Monkey D. Luffy

**Monkey D. Luffy**,[1] also known as **"Straw Hat Luffy"** and commonly as **"Straw Hat"**,[4] is the main protagonist of the manga and anime, *One Piece*. He is the son of the Revolutionary leader Monkey D. Dragon,[19] the grandson of the Marine hero Monkey D. Garp,[20] the sworn brother of late "Fire Fist" Portgas D. Ace and Revolutionary chief of staff Sabo, and the foster son of Curly Dadan. Luffy is a pirate and his lifelong dream is to become the Pirate King by finding the legendary treasure left behind by the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.[21] He believes that being Pirate King means having the most freedom in the world.[22] He has eaten theGomu Gomu no Mi, which gives the consumer's body the properties of rubber.[23] As the founder and captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, he is the first member of the crew, as well as one of its top three fighters.[24]

Luffy has a worldwide reputation for causing trouble, challenging the Shichibukai, the Marines, and two of the Yonko (Big Mom andKaido), additionally committing felonies and actions which were deemed threatening by the World Government. Furthermore, in the majority of these confrontations, he emerges as the victor. He has gained a reputation for being "reckless" and, in some cases, "insane", after causing an incident in Enies Lobby, assaulting aWorld Noble at Sabaody Archipelago, entering and escaping fromImpel Down, and joining the Battle of Marineford.

He is, therefore, infamous for being the only known pirate to not only deliberately attack the three most important government facilities, but also escape from all of them alive. The additional fact that he punched a World Noble with full knowledge of the consequences, as well as his heritage, has caused Luffy to be labeled as a "Dangerous Future Element", earning the wrath ofFleet Admiral Sakazuki and Marine Headquarters.[25]

These acts, among other things, have given him his current bounty of 500,000,000, one of the highest past or present bounties in the series. Having had a bounty of 300,000,000 prior to his arrival at the Sabaody Archipelago, Luffy is one of eleven rookie pirates who have reached the Red Line, pirates with bounties over 100,000,000[26] who would go on to be referred as the "Worst Generation" [27].

## Appearance

Luffy is renowned for his trademark straw hat (from which he gets his nickname "Straw Hat Luffy"), which was lent to him when he was young by the legendary pirate captain, "Red-Haired" Shanks,[28] who in turn received it from Gol D. Roger.[29] He wears short, blue trousers with cuffs, sandals, and a sleeveless red vest. Luffy also has a scar with two stitches underneath his left eye (which he earned by stabbing a knife under his eye to show Shanks that he was tough)[30] and short, messy black hair. He was severely wounded by Akainu in the Battle of Marineford,[31] leaving a large X-shaped scar on his chest.[32] Appearing to be scrawny underneath his shirt, he has a surprisingly well-built physique. He is quite short since he appears dwarfed by most individuals in the series (though it must be noted that characters in One Piece are often very tall for real life standards).

### Before Timeskip

Similar to most of his male crewmates, Luffy has the same outfit throughout most of the series, as opposed to the rest of the crew (especially Nami and Nico Robin), who change frequently. Luffy may wear a different outfit to suit the climate of an island (like a hooded parka on Drum Island[33] or desert robes in Alabasta[34]), but will switch back to his trademark red vest and blue shorts after the adventures on that island are over. Despite this, he will wear his usual outfit in different colors and has been known to sport other miscellaneous items on his person from time to time like in Thriller Bark and Sabaody Archipelago. According to Eiichiro Oda, Luffy does not know how to dress stylishly so sometimes he is advised on how to dress by the well-liked team members such as Sanji or Usopp.

* During the Drum Island Arc, he wore two parkas, the first being a dark red parka with fur on the cuffs, hood, and hem,[33] and then a checkered, hooded parka with the colors white, orange and bright yellow, which Nami wore in the beginning.[35]

* During the Alabasta Arc, he wore desert robes consisting of a dark red robe with three white rings decorated along both of the sleeves and a light blue wrap over his head.[34]

* During the Skypiea Arc, he wore a black wristband around his left wrist with a white bangle over it.[36] In 37 Volume SBS, Oda said that two members of his crew lent him accessories: a black wristband by Usopp and a white bracelet by Sanji.[37]

* During the Long Ring Long Land Arc, Luffy wore an afro on his head, dark red shorts, and red bandages on his feet, getting an image of a blue flaming skull and crossbones painted on his chest as well, when he was fighting Foxy.[38]

* During the Enies Lobby Arc, he wore black shorts which had more pockets than his blue shorts (However, Luffy noted that he couldn't fit his meat in them.).[39]

* During the Post-Enies Lobby Arc, Luffy wore a white T-shirt with the Galley-La Company emblem on it in red; red liners around the top, shoulders, and collar; and navy blue shorts.[40]

* During the Thriller Bark Arc, he wore an orange vest and red shorts.[41] After the battle against Moriah in Thriller Bark, Luffy wore a dark decorated, jewelled armband around his left bicep, given to him by Nami.[42] This armband was later revealed to be a map that leads to Captain John's lost treasure, which Buggysought for some time - leading to Luffy handing the armband in for Buggy in exchange for his services at helping him navigate through Impel Down.[43]

* During the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, in the manga he wore a blue vest and red shorts (which can be seen on the cover of volume 52). In the anime he wore the same blue vest, but with dark blue shorts.[44]

* During the Amazon Lily Arc, Luffy wore a light blue vest with red shorts.[45]

* During the Impel Down Arc, Luffy wore his outfit from his stay on Amazon Lily until after his fight withMagellan, at which point he replaced his light blue vest with a bright yellow vest given to him by Inazuma.[46]

No matter where he is, Luffy wears his Straw Hat through absolutely everything, though at the start, the hat was prone to getting knocked off his head easily, forcing Luffy to either put it aside or have someone hold onto it during fights. From the Alabasta Arc onward, he has gotten a string strap for it, which was sewn on by Nami, allowing the hat to hang from his neck during fights.

During his return to Marineford to give a silent prayer, Luffy was briefly shown with four characters written on his right arm spelling 2Y,[47] with the 3D crossed out to symbolize that the Straw Hat Pirates should meet up in 2 years (**2Y**) rather than the 3 days (**3D**) as planned after fleeing from Bartholomew Kuma.[48]

### After the Timeskip

After those two years, a few things have changed. Luffy wears an open, long-sleeved red cardigan with four buttons (which shows the **X**-shaped scar covering most of his chest he received by then-Admiral Akainu), with a yellow sash tied around his waist, somewhat reminiscent of Gol D. Roger's outfit. He has grown slightly taller, and is shown to be significantly more muscular due to his training. This can be seen in his slightly thicker neck, more pronounced deltoids, and better-defined chest.[49] During his fight with Sanji, Luffy loses one of his top teeth after being struck by a Diable Jambe Joue Shot directly into his face.[50] However, it grew back after he drank a bottle of milk.[51]

* During the Punk Hazard Arc, Luffy wore a long winter coat with red and white horizontal strips, along with yellow ear muffs, which he stole from one of Brownbeard's Centaur Patrol Unit.[52]

* During the Dressrosa Arc, Luffy wore an open, short-sleeved shirt with a sunflower pattern, along with his standard blue shorts and yellow sash. He also wore a fake beard.[53] Upon entering the tournament for theMera Mera no Mi in the Corrida Colosseum, he wore viking-style armor, complete with a sword and shield, until it was stripped from him due to violation of the weight restriction.[54] Upon revision to the weight restriction, he added a cape and wore the same viking style helmet he wore previously. Along with his registration number '0556' on the back of his shirt, obscured by his cape.[55] When he recovered after his battle against Doflamingo, Luffy wore a red tank top along with his standard shorts in brown.[56]
* During the Whole Cake Island Arc, Luffy wore an open, fancy white cardigan with puffy sleeves along with his standard shorts in red. He also had a decorative scarf wrapped around his straw hat after landing at the Seducing Woods, though he appears to have lost it during his battle with Charlotte Cracker. These clothes were eventually torn to shreds after several battles and he later dons a new outfit to meet with Capone Bege; a red suit jacket with a black shirt and a red ascot along with red formal shorts. He also fitted a black fedora to the top of his straw hat.

## Personality

Luffy's two dominant traits are his apparent lack of intelligence and his utter fearlessness.[19] Luffy can easily be amazed by the simplest things, such as hermit crabs, and can be confused by concepts such as that by digging a hole right next to another he may be unintentionally filling the other hole. In addition, during long and complex explanations of something, he immediately calls it magic.[20] He likes monsters and will ask weird creatures to join his crew (as seen in the Thriller Bark Arc, asking a talking tree to join his crew). He also has no knowledge of medicine: when Nami had a high fever he told her to eat cold food and later tried to make Roronoa Zoro better (after battling Bartholomew Kuma) by pouring sake onto him because Zoro likes sake. When attempting to think up a plan to get off of Amazon Lily, while he managed to make some logical sense of where to look, he is seen to strain himself and notes that he is going to feel sick from too much thinking.[21] He is rarely disturbed by violence and bloodshed as he has fought his whole life. Even the worst battlefields rarely disturb him except when it involves a friend or relative as in the case of Ace. He is seemingly unphased by the most horrifying sights such as headless men left after Law's attacks or the extreme violence of Kid.

Luffy's personality is like that of a child's, in the sense that he tends to go to the extremes. He can either be extremely greedy, especially in cases of food, who his crew is, and adventure; or extraordinarily selfless, going so far as to virtually sacrifice himself to avenge or protect his friends, crew, and family. This childish mentality of his allows him to get to the root of the problem, and allows him to figure out the most simple way of solving it.

He almost never gets irritated with normal people, though there are a few exceptions, like when they seem to have an opposite taste in food as he, or when they ask if they can take a look at his "privates". Luffy also has no problem with other people stretching and playing with his rubber body, however, he does get a little irritated if they are doing so while he's in the middle of eating.

Luffy calls every mixed-appearance creature he finds by whichever creature is its secondary (non-dominant) part. On Gaimon's island, the dog/chicken was referred to as a chicken when it was mostly a dog, the snake/rabbit a rabbit even though it was mostly snake, and the pig/lion a lion even though it was mostly pig.[22] This becomes a running gag: later when he meets Bananawani, he calls them bananas with crocodiles attached to them. Also, after seeing Pierre transform, he continued to refer to him as a "horse" instead of a bird. And related to this running gag, when on Long Ring Long Land island, he called every animal by what he thought they resembled rather than the actual species they were.

Another interesting personality trait is that during sailing, he likes to sit on the bow of the ship, such as the head of the Going Merryand the Thousand Sunny, the nose of Rocket Man, the head of the right Yuda of the Kuja Pirates' ship or even on top of the front cannon of a captured Marines' ship.

Luffy's interest in women is a complex matter: in an SBS Volume 54, Oda stated that the reason Luffy acted in an aroused manner when Nami stripped, yet remained neutral when Hancock did so, was that he was with Usopp at the time Nami did so, as Usopp is his age and a bad influence on his behavior.[23] He also hasn't yet displayed any romantic inclinations, having nonchalantly refused to marry Hancock without a second thought. Ironically, despite his lack of interest in all things love related, Luffy has earned the affections of many women along his travels (such as Alvida's admiration, the love of Boa Hancock, etc.), quite a few of whom are royalty.

Luffy has shown to admire heroes, though he has stated vehemently that he really does not want to be one, his reasoning more-or-less translating that the definition of a good hero is to be entirely selfless. Ironically, many of Luffy's actions are mostly selfless, with his selfishness mainly revolving around his gluttony and his thirst for adventure. This trait leaves everyone he meets with to think he is some kind of hero, but not by his own design. However, he is easily convinced by Jinbe for his plan of becoming a hero of the Fishman Island with an agreement of meat.

Luffy acquired the reputation of a very dangerous person because of his recklessness and even insanity. However, unlike other pirates who have a reputation as a psycho (like the Killer of the Marines Caribou orBellamy) for unjust violence against civilians or authorities, Luffy gained his reputation for helping his friends in the face of power, usually passing over beyond the bounds of reasoning.

It is shown that Luffy can get irritated when his crew or people around him constantly whine about the dangers they are in that he caused, which is mostly shown in Zou. He would appreciate if people stayed happy and cheery in these situations, like the rabbit mink Carrot.

When his adoptive older brother Ace was killed at Marineford, the mental strain of watching Ace die in his arms caused him to fall into a catatonic state. After waking from this state, Luffy flew into a rage and went on a destructive rampage to vent his grief and anger. Afterwards, Luffy re-evaluated himself and came to the conclusion that he had been too naïve, and was weak and unworthy of becoming Pirate King, falling into a state of depression and self-pity. Some encouragement from Jinbe and Rayleigh gave Luffy some renewed courage to continue pursuing his dream. After the timeskip, he tells Rayleigh that he will be Pirate King, having regained his confidence to fight for his dream.

Luffy is also a extremely heavy sleeper. During the operation to ruin Sanji and Pudding's wedding ceremony, Jinbe could not wake him up even after smacking him hard several times and yelling directly into his ears. Only after he was presented meat, his favorite food, did he finally woke up.

### Adventurous Spirit

Luffy also has an extreme thirst for adventure, which he has stated is the main reason he wants to become thePirate King, having the belief that the Pirate King would be the one on the entire ocean with the most freedom for adventuring. In fact, Luffy rejects becoming anyone's ruler or boss, as he wishes to be free to do whatever he wants and does not want to take away other's freedom. Such was the case when the Straw Hat Grand Fleet was formed; from the start, Luffy refused to become the fleet's boss and instead wanted the factions to be equals that come to each others' aid whenever they need each other. Because of this adventurous nature, he tends to avoid taking 'the easy way out' at times, such as when he destroyed the Eternal Pose to Nanimonai Island given to him by Robin (Miss All-Sunday at the time), stating that he did not want an enemy to decide his destination. On Zou when Usopp implied that it may be possible to steal the Road Poneglyphs and get to Raftel without fighting the Yonko at all, Luffy showed a look of extreme disappointment. He also has no intention of trying to learn what or where One Piece actually is until he finds it himself, and once stated he would quit being a pirate if his crew tried to find out, not wanting to 'go on a boring adventure'.[24] Luffy has no actual sense of caution and in fact, has been known to literally laugh in the face of danger and walk into potentially harmful situations with a massive grin as, for example, when the Straw Hats approached the Knock-Up Stream and when they decided to board the Rumbar Pirates ghost ship and also when entering Thriller Bark and while descending to Fishman Island, Luffy never says goodbye to those he considers friends, in hopes of seeing them again.

### Simple-Mindedness

His simple mind actually saved him against Hancock's powers because he mistook it for a "Noro Noro Beam", which was used by Foxy, which brought out a fear of being slowed down (though it is shown later he is simply immune to her powers, because of his pure heart).[25] If Luffy finds something he does not understand, even if someone explains in detail, he calls it a "mystery thing"; like calling Dance Powder a "mystery powder". One of Luffy's running gags is asking "non-humans" such as Keimi and Brook if they can poop, in which case the answer is usually a yes. Another running gag is Luffy's slow reaction time, especially to freezing temperatures.

Luffy's simple attitude and naïve comments during fights are often mistaken by his opponents as poking fun at them. Due to this, many of his opponents lose their cool and charge at him in anger. While he is goofy and reckless, he gets quite serious when anyone is in serious danger, notably his crew, whom he considers his family. Luffy also has the tendency to unwittingly poke fun at an opponent's most sensitive trait, like callingBuggy "big nose", Alvida "the fat lady", Kureha "old hag", and laughing hysterically at Pica's high-pitched voice. In many cases, the opponents fail to understand whether Luffy is serious or just playing during fights due to his bizarre actions like drinking too much water in his fight with Crocodile or punching out Arlong's teeth and using it as a weapon to bite him. Luffy, however, has maintained that he is always serious during fights. In most cases, once he starts to fight he maintains a serious attitude and is only seen laughing once he defeats the enemy or is certain the enemy will be defeated, like in Buggy's case when he laughed before sending Buggy flying in the air.

### Instincts and Ingenuity

It has been stated more than once that Luffy's instinct and behavior is similar to that of a wild animal's, like when he knows who he has to fight before he even gets to the battle. Even his fights show this as he relies on his instincts and counterattacks, which complements the way he views the world. He is most often seen smiling, except in a fight where he is forced to use all his power (and sometimes even then). Luffy also seems to rarely change personality wise, because he views the world in a straightforward and simple manner. He is occasionally the only person who can see past events that have taken place and realize the true goal, yet at other times he can fall into the simplest of traps.

However, he is a genius when it comes to fighting, such as when he figured out how to defeat Crocodile's Devil Fruit power on the verge of death, how to use Soru from sight, developed a number of effective counters to Enel's "Mantra" ability and, most recently, learning everything Silvers Rayleigh had to teach him about Haki in a year and a half (even though Rayleigh mentioned that two years were too short a time to learn about Haki). He does have a habit of holding a grudge even in dire situations, such as calling Franky a "bastard" in the middle of his fight with Rob Lucci causing Franky to retort "Now's not the time to be mad at me" and refusing to let Crocodile help him escape Impel Down (even when there was no alternative). However, he tries not to hurt civilians, especially the people he likes, even if they intend to do harm to him, preferring to run from them than fight.

In battle, Luffy has shown signs of intelligence, high tactical and innovative skills. He can easily adapt to hindering situations such as Mr. 3's Candle Lock or Enel's Gloam Paddling into an attack. He also used a mirror to reflect Foxy's Noro Noro Beam attack. During the Marineford Arc, Dracule Mihawk mentions that Luffy seems unusually clear-headed by avoiding Mihawk's attacks. Additionally, during his battle against Mihawk, he uses Buggy as a scapegoat shield to help protect him and move forward towards Ace.[26] Luffy also has a habit of saying things with a lot more weight and (occasionally) wisdom than he realizes without even thinking or meaning to.

### Leadership

Luffy also shows significant leadership skills, which at other times he usually lacks and therefore has his captain duties done by another crew member. An example of his leadership is usually present at the most dire and serious times; such as in the Water 7 Arc in which a portion of the Straw Hats, some Galley-La foremen, and the Franky Family are present. Luffy brings the three together by pointing out that they now have a common enemy and should form an alliance to take back what the enemy has taken. Another time could be when he takes on the burden of being a Captain and does not hold back when dueling Usopp, and restrains himself from calling Usopp back afterwards. He also displays this in Dressrosa when Franky voices opposition to Trafalgar Law's plan, getting everyone on the same page by having them assist the Tontatta dwarves in their efforts to overthrow Doflamingo. Crew members also listen to his orders without question when he is serious, all respecting his position. In the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, Jewelry Bonney comments on how not just anyone could order Zoro around, since Zoro seemed to be so independent and ruthless. Yet he respects Luffy's commands when the time calls for it.

### Charisma

Despite all his peculiar traits and habits (with his trademark dimwitted behavior), Luffy's most defining part of his personality is the ability to make allies out of absolutely anyone (including former enemies, villains and even Whitebeard himself), which is said by Mihawk to be the most dangerous ability in the world.[27]

When other individuals heard Luffy mention that he, his crew, and the people they meet are friends or comrades, it touched the hearts of others who were later grateful to Luffy and his crew and support them, like Carue, Vivi, Nefeltari Cobra, and Fukaboshi. That also applies to Nami and Chopper who later joined the Straw Hat Pirates.

### Loyalty and Selflessness

Luffy is very loyal to his crew-mates and other friends, and can lose his temper quickly if they are harmed in any way (a trait that he apparently shares with the late Pirate King). Luffy is willing to do drastic things to avenge and defend those dear to him, even if it means breaking a promise to his friends, such as striking Bellamy down for attacking Montblanc Cricket's crew, and punching World Noble Saint Charloss in the face for shooting Hatchan, despite promising not to defy the World Nobles. Additionally, Luffy believes that all people should be loyal to their friends, and if Luffy sees anyone betraying their own comrades, he would stand up for the victims (even if they are enemies). Notable examples of this are Captain Kuro killing his own crew, Don Krieg attacking Gin, Boa Hancock petrifying her fellow Kuja tribe members, Caesar Clown using his subordinates as mere guinea pigs[28],Donquixote Doflamingo treating Bellamy cruelly despite the latter's admiration for the former, and Big Mom attempting to betray and murder the entire Vinsmoke Family to obtain the technology they possess.[29] In fact, his first fight in Big Mom's territory was against Charlotte Cracker, for attempting to kill Pound, and fought him for several hours just for that sole reason when his main concern was saving Sanji from the wedding ceremony. He even went as far as to try and attack Prometheus for burning King Baum even when he, Jinbe, Nami, Sanji,Carrot, and Pedro were running for their lives from Big Mom and her crew, showing how great Luffy's need for revenge is and almost never lets a person get away without hurting them first, as he will only forgive them after he beats them up. Sanji even pointed out during his fight with Vergo that he was the type of person Luffy would hate the most due to the vice admiral's betrayal of G-5 and attacking his subordinates despite their admiration for him.

Luffy's apparent selflessness often inspires others to side with him as a result. Notable among these people are Boa Hancock, Jinbe, and Emporio Ivankov, who would not have helped him out otherwise, given their individual beliefs. He also shows respect for things that a person is willing to die for, be it a treasure or a secret, to the point of even fighting to protect that which the person would throw their lives away over. The most noticeable action of this would be when he protected the Gorgon Sisters' secret by using his own body to cover the markon Boa Sandersonia's back, even though they were trying to kill him.[30] Despite not knowing the story of Dr. Hiluluk, he didn't think twice about throwing himself in front of Wapol's blast in order to defend the integrity of his flag, simply because he knew it meant a lot to Chopper.

Luffy is thus willing to recklessly put his own health and safety at risk to protect those he cares about, even if it means risking death or causing a permanent injury to himself, such as overexerting himself during the Battle of Marineford to save Ace and begging Emporio Ivankov to use tension hormones on him again as he would rather risk his health and try to save Ace, or Luffy will kill himself if he allows Ace to die.[31] Other examples are Luffy repeatedly attacking Noah with Gear Third to save Fishman Island, despite rapid blood loss from the injury Hody Jones inflicted on him,[32] and Luffy willing to risk losing his arms to break free from his restraints in Big Mom's cell to save Sanji, after learning Sanji's wedding is a set-up and the Charlotte Family intends to kill him (along with his family),[33] though this was prior to Jinbe showing up to free him and Nami.[34]

Whenever Luffy is seriously injured, he always requests that his friends or allies get treated first, even when he is the one who needs it the most. Nami fell ill while the crew was on its way to Alabasta, causing Luffy and Sanji to embark on a journey to get her medical attention once they reached Drum Island. However, Sanji ended up injured as well when they fought the Lapahns, and Luffy was forced to carry them both on his back while he climbed an entire mountain chain in freezing conditions. Upon finally reaching the summit, he immediately requested that they be saved with no regard for his own condition. However, the greatest example of this is when in Impel Down, after being severely poisoned by Magellan and getting to Level 5 with an injured Bentham and meeting Ivankov and Inazuma, he begged them to save his friend first even though he was truly suffering the most and in the worst condition (he was actually on the verge of death, and would have certainly died had Inazuma not found them).

### Respect

While he desires to be become Pirate King for freedom instead of power, Luffy does have an interest in pirates and is respectful. This was first shown when Kuro loathed the ways of becoming a pirate, which infuriated him and responded that he doesn't have what it takes to be a pirate. Luffy also shows pride of his ship and his flag. During the Long Ring Long Land Arc, his crew spotted a ship without a flag and Luffy was shocked that the ship was "naked". In Water 7 Arc and Enies Lobby Arc, when the Going Merry was beyond repair, Luffy wanted to get a new one and had to break the news to Usopp. When he refused, the two got into a fight, which led to Usopp leaving the crew and only being accepted back if Usopp apologized to him, as Zoro stated that he stepped on Luffy's pride. Luffy is strongly attached to the Going Merry, as while he was giving it a viking funeral, Luffy tearfully apologized on how it fell apart from their lack of care. Luffy values a flag for what it means, not only for his own but for other flags, such as nations. In the Drum Island Arc, when Wapol shot a cannon at the flag that represents Hiluluk, Luffy defended the flag and told Wapol that he and his men were nothing but frauds since they did not know the true meaning of the flag. Luffy is also aware of what action will be taken upon if a flag is destroyed. When he and his crew were at Enies Lobby to get Robin back, Luffy asked Usopp/Sogeking to burn the World Government's flag, declaring war on the government.

The one thing that Luffy does not allow is someone or something getting involved in another person's fight. At these times Luffy shows both remarkable restraint during the battles, and rage when something or someone outside the battle is involved, especially if it is a person he considers a friend. Luffy showed this early in the series when Zoro fought Mihawk, and managed to hold himself (and Johnny and Yosaku) back until Zoro was defeated. Since then he has shown it several times, like when Baroque Works sabotaged the giants' duel onLittle Garden; when Crocodile attacked Yuba with a sandstorm in the middle of their fight; when he challenged Aokiji to a 1-on-1 fight; when he fought Lucci and insisted that Franky does not get involved in their battle; when the Boa sisters threatened to break the petrified form of his saviors; and when he was visibly enraged with Hody Jones who attacked some civilians who tried to halt Noah. He even went so far as to cover Sandersonia's back from the citizens of Kuja while it was still burning, even though they were trying to kill him, claiming it has nothing to do with their fight.[30]

Luffy also respects his friends' decision if they choose not to join his crew, even if he asked them more than once, and would prefer not to forcibly take them with him. One example is his declining Zeff's offer to forcibly take Sanji with him, aware of how much the Baratie meant to Sanji, and would only take him if Sanji agreed to do so.[35] One minor exception is the Straw Hats' involvement in using more forcible methods in getting Franky to agree to join only because Iceburg insisted there was no other way due to Franky being too stubborn to listen to reason.[36] This leads to Luffy and most of his crew to help the other members of the Franky Family with their plan, allowing them to succeed in convincing Franky to join the Straw Hats (with some additional help from Iceburg who provided the necessary advice) and seeing the importance to fulfilling his dream.[37]

### Righteousness

Luffy is righteous as he completely despise cruelty and wickedness. When he learned of Arlong's abusive emotional torment towards Nami, he was utterly enraged and wasted no time in destroying the room of maps that Arlong forced Nami to work in for years. When Hatchan was sadistically shot by Charloss and tried to shoot Hatchan again despite Hatchan's attempts to protect him, Luffy's anger reached its peak and was perfectly content to invoke an Admiral's attack by punching Charloss in the face without any mercy. At Punk Hazard, when Luffy learned from Momonosuke about Caesar's evil intentions to sacrifice innocent children just to realize his own scientific ambitions for everlasting glory and success in gigantification, Luffy openly expressed immense fury towards Caesar. When he heard from Caesar about how he exploited Punk Hazard and his connections to Doflamingo to perform all sorts of inhumane experiments, Luffy ruthlessly brutalized Caesar with Haki enhanced punches. When Doflamingo began to massacre the people of Dressrossa with his Birdcage, Luffy refused to abandon them to die and was fully prepared to personally take down Doflamingo despite Law's warning of invoking Kaido's rage.

### Traits of a D.

As a person with the middle initial D., Luffy shares the common trait of not fearing death. He will often state that if he reaches his goal, that's fine, but if he dies on the way, that's fine too. He even smiled when he was nearly executed by Buggy in Loguetown, although he did have a look of shock and surprise in his eyes before this happened when Sanji and Zoro tried to rescue him. Throughout the series, several characters have stated similarities between Luffy and other D. carriers, whether in personality, words, actions or presence. So far he is thought to be similar to Jaguar D. Saul by Robin; to Monkey D. Garp by Aokiji, by at least one of the Gorosei, and by his own crew; to Monkey D. Dragon by Emporio Ivankov; and to Gol D. Roger by Smoker,[38] Crocus, Kureha, Gan Fall, Shanks, Rayleigh, Kokoro, Shakuyaku and the non-canonicalRaoul.

Like other D's so far, he is also an immense glutton despite his skinny appearance: he especially loves meat and can eat a fish whole - bones included[39] - and because of this, a running gag of Luffy's is him constantly stealing other peoples' food with his rubber powers, causing them to yell at him and sometimes hit him. It should also be noted that he becomes more gluttonous over the series as there are moments he becomes morbidly obese, though he loses the weight in some way, usually exercise. Also, after the events of Enies Lobby, Luffy seems to have developed narcolepsy, much like his brother Ace, though for only a short time. Due to his gluttony, Luffy can end up losing control in times of dire hunger. When he expended all the crew's food supply while on the way to Whole Cake Island, he was thinking about using Chopper as emergency food ration and in the anime, he tried to devour Chopper alive twice and had to be beaten by Nami.

### Running Gags

he author of the manga One Piece named Eiichiro Oda has said: "*when drawing Luffy, I try to make him very simple and straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels, which is why out of all the main characters, he has the least number of thought bubbles, since he acts and says what he wants to do rather than think it*".[40] To complement Luffy's naïveté and straightforward attitude, there is a running gag through the series where Luffy can identify similarities on things that have little resemblance (like being able to see the resemblance between Sanji and his Wanted Poster, or being able to see Spoil as an old man with major wounds rather than azombie), but is unable to see similarities with things with obvious connections (like being unable to tell that Sogeking is Usopp or not seeing through Foxy's pathetic disguises).

Another running gag is his habit of being amazed at various abilities of villains, often yelling out "amazing" with stars in his eyes and around his head. Luffy believes that he is at his "coolest" when he is wearing armor. Luffy also seems to have a slight obsession when it comes to outfitting himself with full-body armors, and has a habit of wearing one whenever he gets the chance. But every armor that he manages to find and outfit himself with usually ends up destroyed either in a battle or by some other comedic scenario. He also constantly insults his opponents by giving them degrading nicknames (such as calling Gekko Moriah a "leek" or Enel "earlobes"). Luffy apparently has no skill with insulting people, usually taking either a physical aspect or unique ability and trying to make it degrading (like calling Zoro "three-swords style" when everyone was lamenting Vivi's absence, only to be corrected by Usopp).[41]

Another one of his running gags is that during the battles, Luffy often gets into situations (accidentally or intentionally) in which he can not fight. In such cases, his crew mates fight with other weaker enemies associated with the main antagonist and defeat them. This happened when he fell into a cage in the Orange Town Arc, fell asleep in the Syrup Village Arc, was stuck in stone and thrown into the water during the Arlong Park Arc, and when he entered a snake's stomach in the Skypiea Arc. When all other enemies are defeated, Luffy fights with the strongest, the one whom only he can defeat.

Luffy also has absolutely no talent for lying whatsoever, and cannot hold a straight face or poker face at all when intimidated to confess the truth. This lack of subtlety sometimes manifests as extreme honesty, and Luffy can be very blunt with people. After meeting Coby and Shirahoshi, he called them cowards and flat out told them that he did not like them because of it (though he later befriended them both). In fact, more often than not, Luffy would blurt out, without thinking, what he knows regarding a certain event whenever someone asks something concerning the events that transpired. On Zou, his crewmates beat him up when he casually mentioned the samurai, which the other Straw Hats thought was a taboo topic in light of what the minks had been through after Jack's invasion. In contrast, Luffy has a tendency to suck his lips in and turn his head to the side when an attack or technique fails to affect him, such as Enel's various electrical attacks or Boa Hancock's Mero Mero no Mi.

When talking about money, tells his crew-mates to budget their money, only for them to react in return that it all goes towards feeding him. Another running gag involves Luffy randomly telling someone a secret, such as the identity of his and Ace's fathers, only to casually ask them to keep it a secret afterwards. He shares this trait with his grandfather.

### Mercy

Luffy never kills any of his enemies (no matter how cold-hearted they are); instead, he frequently sends the enemy flying, knocking them out or beating them until they have reached the point that they are almost near death. Oda explains that it is not a question of morality so much as a matter of punishing the villains for their crimes - he feels that killing the villains lets them off too easily, whereas he considers letting them live to see their dreams ruined a far more fitting punishment. However, it is evidently clear that Luffy is not against others completing the final act themselves, as seen when Luffy allowed Law to make his attempt to kill Doflamingo, while making sure Trebol did not interfere. This may have been more to do with stopping Doflamingo's birdcage (which would only deactivate if Doflamingo willed it or was dead or unconscious) from killing civilians than actually harboring any desire to see Doflamingo killed.[42] Ironically though, some of the people he has defeated have become good after their defeat, most noticeably Wapol becoming a rich CEO of a toy factory, though he became evil once again after he created his new kingdom.[43]

Despite his passion for fighting, Luffy also generally refuses to fight someone that he does not personally consider an enemy, preferring to either talk it over or run away from the confrontation. Over the series, Luffy has become more mature and levelheaded, though he only shows this part of his personality when he and his friends are in dire situations or someone insults him, calling people like him and their beliefs foolish. Other than that, he still acts the same as he was at the start of the series.

### Aggression

There were some instances where Luffy seems to enjoy defeating his opponents. During his fight with Mohji(who immediately began to apologize after Luffy took out his pet lion, Richie), Luffy refused to forgive him and mercilessly punched him as hard as he could without any restraint, despite Mohji being much weaker than him. He also refused to allow his enemies to get away with whatever they have done and will want revenge against them no matter what others say. When Wapol appeared at Drum Castle, Luffy immediately showed anger and dropped what he was doing just for the sole purpose of punching Wapol and showed delight when he told Wapol that he was going to defeat him. When Wapol was stuck in the tower of Drum Castle, Luffy ignored all of Wapol's pleas and gladly sent him flying far away from Drum Island. This attitude extends to anyone affiliated to the enemy. After he, Chopper, and Robin came across Hogback, Luffy learned that he was with Moriah and decided to beat him up just for being one of Moriah's allies. Luffy will also express hatred and the need to beat up a person if they have done anything to one of his friends in the past and will not rest until he has beaten them. After the Franky Family robbed and beaten Usopp, Luffy quickly sought payback against them and stormed their hideout.

Every time Luffy defeats an enemy, he smiles shortly afterward. There has been only one exception: after his fight with Usopp in Water 7, Luffy did not smile for a whole day.

Prior to the timeskip, Luffy had displayed a side to himself where he occasionally gets into fights with others over needless issues (i.e. he nearly got into one with Blackbeard in Mock Town over a matter of quality of the pies that the tavern served to their patrons). He still has this trait after the timeskip when he is shown to fight with Momonosuke when he arrives on Dressrosa. However when Luffy is told to keep a low profile or to restrain himself he will resist his urges to pick fights over small matters. There has been only one exception: when Luffy accidentally ran into Demaro Black, he did not want to get involved in the conflict with him and finished it with the least amount of effort, which was evident when he knocked him out and the other Impostor Straw Hat Pirates with the use of Haoshoku Haki.[44] Although, most likely, he did this to prevent deviations in plans.

### Humility

Another dominant trait of Luffy is his humble nature: he does not brag about the powerful foes he's defeated in the past, though he's not above about claiming that no one has ever beaten him in the past (which is not true, having been defeated many times by various opponents during his lifetime). He remains humble despite having done outrageous acts like defeating Shichibukai-level pirates and issuing the order to burn down the World Government Flag back at Enies Lobby. When Franky pointed out the latter, Luffy only replied that it was nothing to get worked up over (hinting that he only gave the order on a mere whim), for he and his crew were only there to take back a crew member that was taken from them. When Sengoku tried to cover up Gekko Moriah's defeat by ordering Bartholomew Kuma to kill the Straw Hat Crew, Vice Admiral Garp told him, "*Ah, do not worry yourself Sengoku! Luffy is not the sort of guy who'd go around boasting about taking out Moriah anyway!*". WhenCharlotte Linlin threatened to destroy Fishman Island for not supplying her with her monthly candy tribute, Luffy took the blame of eating all of the candy to spare the island from Big Mom's wrath.

## Phsyical Abilities

As the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy has immense physical strength, and is capable of lifting up large boulders, breaking stone, shattering steel with his bare hands, lifting and dragging a massive ball of solid gold attached to his arm, pushing apart large buildings[19], and shoulder flipping a huge man; his strength was further proven when he effortlessly stopped a stomp from Donquixote Doflamingo, a tremendously strong man who is twice Luffy's size, with only one foot from an angle with no leverage.

Overall, Luffy's immense physical power allows him to fight the most powerful and dangerous enemies such as: Arlong and Hody, two fearsome and brutal fishmen; Enel, an extremely powerful Logia user; Rob Lucci, the strongest member of the CP9; three previous members of the Shichibukai: Crocodile, Moriah, and Doflamingo; and even Charlotte Cracker and Katakuri, two of the Three Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates.

Luffy's sheer physical strength and immense dexterity is a result of his grandfather's unorthodox training methods such as being thrown into a bottomless ravine, tied to a balloon, thrown into a forest at night during his childhood as well as several years of extremely rigorous training in the harsh environment of Mt. Colubo alongside Ace, mainly by sparring matches with each other, hunting and fighting wild beasts, and striking boulders to practice his fighting skills. Luffy also claimed he had a punch as powerful as a pistol even at seven years of age.[20]

His endurance and durability is extraordinary, taking continuous, deadly assaults from powerful foes that would have killed a normal person easily in most of his fights, yet still being able to stand up and continue fighting effectively. Over the course of the series, he progressively becomes able to take more and more punishment and fight for longer periods of time without tiring. By the events of the Whole Cake Island Arc, his endurance and durability have grown to the point that he is able to fight a grueling battle with Charlotte Cracker for 11 straight hours (while activating Gear Fourth at least twice), and after only a brief nap, endured a vicious beating from Sanjs's Diable Jambe enhanced kicks only to be back on his feet shortly thereafter and still capable of using Gear Second when attacked by Big Mom's army. Furthermore, he then goes on to rampage through the Whole Cake Chateau, defeating dozens more of Big Mom's underlings even while being badly injured, extremely fatigued, and near-death from starvation. He even managed to survive Katakuri's extremely powerful Haki enhanced attacks. Despite heavy injuries, he shrugged off the damaged to continue the battle.

He has immense healing capabilities and an extremely fast recovery rate. In Impel Down, when his natural healing abilities were boosted by Ivankov's healing hormones and further driven by his will, Luffy was able to not only survive the excessive dose of Magellan's deadly poison but also managed to overcome the poisoning within less than a day, a feat which Ivankov noted to be more than just a miracle. In Whole Cake Island, despite being on the verge of death and being brutally injured by Sanji beforehand, he quickly regain all his lost stamina and energy after eating Sanji's bento and was completely unfazed by the serious injuries he had suffered beforehand. He also regrows a missing tooth instantly after drinking some milk similar to how Brook healed his injuries.

Luffy also possesses tremendous speed, agility, and reflexes to match his strength and endurance. In fact, on more than one occasion, Luffy was able to anticipate moves and counter attacks that would normally be beyond his field of vision due to his extremely sharp reflexes. He is also shown to increase in strength quite dramatically in a short period of time, most noticeably being the fight against Minotaurus, where the first time it took the combined efforts of Mr. 2, Mr. 3, and Buggy just to beat him, but the next time, Luffy defeated him with a single**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**.

His vast strength is only exceeded by his enormous willpower, as demonstrated on several occasions throughout the series, most noted of all in the Thriller Bark Saga when he manages to take in 100 shadows without passing out, compared to normal humans, who can only take in 2 or 3.[21] This incredible willpower even allows him survive the most brutal injuries and deadliest poison, as demonstrated when he was severely poisoned very far beyond what a human is capable of surviving, only living on despite his critical condition through sheer willpower. This is also shown when he survives through Emporio Ivankov's Emporio Chiyu Hormone ability, which even with a slim chance of surviving had not only survived the endeavor, but made a recovery in twenty hours when the normal time for the healing procedure is two days. This was later shown withBasil Hawkins' "fortune telling" ability, as despite doing it multiple times, he could never get Luffy's chances of survival to reach 0.

He also possesses extraordinary jaw strength, as seen in the Orange Town Arc in the manga, where he had almost chewed through the metal bars of the cage Buggy put him in. In the following arc, he shattered Jango's steel chakram with his teeth alone (anime). He also ate the cage that Gekko Moriah put him in, and managed to give Rob Lucci a small bite wound, as well as break the steel chain used to bind Nami (in Franky's body) after the timeskip. His greatest feat in this area, however, was that he managed to make Jinbe, who is known to have an extremely high tolerance towards pain, yell out in pain when he bit the fishman's arm.

Luffy is also shown to be immensely agile. Early on in the series, Luffy is seen being able to react to foes faster than him, like Kuro, Arlong, Bellamy, and Enel. After learning the CP9's Soru technique to enhance both speed and strength, he became even more so. After the timeskip he has become even faster, being able to dodge attacks even while in **Gear Third**,[22] and even creating enough friction while running at full speed to set the ground on fire.[23] He could evade a majority of Katakuri's assaults, which the latter noted to be extremely rare.[24]

## Fighting Style

Luffy has extremely adept hand-to-hand combat skills, which were learned through practice from sparring matches with Ace and Sabo since childhood, supplemented with his physical prowess and the abilities of the Gomu Gomu no Mi. Such skills allow him to defeat numerous enemies and even an entire army at once with great ease and Luffy even match Rob Lucci, an immensely powerful Rokushiki master in one on one combat.

Unlike Zoro or Sanji, Luffy does not follow any particular code of honor, and so if necessary, he will attack women or animals, hit below the belt, attack his enemies even if they have their backs turned or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use enemies as human shields and even bite his opponents. While fighting, Luffy has been shown to be highly adept at improvising, and regularly comes up with creative counterattacks andunusual techniques to use against his enemies. This however leads both enemies and allies alike to wonder if Luffy is taking the fight seriously, especially when he comes up with ridiculous and over the top moves (likeCrocodile when Luffy became **Mizu Luffy**), which prompts Luffy to respond that he's always serious.

When Luffy fights, he relies heavily on his instincts, which, interestingly enough, are mostly correct. Even as early as the Arlong Park Arc, after getting bitten he managed to escape with his arm still in one piece by slamming Arlong's head to loosen his jaw to get it out instead of simply pulling it. He picked out the real Mr. 3 from a bunch of wax look-a-likes on a hunch. He also destroyed Enel's "**Raigo**" using the gold ball as a conductor, but according to Oda he had no real idea what he was doing and was acting out of instinct. Before even learningKenbunshoku Haki, Luffy could easily dodge any attack by relying on his instinct as shown in his battle against Enel and Rob Lucci.

Another advantage is his unpredictability. Due to his unique, fun-loving, battle-ready personality, and his elastic physique, opponents (and even his allies) are caught off guard by his tactics. This trait has given people the impression of him being reckless, if not insane and keeps people second guessing.

During his childhood, Luffy have become competent with a staff, as he is seen using one against a variety of opponents. As a young adult, Luffy could use broken masts as a makeshift giant club to attack enemies such as Laboon and again when he faced off against the Admirals at Marineford. In the anime, Luffy could fend off knife attacks from Grount using a ladle as an improvised short staff.

After two years of training on Rusukania, Luffy's physical prowess and fighting skills tremendously improved. At Fishman Island, Luffy could swiftly take down Vander Decken IX while he was tied up. Combined with his new found skill in Haki, Luffy was able to briefly overpower Hody, a monstrously strong fishman who had been overdosed on Energy Steroids, and even sent him flying underwater with an Haki-enhanced punch. Another testament of his skills was being able to clash head to head with Chinjao, a legendary pirate.

He is strong enough to be able to destroy half of Noah, a ship half the size of Fishman Island, while suffering from blood loss and (as noted by the Sea Kings) would have done so if they didn't show up in time, as well as being able to defeat Don Chinjao, a pirate worth over 500,000,000 who once fought against Garp. He has also grown to be much more durable, as the same attack from Caesar Clown that caused heavy damage to Sanji's body did not leave any lasting injuries on Luffy. While initially stunned by the attack, he appeared completely uninjured almost immediately afterwards.[25]

## Tactical Ingenuity

While simple-minded by nature, Luffy can be a strategic genius in fighting. He also appears to be intelligent enough to at least understand fundamental concepts, such as rubber being a natural insulator, which might be why he did not bother ducking out of the way of Enel's lightning attacks as it would have been pointless because of his immunity. He also was able to develop new techniques such as "*Gear Second*" and "*Gear Third*", using logical concepts and knowledge of rubber and its properties. While easily noticeable as the least strategic member of his own crew, largely due to his tendency to simply barge in head-first into battle (often without any kind of battle plan or even any knowledge of his opponent's abilities), Luffy is an extremely adaptive and resourceful combatant with incredible ingenuity. He is constantly coming up with ways to keep ahead of his foes, either by taking advantage of his own strength and Devil Fruit powers or utilizing the opponent's own strengths (along with their weaknesses) against them. This causes even warriors long considered unbeatable to have trouble keeping up.

Also, even if most of the time he acts instinctively, in some cases Luffy has shown to be intelligent enough to give some orders to his crewmates in the wake of making a strategy or simply making things go as he prefers. This usually ends up being an advantage for the crew.

Luffy can also be a clever thinker in times of immense danger. After learning that Magellan's poison could not penetrate the wax of the Doru Doru no Mi, Luffy had Galdino create wax boxing gloves and leg armor that allowed him to fight Magellan for an extended period of time without being poisoned, being able to buy a significant amount of time for Jinbe to steal a warship which is crucial to their escape. When Magellan resorted to using a more deadlier variant of his poison, Luffy had Galdino produced a makeshift barrier of wax which allow him to use Gear Third to push Magellan back a considerable distance without being touched by the lethal poison. Finally, he had exploited Ivankov's Hell Wink as an emergency escape measure that allowed him and many of the other prisoners to effectively escape from Magellan as well as the seemingly unbreakable prison of Impel Down.

After the timeskip, Luffy has demonstrated more intelligence during the heat of battle, as he was able to use Trafalgar Law's powers to his advantage and even fool a Shichibukai as cunning as Doflamingo into being swapped out so Luffy could land a blow on him. He also exploited Cracker's Devil Fruit abilities, making use of the immense hardness of Cracker's own Biscuit Soldiers to inflict massive damage on the latter. When Katakuri lost his composure, Luffy took the opportunity to injure the Sweet Commander.

Luffy enjoys using unorthodox methods. Before the operation to ruin Sanji and Pudding's wedding, Luffy requested Bege to place a mirror inside the wedding cake and used Brûlée's Devil Fruit powers to create numerous duplicates of himself before entering the wedding cake from the inside to destroy it. His plan proved to be extremely effective in creating chaotic diversion in Big Mom's Tea Party. Even Bege was deeply impressed by Luffy's ingenuity.[26]

## Miscellaneous Skills and Weaknesses

### Simple Mindedness

He is heavily susceptible to any form of hypnotism and does not have the sense to turn away, such as Jango'spowers of hypnosis[27] or Miss Goldenweek's Colors Trap. He is also easily distracted when he sees something that's "just too cool", like seeing Chopper's transformations for the first time, the Thousand Sunny's Gaon Cannon, an energy beam from a Pacifista, his wax armor made from Mr.3's Doru Doru no Mi powers, the Iron Pirate "Franky Shogun", and Bege' Castle Fortress while practically ignoring everything around him.

Another of Luffy's gags is his inability to do chores. Luffy is a disaster when it comes to doing simple errands, as shown when he was a chore boy in Baratie. Everything he tried to do or help with only ended up worse. It got to the point where Zeff gladly allowed him to go after defeating Don Krieg, claiming the damage Luffy could inflict if he stays would probably put his restaurant out of business. Even a simple errand like purchasing water ends up with him being chased by the Marines. In fact, it has come to the point where Luffy has to have a chaperone even if he is only going to explore so as not to cause trouble, or do anything stupid, and even then it is not guaranteed that he will not.

He also shows the inability to recognize people in poor disguises such as with Foxy, Sogeking, and some of theImpostor Straw Hat Pirates. After the time-skip, this seems to fade away as he immediately recognized Caesar Clown while he was posing as Gastino, but Luffy was almost easily convinced otherwise until Nami pointed out that he was right.[28]

Even though Luffy is a sailor and the captain of his ship, he has no sense of direction. He believes that if one is to go north, he has to head in a "cold-ish" direction. As a result of this, coupled with his ability to get stuck in certain situations, he tends to arrive barely in time to fight his opponent.

Despite his immense strength, Luffy's abilities is heavily influenced by his mental state and willpower. If Luffy has a clear goal and is reinforced with confidence, his strength is unimaginable, capable of splitting towns and wiping out opponents with ease using pure brute force. However, if his confidence is shaken, and he is unsure of what is going on, Luffy strength is severely affected, and is incapable of putting a true fight. This is best displayed between his first and second battle with Rob Lucci. During his first fight at Water 7, Luffy, being unsure of the circumstances, and met with Robin's refusal, was barely able to do anything, even against an untransformed Lucci, let alone Blueno. But during their second round in Enies Lobby, after gaining a full understanding of the circumstances, and reaffirming his resolve, Luffy was capable of giving a Lucci a run for his money even before activating his new Gears.

### Artistic Skill

Another running gag in the series is Luffy's inability to draw. At the start of the Arlong Park Arc, imagining how a fishman would look, Luffy drew a fish with tentacle-like paws and an anthropomorphic fish with arms, legs and hair (greatly incensing Sanji, who erroneously thought that Nami could be a mermaid and thus mistakenly believed that Luffy was drawing her ugly). Before the Straw Hats arrived at Water 7, Luffy drew a childish picture of what he wanted the future shipwright to look like (coincidentally, it resembled Franky). This inability also extends to Jolly Rogers; the first Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates was a bad drawing designed by Luffy himself (he later used a similarly bad drawn version of his Jolly Roger as a promise marker on the face of Laboon) while also drawing a bad version of Foxy's flag after taking it from him in the Long Ring Long Land Arc.

### Luck

Though not a skill or ability, Luffy is said to have incredible luck. His luck is so great that people around him, likeSmoker, Ivankov, Elder Nyon, and even his own crew think that they were miracles, or even divine intervention, though in most cases it has to do with his incredible willpower. Examples are:

* Surviving the execution done by Buggy[29] and managing to escape the Marines led by Smoker inLoguetown thanks to the intervention of his father and a freak storm.[30]
* Surviving two defeats by Crocodile, the second one being incredibly lucky because the desperate water blast he spat upwards as Mizu Luffy when Crocodile grabbed him by the throat (which Crocodile dodged before drying Luffy's body with his Suna Suna no Mi powers) eventually landed back and rehydrated him to save his life.[31] [32]
* Picking out a dud in a basket full of exploding apples;[33]
* Able to survive powerful blows from Foxy's attacks and his Gorilla Puncher 13.[34]
* Defeating Rob Lucci in battle, through both sheer willpower and his unbelievable endurance.[35]
* Managing to beat Gekko Moriah just before the sun rises, making him cough up all the shadows he stole in time.[36]
* Accidentally making the man-hating Boa Hancock fall in love with him.[37]
* Having the willpower to survive Magellan's poison and recover from it through pure strength of will and some hormone enhancement,[38] when it was said there was not even a shred of hope that he would survive,[39] and that even antidotes were out of the question.[40]
* Breaking into and out of Impel Down with the help of former enemies and new allies.[41]
* Participating in the Battle of Marineford and surviving.[42]
* Being poisoned by Hyouzou only to discover he developed strong resistances to even the deadliest of poisons due to his fight with Magellan.[43]
* Defeating Donquixote Doflamingo before the Birdcage kills everyone,[44] with his victory being very lucky as after his Gear Fourth wore off, he needed ten minutes to regain his Haki and had not several gladiators held off Doflamingo[45] and the Birdcage[46] then Luffy would have never defeated him.[44]
* Encountering Vinsmoke Reiju right after he consumed an immensely venomous fish, as she is capable of removing poison from people's bodies.[47]
* Being freed from the imprisonment of the Big Mom Pirates by the timely arrival of Jinbe.[48]
* Narrowly avoiding execution by Big Mom[49] as the bomb that the Minister of the Right planted inside the Tamatebako,[50] which Luffy previously gave away to the Big Mom Pirates,[51] exploded and caused the collapse of the Whole Cake Chateau.[52]
* He escaped from a fight with Charlotte Katakuri by using the latter's sister to escape the Mirro-World.[53]

However, Luffy's luck has not always held, most notably when he is using Gears. When using Gear Third for the first time against Rob Lucci, Luffy failed to defeat him before Gear Third ended, and Lucci was able to take advantage of his weakened form to do major damage and would have been killed by him if not for Luffy manage to fracture his leg with Gear Third. The same thing happened when using Gear Fourth for the first time against Donquixote Doflamingo, but the after effects were longer, leaving it up to several gladiators to protect him from certain death.

### The Voice of All Things

Though it's never been stated, Luffy seems to be able to hear the voices of creatures. During the Warship Island Arc, he claims to sort of hear the voice of Ryu the dragon (though, this is non-canon). It is mentioned a second time during the Fishman Island Arc when the Sea Kings come to save Noah. One of them thinks Luffy hears their voice, causing them to think back to a young Gol D. Roger, who also heard them in his journey in the depths of the sea. Additionally, Luffy – along with Kozuki Momonosuke – was one of the only two people on Zou able to hear the calling voice of the elephant Zunisha, while it was being attacked by Jack. Pedro further affirmed that this ability of hearing the Voice of All Things was shared by Gol D. Roger and Kozuki Oden.[54]

Another one of Luffy's amazing skills is his capability to tame and/or befriend creatures in a very short amount of time. Several examples are:

* During the Drum Island Arc, after saving the life of a parent Lapahn that was buried underneath the snow from the avalanche they caused, the Lapahns repaid the favor by holding off Wapol and his minions Chessand Kuromarimo for as long as they could so Luffy could get up the mountain.
* During the Alabasta Arc, he was able to befriend the Kung-Fu Dugongs.
* During the Thriller Bark Arc, he was able to tame the Cerberus.
* Prior to the Return to Sabaody Arc, he was able to tame all the animals on Rusukaina.
* During the Fishman Island Arc, he was able to tame and name a Kraken (Surume).
* During the fight at Corrida Colosseum, he was able to tame and name the Fighting Bull (Ucy).

### Gluttony

Luffy is extremely gluttonous with an immense appetite, to the point that the thought of being able to eat delicious food can actually become a driving force and determination that can actually make him stronger than he usually is. The nature of his body allows him to eat absurdly large quantities of food. Despite his body becoming profoundly fat when he eats a great amount of food, he is compensated by an immensely fast metabolism that reverts him to his normal slim physique in a short period of time. Even running for a few minutes can slim him down back to his fit form even quicker.

In Thriller Bark, after Moriah's zombies completely plundered the Straw Hat Pirates of their food supply, Luffy became extremely enraged at Moriah for stealing their food and was able to defeat numerous zombies with immense ease. Several of Luffy's feats of greatness are related to food. When food was involved, he was able to instantly calculate the amount of meals he missed while sleeping for 3 day after his fight with Crocodile. Since Luffy hated missing meals, he developed a skill that allowed him to eat while sleeping, which was first shown after the incident at Enies Lobby.

After being poisoned by Magellan and surviving Emporio Ivankov's healing hormone, Luffy was left in an incredibly emaciated state where he was just skin and bones, but was able to eat several days' worth of food and instantly return to normal size with his muscle mass restored, similar to the Life Return: Shoka Kyushi technique used by CP9 member Kumadori. Luffy is also able to instantly regain his strength by eating after a battle, as seen when he ate two pieces of meat after using Gear Second to defeat Blueno wore him out. Luffy was able to use this to his advantage while fighting Cracker; by eating his biscuit soldiers as a food source, Luffy was able to keep his strength up to continue fighting against Cracker for 11 hours. He also later used his gluttony to escape Katakuri's Kagami Mirror technique, an attack that supposedly suffocates its victims under a large pile of mochi. From his gluttony, Luffy has an extremely sharp sense of smell., able to smell food from far distances. While in the Ryuguu Palace, Luffy could detect the scent of the meal served to Shirahoshi from inside the Hard-Shell Tower. He also correctly figured out Katakuri having donuts for snacks inside the Mochi Shrine.

While Luffy enjoys eating large sums of food, he is terrible in handling and preparing it. His extreme appetite led him to constantly steal food from the fridge[55] prior to the installed lock on the Thousand Sunny,[56] leading to heavy depletion of provisions for extended sailing.[55] He has nearly no culinary skills, as when he created his "Random Curry", he squandered the ship's entire week's worth of rations due to repeated mistakes, and the end result was a huge pot of inedible substance that tasted so horrible that the gluttonous Luffy himself called it disgusting and also led the people on board to badly starve as a result.[57] Ultimately, this led to Nami to take over with the cooking and she viciously made it clear that he was never to help out in the kitchen again.[58]Nonetheless, due to the intense survival training of his youth, Luffy is capable of roasting meat, and has limited knowledge on edible flora as seen when left alone on Amazon Lily[59] and Rusukaina.[60]

### Parasomnia

Luffy was shown symptoms of parasomnia, being active while sleeping.

#### NSRED

Luffy, while completely asleep, eats as if he were awake, and even knows when more food has been placed on the table.[61] This is probably purely based on muscle memory since what Luffy does best is fighting and eating. It's been shown on several occasions that meat may act as more of a power source than simply a favorite food for Luffy, as whenever he becomes exhausted or tired from a fierce battle, he simply eats some meat and he's back in fighting condition again. According to Nami, Luffy uses three times more energy than a normal human being, which can cause him to exhaust faster than a normal human in some occasions.

### Empathy and Cooperativeness

According to Dracule Mihawk, Luffy has the most dangerous ability in the world: that of turning anyone around him into his ally, including former enemies. Luffy's charisma has earned him many powerful friends and allies in times of need, allowing him to escape the tightest situations.[62] In a conversation between Ace and Vivi, it is shown that Ace is somewhat aware of this ability, as he mentions that Luffy has a strange charm that causes people to gather around him. Indeed, this ability has saved him on several occasions. When any plan or his own personal strength has failed, he was able to gather unlikely allies in his moment of need.

His charm is great enough that he earned the respect of Whitebeard after talking with him for a few seconds. Later on, he earned his complete faith after Whitebeard witnessed Luffy's true potential to save Ace as Whitebeard ordered his crew and allies to back up Luffy. He was also able to make Chinjao, a man who hated his grandfather for thirty years and extended his hatred to his descendants, into an ally that is willing to have his grandsons and the Happo Navy work for him because he restored his head to its old shape. After the conflict on Dressrosa, several crews of those who sided with Luffy pledged their loyalty to him and created the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. With this large army, Luffy has now gained the means to have several allies in his time of danger.

### Infamous Reputation

One of Luffy's greatest advantages was that people actually tend to underestimate him. Either due to his bounty, his actions, or their own arrogance, his opponents usually took him lightly before discovering Luffy's great strength and determination. Because he was underestimated, his opponents (including the Shichibukai) tend to let their guards down, allowing Luffy to gradually learn and adapt his fighting style accordingly. However, after the global revelation of his heritage and his actions, this advantage fades away, as people takes his threat seriously based on the third-hand information.

During the two-year absence, with his bounty raised, he earned an infamous reputation which was taken advantage of by Demaro Black to bring fear to the hearts of people in Saboady Archipelago as well as recruit powerful members. His reputation is high enough to be noted by New World Pirates, as some were shocked when they found out that Caesar had captured him. During the Corrida Colosseum tournament in Dressrosa, several contestants express fear over his presence, even Bartolomeo who had casually won the B Block.

During the Whole Cake Island Arc, Big Mom felt the need to send Cracker, a Sweet Commander and one of her most powerful children, after him, showing that she views him as a threat to some degree. Indeed, Luffy's threat level caused Charlotte Katakuri, another one of Big Mom's Sweet Commanders and an infamous pirate, to prioritize the elimination of Luffy before he can become a true threat to Big Mom.[63] Katakuri was well aware of Luffy's potential as he didn't want to miss the chance to ambush Luffy and his crew when he considered the possibility that they may escape from Big Mom.[64]

### Resistance to Poison

He has also gained very powerful antitoxins in his blood stream from his fight with Magellan in Impel Down, which further combines with his extremely strong healing metabolism, granting Luffy an incredibly high resistance against poison. Hyouzou, a poisonous blue-ringed octopus merman of the New Fishman Pirates, poisoned Luffy during their fight and Luffy would not have taken any notice, if Chopper had not seen the entry point in his arm. The blue-ringed octopus possesses one of the real world's deadliest poisons and the fact that Luffy could shrug it off like it was nothing is a testament to the strength of his immune system.[43] He is also able to counter against Caesar's own poisonous gases with incredible ease.[65] He is able to completely resist theH2S (a gas that petrified people with a touch) in Caesar's enhanced form without any sign of being poisoned.[66]However, immensely powerful poison normally capable of instant death may still be able to incapacitate him such as the dangerously toxic skin of the Armored Stonefish. While his powerful resistance to poison spared him from immediate death, it still severely debilitate him to the point of losing consciousness and on the brink of death.[67] He would have died had Reiju not saved him.[47]

### Temperature Durability

While the Straw Hats were on their way to Fishman Island, he showed no discomfort in the range of temperatures given, hot or cold. He was, however, shown sweating heavily and then wearing a coat after nearly freezing on Punk Hazard.

## Devil Fruit

Luffy gained extraordinary stretching and elastic powers from eating theGomu Gomu no Mi (lit. Rubber Rubber Fruit, Gum-Gum Fruit in the English dub), which is one of the rare and legendary Devil Fruits. After consuming the **Gomu Gomu no Mi**, Luffy's body became like rubber, giving him the ability to stretch and attack long distances.

Having undergone intense training for over ten years, Luffy is now able to supplement his stretching powers with immense strength, agility, and creativity in combat. His fighting style is largely improvised, and thus relies heavily on his Devil Fruit powers. It should also be noted that Luffy cannot automatically stretch his limbs out (like superheroes with stretching powers, (i.e: Mr. Fantastic or Plastic Man), and since his body acts much like an actual rubber band, he has to throw some force into his punches in order for his limbs to stretch out.

It should be noted that he has somehow managed to do it automatically (much like the aforementioned superheroes) after the timeskip. However, he has been shown to be able to hold his limbs outstretched for a long period of time, as seen when he reaches his arm out about half a mile down to try and retrieve Usopp from falling through the Sea Clouds.

Luffy regularly uses his stretching powers in ingenious and creative ways, as he is able to use the malleable stretchiness and elasticity of his limbs to gain tremendous velocity, and hit his enemies with devastating impacts and blows. His rubber body is also extremely durable and virtually immune to blunt attacks such as bullets (in One Piece, bullets are still round pellets, except for Don Krieg's), punches, and electricity, more often than not, bouncing off his body harmlessly or canceling out the attack. It has even become a running gag that people find out the hard way that Luffy is made of rubber when they shoot at him, only to have the bullets bounce back at them.

Another running gag is that whenever Luffy's body is in a dangerous situation that would kill a normal person, he simply states that "he's made of rubber, so it's okay", or acts like it is a small problem despite that person trying to kill him, such as being shot in the heart. However, he is still normally susceptible to sharp objects such asswords and knives as well as nonphysical attacks like heat, cold, dehydration, and poison (though after the timeskip, Luffy has been shown a strong immunity to poison due to his fight against Magellan in Impel Down). Not only can he use his stretchiness to increase the range and strength of his attacks, but on some rare occasions he can also use his stretched limbs to help restrain and even control weaker foes like puppets (to fight for him).

Like all Devil Fruit users, Luffy cannot swim. However, unlike other Devil Fruit users, he does not avoid water sports, and sometimes will jump into the ocean to save someone from drowning (though will drown himself as well). Before eating his Devil Fruit, Luffy didn't know how to swim anyway, so this has made little difference in this capacity. At the time Shanks visited Luffy's hometown, Luffy had decided he would learn how to swim by the time Shanks left so that he could leave with them, indicating Luffy had yet to learn how to swim. He does seem to know that a person cannot eat more than one Devil Fruit, as shown when he said he couldn't eat the Mera Mera no Mi.

### Gears

By taking advantage of the unique physical abilities granted by his Devil Fruit, Luffy has invented techniques that augment his speed and strength in different ways, though each one also has corresponding physical drawbacks. He refers to these techniques as Gears.

After the timeskip, Luffy has grown immensely in power and skill. He has shown new mastery over his **Gear Second**and **Gear Third**along with his Haki, and easily destroyed a Pacifista with a single punch in conjunction with his **Gear Second** and **Busoshoku Haki** (a feat which has been shown to be amazingly difficult). Later, he defeated the Kraken with one hit from **Gear Third** imbued with Haki in a similar manner, and then managed to beat Vander Decken IX while tied up. Another testament to his power was shown when he defeated Hody Jones while fighting underwater for the majority of the fight, and only received one bite wound throughout the whole duration.

#### Gear Second

**Gear Second** (ギア･セカンド *Gia Sekando*?) is where Luffy uses his legs to pump blood throughout his body at a much faster rate. Activating Gear Second also uses a lot of stored energy from his body. Leaving his body exhausted, his heart rate also increases to levels that are normally impossible. His veins are able to withstand this since they are made of rubber, thanks to the **Gomu Gomu no Mi**. In this form, Luffy gains a considerable boost in speed and strength.

During the Enies Lobby Arc, Rob Lucci mentions that this ability is similar to steroids because his muscles are receiving enough blood to do things otherwise impossible. Rob Lucci also noted that Gear Second does damage to Luffy's own body and in turn drastically reduces his stamina and his lifespan begins to diminish due to prolonged use.

Luffy first discovers this Gear unofficially in the 7th One Piece Movie, where he has a large mechanical arm falling on him, he catches it, and the impact exerts extreme force on Luffy's legs, causing him to unintentionally pump blood at an accelerated rate to perform Gear Second and use the "**Gomu Gomu no Jet Bazooka**"(though he simply refers to is as a normal "**Gomu Gomu no Bazooka**") to defeat a giant robotic battlesuit.

After the timeskip, it appears Luffy has gained even more control over his Gear Second, being able to get into it without having to take a particular stance. This, in conjunction with his **Busoshoku Haki**, was able to take out a Pacifista with a single punch, something that took the entire Straw Hat crew to do before the timeskip. His strength in this form has also increased to the point where he could knock over a large creature like Wadatsumiwith a single "**Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol**", breaking one of the giant fishman's teeth. Luffy can use **Busoshoku Haki** combined with Gear Second to perform **"Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk**", which causes his fist to ignite into flames. It seems that Luffy has become far more adept with this gear as he has been using Gear Second attacks much more frequently than before the timeskip.

#### Gear Third

**Gear Third** (ギア･サード *Gia Sādo*?) is where Luffy pumps air through his bones to make them literally gigantic. Obviously, only Luffy can do such a thing by using the **Gomu Gomu no Mi**. Used with his already-strong physiology, this apparently gives his arm more mass and a larger area to attack with far greater force, but he sacrifices mobility for this strength, as his limbs are now so large that Luffy has extreme trouble moving unless he is in his **Fusen form**.

Another after effect of this is that Luffy is reduced to child-sized proportions, the duration of which is equal to the time he spent in Gear Third. Also, he is able to use both gears at the same time which he uses to defeat Gekko Moriah. The Gear Third technique is first hinted at during Luffy's fight with Blueno, and first used, but not shown when Luffy is chasing Rob Lucci and Spandam, but is not seen until a later battle with Rob Lucci.

After the timeskip, Luffy's Gear Third is vastly improved upon. Previously, Gear Third would increase the size of the majority of Luffy's arm, thus reducing the speed of the attack in exchange for a powerful impact. However post-timeskip Luffy can seemingly control where the air is allowed to "sit" within his limbs, where his fist becomes large but allows a large mass to form behind the fist as the equivalent of the mass he would have achieved having his arm fully inflated.

This allows a majority of Luffy's arm to remain as it is, allowing him to stretch it, thus allowing him to attack much faster than before the two-year absence. Luffy is also shown capable of using Gear Third at the same time as **Busoshoku Haki**, causing his arm to turn black and harden, with his arm in the ocean (which would normally drain a Devil Fruit user of their power). While he is still affected by the ocean, he lands a punch which knocks an attacking Kraken out on the way to Fishman Island. Luffy's Haki imbued Gear Third attack **Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun** could counter Charlotte Linlin's Zeus enhanced punch with ease (albeit with Sanji's help).

Luffy is confirmed to have overcome his weakness of shrinking when deactivating this Gear, after inflating both his arms and using "**Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gatling**" on Noah for a prolonged period of time and not turning into his chibi form.

* When Luffy reverts to his chibi form, his clothes, including his straw hat, change relative to his actual size. When Luffy moves his mass throughout his body, however, his clothes remain the same size. This appears to be the same throughout every one of Luffy's mass increases, per example his "**Nightmare Luffy**" form.

#### Gear Fourth

**Gear Fourth** (ギア4フォース *Gia Fōsu)* is a technique which Luffy developed during the time skip when he fought giant creatures onRusukaina. He first coats his arm in **Busoshoku Haki** and then bites into his forearm. Similar to how he activates Gear Third, he blows an incredible amount of air into his body, but this time he inflates his muscular structure.[68]

In this form, his body's proportions become warped and is much larger in size, with his arms, upper torso, and legs coated in **Busoshoku Haki**. The coating across his torso resemble the wispy ends made from flames, and he also gains shading around the inner and outer edges of his eyes.[68]

As a side-effect he is incapable of standing still on the ground, and instead constantly bounces on the spot. His physical strength and speed are increased to the point where he is able to overwhelm Donquixote Doflamingo, whereas beforehand both **Gear Second** and **Gear Third** were ineffective in the fight.[68]

It also shows a versatile side of the **Gomu Gomu no Mi** when using the elasticity to achieve a form of pseudo-flight and changing the direction of his attacks mid-strike to hit a moving opponent, strengthening his attacks in a similar manner to the **Bane Bane no Mi** by compressing his arms and legs like springs. This form, much like**Gear Second**, seems to utilize the principles of **Rokushiki**. It possesses both high speed movement reminiscent of **Soru** and the ability to kick off the air, similar to **Geppo**, creatively adapted to work even better with his body's elasticity, not just bouncing off the air but allowing punches and attacks to bounce off his own body.[68]

According to Doflamingo, the power of his attacks increases greatly in this form. His durability is also vastly enhanced, as his body remains rubbery despite being coated in **Busoshoku Haki**, as a result Doflamingo's immensely strong kicks simply bounce off of his body.[68]

Another side-effect is its limit to how long Luffy can keep Gear Fourth active, as noted by both Luffy himself and Doflamingo.[69] Once Gear Fourth reaches the limit, it automatically deactivates and Luffy is left exhausted, barely able to move as Haki originates from the user's life force. He is also left unable to use Haki for ten minutes after using this technique.[70] Even afterwards, Gear Fourth is extremely taxing on Luffy's body and stamina; after regaining his Haki from using Gear Fourth once, he barely had enough strength left to fight back, and using it briefly for a second time shortly after rendered him unconscious.

Gear Fourth uses a lot of Luffy's stamina and would cause him to burn calories a lot faster than normal. After using it while fat from eating several lifetime's supply of biscuits, Luffy started to shrink back to his normal size due to the immense calorie usage.

## Haki

Shortly before the two year time skip, Luffy had awakened the ability known as "Haki" and is one of the few known people able to use all three types. Luffy was identified to possess this mysterious ability by Blackbeardafter their first encounter in Jaya. He first showed the ability to use it when he knocked out Duval's steed,Motobaro, without actually hitting him. Since then, he showed increased but irregular usage of it, with very little to no control, as the series went on. While breaking out of Impel Down after Ace was sent away to the Marine Headquarters, Luffy ran into an intruding Blackbeard, who noted that Luffy's Haki increased since their first meeting at Jaya. The fourth time Luffy released his Haki was at Marineford, when he saw Ace about to be executed. It was then that Ace and the Marines learned of his possession of Haoshoku Haki. This made him even more threatening to the government, although he was already threatening enough without it.

After the Marineford War, Luffy decided to train with Silvers Rayleigh. Luffy managed to learn the basics of Haki within a year and a half, even though Rayleigh had intended to spend the entire two years teaching him. Since reuniting with his crew, Luffy has been shown to consciously, actively, and easily use Haki in combat. It should be noted that Luffy possesses what is considered to be a large amount of Haki.[71]

### Haoshoku Haki

Luffy is able to use Haoshoku Haki, a type of Haki possessed only by one in a million people. Luffy used this ability several times in the series, as it was the type of Haki that manifested the earliest.

The first time Luffy was identified to have possessed this type of Haki was when he stopped Boa Sandersonia from smashing a petrifiedMarguerite, although he first showed possession of this type of Haki when he scared off Duval's bison steed, Motobaro.

When he protected Bentham from being attacked by wolves back atImpel Down Level 5, Luffy released his Haki unconsciously. During the war at Marineford, he also used another burst of Haoshoku Haki when he saw Ace about to be executed, which knocked out a lot of individuals, bothMarines and Pirates. This made it clear that Luffy, setting aside his identity as the revolutionary Dragon's son, is also a serious threat as a pirate just by possessing Haoshoku Haki.

Before training under Rayleigh, Luffy displayed limited to no control over this ability, and did not seem to realize he had it, but used it on instinct whenever it seemed to be most needed, and could still use it even when extremely injured.

With this training, Luffy has demonstrated the ability to focus his Haoshoku Haki, knocking out a small group with a quick glare without affecting anyone else. A possibility of Luffy's Haoshoku Haki is that he can tame large animals as he was capable of taming all the animals of Rusukaina Island, and tame the Kraken, which he did with great success in a very short time. Up until the fight with the New Fishman Pirates, Luffy has only used Haoshoku Haki when he needs to get people out of the way with minimum damage. The true extent of Luffy's Haki is seen when he knocks out 50,000 of Hody Jones' men. During his fight with Chinjao during the Corrida Colosseum tournament, the two unleashed a powerful wave of Haoshoku Haki when they clashed fists. This Haki has become Luffy's specialty.[72]

### Kenbunshoku Haki

Since training with Silvers Rayleigh, Luffy have gained incredible proficiency in Kenbunshoku Haki, allowing him to tell what an opponent intends to do. He was able to effortlessly dodge a bullet shot at point-blank range byDemaro Black as well as laser projectiles fired by a Pacifista, commenting that the last attack was "slow". His great proficiency with this skill is truly shown when he was able to completely avoid Hody Jones' Yabusame without effort. He also managed to evade albeit barely a majority of Katakuri's trident strikes despite the latter being an extremely skilled Kenbunshoku Master who used precognition to increased the accuracy of his attacks, which Katakuri noted to be rare among his enemies.

Luffy also displayed being able to discern Caribou's presence within the Ryugu Palace, even asking if Zoro and Sanji can sense it too. At Punk Hazard, he was able to sense the Yeti Cool Brothers attacking Chopper and Nami. He was able to sense that Rebecca had no true killing intention towards him even when she was attacking him. During the Corrida Colosseum Block C battle royale, he was able to successfully dodge all the weaponsJean Ango threw at him at high speed. He can also use the ability to measure the strength of an individual as seen when he complimented Duke Inuarashi's superior strength at a glance.

### Busoshoku Haki

Luffy seems to have also mastered Busoshoku Haki to an extremely high extent, which has been shown to darken his body (or parts of it) and harden it. This is first shown being used when he easily defeated a Pacifista with a single Haki imbued punch used in conjunction with his Gear Second. He is also able to use his Gear Third in conjunction with his Busoshoku Haki, being capable of knocking out a giant beast such as the Kraken easily, despite the great disadvantage of being under water (where his power was considerably weaker).

Another demonstration of Luffy's Busoshoku Haki is during his fight with Hody Jones, where he was able to harden his arm, leg, and forehead for both strong offensive and defensive measures. The defense of his Busoshoku Haki, however, is not absolute; while it is good for reinforcing his near immunity against blunt attacks, it is not strong enough to defend against sharp objects, such as swords, Hody Jones' shark teeth or Doflamingo's strings, if enough force is applied to the strike. Regardless, a small amount of Luffy's Haki used on his forehead was strong enough to shatter Rebecca's sword on impact when she was forced by Doflamingo to attack Viola.

After the air bubble was produced and merged with Noah, Luffy used Busoshoku Haki combined with Gear Second to perform "**Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk**", which causes his fist to ignite into flames and create an explosion after it hits the target.

Luffy was later seen being able to knock back a Logia user like Caribou at considerable distance, something he was never able to do before the timeskip, without exploiting the Logia Fruit's weakness. He was also able to grab Smoker's arm in its smoke state as if it was solid, and was also able to hold Caesar Clown in his partial Logia state.[73]

#### Techniques

* **Busoshoku: Koka** (武装色 硬化 '**Busō-shoku: Kōka'**?, literally meaning: "Color of Armaments: Hardening"): Luffy uses Busoshoku Haki to harden his body (or parts of it). It was used for the first time against the Kraken in conjunction with Gear Third to harden his enlarged arm to the point of it attaining a completely dark and shiny appearance, in order to use his "**Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun**". In the FUNimation subs, it is called **Armament; Hardening**.
* **Atama Buso** (頭武装 *Atama Busō*?, literally meaning "Head Armament"): Luffy imbues his forehead with Busoshoku Haki to harden it. This is first used in preparation for a "**Gomu Gomu no Kane**" against the Iron Shell Squadron. In the FUNimation subs, it is called **Head; Hardening**.
* **Gear Second Buso** (ギア２（セカンド）武装 *Gia Sekando Busō*?, literally meaning "Gear Second Armament"): Luffy imbues his fist with Busoshoku Haki while under the effect of Gear Second to harden it, which also seems to have the added effect of igniting it. It was first used in preparation for "**Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk**" against Hody Jones.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Luffy is one of the strongest. He usually work with Ryuko or Mikey during missions and can punch anything and anyone. However, his simple mind can cause them trouble especially with the Krang