Monkey D. Luffy, the newly recognized Emperor of the Sea in One Piece, is currently in a battle against one of the strongest villains in the series, the Five Elders. All the Five Elders have reached the Egghead Island arc and trying their best to stop Luffy from escaping the island and capture him while also stopping Vegapunk’s announcement.
Luffy has come a long way since the beginning of the series. When he was initially introduced in One Piece, fans could have never assumed in a million years that with his powers, his physical appearance, and his attitude, he would be one of the strongest characters in the series and would be the only individual who is the closest to being the King of the Pirates.
However, one thing that Eiichiro Oda has taught us is that the strongest doesn’t always win the fight. Luffy being the prime example of this, has improvised his fights multiple times and instead of his power, used his brain and his resilience to overcome many villains who in theory are stronger than the future King of the Pirates in One Piece.
1. Crocodile
Sir Crocodile of the Baroque works who was introduced during the Alabasta Saga was the first powerful villain who was able to defeat Luffy not once, but twice. His Devil Fruit Suna Suna no Mi allowed him to control sand and even transform himself into sand. This proved to be a big hurdle for Luffy as he still couldn’t use Haki and had no idea how to deal with Logia-type Devil Fruit users.
After the first fight, Luffy used his brain and figured out that sand can be hardened using water. Thus he coated himself with water and tried to beat Crocodile. Although he was able to do some damage, the idea was shortlived and Luffy was defeated again. However, he used his brain again and realized that blood can also make sand hard enough. Thus he used his own blood and ultimately beat Crocodile.
2. Rob Lucci
Luffy’s fight against Rob Lucci before the time skip is considered to be one of the best fights ever. Rob Lucci was significantly stronger than Luffy as he proved during the Water 7 arc. However, Luffy was hellbent on saving his crewmate Nico Robin, which is why he not only declared war against the World Government but also took down two CP9 agents.
It was during the Enies Lobby arc that Luffy used his brain to develop the Gear 2 and Gear 3 forms which became his best attacks against the Rukoshiki style of the CP9 agents. Although Lucci defeated Luffy in Enies Lobby too, Luffy used his resilience and his brain to finally beat him using the Jet Gatling attack.
3. Magellan
The former Warden of Impel Down, Magellan is probably the only opponent whom Luffy was not able to defeat entirely. Magellan had the power of the Venom-Venom Devil Fruit which allowed him to cover himself and others in dangerous poison. Luffy had to fight him to save his brother Ace but their first battle resulted in Luffy getting poisoned and almost dying.
During the second battle, Luffy used his brain and realized that Magellan’s powers did not work against Mr 3’s powers. Thus Luffy used his powers to make himself a wax defense gauntlet that allowed him to hit Magellan. Although this was a brainy move, Luffy was still not able to defeat Magellan and had to escape from the prison.
4. Enel
Enel, the former God of Skypiea is considered to be the strongest villain before the time skip. He wanted to destroy the entire Skypiea island but was faced by Luffy, who had the abilities of the Rubber Devil Fruit. Enel being the user of Goro Goro no Mi had the ability of lightning which although a strong power, did not affect Luffy because of his rubber qualities.
However, Enel did manage to defeat Luffy the first time and attached a gold ball to his hand. This initially became a disadvantage for Luffy but he used his brain and took advantage of the same ball to defeat the “God” of Skypiea making it one of the best fights Luffy has ever had.
5. Charlotte Cracker
Charlotte Cracker was Luffy’s first fight during the Whole Cake Island arc. Their fight lasted for 12 hours and is considered the longest fight in the One Piece universe. Cracker has the Devil Fruit power to control biscuits. Thus he uses them to create a great defense and an army of biscuit soldiers, who cannot be defeated no matter what Luffy does.
However, Luffy finally uses his big brain and realizes that he can just eat the biscuit soldiers. Nami also helped Luffy by weakening the hard exterior of the biscuit soldiers using her weather powers, thus giving Luffy a chance to literally “eat” away Cracker’s defense and ultimately defeat him.
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