Plurk paste

First impressions of Monkey D. Luffy are normally silly ones: A young man with a charismatic smile and a wide-eyed, childlike stare underneath unkempt black hair and a round straw hat. He's loud, not obnoxious but loud, just from the excitement of life which seems to spawn an ever-increasing volume in him, and a habit for poking his nose where it doesn't belong. He has a one-track mind, and a simple, goofy nature is something to laugh at. He doesn't get upset or cry--he stares blankly, stupidly even, and thinks with a stoic expression; but don't think you'll hear anything intelligent. It's probably just about meat. All pretty damn ridiculous, until you begin to slide past that shallow, dry core to the true, strong-willed child behind it.

Luffy's not as dumb as he seems. He's simple and blinded easily when unmotivated, and thinks the ideal simple pirate ways: get gold, eat meat, and figure out how to get closer to One Piece. His mind takes a break and he lets a childlike innocence and an ease of simplicity cloak him. It's second nature to him, and he has no problem with the mocking laughter he receives, and the confused impressions he gives other pirates, who have a habit of underestimating him right off the bat. Actually, the less they truly know off the bat, the better. He likes having a reputation with that aura of mystery--that sort of thing spreads your name across the blue and you learn more that way.

But it's not all about looking one way. It's about being--honestly being--a pirate, and not just any pirate, a damn good one. He has to be able to fight and defend himself. He needs to be capable of not only holding his own in a battle, but defending his team as well. He's strong; part of it's natural and part's from the gomu gomu fruit, but it's nice to think of it as a sort of straw hat charm. He punches; actually, he has a certain reliance on flying fists but he doesn't use just that. He morphs the rubber of his body to manipulate himself to his advantage in any battle. This is his biggest growth from the two years spent apart from his crew. After the death of his older brother and Luffy's realization that he needed to get stronger, he challenged his entire crew to improve on their talents, just as he improved on his. Not just with his gomu gomu fruit, but with his ability to fight in general. Being a pirate is the general gist of it--being a good one takes practice.

Of course, Luffy knows his ship needs more than just himself to make his crew truly his nakama. He's got a team of fighters, of liars and thieves, of noblemen and ladies. But not just that, they're his friends, his family of the sea. Luffy knows he loves them dearly, and he has an unwavering confidence in them. He trusts them unconditionally--and they're his nakama, they won't betray him--and he knows they'll come to his aid just as he'll run straight to their's. They know what they're doing, and they fight together, despite their very different traits. They always find the strength to help one another, despite whatever odds they're up against, and were they to fall, they would fall together--but Luffy knows they won't. He puts enough faith in his team that they'll all make it out safe.

Luffy knows you don't mess with his friends. you don't mess with a person's dreams and aspirations for unfair conditions. And if you do, you'll pay for it. You have to fight for your dreams; Luffy knows this well. He fights for his own, and for whoever's needs fighting for. If you want it badly enough, you'll struggle for it; he seems to give that sort of hope to a person, that not all is lost, and he has a habit of restoring their fighting spirit. Don't give in, if you're weak; that's the last thing anyone can do, he's sure. It doesn't get a person anywhere to just quit. And if a person can't fight? Help in any way possible. But he won't boast about helping; actually, he rarely says anything otherwise, and leaves it up to the person he's helped. He doesn't like letting an ego hold him on a pedastal, only to fuel him for going into a battle with confidence.

But let's make one thing clear: Don't get him angry. Luffy's only truly angry on a few events, and normally it's when someone's obviously causing some trouble. The oppression of people, control, manipulation... those are the things Luffy hates. And being too weak to stop it? Luffy's willing to give a person a reason to fight and stand up for this, but if they're not strong enough, that's where he and the other Straw Hat Pirates come in. He doesn't like to think of himself as a hero; he's not, he's a pirate. But it's what differentiates him from a 'bad' pirate. They're not going to pillage a town and abuse the women--no, he's more for exploring where he wants and leaving Nami to con her way into getting more gold or trading, or shopping. It's a more peaceful existence. But when he's angry, nothing will stop him until he's victorious. He doesn't like to lose, especially to those who will only lead the world to ruin.

His fighting style is an interesting thing to behold as well. He spends quite a bit of time planning his next move, and his eyes from the very beginning sometimes seem to know who his true enemy is, as if he has an odd sixth sense. He doesn't think too much about himself, because worrying will only inhibit him; instead, he worries about others, which encourages him to do his best in a fight and try his hardest to beat whoever stands in his way. Countless times, he's received injuries so gruesome that it was a wonder he still lived, but to see him standing up again to finish the battle--and win--was all but miraculous. With Luffy, most of his battle is instinctual, following his heart and reacting as fast as his mind will let him, instead of sitting around and strategizing. He doesn't want to think of a gameplan; he doesn't have time for that. All he can do is know what works and what doesn't, and try to think on what works better mid-fight. In the two years apart from his crew, his style matured, less in terms of that quirky but functioning charm and more with just improvement. He became stronger; he hits harder and moves just that much quicker. And for whatever he doesn't punch, he has the haki - while he's not normally an intimidating person, the fact that he can have such a piercing stare that can set fear into someone's heart or cause them to reconsider an action is just astounding.

Each battle seems to enforce a principle in Luffy and his crew: set high goals. Either, a lesson of stupidity or pure genius--bite off a giant mouthful because in the end you'll be able to chew. A challenge: go, and win. No other options. Just come back with a victory, or win as much as you can and try again. It keeps the morale high, but makes a person feel invincible. This may or may not be a good thing. With spirits up, it's harder to knock you down, but with too much of a god-complex going on, mortality isn't remembered, and it gets riskier every time because the stakes are--mentally--not as high as they should be. Luffy makes sure to keep himself in check after every battle, and is actually very humble about his victories.

And for what doesn't work, there is another solution: Meat fixes everything. Whether it does or doesn't, it won't really matter. There's meat.