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Monkey D. Luffy

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Monkey D. Luffy
One Piece character
Monkey D. Luffy from the anime and manga series One Piece
First appearanceManga Volume #1-Chapter #1
Anime Episode #1
Created byEiichiro Oda
In-universe information
Nickname"Straw Hat Luffy"
"Anchor" (Red Haired Shanks and Don Krieg)
"Captain" (Nico Robin)
"Straw Hat" (Franky)
"Rubber Man" (self)
SpeciesHuman
GenderMale
OccupationPirate (Straw Hat Pirates, Captain)
RelativesMonkey D. Garp (Grandfather)

Monkey D. Dragon (Father)

Portgas D. Ace (Brother)

Monkey D. Luffy (モンキー・D・ルフィ, Monkī D. Rufi)or "Straw Hat Luffy" is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the anime and manga series One Piece created by Eiichiro Oda. He is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy's body is made of rubber after he ate a devil's fruit and acquired the accursed ability. His goal is to find the "One Piece" and become the Pirate King.[3]

Creation and conception

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]

Character outline

Personality

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.

Abilities

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),[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 his idol's own master, Silvers Rayleigh.

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 "King-Colored", one that occurs extremely rarely - in only one out of a million (According to the Kuja at least). So far, the only use shown of the ability is a Shout that will cause anyone who doesn't have enough determination to be knocked unconscious.[9]

Plot overview

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.

Character Background

Luffy's dream is to become the "Pirate King". He 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 also ate his devil fruit when he was angered and decided to eat the fruit Shank's kept in a box to spite him.

Appearances in other media

Luffy has appeared in a variety of other media besides the manga and anime. He is present in all the One Piece Movies to date, as well as the One Piece OVA. Along with many Shonen Jump characters, Luffy appeared in a Shonen Jump special, where Eneru attacks Tokyo and Odaiba. Luffy appeared in Cross Epoch a collaboration with Dragon Ball's creator Akira Toriyama, which crossovered both One Piece and Dragon Ball's universes.

Luffy has appeared in all One Piece video games, such as Unlimited Adventure and Grand Battle, typically as a playable character or only playable character. Luffy is playable in the Shonen Jump Nintendo DS game Jump Super Stars, and it's sequel Jump Ultimate Stars. Luffy also appears in Battle Stadium D.O.N, a Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Naruto crossover game.

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.

Reception

Luffy has been ranked as the most popular One Piece character in a recent Japanese fan poll.[citation needed] 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]

References

  1. ^ Oda, Eiichirō (2004). The Black Cat Pirates. One Piece. Vol. 4. Viz Media. p. p. 28. ISBN 1-59116-337-4. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  2. ^ Oda, Eiichirō (2007). Straight Ahead!!!. One Piece. Vol. 15. Viz Media. p. p. 90. ISBN 1-4215-1092-8. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ a b c d "Anime Review: One Piece Season 1 Part 2". Firefox News. Retrieved 2008.11.10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ "Interview with Eiichiro Oda and Akira Toriyama". One Piece Color Walk 1 (in Japanese). Shueisha. ISBN 978-4088592176.
  5. ^ "Interview with Eiichiro Oda". Shonen Jump (unknown issue). Viz Media.
  6. ^ Watanabe, Roy. "Interview with Eiichiro Oda". COMICKERS (in Japanese) (October 1998).
  7. ^ "Interview with Eiichiro Oda" (in Japanese). manganohi.jp. Archived from the original on 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  8. ^ Oda, Eiichirō (2008). "495. Gaon Cannon". The 11 Supernovas. One Piece (in Japanese). Vol. 51. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874563-3.
  9. ^ Oda, Eiichirō (2007). "434. Whitebeard and Redhair". We Understand How You Feel. One Piece (in Japanese). Vol. 45. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874314-1.
  10. ^ Oda, Eiichirō (2005). I Won't Die. One Piece. Vol. 8. Viz Media. p. p. 44. ISBN 1-4215-0075-2. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  11. ^ "THEM Anime Reviews 4.0 - One Piece the Movie 1: I'll Become the Pirate King!". Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  12. ^ "Nice Piece of Work". The Star Online. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
  13. ^ Mike McFarland, Christopher Sabat (Commentators). One Piece: Season 1, First Voyage Disc 1; Staff Commentary on Episode 1 (DVD). Funimation Entertainment.
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