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“Hero?! No way!”
An analysis on the morality of Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece:
An analysis on the morality of Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece:
Now don’t get me wrong I don’t think Luffy is entirely amoral. I don’t think it’s coincidental that the person he attaches himself to at each island happens to be the right person.
However, I do believe Luffy doesn’t care about morality as it shackles his freedom.
However, I do believe Luffy doesn’t care about morality as it shackles his freedom.
Luffy doesn’t have a concrete set of rules of things he won’t tolerate other than people restricting freedoms.
The vast majority of his actions are in support of people he has befriended and this fits perfectly into Luffy’s character.
The vast majority of his actions are in support of people he has befriended and this fits perfectly into Luffy’s character.
Luffy does show growth throughout One Piece but he is largely a static character and brings the world to change around him.
His morality is thus shown through the mirrors of those he befriends instead of his own words.
His morality is thus shown through the mirrors of those he befriends instead of his own words.
Luffy does not kill his enemies, he does not lecture them (with the exception of Doflamingo who is a very specific juxtaposition to Luffy).
He never hates those in front of him because for the most part they are simply in his way.
He never hates those in front of him because for the most part they are simply in his way.
Luffy lives wholly for three things: his dream, his friends and food.
Luffy’s actions are almost entirely driven by one of these three things in each individual arc or some combination of them.
Luffy’s actions are almost entirely driven by one of these three things in each individual arc or some combination of them.
Luffy doesn’t travel island to island to “make things right” he usually just shows up where he needs to be and befriends someone who has a problem he can solve.
We see this time and again with Nami, Vivi, Lola, Rebecca & Tama where Luffy becomes single focus on a single person because they wronged someone he considers a friend.
We even see this in Whiskey Peak that Luffy’s attachment to those he befriends is strong enough that he was willing to fight Zoro for dispatching “his friends” even though they were an army of assassins out to kill him.
Luffy of course does have some sense of morality which is largely tied into the Pirate code, we see this in Mock Town and on his arrival at Onigashima that Luffy obeys the morals of the sea.
Luffy’s grey morality is supported primarily in the lack of us seeing his thought process, Luffy does not consider the weight of his actions he simply acts as he sees fit in the moment, the outcome just happens to be generally positive.
This is, of course, with the exception of Impel Down where Luffy became so entirely determined to save Ace that he unleashed a wave of murderers into the world and handed Blackbeard an entire crew, a massive negative ripple sent into the world by Luffy.
You could argue the same of Whole Cake Island. Luffy invaded and caused a great deal of damage and harm to a country with little care of the effects it may have on the peaceful citizens in Big Mom’s territory to save a friend.
Interestingly, this may be Jinbe’s secondary purpose within the crew. Symbolically Jinbe is a Helmsman and an expert at manoeuvring ships but has repeatedly been seen to rectify Luffy to the correct path.
There are a couple of obvious exceptions to Luffy’s general amorality such as his punching the Celestial Dragon on Sabaody, thought this again is arguably to protect a friend.
If you’re interested in my other thoughts on morality in One Piece here’s a link to a thread I wrote a while back:
That’s all I have for now, I know there’s definitely a lot of argument for Luffy being a good person and he definitely is a hero whether he likes it or not.
His think later attitude leans very much into an amoral portrayal however.
As always feedback is welcome!
His think later attitude leans very much into an amoral portrayal however.
As always feedback is welcome!
Here’s a list of my other threads 👀
@rattibha unroll
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