcolepsy may run in the family, also shown by Ace at a diner during the alabasta arc.

Crew
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 seems to be unaware of the true extent of what is going on around him. At the Marine HQ, many of the other Marines are afraid of him for his reputation and habit of controlling things through his fists.

He is also the mentor of Koby and Helmeppo, he keeps them out of trouble and ensures they are not slacking off. If they do get out of hand, he knocks them around to ensure they keep in place. They both come to admire him, even though he maintains a highly brutal clutch on them because they wouldn't be where they are without him.

Monkey D. Dragon
Dragon is Garp's son. No direct interactions have been shown, however, he seems casual about the idea of his own son being a revolutionary and wanted by the World Government.

Monkey D. Luffy
He seems to hold high standards for his grandson 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 this experience 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. Nevertheless the two get along quite well.

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

Portgas D. Ace
As well as Luffy, Garp had high expectations for Ace to be a strong Marine, but is disappointed that he chose the life of piracy, which incidentally sent him to Impel Down where they are currently talking about the issue. However, Ace refused the idea that him and his younger brother could have ever been Marines, with their father's restless blood in their veins.

Other
No wife has been named for Garp, however the supplement Grand Line Times left a "?" in place of one. Also as a person carrying the Will of D, he may be related somehow to others also carrying it.

Abilities and Powers
Although lacking youth, Garp is an incredibly physically strong person even in his old age. He is able to throw iron cannon balls as if they were baseballs and yet still exhibit a cannon-like effect at the point of impact, break through brick walls and cannon stands with his fists, and carry and throw a gigantic ball and chain many times bigger than the Thousand Sunny. His first serious attack shown is known as the Iron Fist Meteor Shower where he uses his strength to launch 1000 iron cannon balls at enemy ships. Garp also has monstrous punches at his disposal. Also, his epithet, "Garp the Fist" vouches for his punch strength. In addition to his legendary strength, he has extreme endurance and stamina, as he was slashed by Captain Morgan's axe hand and able to recover seconds later with no obvious pain and even being oblivious to the fact he was struck. He has also shown inhuman speed, as he managed to bypass all of the Straw Hats and Franky (who still wasn't a Straw Hat at that time) in order to get to a sleeping Luffy and he appeared as a blur while doing so. He's also a "hero" of the marines and is known for cornering and fighting Gold Roger many times. Whitebeard seems to respect Garp's strength as he mentioned him during his talk with Shanks. It is possible that he can use 'haki' as his punches are capable of hurting Luffy, a 'rubber man'.

Weapons
So far he's been seen throwing cannonballs (including a giant one, mounted on a chain) with his bare hands. The cannonballs he threw went faster than a cannon would fire them due to Garp's strength.

Past Story
Monkey D. Garp is a Marine hero, who was famous for cornering and fighting 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. As part of his duty, in the past he chased other pirates like Shakuyaku.

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.

Koby and Helmeppo's Chronicle of Toil
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 pursue them. Upon the boys return they offer themselves to be punished. 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 stay in line is that he takes charge of the pair. He takes them back to Marine HQ, however Koby accidentally reveals he's friends with Luffy while Garp was listening. Despite Koby trying to keep Helmeppo out of trouble he takes part of the blame stating it's "Regiment Responsibility" (which contradicts one of Koby's earlier statements that Helmeppo only uses that term when it suites him) Garp (rather then dismissing them) tests them with a fight, after the fierce (for them) battle he starts personally training them to be great Marine officers.

Reunion in Water 7
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 Luffy's father (and his son).

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 Straw Hats 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 crew find themselves under attack from Garp who claims Luffy will just have to die at Water 7 (though it's obvious he doesn't believe that in any way). 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.

Current Events
After his grandson's assault on Thriller Bark, he was seen at Mariejois, with Bartholomew Kuma and Fleet Admiral Sengoku, where he laughed at how Luffy had avoided capture by Kuma and annoyed Sengoku by talking about tea and crackers.

Recently, Garp found out that Silvers Rayleigh was to be sold as a slave on the Sabaody Archipelago, whom he assumed let himself get captured to pay off a gambling debt. Due to the Marines being busy with the incident regarding Whitebeard and the execution of Portgas D. Ace, Garp remarked that he would take care of the situation, although the exact actions he took, if any, remain unknown.

He was most recently seen checking up on Ace in Impel Down, to the great displeasure of Sengoku. Upon Ace's request to die, Garp merely tells him to cool his head as Ace's death won't stop Whitebeard. They are later seen discussing family issues, such as Ace and Luffy's eventual turn to the lifestyle of piracy, instead of becoming Marines as he expected, and their father. In chapter 530, Garp is informed while at Marine HQ that Luffy broke into Impel Down and is rather amused about it, even proud of him. Sengoku however is clearly not amused, and says that if it weren't for Garp being a hero to the marines he would have him punished for his family's behavior. Garp however, just laughs and states he doubts an old man's life atone's his family's actions.

Major Battles

 * Vs. Gold Roger (none seen)
 * Vs. Morgan
 * 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 unnamed Grandfather was a sole addition 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 muscular 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 left 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

 * In the anime, Garp said he has eaten 842 doughnuts without sleeping or taking a break.
 * Garp's dislike of Shanks' influence on Luffy could be a reference to Oda's final decision to use Shanks (who was introduced in Romance Dawn V.1) as Luffy's inspiration in the final Romance Dawn version instead of Garp.