"It's a good day to set out to sea. First things first, I've got to get a crew
I think about ten should do, and I'll need a pirate flag
Look out world here I come, I'm going to be
The Pirate King."
Hello and welcome to One Piece 101!
The series the breaks down everyone and everything in the One Piece World
Today, we are going to be taking a look at the boy who started it all
Our main protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy
Monkey D. Luffy, better known as Strawhat Luffy to the world at large
Is a carefree yet extraordinarily driven young man who happens to be the captain
of an ever-increasingly infamous group of pirates,
rather creatively named: the Strawhats.
Luffy formed his crew with the purpose of embarking on a grand adventure:
to find the One Piece,
and thus, accomplishing his dream of becoming the Pirate King.
This is a dream Luffy developed when he was seven years old,
when he encountered the pirate, Red-Haired Shanks,
while he was living in Foosha Village-
a small province located within the Goa Kingdom, in East Blue.
Initially, Luffy wanted to join Shanks' crew,
and even went so far as to stab himself under the eye with a knife,
just to prove he was tough enough to become a pirate.
Despite this action, Shanks stated that Luffy was simply too young to join his crew.
During this time,
Luffy accidentally consumed a Devil Fruit in the possession of the Red-Haired Pirates.
(I say accidentally, but more accurately
Luffy intentionally ate the fruit, he was just unaware that it was a Devil Fruit)
Quite specifically, it was the Gomu Gomu no Mi,
which is a Paramecia type fruit
that turns its user's body into rubber.
(More on that later)
But the unfortunate result of eating a Devil Fruit
was the loss of the ability to swim.
So when Luffy was kidnapped by a bandit named Higuma The Bear,
and subsequently attacked in the water by the Lord of the Coast,
things weren't looking too great for Luffy.
However, Shanks was able to arrive in time to save Luffy,
although it cost Shanks his left arm.
After this moment, Luffy's drive increased significantly,
as he looked ahead to become a pirate even greater than his role model Shanks.
Upon the departure of the Red-Haired Pirates,
Luffy exclaimed that he would one day surpass Shanks,
and become the Pirate King.
And Shanks, acknowledging Luffy's sheer determination,
left him with his Straw Hat.
And he told Luffy to return it, once he had surpassed him.
And that really was that.
From this day onwards,
Luffy became a singularly focused individual,
training hard for the day that he would set out out sea, and began his journey.
Of course, things weren't quite that simple,
due to the influence of Luffy's grandfather, Monkey D. Garp.
A decorated hero of the Marines,
who was extremely opposed to his grandson becoming a pirate.
Just while we're on the topic of family,
Luffy also happens to be the son of Monkey D. Dragon,
who is the figurehead of the Revolutionary Army,
and the most wanted man in the world.
So yeah, Luffy's family is complicated to say the least,
and as part of a long string of questionable parenting decisions,
Garp decided to take Luffy away from Foosha Village, after he was influenced by Shanks,
and have him raised instead by mountain bandits.
Essentially, in a stunning display of logic, to prevent Luffy from becoming one type of criminal,
Garp had him raised by another type of criminal.
Sound parenting, Garp.
However, here, Luffy would meet Ace and Sabo,
and after a very rocky start to their relationship,
involving a *stint* of child torture,
the three eventually formed a very strong bond,
and even became brothers through the ritual drinking of sake.
The three of them shared their dreams with each other,
and even briefly considered starting a pirate crew of their own.
Although this idea was quickly shelved,
after it became apparent that they all wanted to be the captain.
And unfortunately after a complicated incident involving the Blue Jam Pirates,
and the corruption of the Goa Nobles,
Sabo was attacked by a celestial dragon while setting out on his adventure, and presumed dead.
After a brief period of mourning, this reinforced Luffy's desire to get stronger.
From here, Luffy watched Ace depart for his journey when he reached the age of 17,
and three years later, Luffy himself left the Goa Kingdom to commence his journey to become the Pirate King,
smacking down the Lord of the Coast in a single punch in the process.
He would then adventure around the East Blue Sea,
managing to recruit a swordsman, a navigator, a long-nose, and a chef,
many of whom initially refused the insane request to sail into the Grand Line,
but all eventually succumbed to the charisma of Luffy.
As a leader, Luffy is unorthodox to say the least,
He displays very little forethought,
and has actively been known to plunge both he and his crewmates into certain danger,
simply for the sake of adventure.
With that said,
Luffy is extraordinarily caring, loyal,
and has complete faith in his crew to overcome any form of obstacle encountered.
He has a very simple view of the world,
and his belief that he can punch his way out of any problem,
and his profound success with this philosophy,
is all part of the ol' Luffy Charm, that wins over most characters he encounters.
But while charismatic he may be,
intelligent, Luffy is not.
His simple-mindedness boils most situations down to their most basic possible form.
For example, Luffy has a tendency to disregard people's actual names,
in favor of giving them simplistic nicknames based on their appearance.
He's also just a goofball in general,
even in combat a lot of the time.
Although when push comes to shove,
Luffy is capable of an unwavering level of seriousness,
which generally occurs when someone has threatened one of his friends.
And you really don't want to be on the receiving end of one of these moods.
As such, throughout East Blue, Luffy continued to defeat stronger and stronger opponents,
until he was finally noticed by the Marines, and a bounty of 30 million Berries was placed on his head.
But by this time, Luffy was saying goodbye to East Blue, and entering the Grand Line.
Here, Luffy visited a whole host of crazy islands,
recruited four more crew members,
defeated two Warlord of the Sea,
and declared war on the World Government,
eventually earning himself a bounty of 3 HUNDRED Million Berries.
Luffy's achievements were due in no small part to his raw strength and determination,
as well as some exceptionally creative use of his Devil Fruit.
Luffy primarily takes advantage of his stretchy rubber body,
to increase the velocity and thus, force of his attacks.
However, it should be noted that Luffy is only able to access this sort of strength,
as a result of an entire childhood full of rigorous training.
When he originally ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi,
his powers were essentially useless.
But over time, Luffy built up the strength to make his abilities a force to be reckoned with,
as demonstrated frequently in the Grand Line.
Furthermore, after encountering Marine Admiral Aokiji on Long Ring Long Island,
Luffy realized the need to evolve his abilities,
and ended up creating "Gears,".
Gear Second involves the speeding up of Luffy's bloodflow,
providing parts of his body with increased levels of oxygen,
and thus allowing him to move at great speeds with heavily increased power.
And then there's the much more crudely developed Gear Third.
Whereby Luffy inflates a part of his body, becoming capable of delivering devastating attacks,
albeit at a fairly regular speed.
And in addition to his combative achievements,
Luffy made an absurd amount of friends and allies, as well as even crossed paths with his brother, Ace.
Upon reaching the halfway point of the Grand Line, and landing at Sabaody Archipelago,
we would also discover that Luffy was considered to be one of the eleven Supernovas,
a term which refers to a set of rookie pirates,
all of whom had bounties of over 100 Million Berries, who arrived at this point in the Grand Line
at roughly the same time.
Although the term "Supernova," would later be dropped in favor of referring to this group as
"The Worst Generation,".
Also on Sabaody Archipelago, for the first time in the series, the Strawhats would be completely defeated.
In the process, the Strawhats would be sent flying all around the world by Barhtolomew Kuma,
with Luffy ending up on the island of Amazon Lily, in the calm belt.
Alone for the first time since the inception of the manga,
Luffy's goal was initially to return to the archipelago,
However this very quickly changed when he heard the news that Ace had been captured by the Marines,
and was going to be publicly executed.
Luffy then resolved to break into the underwater prison of Impel Down to save his brother
and despite completing the monumental task of reaching Level 6 of the institution,
he arrived too late, as Ace was already being transferred to Marineford.
Here, Luffy's charisma would be put on full display,
as he managed to corral a band of prisoners, many of whom were former direct enemies of his,
a force of hidden Revoltuionaries, and even a former Warlord of the Sea or two, into one fighting force.
And thus, he led the one and only mass breakout of Impel Down,
in recorded history.
Luffy made swiftly from Marineford with his new makeshift crew,
where he encountered more allies, as well as significantly more enemies.
And rather sadly, his efforts ended up being for naught.
As during the battle, Ace would be killed by (then) Marine Admiral, Akainu.
This sent Luffy to the darkest emotional place he'd ever been in.
But he did eventually recover, thanks to the help of Jinbe,
as well as the thought of his comrades who were still alive and well.
But recognizing that he was not currently strong enough to continue his journey,
Luffy took up a training offer from Silvers Rayleigh,
the First Mate of the former Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.
And this would be absolutely invaluable,
because Rayleigh taught Luffy how to utilize and master all three types of Haki.
Including Conqueror's Haki,
a rare ability that only one in several million posess.
And y'know of course Luffy has it because he's the main character after all.
And after 2 Years of training,
the Strawhats finally reunited on Sabaody Archipelago,
and within a few days had already picked a fight with two of the four Emperors of the New World,
and defeated a third Warlord of the Sea.
The latter achievement sent Luffy's bounty up to 500 Million Berries,
but more importantly, it showed us Luffy's new combat capabilities.
In addition to mastering all three types of Haki,
Luffy had fused the techniques with his former abilities, in order to create a new Gear,
know as Gear Fourth.
This form differs greatly from the previous two incarnations of Gears,
in that it is far more versatile, and allows for greater control of his body,
allowing him to cater Gear Fourth for specific opponents or scenarios.
The most commonly used form is Boundman,
where Luffy essentially becomes a Haki-covered bouncy ball,
giving him access to ridiculous speed and absurd power.
Although other forms do exist, including the improvised Tankman,
which Luffy achieved after eating more than his fair share of biscuits against Charlotte Cracker,
and the yet to be animated, Snakeman,
which Luffy conjured in his battle against Charlotte Katakuri.
Speaking of, after causing untold havoc in the New World, specifically on Whole Cake Island,
Luffy has now earned himself a staggering bounty of 1.5 Billion Berries.
In addition to this mighty number,
his following is now so large that he is unofficially considered to be the fifth Emperor of the New World.
But even then, Luffy still has an awfully long way to go before becoming the Pirate King.
Some more fun facts about Luffy:
According to Dracule Mihawk, Luffy posesses the most dangerous ability in the world:
which is his tendency to turn pretty much everyone around him into an ally,
through sheer, unintended, charisma.
According to Eiichiro Oda, if one piece was set in the real world,
then Luffy would be from the country of Brazil.
Furthermore, if Luffy did not become a pirate,
then he would have pursued a career as a firefighter.
Quite often you will se the number 56 or the numbers 5 and 6 associated with Luffy.
This is because in Japanese, 5 and 6 can be pronounced as "Go," and "Mu,"
which is a reference to the name of Luffy's Devil Fruit, the Gomu Gomu no Mi.
Luffy is one of the rare main characters in Shounen Manga,
who has never been dethroned in a character popularity poll,
having comfortably secured 1st place in 6 official polls, conducted over the last two decades.
And finally, a TRULY useless fact,
Luffy's favorite food is meat.
No specific kind of meat though, anything will do really,
and his least favorite food is cherry pie.
And that pretty much does it for Luffy.
Well no, it doesn't.
It doesn't even come close actually, summarizing a protaganist we've been following for over two decades
is a pretty rough task, but I hope you've been engaged in this ever so brief overview.
[Outro]