Appearance
Luffy is renowned for wearing 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. He promised to give it back next time they meet. His outfit somewhat mimics Shanks' own outfit in that he wears short trousers (although his are much shorter than Shanks' because they are rolled up) and sandals. Luffy also wears a red vest and has a scar underneath his left eye (he got it in Chapter 1, to prove his courage to Shanks and his pirates) and short black hair. He is very short and also a bit scrawny, but underneath his shirt he has a surprisingly good physique with protruding abdomen muscles.
Luffy, for some reason, has the same outfit over most of the series, as opposed to the rest of the crew. Luffy may wear a different outfit to suit the climate of an island (like a winter coat on Drum Island or desert robes in Arabasta), but will switch back to his trademark vest and shorts after the adventures on that island are over.
Notably, He will wear his usual outfit in diffrent colors. For example, in Enies Lobby he wears black shorts because they had pockets in which he could carry meat, on the Thriller Bark Island he wears an orange vest and red shorts, and on the Sabaody Archipelago he wears a blue vest and dark blue shorts, In the most recent part of the anime (prior to the separation) Luffy has been shown wearing a greenish blue vest with red shorts and after the fight between Magellan and Luffy, Inazuma gave to him a yellow vest with a new pair of red shorts. He does, however, no matter where he is, wear 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 battles. Since then he has gotten a string strap for it, allowing the hat to hang from his neck during fights.
Eiichiro Oda has mentioned that Luffy mostly resembles a monkey (he sometimes even makes a monkey face).[5] According to Oda, Luffy is represented by the color red, and smells like meat.[6]
Personality
At first glance, Luffy does not appear to be very intelligent; his apparent lack of intelligence is the source of his brave attitude towards life.[7] 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. 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 Zoro better (after battling 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.[8] His simple mind actually saved himself against Hancock's powers because he mistook it for another beam, which brought out a fear of being slowed down though later it is shown he is simply immune to her powers, because of his pure heart.[9] If Luffy finds something he doesn't understand, even if someone explained in detail, he calls it a "mystery thing"; like calling dance powder a "mystery powder". Another running gag is Luffy's slow reaction time, especially to Snow and freezing temperatures. One running gag of Luffy's is asking "non-humans" such as Keimi and Brook if they can poop. In which case the answer is usually a yes.
Because he views the world in a straightforward and simple manner, he occasionally is 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. He is, however, 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, and developed a number of effective counters to Enel's "Mantra" ability. 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). When drawing him, Oda has said he tries to make Luffy very straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels. To compliment Luffys naivety and straightforward attitude, there is a running gag through the series where Luffy is capable of similarities 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 a zombie), 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).[10]
Luffy's simple attitude and naive comments during fights is often mistaken by his oppenent as poking fun at them. Due to this fact many of his opponents lose their cool and charge at him in anger. In many cases the opponents fail to understand whether luffy is serious or just playing during fights due to the 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. Though Luffy 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. Though his comments and methods during the fights often lead his opponents to think that he is joking and not taking the fight seriously.
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. Recently in the "Ace Execution" arc, 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.
As a person with the middle initial D, Luffy shares the common trait of not fearing of 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 the Clown 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. 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.[11]
Luffy also has an extreme thirst for adventure, which he has stated is the main reason he wants to become the Pirate King, having the belief that the Pirate King would be the one on the entire ocean with the most freedom for adventuring. This adventurous nature also makes him tend to avoid taking 'the easy way out' at times, such as when he destroyed the Eternal Pose to Arabasta given to him by Robin (Miss All-Sunday at the time), stating that he did not want an enemy to decide his destination. 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'.[12]
“ We are NOT asking him where the treasure is hidden!!! We're not even asking him whether there IS any treasure or not!! I'm not sure, but... ...everybody set out to sea, risking their lives to search for it!!! If you ask this old man anything about it here and now... Then I'll quit being a pirate! I don't want to go on a boring adventure like that!
— Luffy speaks out on learning what One Piece is from Rayleigh.
”
Luffy seems to have an unstoppable appetite which is another common "D" trait, as well as a strong belief in dreams.[13] Like other D's so far, he also is a glutton, despite his skinny appearance: he especially loves meat and can eat a fish whole - bones included[14] and because of this, a running gag is Luffy constantly stealing other peoples' food with his rubber powers, causing them to yell at him and sometimes hit him.
Another running gag is his habit of being amazed of 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. He also constantly insults his opponents by giving them degrading nicknames (such as calling Gecko Moria 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. Luffy also seems to have a slight obsession when it comes to outfitting himself with full-body armors, and has a knack of wearing himself 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.
Luffy never kills any of the villains (no matter how cold-hearted they are); instead, he frequently sends the villain flying, knocking them out or until the point that they are almost near death. Oda explains that it's 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 lightly, whereas he considers letting them live to see their dreams be ruined a far more fitting punishment.[15] Ironically though, some of the people he has defeated have become good after their defeat, most noticeably Wapol going to become a rich CEO of a toy factory.
Another dominant trait of Luffy is his humble nature: he doesn't 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 at least once by Ace, twice by Crocodile, once by Aokiji, once by Rob Lucci, once by Kuma, and once by Magellan in the past. Despite this, 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, for he and his crew were only there to take back a crew member who was taken from them. When Sengoku tries to figure out a way to cover up Gecko Moria's defeat (Ordering Bartholomew Kuma to kill the Strawhat Crew), Luffy's grandfather, Vice-Admiral Garp tells him, "Ah, don't worry yourself Sengoku! Luffy isn't the sort of guy who'd go around boasting about taking out Moria anyway!!" 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.
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.[16] 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 Longring Longland island, he called every animal by what he thought they resembled rather than the actual species they were.
Luffy is very loyal to his crewmates and other friends, and can lose his temper quickly if they are harmed in anyway. 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 even though promising Nami he would not pick a fight, and punching Tenryuubito Saint Charloss in the face for shooting Hatchan, despite promising not to defy the World Nobles). Aside from his own loyalty, Luffy also believes that all people should be loyal to their nakama, 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, and Boa Hancock petrifying her fellow Kuja tribe members. Luffy's apparent selflessness often inspires others to side with him as a result, notable among these people are Boa Hancock and Emporio Ivankov, who wouldn't have helped him in anyway, 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 to this would be when he protected the Gorgon Sisters secret by using his own body to cover the mark on Sandersonia's back, even though they were trying to kill him.[17] However, despite all his peculiar traits and habits (with his trademark dimwitted behavior) Luffy's most defining part of his personality is his sheer 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.
Also, as a bit of a running gag, Luffy, when talking about money, tells his crewmates to budget their money, only for them to react in return that it all goes towards to feeding him. Recently, though, another running gag involves Luffy randomly telling someone a secret, such as the identity of his and Ace's fathers, only to casually ask to keep it as a secret afterwards. He shares this with his grandpa.
Enemies
Even the Marines started to take him more seriously after he defeated the villainous Marine Captain "Axe-Hand" Morgan and several known pirates such as Captain Buggy the Clown, "Pirate Admiral" Don Krieg, and Arlong the Fishman. A 30,000,000 bounty was placed on his head after he had beaten Arlong and the Marines were cautious about Arlong's defeat because it had brought to question the worth of their units. This reward eventually becomes100,000,000 after he defeated Crocodile, when the World Government deemed him a serious threat for beating one of their Shichibukai. After the invasion of Enies Lobby, where they declare war on the world government itself, the government raised the bounties of the entire crew; Luffy's was raised to 300,000,000.
His personality has left an imprint on a few of his rivals, with both Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid being left with respect for him after he boasted he will be the one to find One Piece. They departed on good terms and all three agreed to meet up again in the New World.[19] Other rivals among the Eleven Supernovas are not so happy with Luffy, with Bonney claiming that she will finish them off herself if she ever meets them in the New World, upset with Luffy causing trouble for her and the others by forcing Kizaru to arrive.[20]
During his voyage, Luffy has had a few meetings with the Marines, from the not too serious looking return of Ironfist Fullbody (whom Luffy met first by the Baratie) and Commodore Smoker of Loguetown, to Admiral Aokiji. While some are easy to defeat, Luffy has been unable to defeat Smoker or Aokiji due to their powerful Logia abilities, and has resorted to running away from Smoker when he encounters him.
Luffy has passed several islands on his way to and along The Grand Line, including Drum Island, Little Garden, Arabasta, and Skypiea. He has met many new allies, as well as making several powerful enemies, such as Crocodile, Enel, Rob Lucci, and Gecko Moria, often inadvertently becoming an obstacle to their schemes, befriending one of their enemies, or being targeted by them, and then proceeding to fight against and defeat them. Some of Luffy's enemies, such as Alvida and Buggy the Clown seek revenge on him for defeating them, though currently Buggy is helping (unwillingly) Luffy rescue Ace.
After being completely defeated in the Sabaody Archipelago and failing to save a single crewmate from Bartholomew Kuma's repelling abilities, Luffy has sworn to defeat him, Sentoumaru and Admiral Kizaru.
Luffy also has a friendly to enemy relationship with Marshall D. Teach. When they first met in the Wild Cherry, they were rivals over some petty things over favorite foods. Blackbeard then gave Luffy a friendly speech over not to forfeit on dreams, despite Blackbeard's later attempt to capture Luffy for his high bounty. However, during the mass breakout attempt in Impel Down, when Luffy learned that the man is Blackbeard, the one responsible for Ace's capture and impending execution, Luffy flew into a rage and attacked. Though this led to them becoming enemies, Blackbeard continued to encourage Luffy to follow dreams, and he tried to hold off Magellan (if only for his own reasons).
Friends
“ It's not some sort of special power, but he has the ability to make allies of everyone he meets. And that is the most fearsome ability on the high seas...
-Hawkeye Mihawk, commenting on Luffy at the Battle of Marineford
”
Luffy shares a strong relationship with Shanks, the pirate who saved his life ten years ago in his hometown, and looks up to him as his role model of an ideal pirate. Shanks and his crew are the ones Luffy proclaimed he would beat as they were leaving Luffy's hometown. Luffy will often defend his friend when others insult him and was relieved to hear from his grandfather that Shanks and his crew were okay.[18] Part of Luffy's dream is to return the hat Shanks gave him when he becomes a great pirate.
Luffy has since worked diligently on keeping that promise and is known famously as "Monkey D. Luffy", or simply "Straw Hat Luffy". Most people don't take his goal seriously, until they see his absurd strength. Mihawk, Blackbeard, and Kidd are the only ones who truly acknowledged his dream right at the start.
Luffy befriends most of the civilians he meets on his journey, who normally fear him for being a pirate but hold him in admiration by the time he moves on to the next adventure. He is especially quick to befriend people, often calling people whom he has known less then a day his friends and being willing to go as far as necessary for them.
While Coby, the first person Luffy met on his journey, acknowledges that as he is a Marine, they will inevitably have to fight, they consider each other friends, as Luffy helped Coby muster the courage necessary to become a Marine.
Luffy has made a friendly rival in the whale Laboon. And, after painting the Straw Hat's jolly roger on Laboon's forehead, promised the two will finish their fight with each other the next time they meet.
Luffy is good friends with Vivi, who was with them all throughout the Arabasta arc, and he even considers her an honorary nakama and Straw Hat crew member.
Luffy is also good friends with Bon Kurei (even to the extent of him asking if in the future he could join the Straw Hats) after Bon Kurei apologized for causing them trouble in Arabasta, and distracted the Marines so the Straw Hats could escape. Bon Kurei went as far as to give his life away to save Luffy and other prisoners by posing as Magellan and ordering the opening of the Gates of Justice during the Impel Down Arc.
As of recently, Luffy has also managed to befriend the Gorgon Sisters, despite their previous attempts to kill him for seeing the mark on Shichibukai Boa Hancock's back, which the other two sisters also have. The mark was of the Tenryuubito, proof that they were once a slave to them, and they would have rather die than show the mark to anyone. During a fight with Hancock's sisters, when Sandersonia's mark was about to be revealed, Luffy served in preventing everyone present from viewing it as a form of respect to his opponents, claiming that their secrets have nothing to do with their fight. This sparked up past memories in Hancock, and revoking her decision to eliminate him. Upon further testing his selflessness, she reveals their past to him, and Luffy forgives them, showing that he only hates the Tenryuubito who did all of them wrong, earning their friendship and (without his knowledge) Hancock's love. He has come to greatly appreciate Hancock in return, as she helped him in the two major instances of helping him break into Impel Down and giving him the key to Ace's seastone handcuffs.
He also has a very friendly relationship with the entire population of Amazon Lily, as it seems every single Kuja practically worships him, as they have never seen a man before, and for the fact that he is a friend of the empress. They even went as far as selling "touches and pokes" of Luffy for 20 gold pieces each. Most of them affectionately refer to him as "Luffy-sama".
In Impel Down he also befriended Ivankov and Inazuma the former of whom is currently helping Luffy to save Ace due to the fact that he is one of Dragon's closest nakama and feels that it is his duty to help Luffy. Before directly encountering him, however, Ivankov and all of his Okama followers were already aware of Luffy's status as not only a pirate but Impel Down's first-ever intruder through the Den Den Mushi surveillance systems within the Great Gaol, and he unintentionally achieved a celebrity status within New Kama Land as a result.
It's notable as well that Luffy has connections to the some of the most powerful organizations or people, mostly through his extensive and famous family. His known family alone, has him connected to powerful members in the Revolutionary Army, Marines, and Whitebeard. Besides his family, he has Shanks, Rayleigh, Boa Hancock, Jinbei, Coby, and Helmeppo, who connect him to another Yonkou, the Shichibukai, and again the Marines. As The Kingdom of Arabasta is an affiliate Nation of the World Government, through Vivi (and by extension, Cobra) he may also possess some influence there. Therefore in the reigning World Powers, he only doesn't have connections in the Gourousei.
He has gained the assistance and admiration of all of the Whitebeard Pirates and allies, namely Whitebeard himself, in his quest to save Ace. After seeing the lengths to which Luffy would go to save Ace, Whitebeard even remarked that he wouldn't forgive Marco if he let Luffy die. Soon after, he assigned his crew and allies to back up Luffy after witnessing him unleash his Haki.
