Would Luffy Still Be Strong Without A Devil Fruit?

Despite being an underdog many times throughout the series, now more than ever, it is undeniable that Luffy is one of the strongest characters in One Piece. Between his massive strength, surprisingly high battle IQ, and overpowered Devil Fruit, Luffy is a force to be reckoned with on the Grand Line. However, due to the nature of his Devil Fruit, possessing the powers of the Sun God Nika, many One Piece fans believe that Luffy is only able to keep up with strong characters in the series because of his Devil Fruit.

Although whether these fans are correct is hard to tell, since there is no alternate timeline where Luffy never found his Devil Fruit, it’s interesting to think about what would happen to One Piece if this was the case. Mainly, if Luffy never found the Human-Human Fruit Model: Nika, would he be nearly as strong as he is in modern One Piece, or would his journey end far earlier than it should have? Overall, many fans have wondered just how strong Luffy would be if he didn’t have his Devil Fruit in One Piece.

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Luffy May Be Only Slightly Weaker Without His Devil Fruit In One Piece

His Training And Fighting Style Would Have To Change

Being the Grandson of Garp, Luffy has undergone a fairly rigorous training regimen ever since he was a small child. Of course, this fundamental training, oftentimes, was spent mastering his various Gum-Gum techniques, teaching the future pirate to control his Devil Fruit. However, with similar training during One Piece’s time skip, Luffy was also able to master all forms of Haki, including the elusive Conqueror’s Haki.

Since he has had his Devil Fruit since he was a child, many of Luffy’s fighting styles are adapted to take full advantage of his fruit. For instance, his many creative techniques, like the Gears, are all direct results of pushing his One Piece Devil Fruit to its limits. However, even without his Devil Fruit, there are plenty of creative and powerful techniques that a character can do, especially with Haki.

Luffy May Be Just As Strong At The Beginning Of His Journey

He Would Likely Learn Fighting Techniques Similar To Ace

• Without His Devil Fruit Luffy’s Training Would Shift Instead Of Being Set Back
• Luffy May Run Into Trouble At Enies Lobby Without his Fruit

First and foremost, being someone who gets the most out of their situation and is able to creatively solve problems, for the initial part of his journey, losing his Devil Fruit in One Piece wouldn’t weaken Luffy. Instead, it would shift the focus of his initial training. Rather than attempting to master the Gum-Gum Fruit, Luffy would learn similar fighting techniques to Ace and Sabo, and would most likely be on a similar level to Ace when leaving for his initial journey.

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From here, Luffy would most likely, if he focused on training in normal hand-to-hand combat, most likely be able to handle most situations, leading to One Piece’s Enies Lobby. However, without Gear 2, problems may arise without the massive power boost. Still, it is equally likely that, with so much training in standard fighting styles, Luffy may awaken his latent Haki earlier than expected, potentially providing a different kind of buff for the Straw Hat.

Luffy May Focus Heavily On Haki Training Without His Fruit

He Could Then Eat Ace’s Fruit Becoming Incredibly Strong

Next, although he may seem weaker without the Gears, if he was still able to take advantage of time skip training with Rayleigh, Luffy could become a fighter with a similar style to the Hero of the Navy, Garp. Overall, without his fruit, it seems likely that Luffy would pursue training his Haki over anything else, raising it to a level far above what he currently has. From this point on, if Luffy were to focus on Haki, he would likely rival some of the strongest characters in the series.

Finally, it’s interesting to note that if Luffy was able to make it to Dressrosa without his Devil Fruit, the Straw Hat would likely be the one to inherit Ace’s Devil Fruit in One Piece, rather than Sabo. With that fruit, and his focused training on Haki, although he would lack the Nika Fruit, Luffy would be a fairly powerful force to be reckoned with. In fact, he could very well be just a stronger version of Sabo.

Still, it’s hard to determine how strong Luffy would be without his Devil Fruit. Though he may be slightly weaker than One Piece’s Gear 5, it’s likely he would devote training to other things, like a standard fighting style and Haki, allowing him to still be a top-tier character. However, the true answer to this question is still unknown in One Piece and likely will never receive a definitive answer.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

• 

  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

• 

  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)