At the age of 17, Luffy sets sail from the East Blue Sea to the Grand Line in search of the legendary treasure, One Piece, to succeed Gol D. Roger as "King of the Pirates".

Luffy also grows stronger over the course of the story by transforming his body through different "Gears;" this is reflected in his bounty, which is used to measure the threat he poses to the World Government.

[10] Luffy appears in most episodes, films, television specials, and OVAs of the manga's anime adaptations, as well as in several of the franchise's video games.

[12] In his prototype one-shot, "Romance Dawn", Oda refined the artistic style and story elements before publishing the final product a year later as the first chapter of One Piece.

[30] Luffy is portrayed as a carefree, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky character with great ambition and a huge appetite, often thinking with his stomach and comically gorging himself.

Like, others who have eaten a Devil Fruit, Luffy cannot swim; when he is submerged in water or contacts the Sea-Prism Stone, he loses his strength and cannot move on his own.

Another technique developed later in the series is Gear 2 (ギア2, Gia Sekando), which increases his strength and speed for a short time but strains his body and can shorten his lifespan if used too long.

Observing CP9's Shave (剃, Soru) technique, Luffy adapts the move to his rubber body and can make his arms or legs bigger.

It is for this reason that the user is said to become a trickster sun god known as the "embodiment of freedom", able to bring joy to the people around them and making it "the most ridiculous power in the world".

The World Government renamed it to erase the fruit's original name from history and reclassified it as a Paramecia in order to conceal its true nature.

After defeating Buggy, Don Krieg, and Arlong of East Blue, early on in the series, Luffy's initial bounty is set to 30,000,000 Berries.

By the major timeskip in One Piece, this number had increased to 400,000,000 Berries after defeating some of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, rampaging at Enies Lobby, and retaking Nico Robin.

"[8] Luffy first appears as a young boy in Windmill Village located in the Goa kingdom, where he befriends the pirate "Red-Haired" Shanks and intends to become one himself.

Before departing Windmill Village, Shanks gives Luffy his treasured straw hat, on the condition that he becomes a great pirate someday and returns it to him.

Ten years later, Luffy leaves the village in a small fishing boat in search of the legendary treasure 'One Piece' to become the next King of the Pirates.

He meets swordsman Roronoa Zoro, ocean navigator and thief Nami, cowardly marksman and liar Usopp, and chivalrous chef Sanji and invites them to join his crew, while procuring a ship named the Going Merry Luffy also encounters and defeats the top East Blue pirates Buggy the Clown, Don Krieg and the Fishman Arlong, gaining his first bounty from the Marines.

Luffy encounters and offers to return Princess Nefertari Vivi of Alabasta to her homeland to stop a rebellion incited by Seven Warlords of the Sea member and Baroque Works crime syndicate leader Sir Crocodile.

Upon arriving in Alabasta, Luffy briefly reunites with his brother Portgas D. Ace, a commander in the Whitebeard Pirates, who is hunting the traitor Blackbeard.

Luffy's crew aligns with the cyborg shipwright Franky, initially an enemy, and storm the Government's courthouse Enies Lobby to retrieve her.

The Roger Pirates' retired First Mate, Silvers Rayleigh, takes a liking to Luffy and agrees to coat the Thousand Sunny to sail into the ocean depths.

Upon arriving at Punk Hazard, half of the crew is captured by Caesar Clown, a subordinate of the Warlord and underworld broker Donquixote Doflamingo.

Luffy also learns that Sanji, who joined the first group to Zou, had been blackmailed by his family into an arranged marriage to the daughter of Emperor Big Mom.

As the crew attempts to escape, Luffy defeats her general Charlotte Katakuri, discovering an advanced application of Observation Haki in the process.

Despite suffering an apparently fatal blow from Kaido as a result, the thrill triggers the awakening of Luffy's Devil Fruit—now revealed to be the mythical Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika.

[67] Due to the character's popularity, allusions to Luffy have been made in several Japanese manga and anime, as well as Western comics and television series.

Luffy was the first manga character that had been on the cover in the Men's Non-No fashion magazine's 24-year history and his clothes were designed by Shinichi "Miter" Mita.

The meme was acknowledged in the crossover fighting game, J-Stars Victory VS.[79] Toei Animation sponsored the Italian Pallavolo Modena volleyball team in 2008; Pietro Rinaldi and Edoardo Ciabattini's black uniforms were decorated with an image of Luffy on the front.

[83] Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece posed Luffy's Gear 2 during his entrance before the Long Jump finals on Tokyo Olympics 2020 and won Gold Medal.

[85] As well as Major League Soccer player Nicolas Benezet imitated Luffy's Gear 2 pose after scoring a goal on Sunday night in his first match with Seattle Sounders FC.

[87] Gear 5 was acclaimed by Polygon as one of anime's most iconic power ups ever due to the handling of Luffy's movements as he starts acting like Looney Tunes cartoon and becomes unique in battle.