 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece and today it's time to get action-centric on the channel because adventure, comedy, drama, world building, all of that, yeah it's great but we're going to be focusing on the other area that One Piece absolutely excels at which is combat and quite specifically we are going to be looking at none other than our protagonist Monkey D. Luffy. Now everyone will have their own opinions but I think it's fair to say that Luffy has most of the best fights in One Piece and probably the entirety of the manga medium in general. The straw hat captain is consistently thrown into hostile situations that involve spectacular drama, profound drive and glorious choreography on the part of Etch your order. And there are so many fine examples of this in action that I really had to make this a top 10 list because otherwise far far too much would be neglected. I mean as it is maybe in the future this probably needs to be at least a top 20 list but for now I think that 10 is you know a nice round number. So how are we going to be determining Luffy's best fights? Well first off let's define fight. The fight is an exchange of physical blows fairly simple however what I'm looking for on today's list is something a bit more in-depth. I don't want to be examining simple skirmishes so for example something I would not consider a fight is Luffy punching St. Charles. Even though I guess it does technically fit the dictionary definition because Charles fired bullets at Luffy and you know the outcome was pretty damn awesome I'm just looking for something that's a bit more than a singular awesome moment here today. Other than that this list is probably going to be extremely subjective. Furthermore all fights on this list must be canon because in stark contrast to the longer mandated events filler Luffy fights are probably some of the hottest garbage that the anime has to offer and you know what even if I did decide to consider them I don't think anything would quite make it anywhere near here anyway but with that out of the way let's begin. Welcome to the top 10 Luffy fights in one piece. Number 10 Luffy versus NL. Kicking off this list on a high note we have the conflict that served as the climax of the entire skypier saga. Luffy versus NL is actually a very unique piece of combat and quite unlike most of what we're going to see here today because it's a bit of an odd pairing. On the one hand you have NL who up until this point in the series was more or less completely untouched with the exception being hit by wiper however the one natural counter to his absurd abilities just so happened to be this rubber boy rendering NL unable to truly fight at his maximum potential but at the same time Luffy wasn't able to steamroll NL either because his godlike opponent had access to what is still to this day one of the most potent uses of observation Haki we've ever seen which made it nigh on impossible for Luffy to actually hit NL for quite a bit of the fight so our combatants were at a bit of an odd stalemate until NL finally used his devil fruit in a more creative manner choosing to seal Luffy's hand in a ball of gold and effectively forcefully remove him from the battlefield. However in doing so NL also sealed his own fate and eventually copped his own giant ball of gold straight to the body ending his tenure as a villain but of course my favorite moment is the fact that Luffy used this finishing blow to ring the golden bell of Shandora thus killing three birds with one stone fulfilling wiper's desire cricket's curiosity and NL's much needed defeat all at once. It was a wonderfully conducted battle and something that I very fondly remember to this day. Number nine Luffy versus Gekko Moria traveling to the Florian Triangle now we have the deciding conflict of Thriller Bark in which Luffy solos a rather foolish but incredibly powerful Gekko Moria so of all the fights on today's list this is the one that reminds me most of a video game like boss battle it's a very typical final level boss absorbs incredible power becomes big beast thing and you just have to casually take care of business although I suppose the best part about this fight to me is that it is a race against time I mean it's clear that Luffy is superior to Moria in this form and if it was a battle of attrition then Luffy would take it no contest however he is charged with defeating Moria before the Sun Rises which if he failed would not only kill him but a huge chunk of his crew as well due to Moria having stolen their shadows so as much as we're never quite on the edge of our seats in regards to Moria being a real threat the intensity is there through the time aspect and due to that Luffy also uses some fun techniques designed more to extract shadows and it's just a really nice spin on the typical final fight of an arc. Number eight Luffy versus Arlong stepping even further back into the days of Eastblue this battle is one of the crowning achievements of the era I have to say that I think I find this fight so satisfying largely in part thanks to the dramatic stakes that Oda had set up in terms of Nami it's very difficult to think about this conflict in isolation and whenever my mind wanders to Luffy versus Arlong Nami's pain and suffering always comes with it as a result though every hit Luffy lands on Arlong strikes me just that little bit harder it's more satisfying to watch Luffy beat up the evil shark dude much more so than most opponents because the emotional release is almost euphoric and that final move knocking Arlong through several floors and destroying the entirety of Arlong Park in the process is a marvel of visual storytelling in my opinion what really gets me though is Luffy's speech about not being able to wield swords cook food navigate the ocean or even lie and then his profound resolution that the one thing he can do is beat Arlong that gives me chills every time I think about it plus somehow this fight also contains a whole ton of levity with Luffy doing weird stuff like putting Arlong's teeth in his mouth so it has literally everything action comedy and drama all at the highest levels portrayed in the series at the time this was the beginning of the golden age of one piece and one hell of a fine fight even to this day number seven Luffy versus Doflamingo so what isn't to love about this dress where is a wasn't lawfully long slog but getting to this point in the arc very much made it all worth it as one of my favorite characters in the series watching Doflamingo going up against Luffy at long last was a fantastic treat and plus this was also the very first time we got to see Gear 4th in action which was probably one of the most hype events I can remember in my entire history of reading the series weekly also like the Gekko Moria fight Oda also chose to imbue this clash with a time sensitive element being the point at which the bird cage would close and kill I think literally everyone and after an arc that had taken some pain staking time to introduce us to literally everyone this made the stakes pretty damn high so much so that the end of this conflict had to take place in the air and that King Kong gun was just perfection in the manga anyway I will say that it was a bit disappointing in the anime because they did that thing they do where they artificially extended the clash to the point where it lost all impact because you know it should have been punch break swift defeat kind of like what happened to cheeky in stronghold actually but instead it was like punch block one minute of struggle and then somehow break I don't know that was a toy regardless this battle was still brilliant and matchups like this are undoubtedly a huge reason why I continue to be heavily invested in this world number six Luffy versus Bellamy Jaya Island Edition so here we go one of the most memorable moments in the entire series however before we discuss that what has really compelled me to put this fight on this list so high up is much less the punch that ended everything but more so the wonderful way in which it was set up Bellamy is a perfect example of a classic anime dick he's arrogant dick-headed and powerful enough to be a menace but nowhere near enough to pose an actual threat and a lot of Jaya was spent with the idea that this dude brah was just throwing his weight around with no consequence and he even got to beat up Luffy and Zora directly without them so much as lifting a finger to stop him but eventually Mr Bellamy took it just that one step too far resulting in a light speed fall from the naiical grace as he was put in his place with a single punch although I think that this fight actually ranks quite highly for me in retrospect due to my knowledge of how this encounter changed Bellamy into dare I say it the character that I really like now so it's just such a solid battle in the series and a splendid performance by our captain number five Luffy versus Usopp this is always a painful one to talk about but at the same time this really was a defining event in the series for both contenders crafting a rift in their friendship that culminated in a full on fist fight this bout stands out quite a lot because it's one of the very few battles in which it was not satisfying in any way to see Luffy land a blow on his opponent like this wasn't our long where every punch was this joyous release it was quite the opposite actually every hit that landed courtesy of either Luffy or Usopp only made this situation hurt that much more and that dramatic weight is conveyed so effectively through Luffy at the conclusion of the clash where even though he technically came out on top it was clear that there were no winners in this situation but despite it being one of the more painful events in the series to watch or read through it was still put together masterfully from an aesthetic point of view so oddly enough it was still great to see whilst being simultaneously torturous a truly outstanding Luffy fight without a doubt number four Luffy versus Bluener all right so this fight always takes me back to high school because back in the day I would rewatch this fight over and over and over again and in fact you know what to this day it is probably the fight that I have rewatched the most because the moment this episode aired I was stunned because I was waiting to see how gear second would be animated and it absolutely flawed me the speed in this altercation was like nothing the series had seen before and Luffy's hits felt so incredibly devastating plus narratively this conflict had a lot of substance to it as it was essentially the turn of the tide for the water seven saga which up until this point had been incredibly dark and despairful I mean cp9 where this group of unfathomably powerful figures at the time and watching Luffy rise to their level and bring down the cow man meant everything it signaled that this counterattack was in full swing and that the rest of the straw hats were also going to rise to the occasion plus even though it occurred during any sobby which was a notable period in which the anime started to decline this was still put together phenomenally from start to finish in fact I'd have to say that the only thing this clash has going against it is that it does end somewhat anticlimactically with Bruno just eventually collapsing from the jeppuzuka damage but that really is the only thing I could even come close to calling a flaw in this incredible exchange number three Luffy versus Rob Lucci sticking with any sobby for now we have the main event which brings us everything that the new fresh concept of gear second did in the bluener fight but adds the emotional weight of robin and even usopp behind it as well in much the same way that Arlong was carrying the weight of nami just like on steroids and to this day I think that Luffy versus Lucci is one of the most brutal slugfest we've ever seen in the series this wasn't a fight between weird paramecia powers or having to come up with a creative weight counter a logia user this was almost entirely pure brawn and could only be decided by way of whose endurance gave in first plus in terms of spectacle this was the first properly seen use of gear third in the series which was portrayed superbly and the final attack is easily one of the greatest finishes we've ever been privileged enough to witness jet gattling gun what a way to end everything and full credit to the anime in both the original series and the episode of mary for making this one hell of a moment to remember number two Luffy versus crocodile round three so I'll say this straight up this is the fight that convinced me that I was going to be a lifelong fan of the series everything up until now had been great but the climax of the alabaster saga was a high point in one piece that has been so incredibly hard to replicate going forward not impossible to replicate and not even impossible to surpass but this fight just had everything going for it to begin with it was the first time that Luffy had really been pushed to his limits compared to this fight everything before it looks like a comfortable victory for him but this was crocodile and he'd already lost to this man twice a man who still reigns as one of the most popular villains within the series history with an incredible design and presenting an impossible power to overcome but as always Luffy rose to the occasion confronting him for a third time and even using his own blood as a counter to crocodile zokia powers this fight was brutal it was desperate and it was series defining when after all of this Luffy exclaims that he would surpass crocodile and punched him into absolute infinity through bedrock and beyond saving not only the kingdom of alabaster but also his dream of becoming the pirate king from start to finish this battle is engraved in my mind and yet I should point out that we still haven't quite reached the pinnacle of Luffy combat number one Luffy versus kata curry all right so despite being the number one place this is a bit of a weird one because when I was reading this fight weekly I was a bit hot and cold on it as you can tell if you rewatch my chapter reviews on the one hand I love the artwork and the choreography and in that respect I think this battle stands out as one of the greatest in all of shonen let alone one pieces in individual series what I didn't like at the time was well the time it took an awfully long time to complete reading weekly and there were points where it just didn't feel like it was getting anywhere but in retrospect that was very much the point the idea was to showcase Luffy in an extended bout getting crushed every step of the way in pursuit of acquiring a new skill and eventually trumping his opponent not through strength but through sheer force of will and a lot of people will argue with me about this but to this day I believe that Luffy could not have won this fight with power alone kata curry trumped him in every aspect but what Luffy managed to do was so much more impressive than simply beat an opponent Luffy managed to change kata curry's entire being during this fight and flip his way of life on its head simply by refusing to give up against an opponent who clearly outclassed him and yeah I know it's not quite as simple as that that's why I have a whole video explaining this fight which you should absolutely check out however there has never been anything like this in one piece before and I highly doubt that we'll ever see anything like it again this transcends the concept of a fight by entwining physical and psychological combat physically Luffy lost but psychologically he won and of everything on this list today this display is what makes me truly believe that Luffy will one day against all odds become the pirate king and that pretty much does it for the top 10 Luffy fights in one piece if you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produces in general then please do consider donating to the Grand Line review patreon because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible and if you'd like to see more videos like this but applied to other anime manga series then please do check out my second channel in your world review for all of your wider needs and if you'd like to join the fun at any time then please do head over to my discord server where a wide array of shenanigan retakes place on a daily basis and finally please do comment with your own favorite Luffy fights in the series this has been the Grand Line review and I'll see you next time