Highlights
- Luffy's childlike nature and gullibility make him vulnerable to manipulation by untrustworthy individuals, despite his past successful alliances.
- Luffy's impulsivity and recklessness, along with his disregard for strategy, often put him in dangerous situations and make him a target for enemies.
- Luffy's powerful transformations, known as "Gears," come with physical strain and fatigue, limiting his abilities and leaving him vulnerable after their use.
Over a thousand chapters and hard-fought battles since he first set out to sea at the start of One Piece, Monkey D. Luffy has grown into a formidable pirate who is acknowledged as an Emperor of the Sea. The list of foes he has vanquished is quite impressive, with some characters such as Zunesha even referring to him as the second coming of Joy Boy — a mythical figure from the Void Century who is of great importance to the series' storyline.
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Besides the incredible powers it has given him, Luffy's Gear 5 form may have another role in claiming Joy Boy and Roger's treasure.
Even with all the power he has amassed, as well as the long list of powerful allies he can call upon to aid him in a time of need, there are still certain aspects of Luffy's character that can be regarded as vulnerabilities open to exploitation by his enemies in One Piece. These can range from his stubbornness and dimwitted tendencies to more serious chinks in his armor like his inability to swim and weakness to Seastone.
5 Gullibility And Simple-Mindedness
At his core, Luffy is quite childlike in how he views the world. This manifests in how he sees things in black and white or pursues goals incessantly with little regard for anything else — a trait that is most prominent in how he recruits individuals he likes to his crew. Beyond this, he is also quick to ally with anyone he likes, which might not always be ideal, as it leaves him open to the mercy of untrustworthy individuals.
So far, Luffy's judgment has not failed him, as his choice to ally with Trafalgar Law and the Heart Pirates on Punk Hazard proved quite fruitful after Kaido and Doflamingo's defeats, despite his crew's initial concerns. This may not always be the case in the future though. Additionally, Luffy can often be quite slow to process complex information and can be quite thick-headed at times. He is also exceedingly blunt and has no filter when speaking with anyone, which can lead him to blurt out important information even in the presence of enemies.
4 Impulsivity And Recklessness
In line with his rebellious nature, Luffy can be extremely stubborn, hostile, and downright ruthless towards perceived authority figures, especially the likes of the Marines and the Celestial Dragons. He has openly declared war on the World Government, punched a World Noble, and constantly claims that he will become King of the Pirates in front of everyone. Luffy has little regard for strategy in larger conflicts and will charge headfirst into the fray without any thought of flying under the radar.
Even during the Raid on Onigashima, the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance was forced to account for the recklessness that Luffy and Kid were prone to, using them as distractions to infiltrate Kaido's fortress. He refused to steal a copy of Big Mom's Poneglyph from Whole Cake Island without fighting her, as it was against his principles. At times, he has even gotten into fights over small disputes, or almost blown his cover if not for the intervention of his crew.
3 Physical Strain Of Transformations
From a combat perspective, Luffy has achieved immense levels of power by cleverly channeling his rubber-based abilities into various power-ups and transformations referred to as "Gears." The common thread here is the physical burden each Gear places on his body, leading to serious repercussions. Although he has been able to mitigate the drawbacks of Gear 2 and Gear 3, interchanging between them freely, he still deals with a considerable degree of fatigue with Gear 4 and Gear 5.
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The automatic deactivation of Gear 4 after it burns out leaves him unable to use Haki for ten minutes. Moreover, he also struggles to stand or even fight for a time afterward. In spite of this, Luffy has managed to use Gear 4 multiple times in a fight by evading his opponents long enough for his Haki to recharge. With Gear 5, this fatigue becomes even more pronounced, to the point where Luffy seems to physically age after it deactivates.
That being said, he can still push past his limits by matching his heartbeat to the Drums of Liberation, but the consequences will be just as dire as before. As a Mythical Zoan Awakening, Gear 5 also carries the added risk of Luffy's mind being consumed by Sun God Nika, to the point where he might lose his sense of self. Finally, Luffy's elasticity might also reach a breaking point, where he cannot stretch anymore, but the limits of this will likely be extremely difficult to reach in Gear 5.
2 Inability To Swim
Just like all other Devil Fruit users, Luffy lost his ability to swim after consuming his Devil Fruit, the Gomu Gomu no Mi — later revealed to be the legendary Mythical Zoan type known as the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. As such, he will immediately sink and lose his powers if submerged underwater or thrown into the sea and is vulnerable to Seastone.
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Maintaining the delicate balance over the seas, the Three Great Powers are the foundation of the current world order in One Piece.
Additionally, he will lose all of his powers if he comes into contact with seawater or water from lakes or ponds. This collectively stems from Devil Fruit users being rejected by the sea. As such, even the most powerful combatants are left vulnerable, in a world where the Marines, Pirates, and other factions all compete for supremacy over the seas. More recently, Luffy has shown some countermeasures against this, especially in Gear 4 and Gear 5 where he can propel himself in the air for certain periods, even if they are not foolproof solutions.
1 Cutting Attacks
From the very start of the series, Luffy displayed an immunity to blunt force attacks due to his elastic constitution but struggled against cutting attacks for the very same reason. He had a close shave against Dracule Mihawk during the Summit War of Marineford, who would have cut off his arms if not for Luffy's blossoming Observation Haki saving him at the time. This weakness was mitigated to some degree with the emergence of his Gear 4 form named Boundman.
Luffy's mastery of Haki also served to guard against cutting attacks by moderately strong opponents. Unfortunately, if confronted by someone who possesses comparable or superior levels of control over their Haki as Luffy himself, the Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates will be vulnerable to their attacks, forcing him to evade rather than take them head-on. Even Gear 5 has not mitigated this completely, which is why it will be interesting to see how he deals with it in his final battles throughout One Piece.
