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Monkey D. Luffy (モンキー・D・ルフィ Monkī D. Rufi), or "Straw Hat Luffy" as he is often referred to as, is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the anime and manga series One Piece created by Eiichiro Oda. He is a boy whose body is made of rubber after he ate a devil's fruit and acquired the accursed ability. In the anime and manga, Luffy is captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, a group of pirates he assembles himself as he quests to find the "One Piece" and become the King of the Pirates. His primary motivation throughout the series is to reach the goal with all of his comrades, a task he pursues no matter what stands in his way. While he is goofy and reckless, he gets quite serious when anyone is in serious danger, notably his crew, whom he considers his friends. Luffy has additionally appeared in all of the featured movies in the series and other media relating to the series, including several video games and specials.
[edit] Creation and conceptionLuffy's rubber-like stretching powers are a result of Oda's desire for the fighting style to be silly, so that no matter how tense a situation gets, the reader can relax without becoming stressed out.[3] Oda tries to draw Luffy very straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels.[4] The Devil's Fruit Luffy gained his abilities from was originally called the Gomu no Mi (ゴムの実, lit. fruit of gum), but after Oda's editor pointed out that a real Gomu no Mi existed, the name was changed to Gum-Gum Fruit (ゴムゴムの実 Gomu Gomu no Mi, lit. fruit of gum gum).[5] [edit] Character outline[edit] PersonalityLuffy is portrayed as a carefree character with great ambitions and a huge appetite. He often thinks with his stomach and eats to the point of becoming comically fat. He is caring and generally good hearted. However, he is not naive and understands most situations more than he shows. He was inspired to become a pirate by his friend "Red-Haired" Shanks who entrusted him with his strawhat, which he holds as one of his most precious objects. Knowing the dangers ahead, he is willing to risk his life to reach his goal, and protect his crew. He invites several people, such as Chopper or Brook, onto his crew generally for their personality but also because of his instinctual ability to be able to read people. His main reason has been stated a few times in the story. He needs several key jobs filled in his crew (ie: cook, navigator, doctor, musician, shipwright, and so on). Only one member of the crew invited herself on, Nico Robin. She actually has no place on the ship, having no true abilities that Luffy requires. She is just a historian who Luffy accepted. Luffy stated in the beginning of the series that he wants about ten crew members, each with abilities that he feels necessary for his goal.[6][7] He is rarely concerned with the consequences of his actions, doing what he feels even if it leads to retaliation by a powerful force.[8] However, he is an extremely loyal captain, who has demonstrated at many points throughout the series that he is willing to risk his life for the well-being of his crew.[9] [edit] AbilitiesEating the Gum-Gum Fruit gave his whole body the properties of rubber,[10] which makes him virtually immune to all blunt force attacks (including the round flintlock bullets used in the One Piece universe). The fruit also gave him the ability to stretch at will. Combined with the elasticity of his body, he uses that ability to accelerate parts or the whole of his body as if shot by a slingshot to deliver punches, kicks, headbutts, body checks, or simply for propulsion. But like everyone who consumed a Devil Fruit, Luffy is unable to swim and when drenched in sea-water or in contact with an artifact blessed by the sea quickly loses his strength. He also has great physical strength as he was able to knock over 2 large apartment buildings at the same time (Water 7 arc). After being effortlessly beaten by Admiral Aokiji, later in the series, Luffy develops two techniques to improve on his rubber abilities. The first of these he calls Gear Second. He activates it by accelerating the flow of his blood by using his legs as pumps. When this happens, the blood flowing rapidly through his body creates friction, heating up his body and makes his skin glow and produce steam. This increases his attack power and overall speed, but drains his stamina and if overused makes him temporarily unable to move afterward, as well as shortening his life span. The second is Gear Third, which is activated by biting a hole into his thumb and blowing air into his bones.[1] He is then able to move the air around his bone structure and strike with limbs comparable in size to those of giants. The side effect to using Gear Third is that Luffy temporarily shrinks to a fraction of his normal size after releasing the air for a length that corresponds to the amount of time he was using Gear Third. He is capable of using both techniques simultaneously. Even further into the series, Luffy demonstrates the still innate ability to use Haki (覇気, lit. ambition) to make people or animals in his proximity faint.[11] He has a very rare variation of Haki, which he shares with Boa Hancock.[12] He first used it on Motobaro without realizing what he did.[13] [edit] Plot overviewAt the start of the series Luffy sets out to sea in search of One Piece, the treasure supposedly left behind at the end of the Grand Line by the deceased King of the Pirates, Gold Roger. During the first leg of this journey, crossing his home sea, called East Blue, he acquires his first ship, the Going Merry and a basic crew, consisting of the swordsman Roronoa Zoro, expert navigator and thief Nami, the liar and sniper Usopp (who designed the crew's flag) and the first-class chef Sanji, together known as the Straw Hat Pirates. But he also meets opposition. After defeating the most notorious pirates of East Blue, Buggy the Clown, Captain Kuro, Commodore Don Krieg, and the Merman Arlong, he is placed on top of that sea's wanted list with a bounty of thirty million in the fictional world's currency, Berry. Before entering the Grand Line, the crew composed of Luffy, Nami, Zorro, Sanji and Ussop made a stop over at Logue Town. This is the town where the Pirate King Gol D. Roger was born, lived, and sentenced to death. The fact that it was the pirate king's home made Luffy very excited especially in seeing the platform where Roger was executed. However, the Straw Hat crew did not know that they were followed by Buggy the Clown and Alvida(this time, acquired a Devil's Fruit and become slimy and beautiful) to have their revenge on Luffy. Almost getting killed on the very same platform Roger was executed, Luffy's father, Monkey D. Dragon, helps him. Dragon also helped Luffy to escape from Smoker, the town's vice admiral, and guided the Straw hat crew by blowing the wind in the direction of the reverse mountain. After entering the Grand Line, he agrees to bring the princess of Alabasta, Nefertari Vivi, safely into her homeland to stop a rebellion, incited by a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Sir Crocodile. On their way to the Kingdom of Alabasta, Luffy defeats member of the world government, King Wapol of the Drum Island, and finds his crew a doctor in the person of the anthropomorphized reindeer Tony Tony Chopper. In Alabasta, Luffy defeats Crocodile and the civil war ends. The World Government, to whom the Warlord's betrayal and defeat is equally embarrassing, covers up the involvement of the Straw Hats by recognizing Smoker as the hero of Alabasta while raising Luffy's bounty to 100 million Berry. And upon leaving the country, Luffy allows Nico Robin, formerly Crocodile's second-in-command, to join his crew. Leaving Alabasta kingdom, the crew encounter a gigantic ship falling out of the sky, and eventually find out about the sky island Skypiea from the last relative of Norland, Cricket. It was he who helped the crew go to the sky island. There, Luffy and the crew encountered two races of people, one are the habitants of sky island and the other is the tribe living in the island of Jaya that flew to the sky,who have been engaged in a unceasing war for 500 years. Breaking the law almost immediately upon entering, everyone eventually fight back against the corrupt "god" Enel and overthrow his rule, bringing an end to the war, and acquiring many friends and gold. As this adventure was not reported to the marines, the crew's respective bounties remained unchanged. After returning to the surface, Luffy defeats the pirate trickster Foxy the Silver Fox and encounters one of the navy's top fighters Admiral Aokiji, who has a personal interest in Robin. Aokiji single handedly defeats the crew's top fighters but lets them escape to honor a promise and to repay a debt. But the lost fight has other consequences as it demonstrates the crew's vulnerability and Robin's danger to them. The crew then travels to an island called Water 7, which is an island floating on water. There they meet shipwrights from all over the world. However, Robin made a pact to CP9 to let the Straw Hats leave the island safely but help assassinate the mayor of the Water 7 and President of Galley-la Company, Iceburg. The Straw Hat Crew is framed, and Robin is then taken by CP9. The Straw Hat Crew then chase after CP9 and ended up at Enies Lobby, the World Government Center. The shipwright, Franky, also decides to join the fight. After many battles with members of CP9 and World Government, the Straw Hat Crew ends up beating the CP9 and claims Robin as an official crew member. They then travel back to Water 7, where they get a new ship called Thousand Sunny made by Franky. Franky joins the crew, and becomes the crew's shipwright. After the final battle, in Enies Lobby, all of the crew members receive their own bounties; Luffy's bounty having been increased to 300 million Berry. The Straw Hat Crew then decide to enter the New World by passing the Red Line. Before entering it, they must pass through the Florian Triangle on their way to Fishman Island. After entering a dense fog, the crew come across a ghost ship inhabited by a living skeleton called Brook. The Straw Hat Crew then find an island ship called Thriller Bark. The captain of this ship is Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, whose crew consists of hundreds of zombies. The crew assist Brook in defeating Gecko Moria and returning his shadow to him. After freeing the rest of the islands prisoners, Brook agrees to join Luffy and his crew. The crew then went to Sabaody Archipelago to find a coating engineer to coat their ship so that they would be able to proceed to Mermaid Island. However, one of their guides, a mermaid, gets captured and is to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The crew find the venue for the auction and attempt to buy the mermaid back only to have it backfire when one of the Celestial Dragons bids an unbeatable amount. This then helps cause an incident in which an enraged Luffy sends one of the Celestial Dragons flying, causing chaos to fall upon the Sabody Archipelago. As the crew attempts to escape, they encountered Kizaru, another Marine admiral and Bartholomew Kuma, a Warlord. Bartholomew Kuma then uses his ability to send all the crew members to different islands. The island that Luffy lands on is ruled by Boa Hancock, the only female Warlord. Boa Hancock eventually falls in love with Luffy and helps bring Luffy to Impel Down, a marine prison, to save his brother, Portgas D. Ace, who is imprisoned there after having been defeated by Blackbeard. Luffy, breaks into the prison, and fights his way down all five of the levels of Impel Down (each of which is characterized by a different type of punishment), acquiring allies as he progresses. Impel Down's guards and warden hear of his actions, and move to stop him, which results in Luffy being defeated by the Warden. Luffy, failing to break Ace out of prison in time, fights his way back out of the prison, creating a massive breakout from Impel Down, the first one in its history, in order to follow Ace to the Marine Headquarters to stop his execution. Backed by Jimbei (a former Warlord), Emporio Ivankov (former ruler of Kamabakka Kingdom), Crocodile, Buggy, and a large amount of the now free prisoners of Impel Down, Luffy arrives at the site of Ace's execution and starts participating in an epic engagement between Whitebeard's forces and the Marines. Boa Hancock, there with the other Warlords to fight alongside the marines, helps Luffy against Smoker and slips him the key to his brother's seastone cuffs. whitebeard starts his attack. But walls rise up and traps all the pirates, besides a part of it that got trapped under the fallen giant, Oars. Then, an admiral made lava flow ontop of every pirate and melted the foothold under their feet. [edit] Appearances in other mediaLuffy has made several appearances outside of the One Piece anime and manga. He is featured in all the One Piece movies, as well as the One Piece original video animation. He appears in every One Piece video game and is playable in most. Along with many Shonen Jump characters, Luffy appears in a Shonen Jump special, where Eneru attacks Tokyo and Odaiba.[citation needed] Luffy appeared in Cross Epoch, a collaboration of Oda and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, which crossovered both One Piece and Dragon Ball's universes. But even before One Piece had taken its final shape, Luffy had already appeared in Oda's two short stories, entitled Romance Dawn.[citation needed] [edit] In popular cultureLuffy has made cameos and has been mentioned in other TV shows, such as Yakitate!! Japan. It parodies One Piece, Kuroyanagi turns into a "Tenobi Man" as a reaction from trying Azuma's Ja-pan dumpling. To this effect, he dons a straw hat and starts stretching his arms like rubber to great lengths ("tenobi" means "stretching arms"). Luffy's face can be seen on a Weekly Shonen Jump binding in an episode of To Love-Ru. Luffy's Devil Fruit was referenced in the Japanese TV Drama show Trick[citation needed] and in the 50th episode of the Gin Tama anime.[14] Luffy has also appeared in the popular web comic VG Cats.[15] And in an online RPG called Dragonfable there was an enemy pirate monkey dressed up like Luffy, and was called L.D.MONKEE which is both backwards spelling of and a pun on, Monkey.D.LUFFY.[citation needed] In 2008, Toei Animation sponsored the Pallavolo Modena Italian volleyball team. To represent their sponsorship, Pietro Rinaldi's and Edoardo Ciabattini's traditional black uniforms were emblazoned with a large image one Luffy on the front.[16] He will featured in cover of the January 2010 issue from the Japanese fashion magazine Men's Non-No, becoming the first manga character to appear in the cover of such magazine. His new clothes were designed by Shinichi "Miter" Mita.[17] [edit] ReceptionBesides being featured in pieces of merchandise based on the One Piece, he has appeared in crossover figurines which show him along with Dragon Ball characters.[18] Luffy has been ranked as the most popular One Piece character in a recent Japanese fan poll.[citation needed] Luffy ranked first in all three Shōnen Jump character popularity polls.[19][20][21] FUNimation's Mike McFarland and Christopher Sabat, both stated that they felt that Luffy was more likable than the Dragon Ball character Son Goku.[22] Mayumi Tanaka, Luffy's Japanese voice actor, comically mentioned she feels sorry for making Luffy's voice due the fact she is a mother while Luffy is much younger.[23] When asked about how she does Luffy's voice, Tanaka replies that she "strives for reality" during scenes that the character talks while eating or while touching his nose.[24] In the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation Awards from 2008, Luffy was nominated for the category "Best Male Character". However, he lost to Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach.[25][26] He was also 22nd in IGN's Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time by writer Chris Mackenzie.[27] Luffy's character has also received mixed responses by publications from several media. T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews calls Luffy "likably goofy", and an idealist with an infectious optimism.[28] In a review for the fourth One Piece movie, "Dead End Adventure", The Star Online describes Luffy as "an airhead and brilliant fighter."[29] Rika Takahashi from EX comments that Luffy's character with his stretching powers is what sets One Piece apart from "the old stereotypical adventure manga" and the many other "combat-oriented mangas [sic]", turning the series into "something new and interesting".[30] On the other hand, Anime News Network (ANN) writer Zac Bertschy found Luffy remminiscent to Rurouni Kenshin's character Himura Kenshin due their personalities and attitudes. However, he still noted Luffy to be entertaining.[31] Mania Entertainment's Bryce Coulter noted Luffy's actions to save people to be like the one from "any great shonen hero."[32] Colleen Clinkenbeard, Luffy's English voice actor in the Funimation dub, has been commented to be making a good job in the dub of the series, with Carl Kimlinger from ANN noting there are "enough moments of perfection."[33] [edit] References
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