Straw Hat Pirates

The Straw Hat Pirates, also known as the Mugiwara Pirates, Straw Hat Crew or simply the Straw Hats, are an infamous and incredibly powerful rising pirate crew that originated from the East Blue, but have various members from different areas. They are the main focus and protagonists of the manga and anime One Piece, and are led by the main protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, also one of the Four Emperors.

The "Straw Hats" are named after Luffy's signature hat that was given to him by Red-Haired Shanks, and are first referred to as the Straw Hat Pirates by Smoker in Arabasta. The crew sailed on the Going Merry, their first official Straw Hat ship, up until the Water 7 Arc. During the Post-Enies Lobby Arc, Franky and Iceburg built them a new ship which was named the Thousand Sunny by Iceburg even though the members fought over different names.

Following the events on the Sabaody Archipelago, all nine members were separated from one another by Bartholomew Kuma, a then-Warlord of the Sea and undercover agent of the Revolutionary Army. For two years, they trained in relatively isolated locations, becoming stronger for the sake of helping each other. They then reunited and have since continued to be a dynamic force in the New World, disrupting the balance of the Three Great Powers, which would eventually lead to their captain being recognized as one of the Four Emperors.

Jolly Roger
The Jolly Roger emblem is a cartoon-like depiction of traditional skull and crossbones with the skull wearing Luffy's trademark straw hat. Due to Luffy's morbid drawing skills, Usopp was the one who drew the flag. In addition to being on their flag, the jolly roger has also been shown on the sails of the Going Merry and the Thousand Sunny.

Main Crew


As a result of Luffy's choice in who joins the crew, the Straw Hats are notable for being one of the most varied, if not bizarre, pirate crews in the world.

Their ranks have members vastly different from one another. These include Tony Tony Chopper, a shape-shifting reindeer that can be mistaken for something else depending on his form, such as a gorilla when full human or a tanuki when in his usual mid-form; Franky, a cyborg who has a very eccentric behavior and wears almost nothing except shirts and swim briefs; and Brook, a lively undead, perverted skeletal musician.

If their former lives and activities are considered, it only adds to the crew's collective strangeness: the captain who has a family consisting of infamous and dangerous people; their combatant, Roronoa Zoro was a former pirate hunter; their cook, Sanji is a fugitive prince from a family of underworld army for hire; their sniper, Usopp, is a compulsive liar whose father, Yasopp, is an infamous member of an Emperor of the Sea's crew; and their navigator, Nami is a burglar who specialized in stealing from pirates. Their archaeologist, Nico Robin, formerly worked for a criminal organization run by Crocodile, then one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, is a skilled assassin and the sole survivor of Ohara. The helmsman, Jinbe, is a Fish-Man who was not only a former Warlord of the Sea himself, and captain of the Sun Pirates, but also a former prisoner of the Great Prison Impel Down, which is where he met Luffy.

Nefertari Vivi is the crown princess of Arabasta, who along with her pet duck Karoo ended up traveling with the Straw Hat Pirates for most of the Arabasta Saga. She was asked to continue sailing with the crew after the war in Arabasta, but ultimately, she decided to remain in Arabasta in order to fulfill her royal duties.

The Straw Hats have four Devil Fruit users: Luffy, Chopper, Robin, and Brook. The majority of them are also fairly young, with three members in their twenties, three still being teenagers, and four members being thirty or older, although two of the four oldest members are just as childish as the others. Unlike most crews, they consider their ships to be crew members.

Sub-Groups
During their adventures, the crew members have often split into smaller groups to achieve multiple targets or tasks. Mostly, the group are divided by the common tasks of island exploring (often led by Luffy), ship guarding (often led by Zoro who wishes to nap or by Usopp who is afraid to disembark), and supply gathering (led by Sanji or Nami for food and finance). When encountering enemies, the crew would often fight individually against their rivals, but they sometimes fight in small groups like Usopp and Chopper in Arabasta or during the Davy Back fight.



Three of the top fighters of the crew Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji, are called the Monster Trio (怪物3人組) due to their immense strength, with Zoro and Sanji in particular being referred as the Pirates King's Wings (海賊王の両翼) to Luffy, showing their dynamic. The Monster Trio typically act as the vanguard against powerful enemies and protect the other crew members in dangerous situations. During major battles, they tend to fight the strongest enemies on the opponent's sides.



The lower three fighters, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper are called the Weakling Trio (弱少トリオ). By contrast to the the Monster Trio, the Weakling Trio are often the most hesitant to partake in combat and collectively voice their fear in the face of frightening places or foes, unless their hand is forced or they consider their enemies' actions or words unforgivable enough to want to take action.

They first started splitting into teams during the Skypiea Arc. After realizing that the lost city of Gold was on Upper Yard, they split the crew into the Escape Team (脱出組) consisting of Sanji, Nami and Usopp, as well as their patient Gan Fall, and the Search Team (探索組) which was made up of Luffy, Zoro, Chopper and Robin. The Exploration Team was assigned to find the city and steal the treasure before making it back to the ship, however they ended up getting split up after running into the giant python Nola. The Escape Team were meant to sail the ship to their rendezvous point at the coast, though Sanji and Usopp ended up getting ambushed by Enel, who stopped by to talk to Gan Fall. The ship eventually made it to the coast thanks to Conis and Pagaya, but Nami (along with Aisa who was picked up by the two) was chased away from the ship by Nola.

In the filler G-8 Arc, after the Straw Hats realized that their gold was taken after accidentally landing in Navarone Island, the crew split up into teams. Nami, who had used the waver to escape the ship earlier, was sent with Sanji to get it back as part of the Waver Retrieval Team (ウエイバー回収班). The rest of the crew (except for Chopper who was assigned to watch the ship) was sent to find the gold, as the Gold Retrieval Team (黄金奪還班) though this ended in failure, as it wasn't located where they thought it would be.

During the Dressrosa Arc, the crew temporarily split in half due to the Big Mom Pirates' unexpected attack on the Thousand Sunny, with one group staying to finish business on Dressrosa and the other heading on to Zou in order to protect Caesar Clown and Kozuki Momonosuke. The group heading to Zou (Sanji, Nami, Chopper, and Brook) was referred to as the Curly Hat Crew (ぐるわらの一味), named after Sanji, the de facto leader of the group. This same group forms the core of the Sanji Retrieval Team (サンジ奪還チーム) during the Whole Cake Island Arc, but with some personnel changes: Luffy has resumed leadership, Sanji was at Whole Cake Island, and the minks Pedro and Carrot accompanied them in their quest to "retrieve Sanji". During their mission, they were joined by Jinbe who would later officially join the Straw Hats.

Grand Fleet
At the end of the Dressrosa Arc, the crew becomes the leader of an alliance called the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, which involves seven groups who sided with Luffy in the conflict between himself and Doflamingo, becoming subordinate to the Straw Hats, while maintaining their status as individual crews with their own free will.

Cavendish, Bartolomeo, Sai, Ideo, Leo, Hajrudin, and Orlumbus asked to become Luffy's subordinates by offering him a cup of sake. Luffy refused but said they would still be bonded by their fight against Doflamingo and they would help each other out at any time. However, the captains decided to drink the sake anyway, pledging to come to Luffy's aid whenever he needed them, while Luffy was not obligated to do the same. The Straw Hat Grand Fleet, consisting of 5640 people, was then formed, and a party ensued as their fleet departed from Dressrosa.

Non-Canon Members
In the anime adaptation of the Long Ring Long Land Arc, the Straw Hats acquired all but three members of the Foxy Pirates, a total of 497 men. In the process, they confiscated the Sexy Foxy. However, they were all immediately dismissed and left to pursue their old captain.

In the game, Legend of the Rainbow Island, Dias, a young boy, and Atoli, the Princess of Silver Arrow Island, join the crew. However, they leave the crew at the end of the game.

Territories
While the Straw Hat Pirates have not shown any interests in taking control of territories like the other big name crews, they have managed to become friends and allies with the leaders of several island nations.
 * Fish-Man Island's ruling royal family has shown interest in wanting to declare their island a territory of the Straw Hat Pirates and after news of their fight against Big Mom was made public, they decided to declare that their island was under the protection of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Crew Strength
The Straw Hat crew has left nothing but sheer miracles in its wake.

Despite having a small number of members, the Straw Hats are an extremely powerful crew with great potential, as stated by Kuzan when he first met them, eventually growing to the point of being capable of challenging and surpassing Warlord of the Sea and Emperor-class crews like Baroque Works, the Thriller Bark Pirates, and the Donquixote Pirates, along with the Beasts Pirates and Big Mom Pirates.

As their captain is named one of Four Emperors this makes them one of the four most powerful pirate crews in the world. It should be noted that this accomplishment and level of strength and infamy has been achieved in just over 2 years from the start of their voyage.

The crew itself has done things which most would think impossible and were dubbed completely insane for even trying to and were successful every time; like defeating an entire organization (such as Baroque Works, CP9, and the Donquixote Pirates), punching a World Noble, breaking into and out of the judicial island, Enies Lobby, and crashing the tea party of an Emperor as well as escaping her territory. In fact, after the incident that occurred at Enies Lobby, the World Government has labeled them as a very dangerous crew since their actions endangered the delicate balance of the Three Great Powers to the point that the Seven Warlords of the Sea were disbanded and the ranks of the Four Emperors were greatly altered.

After entering the New World they quickly grew the name they already made for themselves in Paradise proving they are a bigger threat to the World Government than ever before. Their accomplishments include defeating the most crucial man in the Underworld and removing him from power, having an enormous and mighty pirate fleet form to serve under them, adding former Warlord of the Sea Jinbe to their crew, and even managing to take one of the Emperor Big Mom's living weapons, Zeus, into their crew, as Nami's partner, and of course forming a great alliance with, infamous pirates, powerful warriors from Wano Country and the mighty Mink Tribe.

During the Raid on Onigashima against the Beasts Pirates, their three best fighters the "Monster Trio" have gained even more magnificent power: Zoro gained a legendary sword that can increase the power of his Haki-based attacks, Sanji has become a genetically augmented super soldier, and lastly, due to achieving Devil Fruit awakening, Luffy unlocked legendary power that is greatly feared by the World Government itself.

The Straw Hats currently consist of ten members whose combined bounties equal at least 4,661,000,100, proving how dangerous the World Government sees them.

Fighting Abilities
All of them have at least one talent at which they are virtually perfect at, and each member is, more or less, a formidable if not downright fearsome fighter in their own right. While all of them have amazing strength in one way or another, four of them have astonishingly inhuman strength: Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji—who have been collectively referred to as the "Monster Trio"—and Jinbe, a Fish-Man and former Warlord of the Sea.


 * The Straw Hat captain and founder, Monkey D. Luffy is a fierce and formidable combatant who can invent extremely creative fighting techniques even during intense mid battle and has gone through harsh and rigorous training since he was a child. He has been taught by two legendary figures, his grandfather Monkey D. Garp, Hero of the Marines, and Silvers Rayleigh, the retired first mate of the Pirate King's crew. To the amazement of friend and foe alike, Luffy has continuously defeated people who are renowned for their incredible strength and skill. At the beginning of his pirate career, Luffy defeated the most powerful pirates in East Blue; Buggy, Kuro (albeit unbeknownst to the public), Don Krieg and Arlong, earning him a bounty of 30,000,000,East Blue's biggest bounty and a steep price for a novice pirate. This would eventually include Crocodile, Gecko Moria, and Donquixote Doflamingo of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the highly feared tyrant Enel from Skypiea, the infamous Rob Lucci of the CP9, two of the Big Mom Pirates' mighty Sweet Commanders Charlotte Cracker and Charlotte Katakuri, and the powerful Kaidou, one of the Four Emperors.
 * Roronoa Zoro the combatant and Brook the musician are highly skilled swordsmen.
 * Zoro is famous for wielding three swords at once in battle and has been trained by the legendary Dracule Mihawk.
 * Brook has extraordinary speed and is astonishingly difficult to harm due to his undead state.
 * Sanji the cook and Jinbe the helmsman are highly proficient master martial artists.
 * Sanji's adoptive father, the retired pirate "Red-Leg" Zeff trained him to never use his hands in battle; developing astounding leg strength and using a fighting style that relies solely on dynamic and well-coordinated kicks.
 * Jinbe is a disciplined master of Fish-Man Karate with years of battle experience.
 * Nami the navigator is an accomplished and agile polearm user.
 * Usopp the sniper has exceptional marksmanship and is capable of turning slingshots into formidable and terrifying weapons.
 * Tony Tony Chopper the doctor uses a fighting style similar to wrestling, can punch with great force, has natural ramming speed and knows at least the basics of Kung Fu.
 * Nico Robin the archaeologist specializes in submission maneuvers, and thanks to her friends in the Revolutionary Army, she has learned some palm fighting techniques.
 * Franky the shipwright is an expert boxer and has an impressive and multi-faceted collection of weaponry with enough skill and precision to use each and every one of them.

Devil Fruits
Four of all ten crew members have Devil Fruit abilities, each being very effective in battle, and are very creative on how to use them, making them both versatile and formidable.
 * The crew's captain, Luffy ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi—a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that was reclassified by the World Government as a Paramecia and renamed as well in order to try and erase its history—which granted his body the properties of rubber. This allows him to stretch his body to long proportions as well as make him immune to blunt strikes and electricity. Through intense training, he has built a fighting style that fully utilizes his rubbery body. Over the course of his voyage in the Grand Line he developed techniques that further increased his power in order to combat stronger opponents, such as speeding up his own blood flow to increase his speed or enlarging his bones and muscles for more powerful strikes. After the time-skip, he learned how to combine his Haki with his rubber abilities, making his attacks inconceivably fast and an astonishingly destructive force to be reckon with. During the climax of the Raid on Onigashima, his true Devil Fruit abilities awakened for the first time since the Void Century; bestowing him immeasurably awesome powers that the World Government greatly fears. After awakening, Luffy demonstrates many new abilities such as being able to freely manipulate the shape and size of his body, as well as being able to stretch objects he touches like rubber, including living things and even lightning. As pointed out by Kaidou, Luffy's power now has the characteristics of both Paramecia and Zoan-types.
 * The crew's doctor, Chopper, is a reindeer that ate the Hito Hito no Mi, a Zoan which granted him the strength and intelligence of a human being. He can switch between his full-reindeer form to his full-human form to his hybrid form, which has become his default appearance. With his doctoring skills that he learned from Kureha, Chopper developed the Rumble Ball, a drug that granted him several more forms to use for three minutes, making him even more effective in battle. But if he ate more than one should within an hour, Chopper will lose control of his transformation powers, making him shift into forms he did not want, and should he eat a third in that time, he will become a powerful monster with little to no intellect, making him a danger to both friend and foe alike. After the time skip, he was capable of shifting into any form he needed without the use for a Rumble Ball, and should he need it, he can eat the drug to assume his monster form, which he has gotten control of, but at the cost of not being able to move later on.
 * The crew's archaeologist, Nico Robin, ate the Hana Hana no Mi, a Paramecia that allows her to sprout limbs wherever she desires. In combat, she has utilized this power in various suplex moves by sprouting her arms on an enemy and then contorting them into submission. She can also create eyes and ears in order to spy on other people. After the timeskip, she has increased her control over her powers, now being able to create full clones of herself, complete with clothes. During her time with the Revolutionary Army, Sabo and Koala taught her new fighting techniques she now uses in conjunction with her powers.
 * The crew's musician, Brook, ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi, a Paramecia which allowed him to revive himself after dying the first time. This allowed him to survive even though all of his meat and tissue rotted away, making him a near immortal skeleton, though this did not keep him from doing things that organic people could do, such as eating, crying and increasing his strength. After the timeskip, Brook demonstrated the ability to leave his body through his soul form, can reattach his body parts, and summon the "chills of the Underworld", making him more effective in a fight.

Scientific Capabilities
Some members of the Straw Hat crew also use science as an asset.
 * Nami wields a staff that can control the weather, which through certain circumstances became a sentient weapon with some shapeshifting properties.
 * Usopp is a very skilled engineer, able to combine many types of technologies into a single weapon for himself and his crew members.
 * Sanji briefly wore a raid suit created by the technologically advanced Germa 66 that gave him the power of invisibility until it was destroyed, but before its destruction it caused the genetic modifications that have laid dormant within Sanji since birth to finally awaken; granting him an enhanced body that is nearly invulnerable and has an exhilarated healing rate. After mastering his new gifts to some level, he became so fast that it is as if he can become invisible without the suit and his physical strength has increased significantly, allowing him to unleash even more devastating attacks one after the other. By combining all these augmentations to his body and his Busoshoku Haki have enabled Sanji to evolve his kicking techniques and develop a more powerful kicking style that would have been impossible before, Ifrit Jambe.
 * Chopper has extensive medical knowledge thanks to his apprenticeship in Drum Island and his studies in Torino Kingdom, he researched for 5 years to produce a drug that enhances his Devil Fruit power, and he is capable of creating new cures for diseases.
 * Franky was not only taught by the master shipwright Tom, but is also a brilliant inventor with a cybernetic body that has a vast array of weapons and incredible might that allow him to fight opponents with inhuman physical prowess on equal ground. Sometimes Franky pilots an enormous Mech-Suit made of a super alloy.

Haki
So far, five of the ten current members are shown to have awakened their Haki.
 * Luffy has all three types of Haki and has learned them all extensively during the Timeskip. In addition, while traveling the New World, Luffy has mastered the advanced application of each type: He learned to see slightly into the future while fighting Charlotte Katakuri, to hurt his target from within after training with Hyogoro, and coat his attacks to strike without making contact during his fight with Kaidou.
 * Zoro has all three types; having master Busoshoku Haki to a very high degree and during the Wano County Arc has awoken his Haoshoku Haki. Also, in Wano Country, Zoro traded Shusui for Enma, a Meito that draws more Busoshoku Haki from the user, allowing him to use more Haki than before, to the point he is risking his life using it, however, he learned to control it within days.
 * Sanji can wield Busoshoku Haki and Kenbunshoku Haki; Specializing in Kenbunshoku Haki and also highly skilled in Busoshoku Haki.
 * Usopp manifested Kenbunshoku Haki during the Dressrosa Arc and was first used to snipe a vast distance to the desired target. Since then, Usopp has been developing this skill.
 * Jinbe can wield Busoshoku Haki and Kenbunshoku Haki. While the level of his Kenbunshoku Haki relatively unknown, Jinbe can use Busoshoku Haki in tandem with his Fish-Man Karate effortlessly and can even coat his whole body in Busoshoku Haki.

Adaptability
On our journey across the islands, all of us became stronger without even noticing.

Each member, in the beginning, has some reasonably high fighting abilities. Still, as they progress, each member has had to become stronger due to each opponent they encounter either being significantly stronger than the last or having required them to develop new skills or techniques to combat new opponents.

Two of the Straw Hats' greatest attributes are their charisma and unpredictability. With their amiable personalities, they manage to make all the right friends in all the right places, which eventually accomplish their goals (though it was never their original intention). These friends and allies have proven to be useful depending on the location or objective, and thus the Straw Hats seem to have no regrets fighting for their sakes given the circumstances, and vice versa. Due to these factors, along with the Straw Hats' reputation and impressive bounties, many a layperson believes that the crew's ranks of being made up of hundreds, if not thousands of members. They also tend to act upon their emotions, throwing standard logic out of order. By using the freedom granted by their status as pirates, they tend to act erratically, either helping people or picking a fight, simply because it is something they wish to do. These attributes have destroyed the carefully laid plans of criminal masterminds with large, influential organizations, which took them years to cultivate. The most notable are those of the three former Warlords of the Sea (Crocodile, Gecko Moria, and Donquixote Doflamingo), the former 'God' of Skypiea, Enel, as well as two of the Four Emperors (Big Mom and Kaidou).

Good Fortune
Overall, their most unique strength is the fact that the Straw Hat crew, on many occasions, are fortunate, being able to achieve many things that would be considered impossible feats. The examples include various wild escapes from Marine captures and ambushes, confronting, defeating, and escaping Seven Warlords of the Sea and World Government led organizations with no casualties. They also manage to reach Skypiea via the Knock Up Stream without losing anybody (which earned them Gan Fall's respect and eventually, his aid) while simultaneously escaping the Blackbeard Pirates. Lastly, escaping Big Mom's Tea Party due to a bomb going off (which was unknowingly given by the Straw Hat captain on Fishmen Island), and even successfully escaping her territory despite the efforts of her fleet. Some of these lucky accomplishments are even considered miraculous in hindsight.

Teamwork
I'll do whatever you cannot do. And you do whatever I cannot do!!!

While each member can hold their own by themselves, what makes the Straw Hats truly strong is their teamwork, which has become more important as the series has progressed. When one of them is incapable of doing a task, another can help out in their place instead. The adaptable trait helps the crew very much in facing odds that may be too much for them if they work separately.

When at sea, the Straw Hats tend to be relaxed, playing with each other, training, reading, or whatever else they may do to occupy themselves. They can maintain this attitude even in the unstable waters of Paradise, New World, or even in their descent down to (and ascent from) Fish-Man Island. However, whenever a crisis pops up, like storms, tidal waves, large sea life or falling ships, the crew instantly snaps out of their relaxed state and swing into action. They all seem to know their place and will do what they should in the circumstances. Most of the time, though, they tend to sail at a casual pace without rushing.

Training


By the end of their two-year-long training, the Straw Hats have grown exponentially in personal power. Thanks to the fact that some of them took their self-imposed training under the tutelage of prominent figures of the sea like Silvers Rayleigh, Dracule Mihawk, Emporio Ivankov, and Monkey D. Dragon. Each member of the Monster Trio (Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji) has shown to be able to defeat a Pacifista in a single attack, whereas it took the combined efforts of the entire crew to beat one before barely. Luffy easily destroyed a Pacifista with a single Haki-infused Jet Pistol. Zoro and Sanji, the latter using his Diable Jambe, both dealt crippling blows to a Pacifista with raw strength. Zoro and Sanji each used attacks that likely would have been sufficient to destroy the Pacifista on their own had they not been trying to outdo each other.

Another example of the Monster Trio's strength is that they were able to defeat a sea monster such as the Kraken (a creature several times larger than the Thousand Sunny itself) without much of an effort underwater, where their strength is limited. Afterward, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Brook defeat all the troops stationed in the Ryugu Palace with ease. The crew also easily took out the 100,000 lower members of the New Fish-Man Pirates which consisted of about 70,000 Fish-Men and 30,000 humans with Luffy alone taking out about 50,000 people with a single burst of Haoshoku Haki. Even the weaker members, Nami and Usopp, became strong enough to take down the fighters of the Donquixote Pirates; (who are both Devil Fruit Users) Buffalo and Baby 5, all by themselves.

Alliances
In addition to their strength, the Straw Hats have established unofficial and temporary alliances with other pirates, non-pirates, Marines, and royalty when fighting against powerful enemies. During the Punk Hazard Arc, the Straw Hat Pirates entered into an official alliance with Trafalgar Law and the Heart Pirates to defeat Kaidou. During the Zou Arc, the Straw Hat Pirates and the Heart Pirates extended their alliance to includes the Mink Tribe and the Kozuki Family of Wano Country with the intent of removing not only Kaidou from power but the Shogun of Wano Country as well.

Following the battle with the Donquixote Pirates, the Straw Hats' (unofficial) allies who participated in the struggle, organized themselves into seven crews and formed the Straw Hat Grand Fleet which numbered a total of 5640 members.

Reputation
Throughout their journey, the Straw Hats' reputation continues to grow. This reputation can go to enemies and allies alike. In the eyes of their partners, the Straw Hats are saviors, heroes, or even the only crew that can overcome odds that were deemed impossible by others. Some individuals from several places in the East Blue, Sakura Kingdom, Arabasta, and Prodence Kingdom as well as the people of Fish-Man Island, Dressrosa, and Zou regard the Straw Hats as saviors and heroes for their actions. Their reputation influences others such as Koby who dreams of becoming a Marine officer in the hope of challenging Luffy someday, Kureha takes the Isshi-100 under her guidance, and Neptune decides to continue his deceased wife's legacy by attending the Levely.

After the two-year timeskip, even though they have been dormant for some time, the Straw Hats are talked amongst pirates on a legendary level. Even Sentomaru casually comments that pirates are not like what they used to be. He calls the impostors of the Straw Hats wasteful trash when Demaro Black boasts of his lineage in front of him, prompting Sentomaru to take him down with a single blow of his ax, and then saying that the real Monkey D. Luffy would never have done so.

The crew has gained legendary status since they first set sail, on par with all the other significant crews of the world, even Emperors' crews like the Blackbeard Pirates and Big Mom Pirates. They are currently the only known pirate crew to openly wage war against the World Government and have practically gotten away with it. To this day, they are the only pirate crew to have escaped from every branch of law enforcement that the government could throw at them. The Seven Warlords of the Sea, Cipher Pol, Impel Down, and Marineford have all failed in their attempts to hold down the crew (with the captain penetrating and escaping from the latter twice by himself). Perhaps as a testament to their strength, they are the only known crew where every single member has a bounty on their head. After the events in Totto Land, with the crew having escaped Big Mom's Tea Party, their reputation has increased to the point that the whole world now labels the crew on par with an Emperor's crew, having labeled Luffy as the Fifth Emperor of the sea.

When news of them resurfaced, the entire Marine organization was thrown into a frenzy to stamp out their revival while the rest of the pirates cheered on. Their fame may have led many to join the ranks of piracy, for when the fake Straw Hats started recruiting pirates, many flocked to join up, and were also greatly shocked when the "Monster Trio" gave a show of a small fraction of their power.

In the eyes of the World Government and Marines, the Straw Hats are notorious pirates. From their declaration of war and defeating CP-9 at Enies Lobby to their involvement in the chaos in Totto Land made the government considers the Straw Hats as a severe threat. Some enemies respect the Straw Hats, such as Smoker due to a common enemy they share, notably Caesar Clown. Admiral Fujitora originally planned to capture the Straw Hats at Dressrosa but later decided to let them go and even thanked them after what they did to defeat Donquixote Doflamingo.

In the eyes of other pirates, they labeled the Straw Hats as the craziest pirates of their lifetime. Capone Bege stated that no pirates are as mad as the Straw Hats after witnessing Zoro's attempt to strike down Saint Charlos. Eustass Kid and Trafalgar D. Water Law were amused to see Luffy and his crew assault the World Nobles at the human auction house. After the timeskip, the Straw Hats have become influential enough that Neptune believes using their flag will keep his island safe from pirate attacks.

Law, a member of the Worst Generation that has traveled with the Straw Hats, states that they are a group that can make miracles happen, overwhelming any odds that was deemed impossible to reach by others.

Weaknesses
Though the Straw Hats have proven themselves to be a rather powerful crew with immense potential, they are by no means perfect. Even with their formidable and ever-growing individual strengths, diversity, and nearly flawless teamwork, they still possess quite a few weaknesses to go along with it.

Numbers
Though the 10 members of the Straw Hats have proven themselves to be extremely powerful individuals, with any single member being easily able to take on tens, or even hundreds or thousands of opponents by themselves, eventually the numbers can grow too big, to the point that even they can be stalled or even completely suppressed. This is apparent when both the quality and the quantity of opponents become relatively high, along with the members being fatigued from intense battles beforehand. This is shown several times, such as when the crew fought the Marines of captain rank and above in Enies Lobby, or when Luffy and Nami faced Big Mom's army by themselves. However, this is hardly an issue because most of the time, the crew emerge victorious despite their enemies' superior numbers. They also make up for their own lack of manpower with their ever growing number of allies.

Recklessness
All the crew members are shown to have relatively eccentric personalities and quirks. These, however, occasionally backfire on the group, as it tends to destroy their own plans and strategies. Ironically, it is their strongest members that tend to cause the most problems. Their lustful chef who tends to get sidetracked by beautiful women, their perpetually lost swordsman who has no sense of direction, and their captain who simply never listens. For the most part, several of their members tend to prefer the brute force method, and while several of them would prefer to be more subtle or stealthy, these wishes tend to be shattered by their own crew. Luffy tends to honestly announce his intentions and charges in with only his goal and his opponent in mind, while Zoro may solve all his problems by attempting to cut it. They are also highly emotional, usually abandoning the wise choice, which gives them greater future benefits for the more direct approach. An example would be when the Straw Hats completely discarded Trafalgar Law's original plan to pit Kaidou against Doflamingo in order to weaken the Emperor, opting instead to go along with the Tontatta Tribe and Kyros in order to directly defeat Doflamingo.

Naivety
The Straw Hats are shown to be quite a kindhearted crew, preferring not to cause any direct harm to citizens and innocents, even helping out strangers who had been hurt in front of them or directly ask for help (like the children in Punk Hazard), and going out of the way to repay the debt of a small task like feeding them. While this trait usually endears them to the civilians, it also makes them vulnerable as they are unable to fight back should the citizens be aggressive to them. As seen in Water 7 when they were framed for Iceburg's attempted assassination, Fish-Man Island when they were mistaken as kidnappers and Dressrosa when the island was made to play the bounty hunting game, the main way they dealt with the situation was to run away and hide, or to knock them out or away with as little damage as possible.

Their naivety also leads them to easily fall into traps, which makes the situation all the more difficult for themselves.

Bounties
We'd never have tried anything here... if you hadn't attacked us first!!

Though they are pirates in name, the Straw Hat Pirates do not engage in the stereotypical activities of pirates. They are all kindhearted for the most part and only fight in self-defense or vengeance for their friends. In fact, before the Enies Lobby Arc, when CP9 initiated the conflict by blackmailing Nico Robin and detaining her, the Straw Hats mostly fought only other pirates (except for Luffy and Zoro, who took down the dreaded Axe Hand Morgan and several of his unwilling subordinates, Sanji, who beat up Fullbody and possibly some other unfortunate Marines before becoming an official Straw Hat, and Jinbe, who had numerous skirmishes during his time as a member of the Sun Pirates). It seems they were considered dangerous to the World Government and given bounties simply because they called themselves pirates.

They are considered villains by the World Government and the general public who are not familiar with them, making this is a hassle for them at times. Like most other pirates, the majority of the Straw Hats see their bounties as a form of achievement, a sign of how much fame and recognition their actions have produced. Nami notes that, as pirates, they are used to taking the blame and being portrayed as the villains. Their current bounties now total up to 4,661,000,100.

Relationships Amongst the Crew
Don't you dare insult my captain in front of me. He would never think about betraying us! No matter how much easier it would make things! (...) But no matter what he has to do...what hardships he has to overcome...he puts his absolute faith in us...and we reciprocate in kind! So we gladly risk our lives, since he does the same without a second thought!



Each member of the crew values their friendships very highly. Despite their usual comic annoyance with each other from time to time, they very much love being together as well as being a member of the crew. So much so, that they tend to forget their worries and burdens, as shown with Nami, Robin, Franky, and Brook.

One of the major themes of the series is how committed they are to each other, to the point where they are willing to give up what is important to them, such as their lives, and even their dreams, for one of their crew members. If one single member is hurt by an outside force (physically or emotionally), the other members will become enraged and take drastic action to avenge their friends. Previously, they have gone as far as to take on an entire organization, make enemies with the World Government, and even attack the World Nobles.

Examples of their camaraderie include: During their fight with Bartholomew Kuma, Sanji, Zoro, and Brook threw themselves in front of their friends to keep Kuma from getting to them. After Luffy was overwhelmed with grief over Ace's death, not only was he able to overcome his pain by remembering that he still had his crew, but the others struggled to return to him for support when they realized how hurt Luffy would be. Upon receiving his message to wait two years, they all reminisced on how Luffy changed their lives for the better and resolved to use that time to hone their skills in order to be more useful to him and protect each other better from any danger.

If any of them encounter a person that the crew dislikes either because of a past event or simply because that member is against what that person is doing, then the rest of the crew will hold a deep grudge against that person and will express the desire to attack them and will not show them any mercy. When Vivi (despite not being a crew member) showed her hatred of Crocodile, the rest of the crew, especially Luffy, all had the intention of taking him down without even knowing him. When Brook told the Straw Hats of how Moria stole his shadow, Luffy immediately asked where he was so he could get Brook's shadow back despite just meeting the skeleton, while the others were all behind him.

A common trait shared among the crew is that they all enjoy beating up their enemies and refuse to show mercy no matter how much they apologize. This trait seems to be the strongest for Luffy. Even after beating up the person they despise, they still hold a very deep grudge against them and refuse to show any empathy or kindness towards them, even if they claim to have changed or if they have tried to do anything to make up for what they have done. The most notable example of this is how every member of the Straw Hats show a very deep hate-filled grudge against Caesar for what he did back at Punk Hazard and even after Luffy defeated him, they all still abused him by punching, kicking, and yelling at him for as so much as talking back at them, showing how merciless the crew can be. A notable exception to this is Bentham, a major antagonist of the Arabasta Arc who battles against Sanji. After fleeing from Arabasta, he steals Going Merry, only to tell the Straw Hats he was keeping it safe from the Marines. He later acts as a decoy so the Straw Hats can escape from the Marines after being moved by their wish to see their friend Vivi again. Later in Impel Down, Luffy meets up with Bentham and their friendship reaches new heights, with Bentham screaming for three days straight to support Luffy's recovery, before again staying behind to open the gates so Luffy and the other prisoners can escape.

However, there have also been occasions when the Straw Hats argue amongst themselves for various reasons. Most prominently, such confrontations take place between Zoro and Sanji (mainly caused by their frequent dislike towards various aspects of one another), and are relatively comic in nature. However, there have also been occasions when other crew members have experienced major conflicts between each other, which have been known to end in tragedy and heartbreak. One notable example is Usopp's fury at Luffy opting to abandon the Going Merry in favor of another ship at Water 7. As a result, Usopp seemingly left the crew, heartbroken and angry at Luffy's apparent disregard for Merry. However, these conflicts, though indeterminate in length, rarely ever last - Usopp nonetheless accompanied the crew in his guise as Sogeking, before formally rejoining them as they set off on their new ship, the Thousand Sunny. In addition to this, the likes of Sanji and Zoro will often put aside their rivalry to accomplish a common goal, though this ranges from their having a mutual enemy to outright competing against each other.

As such, the Straw Hats are a group that works towards their personal morals and convictions, with each member of the crew being ready and willing to help out the other, often putting aside all misgivings. For example, when Nami and Chopper both expressed their wish to help out the kidnapped children on Punk Hazard, and the poison gas victims on Zou, though the others did warn them of potential troubles that may occur if they do so, they unhesitatingly helped them regardless. However, if one crew member acted out against the wishes of the rest, the others will do everything in their power to steer them back towards themselves, just like how they went out of their way to rescue Robin, after she attempted to sacrifice herself for the Straw Hats without their consent in the Water 7 Saga.

Dreams
Each member of the Straw Hats has a dream they want to achieve. These dreams are their reasons for joining Luffy's crew, and essentially the driving force behind their lives. Each crew member's dream was inspired by tragedies (often deaths) in their childhoods that involved at least one person they idolized and cared for deeply.

Some, like Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Franky, and Jinbe are fulfilling their dreams by accumulating knowledge and/or achieving a certain task while sailing the Grand Line. Others, like Luffy, Sanji, Robin, and Brook are searching for a person, place or thing that can only be found on the Grand Line.

Whatever the reason, each of the Straw Hat's dreams involves traveling the Grand Line, and each Straw Hat member refuses to die before achieving their dreams. However, their determination does not extend to sacrificing or abandoning their comrades for the fulfillment of their dreams.

Members' Dreams

 * Luffy's dream is to become the Pirate King and gather his own pirate crew to back him up. To become the Pirate King, he must find Gold Roger's famed treasure, One Piece, which is implied to be on Laugh Tale. As for a crew, he has brought together nine people so far who have caught his attention. Luffy is also looking to meet up with Red Haired Shanks again and return his straw hat to him, but will only do this after his crew has surpassed Shanks' crew in strength.


 * Zoro's dream, shared with Kuina, is to become the world's greatest swordsman. To fulfill this dream, he must surpass every swordsman in the world, including the world's current greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk. Zoro nearly gave up his dream in an attempt to convince the Warlord of the Sea, Bartholomew Kuma to refrain from killing Luffy despite that the first time they met Zoro threatened to kill Luffy if he got in the way of his dream, proving his loyalty towards his captain as well as the rest of the crew, as he believes that he cannot be the world's strongest swordsman if he cannot protect his captain's dream (Luffy, likewise, believes that the Pirate King should have the best swordsman on his side).


 * Nami's dream is to draw a map of the entire world. She has already mapped all the areas that she has traveled, and it can be assumed that she will create a world map once the story is over. Also at the beginning of the story, she was also trying to get 100,000,000 in order to buy and save her hometown, Cocoyasi Village, from the clutches of the Fish-Man pirate Arlong; while her savings were confiscated after stealing 93,000,000, in the process of stealing from pirates, she met Luffy, who defeated Arlong and freed the village.


 * Usopp's dream is to become a brave warrior of the sea like his father, Yasopp. Although he implies that he has accomplished this dream (before he leaves the crew), but eventually realizes on his confrontation with Luffy that he has yet to achieve it, Usopp has a second dream. After the Little Garden Arc he hopes to visit Elbaf and see the warrior giants he idolizes, and during the Post-War Arc Usopp develops yet another dream, to be the true Sniper King, after he got Luffy's message to get stronger in two years.


 * Sanji's dream, shared with Zeff, is to find the All Blue, a legendary ocean. It is assumed to be in the Grand Line, a place where all waters from all over the four seas gather, bringing fish from all over the globe. During the early-Arlong Arc, Sanji had stated that he wanted to visit Fish-Man Island someday to see a Mermaid, which has been fulfilled; sure enough, the chef broke down crying upon seeing all the mermaids and implied that meeting the mermaids was on an equivalent level to finding the All-Blue. He also wished to consume the Suke Suke no Mi but unfortunately for him, Absalom destroyed that dream as he had already eaten it. However, upon seeing Absalom's detestable actions, Sanji changed his mind about his desire to consume it. Ironically, because of his recently acquired Raid Suit and its power of invisibility, Sanji's childhood dream of turning invisible has been restored and fulfilled through the Germa technology he hated. Sanji nearly gave up on his dream of locating All Blue when he prioritized protecting Zeff from the death threats of his father and the Big Mom Pirates.


 * Vivi's dream was to save her home country, the kingdom of Arabasta, from the coup planned by then Warlord of the Sea, Crocodile and his secret organization, Baroque Works. After her cover as a member of the group was revealed, she enlisted the Straw Hats' help, initially as a business arrangement, though it later became a matter of friendship. After the crew stopped Crocodile's plan and her dream achieved, she decided to stay behind to rebuild her home and repair the damage caused by Baroque Works, both physical and social.


 * Chopper's dream is to become a great doctor that can cure any disease, much like his father figure Dr. Hiriluk's ambition, as well as to travel across the world, exploring with his friends, and expanding his horizons.


 * Robin's dream is to find the Rio Poneglyph which tells the True History of the One Piece world including the Void Century, continuing the research of her mother Nico Olvia and her old mentor Clover. Robin had an opportunity to learn about the Void Century after talking to Silvers Rayleigh, but decided to continue her journey. Recently, she learned about the Road Poneglyphs, which point to Laugh Tale and the Rio Poneglyph.


 * The Going Merry's dream as the crew's ship was to sail with the Straw Hats forever which it revealed to the crew upon its demise. Due to its destruction, the Going Merry's dream appeared to go unfulfilled. However, Merry's spirit inhabits the Straw Hats' new ship, the Thousand Sunny, and therefore its dream can live on through it.


 * Franky's dream is to create and travel on a dream ship which would experience countless battles, can overcome extreme hardships and can reach the end of the Grand Line. He has created the ship which the Straw Hats are riding and it's his task to keep it in good condition. Previously, one of his dreams was to beat Spandam to pieces. Fortunately, this was fulfilled toward the end of the Enies Lobby Arc.


 * Brook's dream is to return to Laboon, whom his former crew, the Rumbar Pirates, had left behind at Reverse Mountain for his safety, with the promise to return after crossing the Grand Line. He wishes to fulfill that promise to Laboon, as well as that of his former crew-mates, who died at their journey, to deliver their final song recorded in a tone dial before their death.


 * Jinbe's dream, which he inherited from his former captain, Fisher Tiger, is the coexistence of humans and the undersea dwellers. He initially resigned from Neptune's Royal Guards to join Tiger in his quest for equality, and then allied himself with the World Government by becoming a Warlord of the Sea, and with two Emperors (Edward Newgate and Charlotte Linlin) in order to protect the citizens of Fish-Man Island from being attacked. However, as stated by the Sun Pirates, those actions were mostly for the benefit of others, as they encouraged him to follow his new desire to help Luffy become the next Pirate King.

The X Mark


The X Mark is something the first seven Straw Hats (Luffy to Chopper), as well as Karoo, had on their left forearms.

During the Arabasta Arc, they had to face a very tricky opponent, Mr. 2, with his Devil Fruit Power, which can make him look like any one of them. Zoro came up with an idea to counteract this power.

They made a black X mark on their left arms, as a symbol of their belonging to the Straw Hats. To prevent this being copied by Mr. 2, it was covered by a bandage and only revealed as proof of identity. The intention being that the band appeared to be proof, but in fact, concealed the true sign. Luffy then stated that the X mark was a symbol of their friendship.

The X mark came into play three times in Arabasta:
 * 1) When Karoo reached Alubarna to deliver a message to Vivi's father, Nefertari Cobra, Chaka noticed his bandage and, thinking Karoo was wounded, tried to examine it. Karoo promptly slapped his hand away.
 * 2) When Vivi is heading toward Alubarna, the capital city of Arabasta, she met Usopp but she was not sure if he was him or not. As she asked him to show their recognizing symbol, he showed the bandage, but without uncovering the X mark. Vivi understood that he was Mr. 2 disguised as Usopp and ran away.
 * 3) When the Straw Hats were leaving Arabasta, they could not say goodbye to Vivi in a proper way, to avoid the princess being recognized by the marines as their crewmate. So, they stand with their backs facing Vivi, raising their left hands and showing their X mark. Vivi and Karoo replied in the same way too, as a symbol of their unbreakable friendship.