These are the scars of Monkey D. Luffy, the hero of One Piece. The trademark one
he has under his left eye, that he inflicts on himself to prove his determination to become a
pirate to Shanks. And of course the large gruesome looking one on his chest in the same of a giant
X where Akainu's attack hit him after he had taken Ace's life. Both are reminders of the
two most life-altering moments in Luffy's life, a visual representation of Luffy's determination to
become a great pirate and of the tragic loss of his older brother and his failure at Marineford.
And when I thought about it for a second, it hit me. It's not only Luffy's scars that represent who
he is as a person and what path he follows, no, this is true for every single character
in the story that carries a scar. Zoro, Kaido, Shanks, Nami, Shanks, Katakuri, Whitebeard. Every,
single scar they carry is a manifestation of what they have gone through and what they stand for.
But it gets even crazier than that, because I think I have discovered that these scars reveal
to us many of the things that still have to happen before the end of the story,
making it one of the most badass ways of storytelling in the entire story to me.
And for me, Luffy is of course the best person to begin with, because, well,
he's the protagonist. So what do the marks on his rubbery body tell us about the end of one
piece? Well, as I've said, these scars represent the most important events in Luffy's entire life,
both of which are still unresolved. The knife cut under his left eye is a constant reminder
throughout the story, that our rubbery boy had one dream and one dream only his entire life:
Not becoming a doctor and then a marine and then a pirate. No. Luffy wanted to become the
pirate king ever since he met shanks. To me it almost feels like a physical representation of
his oath that he will become a great pirate. It's also a reminder of Shanks' sacrifice,
the lesson he taught luffy in the pub with the mountain bandits and of course
the moment Luffy consumed his devil fruit, that set him on his path to become a pirate captain
and start his own crew. It also proves to us and I guess to Luffy himself as well right
from the start, that he is aware that the path to freedom will be painful and full of sacrifices,
but that he is willing to take all of it on. And so I think it's pretty fair to say that this
little scar, is a summary of Luffy's origins and his motivation for what he is doing and
trying to achieve throughout the story. But what does it tell us about the ending?
Well as you probably have guessed, this scar also commemorates his promise to Shanks to
return the legendary straw hat that was passed down from Roger to him to Luffy,
symbolising Shanks' trust in Luffy as the one who can change the world.
While the scar keeps reminding us that Luffy is still trying to become that great pirate,
it also promises us a reunion of the two men, that will mark Luffy as ready to claim the
throne of the pirate world. Which as you know, I believe should be happening pretty soon now. I see
this scar basically as a guarantee that we will have a reunion between Shanks and luffy and of
Luffy becoming pirate king, so that the promise that is sealed in his cheek can be fulfilled.
Shanks, who himself of course carries two major scars, his lost arm, though I guess that's a
pretty damn big scar, is basically Shanks' counterpart to Luffy's reminding us and him
of their promise. Meanwhile the three distinct claw marks over his eyes, that he received during
a confrontation with Blackbeard, represent his futile quest to stop Teach from gaining power,
something that he has failed to do so far. This scar also is a promise to us, that the
relationship between Shanks and Blackbeard will have a payoff later in the story. It could of
course be an actual meeting between the two, with a chance for Shanks to fulfil his mission,
though we both know that that would probably have no good ending for him.
Or alternatively we will at least get the story behind Shanks' chase of Teach, and the secrets
both of them know about the world, that we are still unaware of. And so I like to see this triple
scar as a representation of Shanks' all-seeing nature and of his attempt to stop Blackbeard.
He even presents it to whitebeard during their meeting, who by the way mentions his owns scars
he received from Roger when he sees Shanks. In case you're wondering that's of course because
Shanks was part of Rogers crew. So seeing Shanks reminds Whitebeard of his old rival and all the
fights and feasts they experienced together. His major battles and life events commemorated
on his chest. They also represent Whitebeards character, someone who always stood protectingly
in front of his crew, which he called his family. Something that Eiichiro Oda, the author of One
PIece actually dedicated an entire page to at his passing, showing a very emotional me at that time,
that this man didn't have a single scar on his back, never running away and always facing his
enemies head on. Without any doubt one of my all-time favorite moments in the entire story.
And it's made extra powerful because Oda-sensei doesn't tell us all this,
but simply shows us his scars and his lack thereof on his back. Brilliant.
And of course Whitebeard's death at Marineford, how he came prepared to die
so that his son Ace could live and how Akainu put an end to his dream and era,
all of it is deeply engraved in Luffy's chest in the shape of his gaping x shaped scar. He received
it when his own brother gave his life to protect his and when Jinbe also risked being killed
to protect Luffy. As I've discussed in a lot of detail before in a number character analyses I
did on Luffy, Marineford and Ace's death were the lowest point in his arc and the moment he
grew most as a character. The need to take the world more seriously, to learn that failure is a
possibility and to get strong enough to protect his crew and change the world. It's another
promise that Luffy makes to himself when he starts his training with Rayleigh, that is
enclosed in his healing wound on his chest. The X by the way I like to think is a nice nod to
the X that Ace had in his tattoo, in memory of their third brother Sabo's Jolly Roger.
The scar also tells us more about Luffy and his ability to make people love and trust in him,
because it is the product of his brother and Jinbe and the whitebeard pirates as a whole protecting
him. And once again, I think it tells us things that will definitely happen in the story. There
is of course Luffy's eventual encounter with Akainu and how Luffy will deal with the man that
killed his brother. Will he fight him or forgive him. I really cant wait. I personally also like
to think that the scar sets up the possible death of another person close to Luffy, only that this
time Luffy will be able to stop it. Whether this is Sabo, one of the straw hats or someone else,
I don't know, but I feel that this scar will serve as a reminder of Luffy that he became stronger to
not lose another person like he did Ace. If you wanted to be really poetic you could even say
that these scars represent the inherited will of the people they are connected to,
Shanks and Ace, that Luffy now carries. And here I thought scars couldn't get any cooler.
But here is the real reason why I think that these scars let us know exactly what still
has to happen in the story. What I've noticed is that certain fights leave characters like
Luffy or Zoro with lasting scars, while others don't. For example, Luffy doesn't have a scar
from the fight with Katakuri, despite probably being the most vile wound he received yet.
Or being impaled by crocodile. In theory, if Luffy's little knife left a scar, shouldn't he be
covered scars from all his fights? I think the reason that only certain wounds leave scars is
because they represent an unresolved or ongoing conflict of the character. Luffy needs to meet
shanks and face akainu. Shanks and blackbeard. Zoro and Mihawk, though I do want to save Zoro's
scars for a whole separate video if you want to see that. You have the scars of both Akainu and
Aokiji reminding them of their unresolved conflict of how the marines should be lead. But maybe my
favourite example of all is the scar that Oden gave to Kaido. The giant cut across his chest.
Because even though Oden is dead, Kaido's conflict about that fight
is not over. The fact that he won this duel in an inhonorable way because someone distracted Oden,
still haunts him to this day. I go into much more detail about this in Kaido's character analysis,
but to sum it up, this scar embodies the burden that Kaido has put on himself to reach his goal to
change the world, even if it means going against his honor,
that is so important to him and the joy of fighting against a strong opponent in a
fair fight. The scar is there, because Kaido is still struggling with what it represents.
Nami's scar across her shoulder embodies her struggle under Arlong and how she got saved by
Luffy. The reason you don't see her scar, is because she decided to tattoo over it,
making it vanish because the conflict connected to is has been resolved.
Or take brullee and her scar across the face, that represented her ongoing conflict
with her own family and also Katakuri's struggle to be the strong older brother,
that can't show any kind of weakness. As you might remember Brullee got the
scar after being attacked by other kids, until Katakuri stepped in to protect her. Katakrui by
the way with his own scars around his mouth that he got from eating too many doughnuts,
that he got bullied for and thus made him forever hide his face until Luffy came around.
And so the reason, why Luffy DOESN'T carry a scar from this fight with Katakuri is because there
is no more conflict between them. They are two men who helped each other and found
deep respect for their opponent. Katakuri on the other hand, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he
kept a scar of where he stabbed himself. After all it is a reminder of how luffy changed his life,
physical proof for his honor as a man for making the fight fair
and opening up the chance to reunite with luffy in the future as a possible ally.
Another great example for this would be Kid and his new scar that he got from Shanks. It also
embodies the unresolved conflict between them and how Kid wants to take down the Yonko.
And if you want to know the whole story behind kid and all the rage and anger
he has and why he thinks he needs to take down all the yonko on his own,
well then you just really can't miss out on this video here where I explain all that and more.