| Monkey D. Luffy | |
| One Piece character | |
Monkey D. Luffy from the anime and manga series One Piece |
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| First appearance | Manga Volume #1-Chapter #1 Anime Episode #1 |
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| Created by | Eiichiro Oda |
| Voiced by |
Japanese |
| Profile | |
| Nicknames | "Straw Hat Luffy" "Anchor" (Red Haired Shanks and Don Krieg) "Straw Hat" (Franky) |
| Age | 17[1] |
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Human |
| Date of birth | May 5th[2] |
| Occupation | Pirate (Straw Hat Pirates, Captain) |
| Known relatives | Monkey D. Garp (Grandfather)
Monkey D. Dragon (Father) Portgas D. Ace (Brother) |
| Bounty | 300,000,000 Beli (End of Enies lobby Arc) |
| Devil Fruit | |
| Name | "Gomu Gomu no Mi" (Japanese) "Gum Gum Fruit" (English) |
| Type | Paramecia |
| Powers | User's body gains the properties of extremely durable, stretchable rubber. This allows the user to stretch their limbs and fold their bodies without pain. Blunt forces are cushioned and mostly ineffective, while sharp edges retain the ability to pierce or slash. User gains total immunity to electricity due to rubber's naturally high resistance. |
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 the pirate whos 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 he assembles himself as he quests to to find the "One Piece" and become the Pirate King.[3] His primary motivation throughout the series is to reach the goal with all of his comrads, 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, who 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.
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Oda has said that when he was creating Luffy, he was thinking about "manliness", because Dragon Ball had already done all the things that a child could possibly be happy about.[4] Luffy's stretching powers were a result of Oda's desire for the fighting style to be silly, so that no matter how tense a situation got, the reader could relax without becoming stressed out.[5] When drawing him, Oda has said he tries to make Luffy very straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels.[6]
The fictional "Devil Fruit" Luffy gained his abilities from was originally called the "Rubber Fruit" ("Gomu Mi"), but after Oda's editor pointed out that a real rubber fruit existed, the name was changed to "Gomu Gomu no Mi", which roughly translates to "Fruit of Rubber Rubber".[7]
Luffy's dream is to become the "Pirate King", by finding One Piece, the deceased "Pirate King" Gold Roger's treasure.[3] He said that the only reason he wanted to become the pirate king is because he figured that the pirate king is the person who has the most freedom. Although his ambitions are that great, he is portrayed as a carefree and sometimes airheaded character which has a huge appetite, often eating to the point of becoming comically fat. But he isn't naive. Knowing the dangers ahead, he is willing to risk his life and possibly die trying to reach his goal.
Luffy gained rubber-like stretching powers from eating the Gum Gum devil fruit (also refered to as Gomu Gomu no Mi ((ゴムゴムの実, Gum Gum Fruit in the English versions?),[3] at the cost of never being able to swim again, like all of the Devil Fruit users in One Piece. Luffy uses the malleability of his limbs to achieve tremendous velocity to strike enemies with devastating impact. His rubber body is virtually immune to recoil attacks. As such, blunt objects, punches and even bullets deflect off his body harmlessly. However, he can be hurt by regular blows if they are strong enough.
Luffy's most powerful abilities are his upgraded Gears, which he developed after being beaten effortlessly by Admiral Aokiji. Luffy's Gears are used to enhance his basic attacks, and are regarded as different forms of his regular body. To date, Luffy has used two forms in the story; Gear Second and Gear Third. In the former form, Luffy uses the elasticity of his rubber body to pump blood from his calves in his whole body at enhanced speed, boosting up his metabolism at a superhumanly fast rate.
Doing so, he becomes able to move and react at superhuman speeds, and hit with a greatly enhanced strength, paying the toll of a reduced stamina and a telltale increase in his body temperature. Gear Third, instead, activated by biting his own hand down to the bone and blowing air in the open wound, grants him giant, oversized limbs with a far greater striking surface. He has also shown that he is capable of using both techniques simultaneously during his fight with Gecko Moria, although it greatly strains his body.
Luffy has also demonstrated the innate ability to intimidate a foe into submission without throwing a single punch, much like his hero Red-haired Shanks, who did the same to the local sea monster at Luffy's village (episode 4/chapter 1 of the book).[8] This ability is known as "haki" (alternatively called "spirit", or rougly translated as "ambition" from Japanese) in the world of One Piece, and is exhibited by his idol, Red-Haired Shanks, and the first mate of his idol's old pirate crew, Silvers Rayleigh, both in some sort of intimidation.
Recently, it has been revealed that whatever the true nature of this ability is, it seems to have "Color" designations, and Luffy's is categorized as being "Supreme-King Colored", a color that occurs extremely rarely - in only one out of a million (According to the Kuja at least).[9] Haki can also be imbued into a weapon, which results in the strength and destructive power of the weapon increasing drastically.
Luffy grew up in a town named Fuschia Village. He accidentally ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi, a Devil Fruit, giving his body the durability and stretchability of rubber.[3] According to series author Eiichiro Oda, Luffy can stretch any part of his body.[10] While defending the Red Hair pirates' honor from a gang of mountain bandits, Luffy is kidnapped by their leader, Higuma. Higuma takes Luffy hostage and escapes to sea, throwing Luffy overboard when he is no longer of use to him.
Luffy is then almost swallowed by a fearsome Sea King; one of a variety of mammoth sea monsters that inhabit the oceans of the One Piece world. Shanks saves him from the creature, losing his arm in the process. This event only serves to steel Luffy's determination and when Shanks and crew leave the island, Luffy decides to set his sights on becoming the "Pirate King". When he told Rayleigh this and was told he would have to conquer the New World, he said he didn't want to conquer anything but he thinks the Pirate King is the guy with the most freedom in the world. Luffy's 300 Million Bounty earned him rank 2nd of the 11 Supernovas Pirates, with Zoro.
Luffy is portrayed as the carefree and sometimes airheaded captain of the Straw Hat pirates and is the son of Monkey D. Dragon, brother of Portgas D. Ace, and the grandson of vice-admiral, Monkey D. Garp. His trademark Straw Hat (from which he gets his nickname "Straw Hat Luffy") was entrusted to him by the pirate captain "Red-Haired" Shanks, who inspired him to become pirate, when he was still a child.
Luffy 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 appeares in a Shonen Jump special, where Eneru attacks Tokyo and Odaiba. 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 it's final shape, Luffy had already appeared in Oda's two short stories, entitled Romance Dawn.
Luffy 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.
Luffy has also appeared in the popular web comic Vg Cats; in the issue,Luffy has his insides torn out in a satirical fashion, to express the author's feeling of 4kids Entertainment's editing practices and how it effects the series. 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.
Luffy has been ranked as the most popular One Piece character in a recent Japanese fan poll. T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews calls Luffy "likably goofy", and an idealist with an infectious optimism.[11] In a review for the fourth One Piece movie, "Dead End Adventure", The Star Online describes Luffy as "an airhead and brilliant fighter."[12]
FUNimation's Mike McFarland and Christopher Sabat, both stated that they felt that Luffy was more likable than Son Goku.[13]
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