Will Luffy Die at the End of One Piece’s Story?

Chapter 985, titled “New Onigashima Project,” held a terrible realization for One Piece fans. Shortly before cutting off Orochi’s head, Kaido announced his plan to conquer the world in collaboration with Big Mom.

These two Yonko teaming up was exciting news, but with the inclusion of the Ancient Weapons and the One Piece in the plan, fans realized that One Piece would be nearing a conclusion soon.

The Ancient Weapons, which were first introduced in Alabasta, were reserved for the endgame of One Piece, and that is precisely what scares many fans.

With the end of One Piece in mind, the community has begun speculating about what it might look like.

The end also makes us think of other things reserved for the climax of the story, such as the return of Shanks’ straw hat, or Luffy’s deep wounds.

So here is an article discussing an aspect of the story’s end. More specifically, this article dissects the question – Will Luffy Die in the End?

1. TL;DR

Yes, as unreal as it may seem at first, Luffy will die at the end of the manga.

Think about the injuries Luffy has sustained so far. Even before entering the Grand Line, Luffy got really deep wounds from his fights with Don Kreig & Arlong.

While it may not seem like a big deal anymore, Luffy’s gears have also sharply impacted his life span.

As the final nail to the proverbial coffin, his desire to save Ace during the Impel Down arc & the Marineford arc made him push his limits very far with the use of Ivankov’s devil fruit.

To have a chance at saving his dear brother, Luffy sacrificed a lot of his life span. Therefore, sometime between obtaining the One Piece and the end of the story, Luffy will die.

2. Average Age of Humans in One Piece

In the One Piece world, the oldest human we have seen is Dr. Kureha. She is 141 years old and in relatively good shape. To put it in perspective, she is almost twice as old as Rayleigh!!

This is likely because of her expertise in medical science, which helped her keep herself healthy. The oldest character overall in One Piece (not Zunisha) was the oldest giant – Jarul.

He was 345 years old during Big Mom’s flashback, which took place 63 years ago. It is not clear if he is still alive, but either way, he is the oldest character in One Piece.

Given that humans live around 1/3rd of giants’ life span, the age of an average human in One Piece is approximately 100 years.

3. Luffy’s Goals

That being said, let us look at Luffy’s main goals in One Piece because it would be awkward if he died before he accomplishes them.

I. The One Piece

Luffy’s goal in life, since the age of 6-7, is to assemble a crew and find the One Piece.

He doesn’t want the One Piece for riches or power; he wants to claim the Pirate King’s title to be the one who has the most freedom.

While there are some good theories out there about Luffy not being the one who finds the One Piece, let us assume that he will definitely become the Pirate King for the sake of this discussion.

II. Returning the Straw Hat

Luffy’s goal to become the Pirate King is rooted in his interactions with Shanks.

Shortly before Shanks departed from Foosha Village, he gave Luffy his Straw Hat and asked him to return it when he becomes a “great pirate.”

While Shanks’ death is very likely, it is still guaranteed that Luffy will pass on his Straw Hat (possibly to Shanks’ son) after he becomes the Pirate King to inspire the next generation.

4. Injuries

More than anything else, Luffy’s strongest attribute is his durability.

He just never seems to give up!! But is that a good thing? Well yes, it is entertaining to us as a reader, but to Luffy’s health, it is a death sentence.

The never-ending desire to keep going has put Luffy in extremely dangerous situations, which led to him to take severe damage.

While Luffy is made up of rubber, and blunt force attacks (without Haki) do not harm him, he has still sustained a lot of damage.

I. Basic Fighting

From getting nicked by a sword to having a part of his abdomen eaten, Luffy has been hurt a lot.

Bullets may not harm him, but attacks with a sharp edge or Haki have damaged him countless times.

During Luffy’s fight with Arlong, a part of his body was chewed up by the vicious Fishman.

While not all of these are life-threatening, they are worth noting to show that Luffy gets hurt a lot.

II. Impact from Gear 2nd & Gear 3rd

Ever since the time-skip, we have seen essentially zero drawbacks of using Gear 2nd and 3rd. However, when Luffy first came up with these techniques, his body took a severe toll.

As pointed out by his enemies, Luffy loses some of his life span every time he uses Gear 2nd & 3rd as he is pushing his body beyond its limits.

Also, it is safe to say that any new technique Luffy comes up with will push his body even further beyond his limits, causing a sharp decline in his life span.

III. Impel Down & Marineford

The strongest point that drives this article is the damage Luffy sustained during the events of Impel Down & Marineford.

Luffy was severely poisoned and left for dead; he later underwent an extremely painful procedure to recover in time. His vitality took a strong hit when this happened.

In addition to this, Luffy was injected with adrenaline multiple times by Ivankov. He was too exhausted even to move & still wanted to save Ace.

Every time Luffy took a hit of adrenaline from Ivankov, he sacrificed a major portion of his life span.

Eiichiro Oda, the series’ creator, would not have stressed this detail so much if it wasn’t going to pay off.

There was no point in saying that Luffy is losing his life span if we were never going to see it happen. Oda is a master of foreshadowing and has left hints throughout the series, pointing to the inevitable demise of Monkey D. Luffy.

5. Parallels with Roger

From what we have seen, Luffy is parallel to Roger. Despite having a unique character, Luffy is a lot like Roger. This was noted by Shanks as well when he talked to Rayleigh.

Following the formula of parallels, Luffy will likely die young just like Roger did. This is because of the concept of Inherited Will in One Piece.

Even if a bloodline is extinguished, a person’s will can be carried on by someone else.

6. The Freedom of the Pirate King

While most pirates out there want the One Piece for fame, wealth, and power, Luffy wants to claim the Pirate King’s title to have freedom.

Now imagine an old Luffy. Stuck on the same island, stricken by illnesses, and settled down with a family. Does that sound like freedom to you? With age, the degree of freedom a person gets starts to diminish.

One Piece is about the dreams of young men and having an adventurous spirit. One of the most likable things about Luffy is that he is not bound to the laws of the world. He does what he wants to do.

In my opinion, Oda won’t change that. Oda, will definitely not design a Luffy who is old and mature, restricted by responsibilities the same way Kishimoto designed the adult Naruto.

Luffy represents the central aspect of the story & to preserve the original traits that defined the protagonist, carefreeness, and pureness. I believe Oda would rather kill off the character.

7. Conclusion

Yes, Luffy will die at the end of the story. According to the year of prophecy, the One Piece will be discovered soon (in the story’s timeline), and the story will conclude.

Sometime after the One Piece is discovered and the manga ends, we will see the years of damage catch up to Luffy as he becomes terminally ill.

That being said, even though Luffy’s death is inevitable, it will be a tearful moment for many fans.

When Rayleigh & Oden talked about Roger’s death, they both said that they had never cried so much & that they had never laughed so much in their life.

“Roger!! You wonderful man!! What a life!!”

Kozuki Oden

Oda will likely show Luffy’s death in such a way that fans will react similarly – laughing & crying at the same time.

8. 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 96 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.