Monkey D. Luffy is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. At a very young age, Luffy decided that he would become the Pirate King, and he wouldn't stop until he reached that goal. Luffy has come a long way since, and he is getting very close to achieving his dream.
Being the main protagonist of One Piece, Luffy has been involved in every arc. One of the best things about seeing Luffy in a new arc is the costumes. Oda puts a great deal of effort into the costumes, and sometimes they provide an insight into Luffy's character or even possible foreshadowing. Some details are so subtle that One Piece fans are unable to identify them, so this list will go through the lesser-known details about Luffy's clothes.
8 Regular Costume Changes
Luffy goes through regular costume changes like the rest of the crew. As revealed by Oda, Luffy does not have a very good fashion sense. Before the time-skip, he usually wore a cardigan and shorts.
However, there are times when he is advised by the more fashion-savvy crew members on what to wear. The climate of a place plays an important part in Luffy's costume. After the time-skip, Luffy started wearing an open cardigan, and shorts. He also wears a sash around his waist, which is similar to how Roger dressed up.
7 Costume as A Kid
After the Summit War was over, Luffy was a complete mess. He could not believe that Ace was dead, and it took him a while to steady himself. Almost every episode in the Post-War arc focused on Luffy's relationship with his two brothers.
When Garp left Luffy to live with the mountain bandits, he was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt that had "56" written on the front. This is a reference to Luffy's devil fruit as 5= Go, 6 = Mu, which combine to form the word Gomu.
6 Dressrosa Costume Possible Hint Toward Kaido's Devil Fruit
Dressrosa is a very long arc. It has over a hundred episodes, which allowed Oda to give every Straw Hat several costumes. Luffy also went through multiple changes of clothes in the arc, and the most eye-catching among them was the Koi costume.
At the time, it seemed like a funny costume with no significance at all, but once the Straw Hats entered Wano, it became clear that Oda had cleverly used Luffy's costume to foreshadow the Wano Country arc. In order to reach Wano, the Straw Hats had to be carried upstream by a couple of Koi, and as they reached the top, they officially entered Kaido's territory. It is a very popular myth that when a Koi manages to successfully travel upstream, it turns into a dragon, so in this case, Luffy was the Koi, but instead of becoming a dragon, he had to fight one.
5 Afro Luffy
The Long Ring Long Island arc is a controversial arc within the One Piece community. A lot of the fans hate the arc because it didn't contribute significantly to the overall plot, while the others love the arc because it is light-hearted, and it has one of Luffy's best costumes.
In order to fight Foxy, Luffy had a complete makeover. He was wearing red boxing gloves, and red shorts and the best thing was the afro on his head. To get Luffy into the mood, Usopp gave him a motivational speech about the importance of the afro.
4 The Sun God
The Wano Country arc will go down as one of the best arcs in the series. At the beginning of the arc, no one would have expected that Luffy's ordinary-looking red yukata was a possible hint toward his new power-up.
Luffy started wearing the red yukata after meeting Tenguyama Hitetsu and O-Tama. The yukata had some patchwork, which resembled the sun. While this did not seem shocking back then, once it was revealed that Luffy's devil fruit is Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, it became a big deal, especially considering the fact that Nika was the sun god.
3 Changing To Meet The Mafia
In the Whole Cake Island arc, Luffy went through a couple of costume changes. He started out the arc with an open white cardigan and red shorts. Luffy wore this outfit during his fight against Charlotte Cracker and the Enraged Army. After fighting so many people, Luffy's costume was ultimately tattered, and so he needed a change of clothes.
His second costume was revealed when he had to meet Capone Bege. The new outfit consisted of a red suit jacket, a black shirt, and red shorts. To top it off, Luffy also wore a black fedora on top of his Straw Hat. In the movie culture, a black fedora is usually associated with the mafia. So this is a nice touch on Oda's part since Bege used to be a member of the mafia before he became a pirate.
2 Accidentally Wearing A Treasure Map
The fight between the Straw Hats and Gecko Moria is quite iconic as it was the first time when the Straw Hats combined their efforts to take down an enemy. Previously, they had all fought different opponents in an arc.
In the Thriller Bark arc, Luffy donned an orange vest with red shorts. Once Moria was defeated, Luffy wore a bracelet on his left bicep. At first, it seemed like an ordinary ornament, but it was later revealed to be a map that led to Captain John's treasure.
1 Shanks' Coat
In the Wano Country arc, Luffy got to try incredible costumes. His costume when the pirates were sailing to Onigashima was simple yet elegant. Luffy wore his usual red cardigan and orange-ish brown shorts with a purple sash.
The highlight of his attire was the long black coat that he wore over his normal attire. This way of dressing is similar to his role model, Shanks, who also wears a long black coat.