Why Is Luffy So Weak These Days?

Luffy is starting to appear weak, especially in the Whole Cake Island and Wano arc.

Monkey D. Luffy will become the strongest character by the end of One Piece and fulfill his goal of becoming the Pirate King. In doing so, he will surpass Gold D. Roger and the ones before him to usher in an entirely new era. However, how long will it take?

According to Oda, One Piece has barely 40% of its plot left, which means that Luffy should have technically progressed a lot by this point.

However, in most of the Whole Cake Island Arc and now even in Wano, all we have done is seen him run away.

Sure, we did see a few epic fights like the one against Katakuri and Luffy’s overflowing cockiness in Wano, his strength still overwhelmingly falls short against his opponents.

Is Luffy getting weaker, or is there an entirely different reason for his lack of feats? Let’s analyze!

1. Stronger Opponents

Luffy went from fighting smaller pirates to Shichibukai to Yonko Commanders, and now finally, at the mere age of 19, he faces opponents of an entirely different league.

After the time skip, his powers have significantly grown, as seen when he successfully defeated Big Mom’s Commanders, Cracker and Katakuri, and managed to escape from the Whole Cake Island.

While this feat is laudable, it looks quite pathetic in the eyes of some fans.

According to them, Luffy is the main character of One Piece, and he should definitely not be running around escaping from his opponents.

Even when fighting Katakuri, he was almost beaten and only managed to win in the very last second. This makes Luffy’s behavior quite shameful for someone who desires to become the Pirate King.

However, this is precisely the reason why One Piece is so well regarded in the anime community.

Unlike other mainstream Shounen shows, Luffy does not automatically gain super-boosts while facing powerful opponents and instead exhibits normal human-like behavior. He fights when necessary and knows when to run away.

At the age of 19, Luffy has already defeated most of the 7 Warlords or befriended them. Furthermore, he has jumped levels and made Yonko Kaido his opponent. All of these feats make Luffy powerful enough to be titled the 5th Emperor.

However, he is still not capable of fighting his current enemy, Kaido, alone.

In fact, it would be even more unconvincing if the Straw Hat Captain suddenly became strong enough to face the 4 Emperors. Thus, it is understandable why Luffy appears to be “weak” when facing these monsters.

2. Focus of the Arc

Every arc has a central character, aside from Luffy, who triggers various events. In the Whole Cake Island arc, Sanji Vinsmoke was the one who set things into motion.

His marriage arrangement with Big Mom’s daughter resulted in Luffy and other Straw Hat members arriving at the island. Since the arc was centered around Sanji, he received massive power-ups, such as his raid suit from Germa 66.

Similarly, in the ongoing Wano Country arc, while Zoro cannot be considered the central character, he has the most potential to develop.

Due to his fighting style and relation to the samurai, undoubtedly, he will shine the most. Zoro has already become stronger and has even received the mystical sword, Enma, capable of cutting through Kaido’s flesh.

This means that while Luffy is the main character in One Piece and will overall have better moments and feats than others, his teammates need to develop alongside him.

After all, the future Pirate King’s crewmates cannot be anything short of brilliant. Currently, it is Zoro’s time to shine, and Luffy will undoubtedly not receive as many power-ups, as usual, thus resulting in his weaker presence.

3. Limitations of His Devil Fruit

Imagine a scenario where someone other than Luffy had consumed the Gomu Gomu no Mi. Would that person even reach a tenth of the heights the Straw Hat captain has reached? Probably not.

While the powers of the Rubber Devil Fruit are unquestionable, it is Luffy’s creativity that allowed him to achieve astonishing levels of strength. On its own, unfortunately, Gomu Gomu no Mi loses its glamour.

While Luffy has done his utmost to bring out the fruit’s strength through various forms, ranging from Gear 2 to 4, it places a lot of strain on his body.

The astonishingly powerful Gear 4 is unable to last a long time and consumes a lot of his energy. Furthermore, it isn’t easy to cook up new forms to better utilize the Devil Fruit.

The limitations of the Rubber Devil Fruit are stretched (pun intended) thanks to Luffy, but it is impossible for him to do so forever. Because of this exact reason, he appears weak compared to other characters with exceptionally powerful Devil Fruits.

I. Will Luffy Awaken His Devil Fruit?

Luffy is destined to become the Pirate King, which means that awakening his Devil Fruit is only a matter of time. While One Piece isn’t about a super OP main character dominating the world and is all about the journey and events, Luffy’s end goal means that he needs to grow stronger.

While it is possible that he won’t be the strongest, he will definitely be far more powerful than his present state.

Till now, Oda has managed to portray, foreshadow, and develop the one piece world brilliantly, and few moments feel forced.

With time, Luffy will naturally awaken his Devil Fruit and rise to greater heights. The question that fans now ask is what exactly will the Straw Hat Captain’s power be after that happens?

Some predict that Luffy will be able to create rubber and build a rubber world like Katakuri and Doflamingo, while others take a more humorous approach.

On Reddit, posts talking about Luffy’s DF awakening are aplenty, and quite a lot of upvotes go towards him gaining “Gomu Gomu no Bounce Castle,” which, let’s be honest, would be quite entertaining to watch.

Nevertheless, Luffy won’t remain weak for much longer, and Oda Sensei is bound to surprise us once again.

4. About One Piece

One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since July 22, 1997, and has been collected into 95 tankōbon volumes.

The man who had acquired everything in this world, the Pirate King, is Gol D. Roger.

The final words he said at the execution tower were “My treasures? If you want it, I’ll let you have it. Look for it; I left all of it at that place.”

These words sent many to the seas, chasing their dreams, headed toward the Grand Line, in search of One Piece. Thus began a new age!

Seeking to be the greatest pirate in the world, young Monkey D. Luffy also heads toward the Grand Line in search of One Piece.

With his diverse crew joining him along the way, consisting of a swordsman, marksman, navigator, cook, doctor, archaeologist, and cyborg-shipwright, this will be one memorable adventure.