Here I will be pointing out a number of his characteristics that makes people fall in love with him . Luffy is the most cute character in anime/manga. Notably child Luffy is simply too damn precious.
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| Monkey D Luffy Post Time Skip |
He is not stupid, he's only... easy . Luffy likes running and playing around, he laughs in the dumbest things, he is always smiling and he's normally care-free and pleased with his life. He is like a little child because he is innocent and innocent.
But that doesn't mean he's not smart. He conquered Foxy using the crystals which got stuck into his afrohe analyzed CP9's special skills to make Gear Second and Gear Third, he exploited the zombies at Thriller Bark to determine Usopp, Nami and Chopper's place... etc.. I think that it's safe to say Luffy just has... another type of intelligence.
Here has been particular tough scenarios in which Luffy's been made to realize that not everything in life could be solved by stretching. Sometimes life becomes challenging and you want to believe things through before acting.
Luffy is energetic. He just can not stop moving. He enjoys adventure, seeing exciting things and he's always optimistic when facing the unknown.
Luffy is daring and won't back down when viewing pirates that are supposed to be more powerful than him, like when he fulfilled Whitebeard or if he talked on the telephone with Big Mom.
Since Luffy never had a family of his own, he treats his own nakamas as household members. Exactly like Naruto, Luffy has the ability to inspire people and make friends wherever he moves. After Ace's death, Jinbei made him realise he still has people who treat him. You do not have to attack his nakama, simply saying a bad thing about any them is sufficient to create Luffy rage and want to kick your ass.
He's funny, At desired occasions he is a bad ass, or we can say at all times, enjoys his crew. On top of this he will continue to pursue his own dreams whatever the cost, which many people can't do. He has a style that no one can copy. As we all know he'll find 1 bit but that isn't the principal thing he desires as luffy stated he doesn't want to understand where the 1 piece is. He cares about is the whole journey with his team mates towards the end. That's what everybody likes about him.
He doesn't seem particularly interested in money, treasures and big packages. His aspirations go farther than what's plain shallow. His final goal will be FREEDOM.
In fact, Akira Toriyama considers that Luffy can ride a Nimbus Cloud since he is good, innocent, humble and doesn't have bad intentions.
How many Shichibukai can Luffy beat at the current time in the anime?
The world Economic Journal in One piece referred Luffy as the fifth Yonko, and it wasn’t half wrong. He is undoubtedly one of most powerful supernovas, has beaten a number of ace pirates and marines and is the captain of the infamous Strawhats grand fleet.
Now coming to the question, he has the capability to beat a number of Shichibukai. I’ll consider all the Warlords (New and Old) to present a fine picture.
1. Crocodile. Luffy has already beaten him in Alabasta Arc and has the potential and strength to do it again. Crocodile appeared to be very fearsome and cunning but didn’t live up to the hype once he was beaten black and blue by Luffy. Even his later appearances failed to show that maybe, just maybe he has surpassed Luffy or is even at his level. Hence, Luffy > Crocodile.
2. Dracule Mihawk. This one could be tricky, as Hawk Eyes is the world’s greatest swordsman, and Luffy has rarely fought anyone with that talent so it’s difficult to draw any comparisons. Furthermore, Mihawk is generally compared with other swordsmen like Shanks, Zoro etc., which makes it odd to draw such conclusions. And Whitebeard once mentioned that Hawk Eyes Mihawk fought shanks, which makes him at par with a Yonko. As for Luffy, he has a long way to go before he can match up to shanks. Hence, it’s safe to say that Hawk Eyes Mihawk > Luffy.
3. Boa Hancock. Mero Mero No Mi, was it? Didn’t work on Luffy, did it? As for the Colors of Haki, she can demonstrate Haoshoku and Busoshoku, combine that with immense physical strength and the special Kuja fighting style, she can be proved a threat to Luffy. But I doubt she will ever be, because, “To me...All men are alike...All but him”, him being Luffy. Also, with Luffy’s present strength, he definitely can beat the Kuja princesses, be it in Haki or just brute strength. Therefore, Luffy > Hammock.
4. Bartholomew Kuma. The first encounter of Kuma with Strawhats was scary and fearsome. He completely overpowered our heroes and had Zoro not have done, what he did, things would have been really different now. The second meeting was no cakewalk too. The Strawhats had a tough time at Sabaody Archipelago, from getting their assess kicked by Pacifistas to almost getting killed by Admiral Kizaru, but this time Kuma was a savior in disguise. Post time skip, we have seen how easily Luffy had beaten the Pacifistas, and just to draw comparisons, even if Kuma is 10X that of a Pacifista, Luffy can still beat him in his current state. After all, he has beaten recently beaten heavy weights like Katakuri, Cracker etc., which was no child’s play. Hence, Luffy > Kuma.
5. Trafalgar D. Water Law. Law is one of the most powerful supernovas. He may not be able to beat Luffy in brute strength, or power, but he’s too smart to lose without giving him a run for his money. Him being an ally just complicate things further, as I can never picture them crossing swords (Literally too). However, Law < Doflamingo, Doflamingo < Luffy, hence, Luffy > Law.
6. Gekko Moria. Admit it, he never had a chance. Luffy did beat him in his own game, and without his Kage Kage No Mi, he’s just some ordinary, abnormally tall guy getting his ass beaten, first by Kaido, then by Luffy. He bragged about his experience to Luffy during Thriller Bark Arc, and how according to him, the Strawhats were just some small fishes preparing to get eaten by the bigger ones. Nevertheless, we all saw how that turned out. And yes, Luffy > Moria.
7. Donquixote Doflamingo. This Heavenly Yaksha, the king of Dressrosa and former Celestial Dragon was scary, ruthless, arrogant and powerful. And his iconic glasses and unique laugh just added to his proud personality. At first, it seemed next to impossible that even with the help of Law, Luffy will be able to defeat Doflamingo. The whole arc was entertaining, scary, funny and amusing. And Luffy did manage to win it, for Dressrosa, but without Oda Oda No Mi, the odds were against Luffy with such difference in physical strength, Devil Fruit power and Haki power. Yet, Luffy > Doflamingo.
8. Buggy the Clown. When Shiki said, “East Blue is the weakest sea in the world ”, he must be referring to Buggy (Sigh!). He’s neither powerful nor intelligent but is just friends/ acquainted with some crazy famous people like Pirate King Roger, Dark King Rayleigh Shanks, Luffy etc. He has not shown any potential since his first appearance in episode 5. He became a shichibukai just because some genius reporter thought he’s friends with Shanks (Marineford War Arc reference). This one is no surprise, Luffy >> Buggy.
9. Jinbe. I feel Jinbe is one of most righteous individuals in One Piece, he is by far the most honest one as well. Because of his portrayal as a genuine Fishman and his loyalty towards Luffy, it’s difficult to draw comparisons between him and Luffy. Nonetheless, he’s powerful, brainy, can use Busoshoku Haki and can strategize. Whereas Luffy can do anything which doesn’t require brainpower, more or less. We can’t exclude the fact that now, he’s one of the Strawhats, and as his captain, Luffy can’t be weaker than him. Also, I’ll always put my bet on Luffy.
10. Edward Weevil. The self-proclaimed son of Whitebeard, who has defeated a number of infamous pirates and after which he went after Whitebeard allies to take revenge for his father’s death, looks very idiotic to me. The only reason because of which he claims to be WB’s son is because his beard is also white (I had the same expression). Kizaru may have praised him for defeating 16 pirates in a row and may have compared him to young WB, but he’s yet to become equals with Luffy and gang. Of course, Luffy > Weevil.
11. Marshall D. Teach. When I first heard his name during the Drum Island Arc, I thought of him as nothing but some weakling who copied WB’s name. I was up for a surprise. He defeated Ace, the second commander of WB pirates, handed him over to the Navy, became a show-stealer in Marine-ford War, ate two devil fruits, and became one of the emperors. Wow! Easy there, Satan. Can Luffy defeat him in his current state? No, he unfortunately or fortunately can’t. BB is too overwhelmingly powerful for Luffy with his current prowess-es. Hence, Blackbeard > Luffy.
Oda is a master when it comes to character development or redemption. It's common for him to introduce a character very early in the series and have him or her being impactful later on. The greatest example is Buggy. He was basically the first major villain in the series and turned out to be one of Gol D. Roger's crew and is now one of the Sichibukai.
I am going to assume you are asking for one of the main characters in the series, mainly from the Straw Hat crew, because Oda already gives out a lot of attention to second or even third rate characters!
Monkey D. Luffy is the protagonist, so he gets the spotlight and has great development constantly. My biggest fear was whether his personality will change after two years and although he has matured a little bit, he remains to be the happy-go-lucky boy he has always been.
Zoro also has great development throughout the series, but is done very subtly. This year is going to be his year so I think very soon we will see him develop even further.
Sanji just had a major arc dedicated to him. We got to learn about his past before going to Baratie.
Ussopp is the character that in my opinion has had the greatest character development after Luffy. Throughout the years we see him grow in more than one ways. He has also unlocked Haki, so I am sure more great things will happen for him.
Nami is unfortunately a very underrated character. Although she has time to shine, she doesn't really evolve as a character (except her breasts!) She does grow more powerful but her character basically remains the same after Arlong Arc. I would love to see more of her in the future.
Robin now is also a character with very little character development. She is basically there to laugh at Luffy’s silly actions, or to offer remarks about the troubles that might endanger the crew. Although I have to admit that seeing her go from Crocodiles second in command to what she is today was a great character development experience.
Chopper has basically remained the same. He has grown stronger, improved as a doctor but he is almost exactly the same as he was before, but his naiveness and child personality are perfect for him, so having him be the same person / animal goes to his favor.
Franky has gone to be a cyborg pervert to a fully cyborg pervert. Not much can be said, but he had a great redemption Arc after Water 7 and Ennies Lobby.
Brook had great development. He went from being a musician and then Captain to the Rumbar Pirates to being completely alone for 50 long years, to being a rock star to being a loyal subordinate of Luffy. This is apparent when we see him go against Big Mom. He knows what Luffy truly wants at this point of time but he also knows what is going through Sanji’s head. Instead of forcing Sanji to come back, he respects his decision and sets out to complete a long term goal that his crew has.
All these are in my opinion the development each character has had, how they grew as their own person and not as strength. And to finally answer your question, the character that I would wish to have more character development is tied between Nami and Franky, leaning more towards to Nami. I want to see more sides of her other than just being a greedy money grabbing person and punching the crew for comedic purposes. Kinda like what happened to Sky Island during the time skip when she hears about Luffy’s struggles to save Ace.
