Monkey D. Luffy

Monkey D. "Straw Hat" Luffy (モンキー・D・ルフィ, MonkÄ« DÄ« Rufi) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the One Piece franchise created by Eiichiro Oda. He is first introduced in the manga chapter "Romance Dawn" (Romance Dawn - å†'険の夜明, Romance Dawn - Bōken no Yoake), first published in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on July 19, 1997, as a young boy whose body gains the properties of rubber after he inadvertently eats a supernatural fruit called the Gum-Gum Fruit, one of many Devil Fruits that can be found in the One Piece world.

In One Piece, Luffy sails from the East Blue to the Grand Line in search of the legendary treasure One Piece to succeed Gol D. Roger as the King of the Pirates. He is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and along his journey, he recruits new crew members with unique abilities and personalities. He fights several antagonists, such as the Seven Warlords of the Sea and the World Government, during his travels, while also aiding and befriending the locals of various islands. Luffy has a nonchalant demeanor but is quick to become serious whenever he senses that a friend is in danger. Luffy is able to use the elasticity of his body to concentrate his strength and power to execute a diverse range of attacks, the most prominent being his signature Gum-Gum Pistol, in which Luffy slingshots his punches at opponents from a distance.

As the protagonist, Luffy appears in most of the episodes, films, television specials, and OVAs of the anime series One Piece, as well as several of the franchise's video games. Due to the series' international popularity, Luffy has become one of the most recognizable and iconic anime characters in history. Outside the One Piece franchise, Luffy has had an appearance in the crossover manga Cross Epoch, and in a collaborative one-shot manga with Toriko. He has also been the subject of other parodies, and has appeared in various special events throughout Japanese pop culture.

Appearances

Luffy first appears as a young boy living in Windmill Village who befriends the pirate "Red-Haired" Shanks, intending to become one himself. Before the series' narrative begins, he accidentally eats the Gum Gum Fruit, gaining rubber powers as a result and he is saved by Shanks from being eaten alive by a Sea King. Ten years later, Luffy leaves the village in search of a treasure known as the One Piece and to become King of the Pirates. Sailing alone, Luffy meets a swordsman named Roronoa Zoro, the navigator and thief Nami, the cowardly marksman and liar Usopp, and the chilvarous chef Sanji, who he invites to join his crew despite their initial objections. He also encounters and defeats several pirates in the East Blue, such as Buggy the Clown and the fishman Arlong. Luffy later accepts an offer to return 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 and leader of the crime syndicate Baroque Works, Sir Crocodile. Along the way, Luffy finds a reindeer doctor named Tony Tony Chopper in Drum Island. After defeating Crocodile, Luffy allows Crocodile's subordinate Nico Robin to become his ally.

While visiting Skypiea, the crew gets drawn into a war between two races and Luffy defeats the god Eneru, ending the war. Luffy meets Navy Admiral Aokiji and is easily defeated. After learning about Robin's heritage, Luffy continues to face other enemies linked to her heritage, such as Franky, a cyborg who eventually becomes Luffy's ally and the intelligence agency Cipher Pol No. 9, who causes Luffy and his crew to save Robin at Enies Lobby. After their fight with CP9, Franky joins the crew. Entering the Florian Triangle, Luffy encounters a skeletal musician named Brook and, to return Brook's shadow, defeats the Warlord Gecko Moria. After releasing the rest of the island's prisoners, Brook becomes a member of Luffy's crew. The crew goes to the Sabaody Archipelago, and have Silvers Rayleigh coat the Thousand Sunny to enter the second half of the Grand Line. However, Luffy's encounter with Admiral Kizaru and the Warlord Bartholomew Kuma results in Luffy and his crew being sent to separate parts of the world.

Stranded on Amazon Lily, an island ruled by the Warlord Boa Hancock, Luffy moves Hancock with his bravery and selflessness. Hancock falls in love with Luffy and helps bring him to the underground prison Impel Down to rescue his brother Portgas D. Ace from being executed. Luffy breaks into the prison and meets previous foes as well as new allies, such as the former Warlord Jimbei. After Luffy liberates the prisoners, they arrive at Marineford and Luffy is drawn into a war between the navy and Whitebeard's pirate crews. However, Ace saves Luffy at the cost of his own life, and Luffy and Jimbei are evacuated from Marineford by Trafalgar Law. Returning to Amazon Lily, Luffy remembers how he first met Ace: after Shanks leaves Windmill Village, Luffy's grandfather leaves him in bandit Curly Dadan's care. He befriends Ace and Sabo during this time who become his bond brothers; however, Sabo is killed by one of the World Nobles. After returning to Marineford to send a hidden message to his crew, Luffy undergoes training with Rayleigh on the island Ruskaina in an effort to become stronger.

Two years later, Luffy regroups with the Straw Hats, but the crew gets separated again for a short period while sailing to Fishman Island. Luffy and the others meet Jimbei and the island's princess Shirahoshi, and are drawn into a battle for the island against fishman Hody Jones. Luffy and the crew, along with Jimbei, eventually regroup and conceive a plan to defeat Hody and his henchmen. Following Hody's defeat, Luffy retrieves the stolen treasure from the rookie pirate Caribou and starts a feud with Big Mam. The crew enters the New World, Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Robin disembark on Punk Hazard but are soon captured by Caesar Clown, a jealous rival of the scientist Vegapunk. Luffy and his crew organize an alliance with Trafalgar Law to defeat Caesar. Eventually, Luffy defeats Caesar after learning about his history. Holding Caesar as a hostage, the alliance lands on Dressrosa, the kingdom of Don Quixote Doflamingo, where Luffy enters a tournament to win Ace's Devil Fruit.

Creation and conception

When Eiichiro Oda created Luffy, he wanted to strive for a "manliness" quality similar to those found in the Dragon Ball series created by Akira Toriyama. Oda has claimed that at the time of naming Luffy, he did so because he felt the name "Luffy" was right for his main character. Later Oda found out there is a Maritime term called a "Luff" and has insisted this is pure coincidence but one he was delighted by. In his prototype one-shots, each titled "Romance Dawn", Oda was constantly refining the art style and basic story elements before publishing the final product a year later in what would be the first chapter of One Piece. In the second version of Romance Dawn, Luffy was drawn in an art style that was similar to his design in the beginning of the series. To make the readers relax without being stressed out, Oda added rubber powers to Luffy for a comical effect. Oda tries to draw Luffy very straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels.

The Devil Fruit that Luffy gained his abilities from was originally called the Gomu no Mi (ゴムの実, lit. fruit of rubber), but after the editor pointed out that a real rubber fruit existed, the name was changed to the Gomu Gomu no Mi (ゴムゴムの実, lit. fruit of rubber rubber, renamed "Gum Gum Fruit" in the English adaptations).

Design

Luffy is usually recognized by his trademark straw hat, which was given to him by "Red-Haired" Shanks after being saved from an attack by a Sea King. In his early childhood, Luffy is first introduced wearing a white shirt and blue shorts. He has a scar under his left eye from stabbing himself to prove his courage to Shanks and his crew. For most of the series, Luffy is commonly seen wearing a red vest, blue shorts and sandals. On occasion, Luffy will adorn different outfits to adapt to the climate of specific islands on the Grand Line, such as wearing a coat and mittens at Drum Island and wearing desert-appropriate attire at Alabasta. During the Enies Lobby arc, Luffy wears black shorts with large pockets to carry more meat. After which, he starts to wear shorts and vests with varying color palettes for the next couple of arcs. Eventually, Luffy replaces his vests with a red unbuttoned, sea captain's coat, revealing the X-scar which he got from Akainu, and he also wears a yellow sash tied around his waist.

Personality

Luffy is portrayed as a carefree and happy-go-lucky character with great ambitions and a huge appetite. He often thinks with his stomach and often gorges himself to comical levels. He is caring and generally good hearted. However, he is not as naive as many people believe him to be, showing more understanding in situations than people often expect. Knowing the dangers ahead, he is willing to risk his life to reach his goal to become the King of the Pirates, and protect his crew. He might not be as stupid as he appears, an example of when he does something intelligent would be when he attempted to use Newton's third law by using a ship's cannon to try and stop the ship. Moreover, during the Loguetown Arc, Smoker (a navy captain at the time) comments that Luffy "enjoys playing stupid", to which Luffy responds with nothing more than a mysterious smile.

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 (i.e., cook, navigator, doctor, musician, shipwright, and so on) that each individual crew member fulfills (in the respective cases, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Brook and Franky). Luffy stated in the beginning of the series that he wants at least 10 crew members, each with abilities that he feels necessary for his goal. Each members of the crew respect him in their own way despite his carefree personality. He is rarely concerned with the consequences of his actions, doing what he feels even if it leads to retaliation by a powerful force. 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.

Voice actors

In the original Japanese version of the entire One Piece anime series (and later spin-offs in the franchise), Luffy is voiced by Mayumi Tanaka. In the OVA Defeat the Pirate Ganzack!, Luffy was voiced by Urara Takano. In 4Kids Entertainment's dub of the first five story arcs of One Piece, Luffy was voiced by Bella Hudson, with Tara Sands providing the voice of the younger Luffy.
Tara Jayne In Funimation Entertainment's dub of the entire One Piece franchise, Luffy has been consistently voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard.

Abilities

Luffy's rubber powers are a result of eating the Gum-Gum Fruit, which makes him virtually immune to nearly every blunt force and electric-based attack, and grants him the ability to stretch his body 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, head butts, body checks, or simply for propulsion. As with other Devil Fruit users, Luffy is unable to swim and when he is submerged in water it can negate his powers. In addition to his Devil Fruit powers, Luffy possesses immense strength and endurance.

Luffy's signature move is the Gum-Gum Pistol (ゴムゴムの銃(ãƒ"ストル), Gomu Gomu no Pisutoru), a punch technique which he learned during his years of training. Another technique developed later in the series, is Gear Second (ギア2(セカンド), Gia Sekando), a technique that increases his strength and overall speed for a limited amount of time, but can strain his body afterwards. By observing the Shave (剃, Soru) technique of CP9, Luffy was able to adapt the move with his own rubber body, matching the speeds of the elite assassins. Gear Third (ギア3(サード), Gia Sādo), another technique, uses air inflated into his bone structure to attack with massive limbs and strength, but initially causes him to shrink afterwards. He is capable of using both techniques simultaneously. After two years, Luffy has gained better control over these techniques and is no longer affected by their drawbacks. Eventually, Luffy develops his latent ability to use Haki (覇気, lit. "ambition"). This ability has two main types: Armament Haki (武装色の覇気, Busōshoku no Haki), which is an armor-like force that can amplify defense and the force of attacks and negate a Devil Fruit user's defense, allow physical contact and damage, and Observation Haki (見聞色の覇気, Kenbunshoku no Haki), which is a sixth sense that can read a person's moves and detect their presence. He also has a rare third type, the Conquering King's Haki (覇王色の覇気, Haōshoku no Haki) which can render people or animals in his proximity unconscious. Two years later, Luffy masters the three types of Haki, and uses them in conjunction with his improved attacks. Also, as a result of his encounter with Magellan, Luffy has also developed an immunity to poison.

Appearances in other media

Luffy has made several appearances in other media, including, but not limited to, every One Piece licensed electronic video game to date, including Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars. In 2006, he is featured in the Dragon Ball Z/One Piece/Naruto crossover game Battle Stadium D.O.N.. Luffy, along with Son Goku and Naruto Uzumaki, made guest appearances in avatar form in the MMORPG Second Life for a Jump Festa promotion titled Jumpland@Second Life. In addition to his in-game appearances, Luffy has also been featured and mentioned in some songs. "Wanted!" features Luffy singing about himself as a wanted pirate. "Every-One Peace!" features Luffy singing about the One Piece. Luffy will be one of the main playable characters in the crossover game J-Stars Victory Vs

Luffy has made guest appearances in various Japanese television shows and manga. Luffy and several other characters would team up with the cast of Dragon Ball in a spinoff titled Cross Epoch. On April 3, 2011, Luffy and the other One Piece protagonists appear premiere episode of the Toriko anime series and the crossover manga chapter. In the Yakitate!! Japan manga, 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 makes a cameo appearance in a Weekly Shonen Jump binding in an episode of To Love-Ru. The Gum-Gum was referenced in the 50th episode of the Gin Tama anime series. Luffy has also appeared in the popular web comic VG Cats. 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 an image of Luffy on the front. He was featured in the 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.

Luffy was mentioned in the video game Half minute Hero for the PlayStation Portable, where the description of the usable item 'Straw hat' said it makes the user feel rubbery and want to become a pirate. In the manga Rookies, Luffy's image appears on a girl's cell phone strap during a graduation ceremony. There is also a reference to Luffy in the online MMORPG, Aika Online. In-game, there is an NPC wearing Luffy's style of clothes named "Monkey C. Lupis III" and even has a title above his head saying "Future King of Pirates". In the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, players who choose Limsa Lominsa as their starting city get to see an NPC pirate in the intro scene who wears clothes similar to Luffy.

Merchandise

Besides 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.

Reception

Luffy ranked first in all three Shōnen Jump character popularity polls. 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. 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. Funimation Entertainment's Mike McFarland and Christopher Sabat, both stated that they felt that Luffy was more likable than the Dragon Ball character Son Goku. 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. He was also 22nd in IGN's Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time by writer Chris Mackenzie. NTT customers voted him as their second favorite black haired male anime character. The Gum-Gum Gatling technique has ranked appearances in a Japanese survey that featured the most popular moves in manga and anime: it was first in the male category.

Luffy's character has also been received positively by publications from several media. T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews calls Luffy "likable goofy", and an idealist with an infectious optimism. In a review for the fourth One Piece movie, "Dead End Adventure", The Star Online describes Luffy as "an airhead and brilliant fighter." 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". 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. Mania Entertainment's Bryce Coulter called Luffy a "great shonen hero". Carl Kimlinger from ANN comments that "Colleen Clinkenbeard's Luffy continues to grow on you".

There is a meme involving the character Luffy. In a Weekly Shonen Jump manga, Tsugihagi Hyouryuu Sakka, a character that looks like Luffy claims "Instead of saying what you hate, say what you like!" In the One Piece manga, Luffy cited but changed it to "Instead of saying what you like, say what you hate!" This meme was acknowledged in the crossover fighting game J-Stars Victory Vs.

Notes

References