Monkey D. Luffy

"I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"

- Monkey D. Luffy

"I don't want to rule anything. Being King of the Pirates means being more free then anyone."

- Luffy explains his reasons why he wants to be king.

"I love heroes, but I don't want to be one. Do you even know what a hero is!? For example, you have some meat. Pirates will feast on the meat, but the hero will distribute it among the people! I want to eat the meat!"

- Monkey D. Luffy.

Monkey D. Luffy is the main protagonist of One Piece. He is the son of Monkey D. Dragon.

He is voiced by legendary voice actress Colleen Clinkenbeard.

He is the grandson of Monkey D. Garp and also the sworn brother of the late Portgas D. Ace and Sabo. His main aspiration is to become the King of the Pirates and is searching for the One Piece, a legendary treasure left by the previous Pirate King named Gold Roger. His inspiration comes from a crew of other pirates who used to visit his island when he was little, the captain of which was "Red-Haired" Shanks. During one of this pirate crew's visits, he accidentally ate the Gomu Gomu no mi, a type of Devil Fruit that made his body like rubber. The catch to having these powers is an inability to swim: all those who eat a Devil Fruit will drown if they fall into the ocean. He is the the founder and captain of the Straw Hat Pirates (named for the straw hat Shanks had given him the last time they'd met). The world government views Luffy as a threat, (as he is a pirate, current offender who punched a Celestial Dragon after Fisher Tiger and the son of the Revolutionary Dragon, after all). He is also part of the 12 troublemaking pirates called the Worst Generation.

His first bounty was 30,000,000 Berries after defeating the three top pirates of East Blue and the marine captain Morgan. His second bounty was 100,000,000 Berries after he defeated the Shichibukai Sir Crocodile. His third bounty was 300,000,000 Berries after defeated Blueno and Rob Lucci and declared a war against the World Government. His fourth bounty was 400,000,000 Berries after he defeated another Shichibukai, Gekko Moriah; punched a Celestial Dragon (and managed escaped from Kizaru from the help of Bartholomew Kuma by sending him flying to Amazon Lily so that the World Government and the Marines will not be able to find him); break into and out of Impel Down; invaded Marineford to rescue his brother Portgas D. Ace with Whitebeard's help, for being publicly revealed as a son of the Revolutionary Dragon; after Ace died, he escape Marineford by the help of Jinbei; and he returned to Marineford to ring the Ox Bell 16 times. Luffy's current bounty is 500,000,000 Berries after he defeated another Shichibukai, Donquixote Doflamingo, and formed an alliance with Trafalgar D. Water Law. He take part of the Sanji's Retrieve Team to destroy his arranged wedding with Charlotte Pudding and take Sanji back (until learned that he fall into Big Mom's trap to get himself, his crew (including Sanji) and the entire Vinsmoke Family killed). He formed an alliance with the Fire Tank Pirates Captain and one of his rivals, Capone Bege to overthrow the Yonko, Big Mom and save the Vinsmoke Family but their alliance began to end as they prepare to escape Totto land.

Physical Abilities

 * Enhanced Strength: As captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy has immense physical strength, and is capable of lifting up large boulders, breaking stone, shattering steel with his bare hands, pushing apart large buildings, and shoulder flipping a huge man. Additionally, Luffy has always fought the strongest villain of the story arc (except in the Romance Dawn Arc). Luffy's sheer physical strength and dexterity is a result of his grandfather's unorthodox training methods (such as being thrown into a bottomless ravine, tied to a balloon, thrown into a forest at night, etc.) and he claimed he had a punch as powerful as a pistol even at seven years of age.


 * Enhanced Speed & Reflexes: Luffy also possesses tremendous speed and reflexes to match his strength and endurance. In fact, on more than one occasion, Luffy was able to anticipate moves and counter attacks that would normally be beyond his field of vision due to his sharp reflexes. He is also shown to increase in strength quite dramatically in a short period of time, most noticeably being the fight against Minotaurus, where the first time it took the combined efforts of Mr. 2, Mr. 3, and Buggy just to beat him, but the next time, Luffy defeated him with a single "Gum Gum Jet Pistol".


 * Enhanced Endurance & Durability: His endurance and durability is incredible; taking continuous, deadly assaults from powerful opponents that would have killed a normal person easily in most of his fights, yet still being able to stand up and continue fighting effectively.


 * Enhanced Agility: Luffy is also shown to be extremely agile to the point where he can perform flips, rolls and dodges . Early on in the series, Luffy is seen being able to react to foes faster than him, like Kuro, Arlong,Bellamy, and Enel. After learning the CP9's Soru technique to enhance both speed and strength, he became even more so. After the timeskip he has become even faster, being able to dodge attacks even while in  Third Gear,  and even creating enough friction while running at full speed to set the ground on fire.


 * Indomitable Will: His vast strength is only exceeded by his enormous willpower, as demonstrated on several occasions throughout the series, most noted of all in the Thriller Bark Arc when he manages to take in 100 shadows without passing out, compared to normal humans, who can only take in 2 or 3.
 * Supernatural Survivability: This willpower even lets him survive far beyond what normal people are capable of, as demonstrated when he was poisoned very far beyond what a human is capable of surviving, only living on despite his critical condition through sheer willpower. This is also shown when he survives through Emporio Ivankov's "Healing Hormones" ability, which even with a slim chance of surviving had not only survived the endeavor, but made a recovery in twenty hours when the normal time for the healing procedure is two days. This was later shown with Basil Hawkins' "fortune telling" ability, as despite doing it multiple times, he could never get Luffy's chances of survival to reach 0.


 * Enhanced Jaw Strength: He also possesses extraordinary jaw strength, as seen in the Orange Town Arc in the manga, where he had almost chewed through the metal bars of the cage Buggy put him in. In the following arc, he shattered Jango's steel chakram with his teeth alone (anime). He also ate the cage that Gekko Moriah put him in, and managed to give Rob Lucci a small bite wound, as well as break the steel chain used to bind Nami (in Franky's body) after the timeskip. His greatest feat in this area, however, was that he managed to make Jinbe, who is known to have an extremely high tolerance towards pain, yell out in pain when he bit the fishman's arm.

Fighting Style

 * Master in Hand-to-Hand Combat: Luffy's fighting style consists of adept hand-to-hand combat, supplemented with his physical prowess and the abilities of the Gum Gum Fruit. Such skill allows him to hold his own against combat specialists like Rob Lucci. Unlike Zoro or Sanji, Luffy's fighting style is completely improvised; it follows no particular code of honor, and so if necessary, he will attack women or animals, hit below the belt, attack his enemies even if they have their backs turned or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use enemies as human shields and even bite his opponents. While fighting, Luffy has been shown to be highly adept at improvising, and regularly comes up with creative counterattacks and unusual techniques to use against his enemies. This however leads both enemies and allies alike to wonder if Luffy is taking the fight seriously, especially when he comes up with ridiculous and over the top moves (like Crocodile when Luffy became Water Luffy), which prompts Luffy to respond that he's always serious.


 * Instincts: When Luffy fights, he relies heavily on his instincts, which, interestingly enough, are mostly correct. Even as early as the Arlong Park Arc, after getting bitten he managed to escape with his arm still in one piece by slamming Arlong's head to loosen his jaw to get it out instead of simply pulling it. He picked out the real Mr. 3 from a bunch of wax look-a-likes on a hunch. He also destroyed Enel's "Raigo" using the gold ball as a conductor, but according to Oda he had no real idea what he was doing and was acting out of instinct. Before even learning Kenbunshoku Haki, Luffy could easily dodge any attack by relying on his instinct as shown in his battle against Enel and Rob Lucci.


 * Staff Proficiency: During his childhood, Luffy seems to have at least become competent with a staff, as he is seen using one against a variety of opponents.


 * Intelligence: He also appears to be intelligent enough to at least understand fundamental concepts, such as rubber being a natural insulator, which might be why he did not bother ducking out of the way of Enel's lightning attacks as it would have been pointless because of his immunity. He also was able to develop new techniques such as "Gear Second" and "Gear Third", using logical concepts and knowledge of rubber and its properties. While easily noticeable as the least strategic member of his own crew, largely due to his tendency to simply barge in head-first into battle (often without any kind of battle plan or even any knowledge of his opponent's abilities), Luffy is a highly adaptive combatant. He is constantly coming up with ways to keep ahead of his foes, either by taking advantage of his own strength and Devil Fruit powers or utilizing the opponent's own strengths (along with their weaknesses) against them. This causes even warriors long considered unbeatable to have trouble keeping up. Also, even if most of the time he acts instinctively, in some cases Luffy has shown to be intelligent enough to give some orders to his crewmates in the wake of making a strategy or simply making things go as he prefers. This usually ends up being an advantage for the crew.

Miscellaneous Skills and Weaknesses

 * Hypnosis: He is heavily susceptible to any form of hypnotism and does not have the sense to turn away, such as Jango's powers of hypnosis   or Miss Goldenweek's Colors Trap.


 * Distraction: He is also easily distracted when he sees something that's "just too cool", like seeing Chopper's transformations for the first time, the Thousand Sunny's Gaon Cannon, an energy beam from a Pacifista, his wax armor made from Mr.3's Doru Doru no Mi powers, or the Iron Pirate "Franky Shogun", ignoring everything around him.


 * Sleep Eating: Luffy also has the mysterious and uncanny ability to, while completely asleep, eat as if he were awake, and even knows when more food has been placed on the table. This is probably purely based on muscle memory since what Luffy does best is fighting and eating. It's been shown on several occasions that meat may act as more of a power source than simply a favorite food for Luffy, as whenever he becomes exhausted or tired from a fierce battle, he simply eats some meat and he's back in fighting condition again.


 * Sense of Direction: Even though Luffy is a sailor and the captain of his ship, he has no sense of direction. He believes that if one is to go north, he has to head in a "cold-ish" direction. As a result of this, coupled with his ability to get stuck in certain situations, he tends to arrive barely in time to fight his opponent.


 * Trickster: One of Luffy's greatest advantages is that people actually tend to underestimate him. Either due to his bounty, his actions, or their own arrogance, his opponents usually take him lightly before discovering Luffy's great strength and determination. Because he is underestimated, his opponents (including the Shichibukai) tend to let their guards down, allowing Luffy to gradually learn and adapt his fighting style accordingly.


 * Unpredictability: A second advantage is his unpredictability. Due to his unique, fun-loving, battle-ready personality, and his elastic physique, opponents (and even his allies) are caught off guard by his tactics. This trait has given people the impression of him being reckless, if not insane and keeps people second guessing.


 * Animal Telepathy: Though it's never been stated, Luffy seems to be able to hear the voices of creatures. During the Warship Island Arc he claims to sort of hear the voice of Ryu the dragon (though this is non-canon). It is also mentioned a second time during the Fishman Island Arc when the Sea Kings come to save Noah. One of them thinks Luffy hears their voice, causing them to think back to a young Gol D. Roger, who also heard them in his journey in the depths of the sea.


 * Luck: Though not exactly a skill or ability, Luffy is said to have incredible luck. His luck is so great that people around him, like Smoker, Ivankov, Elder Nyon, and even his own crew think that they were miracles, or even divine intervention, though in most cases it has to do with his incredible willpower. Examples are:
 * Surviving the execution done by Buggy and managing to escape the Marines in Loguetown thanks to a freak storm.
 * Surviving two defeats by Crocodile, the second one being incredibly lucky because one of the water blasts he shot as Mizu Luffy (which Crocodile dodged before drying Luffy's body with his Suna Suna no Mi powers) eventually fell and rehydrated him to save his life.
 * Picking out a dud in a basket full of exploding apples.
 * Defeating Rob Lucci in battle, through both sheer willpower and his unbelievable endurance.
 * Managing to beat Gekko Moriah just before the sun rises, making him cough up all the shadows he stole in time.
 * Accidentally making the man-hating Boa Hancock fall in love with him.
 * Having the willpower to survive Magellan's poison and recover from it through pure strength of will and some hormone enhancement, when it was said there was not even a shred of hope that he would survive, and that even antidotes were out of the question.
 * Participating in the Battle of Marineford and surviving.
 * Being poisoned by Hyouzou only to discover he developed strong resistances to even the deadliest of poisons due to his fight with Magellan.
 * Being poisoned due to eating the skin of an armored stonefish, and is later cured by Vinsmoke Reiju, who sucks the poison out of him.
 * Escaping captivity of the Big Mom Pirates due to the timely arrival of Jinbe.
 * Narrowly avoiding execution by Big Mom as the bomb Minister of Right planted inside of the Tamatebako. which Luffy previously gave to the Big Mom Pirates exploded causing the collapse of Whole Cake Chateau.
 * Enhanced Charisma: According to Dracule Mihawk, Luffy has the most dangerous ability in the world: that of turning anyone around him into his allies, including former enemies. Luffy's powerful charisma has earned him many powerful friends and allies in times of need, allowing him to escape the tightest situations.In a conversation between Ace and Vivi, it is shown that Ace is somewhat aware of this ability, as he mentions that Luffy has a strange charm that causes people to gather around him. In fact, his charm is great enough that he earned the respect of Whitebeard after talking with him for a few seconds and later on he earned his complete faith to save Ace as Whitebeard ordered his crew and allies to back up Luffy, what more is that he acchieve this in one day. Luffy's charisma later earned a large fleet as many of the crew's who join him in the fight against Doflamingo swore their loyalty to him after the conflict on Dressrosa.


 * Fear Inducement: During the two-year absence, with his bounty raised and his family heritage revealed, he earned an infamous reputation which was taken advantage of by Demalo Black to bring fear to the hearts of people in Saboady Archipelago as well as recruit powerful members. His reputation is now high enough to be noted by New World Pirates, as some were shocked when they found out that Caesar had captured him. During the Corrida Colosseum tournament in Dressrosa several contestants express fear over his presence, even Bartolomeo who had casually won the B Block.


 * Self Transcendence: After the timeskip, Luffy has grown immensely in power and skill. He has shown new mastery over his Second Gear  and Third Gear along with his Haki, and easily destroyed a Pacifista with a single punch in conjunction with his Second Gear and Armament Haki (a feat which has been shown to be amazingly difficult), later defeating the Kraken with one hit from Third Gear imbued with Haki in a similar manner, and then managing to defeat Vander Decken IX while tied up. Another testament to his power was shown when he defeated Hody Jones while fighting underwater for the majority of the fight, and only received one bite wound throughout the whole duration. He is strong enough to be able to destroy Noah, a ship half of the size of Fishman Island, while suffering from blood loss and (as noted by the Sea Kings) would have done so if they didn't show up in time, as well as being able to match a punch from Don Chinjao, a pirate worth 500,000,000 Belly or over, who fought against Garp . He has also grown to be much more durable, as the same attack from Caesar Clown that caused heavy damage to Sanji's body did not leave any lasting injuries on Luffy. While initially stunned by the attack, he appeared completely uninjured almost immediately afterwards.While the Straw Hats were on their way to Fishman Island, he showed no discomfort in the range of temperatures given, hot or cold.


 * Poison Resistance: He has also gained powerful antitoxins in his blood stream from his fight with Magellan in Impel Down, which grant him a high resistance against poison. Hyouzou, a poisonous blue-ringed octopus merman of the New Fishman Pirates, poisoned Luffy during their fight and Luffy would not have taken any notice to it if Chopper had not seen the entry point in his arm. The blue-ringed octopus possesses one of the real world's deadliest poisons and the fact that Luffy could shrug it off like it was nothing is a testament to the strength of his immune system. He is also able to counter against Caesar's own poisonous gases.He is able to completely resist the H2S (a gas that petrified people with a touch) enhanced Caesar form without any sign of being poisoned.
 * However, this did not help him against the poison in the skin of an armored stonefish, which left him at the brink of death.


 * Swimming: Like all Devil Fruit users, Luffy cannot swim. However, unlike other Devil Fruit users, he does not avoid water sports, and sometimes will jump into the ocean to save someone from drowning (though will drown himself as well). Luffy could not swim before eating his Devil Fruit so this has made little difference in this capacity. At the time Shanks visited Luffy's hometown, Luffy had decided he would learn how to swim by the time Shanks left so he could leave with them, indicating Luffy was learning how to swim previously. He does seem to know that a person cannot eat more than one Devil Fruit, as shown when he said he couldn't eat the Mera Mera no Mi.

Devil Fruit
Luffy has been gained extraordinary stretching powers from eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi (lit. Rubber Rubber Fruit, Gum-Gum Fruit in the English dub), which is one of the rare and legendary Devil Fruits. After consuming the Gum Gum Fruit, Luffy's body became like rubber, giving him the ability to stretch and attack long distances.

Having undergone intense training for over ten years, Luffy is now able to supplement his stretching powers with immense strength, agility, and creativity in combat. His fighting style is largely improvised, and thus relies heavily on his Devil Fruit powers. It should also be noted that Luffy cannot automatically stretch his limbs out (like superheroes with stretching powers, i.e: Mr. Fantastic or Plastic Man), and since his body acts much like an actual rubber band, he has to throw some force into his punches in order for his limbs to stretch out. It should be noticed that he has somehow managed to do it automatically (much like the aforementioned superheroes) after the timeskip. However, he has been shown to be able to hold his limbs outstretched for a long period of time, as seen when he reaches his arm out about half a mile down to try and retrieve Usopp from falling through the Sea Clouds.

Luffy regularly uses his stretching powers in ingenious and creative ways, as he is able to use the malleable stretchiness of his limbs to gain tremendous velocity, and hit his enemies with devastating impacts and blows. His rubber body is also extremely durable and virtually immune to blunt attacks such as bullets (in One Piece, bullets are still round pellets, except for Don Krieg's), punches, and electricity, more often than not, bouncing off his body harmlessly or canceling out the attack. It has even become a running gag that people find out the hard way that Luffy is made of rubber when they shoot at him, only to have the bullets bounce back at them.

Another running gag is that whenever Luffy's body is in a dangerous situation that would

kill a normal person, he simply states that "he's made of rubber, so it's okay", or acts like it is a small problem despite that person trying to kill him, such as being shot in the heart. However, he is still normally susceptible to sharp objects such as swords and knives as well as nonphysical attacks like heat, cold, dehydration, and poison (though after the timeskip, Luffy has been shown a strong immunity to poison due to his fight against Magellan in Impel Down). Not only can he use his stretchiness to increase the range and strength of his attacks, but on some rare occasions he can also use his stretched limbs to help restrain and even control weaker foes like puppets (to fight for him).

Haki
Shortly before the two year time skip, Luffy had awakened the ability known as "Haki" and is one of the few known people able to use all three types. Luffy was identified to possess this mysterious ability by Blackbeard after their first encounter in Jaya. He first showed the ability to use it when he knocked out Duval's steed, Motobaro, without actually hitting him. Since then, he showed increased but irregular usage of it, with very little to no control, as the series went on. It was only after the Battle of Marineford, when he started training with Silvers Rayleigh, that he actually learned about Haki and how to control it. Though it was stated that 2 years was too short a time to learn the basics of Haki, Luffy has shown a natural affinity for it, learning it in 18 months. Since reuniting with his crew Luffy has been shown to consciously, actively, and easily use Haki in combat.

After Ace was sent away to the Marine Headquarters, Luffy decided to break out of Impel Down and head for Marineford. In the process, he ran into an intruding Blackbeard who noted that Luffy's Haki increased since last time they met (in Jaya). It could be speculated that Blackbeard already noticed Luffy's Haki possession since their first meeting. The fourth time Luffy released his Haki was at Marineford, when he saw Ace about to be executed. It was then that Ace and the Marines learned of his possession of Haki, and of the Haoshoku type to top it off. This made him even more threatening to the government, although he was already threatening enough without it.

After the Marineford War, Luffy decided to train with Rayleigh. Luffy managed to learn the basics of Haki within a year and a half, even though Rayleigh had intended to spend the entire two years teaching him, meaning that he was either a fast learner once he understood the concept, or he has an innate affinity for Haki. Rayleigh departed after a year and a half, leaving Luffy to train by himself for the remaining six months. It should be noted that Luffy possesses what is considered to be a large amount of Haki.

Conqueror Haki
Luffy is able to use Haoshoku Haki, a type of Haki possessed in one in a million people. Luffy used this ability several times in the series, as it was the type of Haki that manifested the earliest. When Luffy displayed at the battle of Marineford, many legendary pirates were surprised such as Whitebeard who decided to have his allies aid Luffy in saving Ace from execution. It was also enough for the marine admirals to decide he must be eliminated due to his potential which was already high due to his status as Revolutionary Dragon's son. After training over two years, it has become Luffy's specialty as he uses it to avoid unnecessary fights with civilians.

Observation Haki
Since training with Silvers Rayleigh, Luffy appears to have gained significant proficiency in Kenbunshoku Haki, allowing him to tell what an opponent intends to do. He was able to effortlessly dodge a bullet shot at point-blank range by Demalo Black as well as laser projectiles fired by a Pacifista, commenting that the second attack was "slow". His proficiency with this skill is truly shown when he was able to completely avoid Hody Jones' Yabusame without effort. Luffy also displayed being able to discern Caribou's presence within the Ryugu Palace, even asking if Zoro and Sanji can sense it too. At Punk Hazard, he was able to sense the Yeti Cool Brothers attacking Chopper and Nami.

Armament Haki
Luffy seems to have also mastered Busoshoku Haki, which has been shown to darken his body (or parts of it) and harden it. This is first shown being used when he easily defeated a Pacifista with a single Haki imbued punch used in conjunction with his Second Gear. He is also able to use his Third Gear in conjunction with his Busoshoku Haki, being capable of knocking out a giant beast such as the Kraken easily, despite the great disadvantage of being under water (where his power was considerably weaker). After he used this, he did not turn into his child-like form.

Another demonstration of Luffy's Busoshoku Haki is during his fight with Hody Jones, where he was able to harden his arm, leg, and forehead for both strong offensive and defensive measures. The defense of his Busoshoku Haki, however, is not absolute as shown in his fight with Hody Jones, where it was revealed that while it is good for reinforcing his near immunity against blunt attacks, it is currently not strong enough to defend against sharp objects, such as Hody Jones' shark teeth.

With this ability, he was able to knock Caribou (a logia devil fruit user) and send him flying a great distance which is something he couldn't originally do prior to the time-skip. He was even able fight against Caesar Clown another logia user.

Shanks and The Straw Hat
Luffy was born in Foosha Village. Seven years after his birth, he meets and befriends a crew of pirates led by an affectionate captain named Red Haired Shanks. Luffy, inspired by them, decided to become a pirate as well. Luffy stabs himself with a knife just under his left eye to prove that he is tough enough to join Shanks' crew.

During a scene with Shanks and Higuma, a local mountain bandit that insulted Shanks and his crew, Luffy accidentally eats a Devil Fruit known as the Gomu Gomu no Mi and unwittingly turns himself into a rubber man/boy. Initially this situation affects Luffy badly as it means he will never be able to swim again, which is a great weakness to anyone who wishes to journey the seas.This, however, does not deter Luffy's dream and he continues aspiring to become a pirate.

Later, Luffy stands up to Higuma on behalf of Shanks. However, he is easily defeated and becomes a hostage.His captors are easily defeated by the Red-Haired Pirates, but the bandit leader Higuma has fled out to sea with Luffy.Shanks loses his left arm while saving Luffy.While out at sea, Higuma throws Luffy in the ocean, only to be attacked by a sea king moments later while he's laughing at Luffy. Higuma is eaten. Though Shanks manages to save Luffy, he pays a high price: his left arm is lost to the sea king.

Shortly after, Shanks sets sail along with his crew, but before leaving, he and Luffy promise each other that one day Luffy will surpass Shanks and become the Pirate King. Shanks then leaves Luffy his straw hat as a parting gift, telling him to return it once he surpasses him.

Luffy's New Family: Bandits and Brothers
Sometime later, Monkey D. Garp takes Luffy into the care of Dadan, which is the first time Luffy meets Portgas D. Ace. Garp took him to Dadan, while Luffy refused. Garp picked him up, knocked on the door and put him down. He then gets spit on by the newly arrived Ace, angrily glaring at each other.

Thinking back about the recent incident with Higuma, he tells Dadan and the rest of the bandits that he hates them. Dadan bitterly scolds the young kid for saying something like that, telling him he should stay there or starve to death. Luffy takes a look at the meat-eating Ace, asking if he can have a piece. He then gets scolded by Dadan, telling him he can do fine with just rice and water, but he sees Ace leave and follows him. Luffy says to Ace that he is not angry at Ace for spitting on him (since it is not something to get worked up about) and wants to be friends. Ace responds by knocking a tree down at Luffy. Luffy then follows Ace across a bridge. Ace notices him and knocks him off of the bridge. Luffy returns to Dadan's house a week later and tells Dadan that he was being chased by wolves and fell off a cliff. Luffy gets sent to bed. The next day, Ace goes out again and Luffy follows wanting to start a friendship only to get shunned by Ace. After three months of persistently trying to follow Ace, Luffy eventually comes across the Gray Terminal. Luffy overhears Ace and Sabo's conversation about buying a pirate ship. Luffy shows up to them and says that he wants to be a pirate too. Ace and Sabo then tie Luffy to a tree and decide that they should kill Luffy to keep their secret safe. While Luffy panics, Ace and Sabo have a hard time deciding who should kill Luffy since both Ace and Sabo have never killed anyone before. They hear someone coming and they untie Luffy and go hide. Porchemy of the Bluejam Pirates arrive searching for stolen money. Luffy then wanders off and gets caught by Porchemy. Luffy yells out Ace's name. Porchemy, recognizing that name, takes Luffy away for interrogation.

Porchemy then drags Luffy into a small house and ties him up. Luffy states that he is not going to say anything. Porchemy then hits Luffy with a giant hammer, but that doesn't harm Luffy due to his Devil Fruit powers. Porchemy then uses spiked gloves and no matter how many times Porchemy beats Luffy, he refuses to yield. Porchemy loses his patience, draws a sword and is about to kill Luffy when Ace and Sabo arrive. They cut Luffy loose and defeat Porchemy. Out in the woods, Ace asks Luffy why he did not tell Porchemy about the whereabouts of Ace and Sabo's treasure. Luffy then tells Ace that he wants a friend, he has no parents with him, and he hates to be alone. After that, Luffy joins Ace and Sabo and the trio start making a name for themselves.

Luffy, Ace, and Sabo sharing sake to become "sworn brothers".Later on, Luffy is shown fighting Ace with the former losing (for the 50th time). After that, along with Sabo, they go to hunt gators, look for trash in the Gray Terminal, and eat and run. However, while they were running from the restaurant, a man calls out Sabo's name, causing Luffy and Ace to question him. Sabo says that the man who called out to him was his dad, a noble. He tells the others about his past and then says that he wants to be free as a pirate and write a book about the world. Everyone soon realizes that they can not agree to be on the same pirate ship as captain, so Ace comes up with an idea, telling Luffy and Sabo that they all can become brothers by exchanging drinks. As long as they have this bond, it will not matter where they are.

The Sabo Incident
But one day, everything changes. Sabo's father hires Captain Bluejam to bring back Sabo and get rid of Luffy and Ace. Sabo begs his dad to tell Bluejam to stop hurting them and he will do whatever his dad commands. Ace tries to stop him from leaving but the poor kid just walks away with his dad with tears rolling down his face.

Luffy and Ace then join the Bluejam Pirates at the request of the captain and carry cargo to marked locations in the Gray Terminal with the other pirates. Later, Bluejam reveals to Luffy and Ace that the cargo that they had carried was oil and gunpowder and that the Gray Terminal will be engulfed with flames. Luffy and Ace react in outrage and are quickly apprehended by the pirates. Bluejam then informs them that they can no longer be left alive and asks them about the location of their hoard of treasure. Later that night, the flames start and Luffy and Ace manage to cut themselves loose after being tied up. Luffy and Ace then run for their lives.

While trying to escape, the two run into Bluejam once more. Bluejam decides that if he is to die, that he will take the two with him; however, he first asks Ace one last time to reveal the location of their treasure. While Luffy is against it, Ace is willing to let the pirates have the treasure to ensure Luffy's safety. However, after Ace tells Bluejam where the treasure is, Bluejam has his crew restrain Ace and Luffy. As Bluejam begins to badmouth Sabo, Ace verbally retaliates, spurring Luffy to bite his captor's arm. The pirate responds by slashing him across the face with his sword; before the pirate can finish Luffy off, though, Ace lets out a scream of rage, unbeknown to everyone there (including himself) that he is wielding Haki. The blast knocks everyone out, aside from Luffy and Bluejam. Bluejam almost kills Ace, but then Dadan appears to rescue the two boys. Although she wants to run back home with them, Ace refuses to run away. Luffy decides to stay and fight as well, but Dadan forbids it, remaining in his place. Luffy is then taken back by the bandits to recover at home.

Luffy awakes the next day, crying that he wants to know if Ace, Dadan, and Sabo are all right. After Dogura goes to check the remaining ashes of Gray Terminal, Luffy is very upset for not being allowed to go look for Ace and Dadan. Suddenly, Ace arrives carrying Dadan on his back, Luffy jumps over to Ace, crying in relief for Ace being alive. He says that Luffy should not worry about him being dead, because he won't die, hitting Luffy on his head. Ace tells how he and Dadan got out of the burning Terminal after beating Bluejam, and Dadan rests while getting healed with the medicines Ace stole from the town. Later that day, while outside playing with two beetles, Luffy sees Dogura coming back from the forest, and tells him that Dadan and Ace were already home. Dogura then tells them that while looking for Ace and Dadan, he went to the city, and saw Sabo setting sail on a boat, and then get shot by a ship. Ace attacks Dogura, accusing him for lying, but he replies he's not lying, nor dreaming, and he saw it with his own eyes. Luffy realizes that Sabo was not happy at all for coming back to the city, and starts to cry, Ace tries to go to the city to avenge him, but is stopped by Dadan, because she is afraid of Ace being killed, blaming the country for killing Sabo, not only the nobles. Since Ace is still too angry, he is tied up to a tree, while Luffy cries the whole night.Luffy punching out the Lord of the Coast with his improved Gum Gum Pistol. A while later, Luffy, still mourning Sabo, asks Ace to never die, to which Ace makes the promise to Luffy that he will not leave his "crybaby brother" alone. Luffy then decides that he wants to be much stronger. After years of training, stealing food from the royal town and growing with Ace, Luffy witnesses Ace's departure at seventeen with Luffy being fourteen.

Waiting three more years, Luffy decides to train some more, finally mastering his Gomu Gomu no Pistol. Ready to depart when he turns seventeen, he thanks Dadan and the bandits, then waves goodbye to the rest of the village, saying he is the third, after Sabo and Ace, to depart.