Straw Hat Pirates

The Straw Hat Pirates (麦わらの一味) are a pirate crew that started in East Blue. They are the main focus and heroes of the anime and manga One Piece, and are led by the main protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy. The "Straw Hats" are named after Luffy's signature straw hat that was given to him by Red-Haired Shanks, and are first referred to as the Straw Hat Pirates by Smoker in Alabasta. The crew sailed on the Going Merry, their first official Straw Hat ship, up until the Water 7 Arc. After the Enies Lobby Arc, they obtain a new ship called the Thousand Sunny. The Straw Hats currently consist of nine members whose combined bounties equal 800,000,050.

Following events on the Sabaody Archipelago, all nine members were separated from one another. For two years, they train in relatively isolated locations, becoming stronger for the sake of helping each other.

Jolly Roger
The crew's Jolly Roger is a depiction of a traditional skull and cross-bone with the skull wearing Luffy's trademark straw hat. The Jolly Roger for the crew was painted by Usopp. In addition to being on their flag, the Jolly Roger is also been shown on the sails of the Going Merry and the Thousand Sunny.

Crew Members
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 One Piece world. Their ranks have members so vastly different from one another that it almost seems random in retrospect.

These include: a doctor who is 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; a cyborg for a shipwright who has very eccentric behavior and wears almost nothing except shirts and speedos; and a musician who is a lively, undead, perverted skeleton

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

Crew Strength
Despite only having a small number of members, the Straw Hats are a very powerful crew. Their captain has continuously defeated people who are renowned for their incredible strength such as Crocodile and Gekko Moriah of the Shichibukai, the highly feared tyrant Enel from Skypiea, the infamous Rob Lucci of the CP9 and the legendary Shiki the "Gold Lion". The crew itself has done things which most would think impossible and completely insane like defeating an entire organization (such as Baroque Works and CP9) and punching a World Noble and breaking in and out of the Judicial Island, Enies Lobby. In fact, after the incident that occurred at Enies Lobby, the World Government has labeled them as a very dangerous crew.

All of them have at least one talent at which they are almost perfect at and each member is, more or less, a formidable if not downright fearsome fighter in their own right. While most of them have amazing strength in one way or another, three of them, the captain, the swordsman, and the chef, have such astonishingly inhuman strength that the rest of the crew have dubbed them the "Monster Trio".

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

Overall, their most unique strength is the fact that the Straw Hat crew, on many occasions, are extremely lucky, being able to achieve many things that would be considered impossible feats. One of their more legendary feats was to openly punch a world noble to the full glare of the world.

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. This 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, or even in their descent down to Fishman Island. However, whenever a crisis pops up, like storms, tidal waves, large sea life or falling ships, the crew instantly snap out of their relaxed stupor 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.

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

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 Straw Hats a wasteful trash when the fake Luffy boasts of his lineage in front of him, prompting Sentomaru to take him down with a single blow of his axe.

The crew have gained legendary status since they first set sail, on par with all the other major crews of the world. They are currently the only known pirate crew to openly wage war against the World Government and have practically gotten away with it. It still stands that they are the only pirate crew to have escape from every branch of law enforcement that the government could throw at them; The Shichibukai, 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 two 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.

When news of them resurfaced, the entire Marine organization was thrown into a frenzy to stamp on their revival whilst the rest of the pirates cheered on. It is possible that their fame had 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. Sentomaru goes as far as to award the fake Luffy a tough blow when he tried to boast of his lineage, saying that the real one would never have done so.



By the end of their two-year long training, it could be presumed that the Straw Hats have grown exponentially in individual power, as 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. Zoro has been shown to easily cut a huge galleon ship into half while underwater with only one sword. Each member of the Monster Trio have shown to be able to defeat a Pacifista in a single attack, whereas it took the combined efforts of the entire crew to barely beat one before. Luffy easily destroyed a Pacifista with a single Haki-embedded Jet Pistol, and 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 hundred times larger than the Thousand Sunny itself) without much of an effort underwater, where all their strength is greatly decreased. Afterwards Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Brook defeat all the troops stationed in the Ryuugu Palace with ease. The crew also easily took out the 100,000 lower members of the New Fishman Pirates which consisted of about 70,000 fishmen and 30,000 humans with Luffy alone taking out about 50,000 people with a single burst of Haoshoku Haki.

It seems that during their two-year absence, the Marines have remained ever-vigilant in case they return, despite the major belief they all mysteriously died off, as when a group of impostors appeared in Sabaody Archipelago, the Marines immediately mobilized to stop them.

Bounties
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 in 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 (with the exception of Luffy and Zoro, who took down the dreaded Axe Hand Morgan and several of his unwilling subordinates, and Sanji, who beat up Fullbody and possibly some other unfortunate Marines prior to becoming an official Straw Hat ) - 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 aren't familiar with them. While this is a hassle for them, 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 blame and being portrayed as the villains. Their current bounties total up to 800,000,050.

Relationships Amongst the Crew
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.

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 Straw Hat'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, and Franky 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 involve traveling the Grand Line, and each Straw Hat member refuses to die before achieving their dreams. However, their determination doesn't 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 conquer the Grand Line and find Gol D. Roger's famed treasure, One Piece, which is implied to be on Raftel. As for a crew, he has currently recruited eight people who have caught his attention. Luffy also looks forward to meeting up with Shanks again and returning his straw hat to him, but will only do so after Shanks acknowledges him as a great pirate.


 * 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. However, Zoro nearly gave up his dream and life in an attempt to convince Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma to refrain from killing Luffy. This is despite the fact that when they first met, Zoro threatened to kill Luffy if he got in the way of his dream, thus 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 even 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, including much of East Blue.


 * Usopp's dream is to become a brave warrior of the sea like his father, Yasopp. Although he has implied that he has accomplished this dream (before he leaves the crew), Usopp has a second dream. After the Little Garden Arc, he also developed a secondary dream to visit Elbaf and see the warrior giants he idolizes. During the Post-War Arc Usopp develops 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 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 Fishman Island someday to see a mermaid, which has recently 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, Sanji, upon seeing Absalom's detestable actions, changed his mind about his desire to consume it.


 * Chopper's dream is to become a great doctor that can cure any disease, much like his father figure Dr. Hiluluk'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, continuing the research of her mother Nico Olivia and her old mentor Clover.


 * 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. In the end it was a dream it could not achieve, it was last seen as it was given a Viking funeral (because the "bottom of the sea is dark and lonely"). However, Merry's spirit supposedly inhabits the Straw Hats' new ship, the Thousand Sunny, and therefore its dream may live on through it.


 * Franky's dream is to create and travel with 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 Thousand Sunny which the Straw Hat crew are currently riding on and its his task to keep it in good condition and sail with it to the end of Grand Line.


 * Brook's dream is to return to his crewmate 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 crewmates, who died at their journey, to deliver their final song recorded in a Tone Dial before their deaths.

The X Mark
The X Mark is something the first six Straw Hats (Luffy through Chopper), as well as Nefertari Vivi and Carue, have on their left forearms.

During their adventure in Alabasta, they had to face a very tricky opponent, Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, with his Devil Fruit Power, which can make him look like anyone 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 Alabasta:
 * 1) When Carue reached Alubarna to deliver a message to Cobra, Chaka noticed his bandage and, thinking Carue was wounded, tried to examine it. Carue promptly slapped his hand away.
 * 2) When Vivi is heading toward Alubarna, the capital city of Alabasta Kingdom, she met Usopp but she wasn't 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 Bon Kurei disguised as Usopp and ran away.
 * 3) When the Straw Hats were leaving Alabasta, they could not say good bye 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. Vivi and Carue replied in the same way too, as a symbol of their unbreakable friendship tie.

Changes After 2 Years
As promised, every Straw Hat has returned to Sabaody Archipelago. Roronoa Zoro was the first to arrive, and after him was Franky; then Nami, Usopp, Tony Tony Chopper, Sanji, Brook, Nico Robin, and finally Monkey D. Luffy.



These changes include:
 * Luffy has gained an X-shaped scar on the chest caused by Akainu in Marineford. He also now wears a yellow sash, similar to Zoro's. He mastered the three forms of Haki, and has enhanced his Devil Fruit powers to point of vulcanizing his rubber body, making it extremely hard without losing its elasticity, and even being able to generate explosions with the impact of his attacks.
 * Zoro has gained a scar over his left eye similar to Rayleigh, as well as having gained more muscle. He now also wears a green robe, instead of a shirt and pants, and a red sash. He has been enhanced with stronger versions of his old techniques and seems to have mastered his "flying slash" attacks greatly.
 * Nami gained a more "developed" body, she has also let her hair grow and obtained technology from Weatheria, including many "Weather Balls". She has upgraded her Perfect Climatact to Sorcery Climatact.
 * Usopp has developed a muscular body and has grown a faint goatee, wearing a white hat with longer hair tied back, using plants called "pop greens" as weapons and claims that he has become a braver warrior. He now uses a smaller version of his Kabuto slingshot, and has also replaced his pair of goggles.
 * Sanji's goatee grew significantly thicker, as well as a soul patch with it, and a few mustache hairs. He revealed his left eye, while covering his right eye with his hair. He has mastered his Diable Jambe, being able to activate it without spinning and generate more flames than usual. He has developed an ability to swim at very high speed using only his legs, a flying ability similar to CP9's Geppou, and he has learned the Spectrum technique from Ivankov.
 * Chopper's hybrid (half-man, half-reindeer) form has a lighter fur tone compared to two years ago, and in his animal form he appears as a fully grown reindeer. Another change is that he is wearing some kind of helmet over his hat, giving him the appearance of wearing an oversized baseball cap. He developed a new form named Kung Fu Point, and has reinforced his horn point, while his 'guard' form has grown dramatically in size. All of his 7 transformation points have been renewed and reinforced and he is able to freely transform into 6 of them without a Rumble Ball, requiring it only for the remaining one.
 * Robin no longer has bangs and her hair is much longer. It is pulled back with a pair of sunglasses resting at the top of her forehead. She has mastered her Devil Fruit powers to the point of being able to generate thousands of parts (generating gigantic limbs) of her body and even able to bloom her entire body, thus cloning herself.
 * Franky has used the technology from Dr. Vegapunk's research lab to develop a bigger and more advanced body (adding a "BF-37" tattoo to symbolize the latest and greatest model, Battle Franky 37), his bulky arms with oval shape were replaced for square ones, and he installed a device in his nose to control his hair. He now usually goes with a shorter, buzz-cut hairstyle, but can revert to his old style or change to a new one. His arsenal has increased in firepower as well; he now has rocket launchers at his disposal.
 * Brook, who has replaced his gentleman-style outfit with rockstar clothing, has gained notoriety as a famous musician with the title of "Soul King". He has learned the true nature of his Devil Fruit allowing him to put his body back together if the pieces get separated and to separate his soul from his body (acting like a real ghost by astral projection). He also improved his musical ability, to the point where he can even hypnotize people.

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