One Piece fans know better than to underestimate one Monkey D. Luffy. While the hero may act immature at times, the captain of the Straw Hats is tougher than just about anyone sailing the seas. However, there are some things you cannot beat with strength alone, and one fan-theory thinks it has figured out the real reason behind Luffy’s power.
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Over on Reddit, fans of One Piece started buzzing when a user named Pogi Jones shared a theory about the manga’s latest arc. These days, Eiichiro Oda is taking fans through Wano on a long-awaited adventure, but Luffy has found himself hilariously outclassed by Kaido. The Beasts Pirates captain is the strongest man in the One Piece universe, but that doesn’t mean he is invincible.
No, it just means Luffy needs to use his hidden ace and call upon his unique power to create allies.
“It has been said of Kaido, ‘If it’s one-on-one, Kaido will win.’ It has been said of Luffy (by Mihawk), ‘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,’” the fan-theory reads.
“I don’t think it’s an accident that Oda has stressed the one-on-one caveat to Kaido’s might. I think that caveat will come into play. This is a perfect opportunity for Oda to show that being the strongest individual (as Kaido already is) is not enough to be Pirate King. I think Luffy will still be individually weaker than Kaido by the end of the arc, but will still show his superiority due to his ‘most fearsome ability’ to gather powerful allies.”
According to this theory, Luffy’s greatest asset does not lie in his Gear Fourth form or any of his Haki. Brute power is important to any hopeful Pirate King, but that is not the end of it. In order to be as loved as Gol D. Roger, a Pirate King must have the ability to summon loyal allies at a moment’s notice, and Luffy has had that gift for years. Now, it has come time for the Straw Hat to prove he can put that gift to good use.
After all, Luffy isn’t doing so hot these days. In the latest chapter of One Piece, the pirate was thrown into a prison on Wano under Kaido’s order. Trapped in Eustass Kidd, Luffy will either be forced to submit to Kaido or be killed along the way. One way or another, Luffy will need to find a way to summon his nearby allies as well as those gained after the events on Dressrosa if he wants to take down Kaido for good. So, if Mihawk was right all along, it looks like Luffy is about to show off his ultimate power and prove friendship can turn into a finisher under the right circumstances.
Do you think this fan-theory has some weight behind it? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold.
