Monkey D. Luffy

Monkey D. Luffy, or "Straw Hat Luffy" as he is often referred to as, is the main protagonist in the anime and manga series One Piece created by Eiichiro Oda. He is a boy whose body is made of rubber after he ate a devil's fruit and acquired the accursed ability.

In the anime and manga, Luffy is captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, a group of pirates he assembles himself as he quests to find the "One Piece" and become the King of the Pirates. His primary motivation throughout the series is to reach the goal with all of his comrades, a task he pursues no matter what stands in his way. While he is goofy and reckless, he gets quite serious when anyone is in serious danger, notably his crew, whom he considers his friends.

Appearance
Luffy is renowned for wearing his trademark Straw Hat (from which he gets his nickname 'Straw Hat Luffy') which was lent to him when he was young by the legendary pirate captain Red-Haired Shanks (He promised to give it back next time they meet). His outfit somewhat mimics Shanks' own outfit in that he wears short trousers (although his are much shorter than Shanks') and sandals. Luffy also wears a red vest and has a scar underneath his left eye (he got it in Chapter 1, to prove his courage to Shanks and his pirates) and short black hair.

Luffy, for some reason, has the same outfit over most of the series, as opposed to the rest of the crew. Luffy may wear a different outfit to suit the climate of an island (like a winter coat on Drum Island or desert robes in Arabasta), but will switch back to his trademark vest and shorts after the adventures on that island are over.

Notably, in Enies Lobby he wears black shorts because they had pockets in which he could carry meat, on the Thriller Bark Island he wears an orange vest and red shorts, and on the Sabaody Archipelago he wears a blue vest, In the most recent part of the anime (prior to the separation) Luffy has been shown wearing a greenish blue vest with red shorts. He does, however, no matter where he is, wear his straw hat through absolutely everything, though at the start the hat was prone to getting knocked off his head easily forcing Luffy to either put it aside or have someone hold onto it during battles. Since then he has gotten a string strap for it, allowing the hat to hang from his neck during fights.

Eiichiro Oda has mentioned that Luffy mostly resembles a monkey (he sometimes even makes a monkey face). According to Oda, Luffy is represented by the color red, and smells like meat.

Personality
Luffy is portrayed as a carefree character with great ambitions and a huge appetite. He often thinks with his stomach and eats to the point of becoming comically fat. He is caring and generally good hearted. However, he is not naive and understands most situations more than he shows. He was inspired to become a pirate by his friend "Red-Haired" Shanks who entrusted him with his strawhat, which he holds as one of his most precious objects. Knowing the dangers ahead, he is willing to risk his life to reach his goal, and protect his crew.

He invites several people, such as Chopper or Brook, onto his crew generally for their personality but also because of his instinctual ability to be able to read people. His main reason has been stated a few times in the story. He needs several key jobs filled in his crew (ie: cook, navigator, doctor, musician, shipwright, and so on). Only one member of the crew invited herself on, Nico Robin. She actually has no place on the ship, having no true abilities that Luffy requires. She is just a historian who Luffy accepted. Luffy stated in the beginning of the series that he wants about ten crew members, each with abilities that he feels necessary for his goal. He is rarely concerned with the consequences of his actions, doing what he feels even if it leads to retaliation by a powerful force. However, he is an extremely loyal captain, who has demonstrated at many points throughout the series that he is willing to risk his life for the well-being of his crew.

Abilities
Eating the Gum-Gum Fruit gave his whole body the properties of rubber, which makes him virtually immune to all blunt force attacks (including the round flintlock bullets used in the One Piece universe). The fruit also gave him the ability to stretch at will. Combined with the elasticity of his body, he uses that ability to accelerate parts or the whole of his body as if shot by a slingshot to deliver punches, kicks, headbutts, body checks, or simply for propulsion. But like everyone who consumed a Devil Fruit, Luffy is unable to swim and when drenched in sea-water or in contact with an artifact blessed by the sea quickly loses his strength. He also has great physical strength as he was able to knock over 2 large apartment buildings at the same time (Water 7 arc).

After being effortlessly beaten by Admiral Aokiji, later in the series, Luffy develops two techniques to improve on his rubber abilities. The first of these he calls Gear Second. He activates it by accelerating the flow of his blood by using his legs as pumps. When this happens, the blood flowing rapidly through his body creates friction, heating up his body and makes his skin glow and produce steam. This increases his attack power and overall speed, but drains his stamina and if overused makes him temporarily unable to move afterward, as well as shortening his life span. The second is Gear Third, which is activated by biting a hole into his thumb and blowing air into his bones. He is then able to move the air around his bone structure and strike with limbs comparable in size to those of giants. The side effect to using Gear Third is that Luffy temporarily shrinks to a fraction of his normal size after releasing the air for a length that corresponds to the amount of time he was using Gear Third. He is capable of using both techniques simultaneously.