 He's a superhuman, he's never laid down in his life. He's a man who looks down on the very earth itself. He's proud, cold, and powerful. At all times, the perfect man. Luffy versus Kartakuri, a highly controversial topic amongst One Piece fans. And to this very day, there is still a lot of confusion as to who quote unquote won this fight and how. It's definitely not a straightforward outcome and it does require a bit of a journey in order to reach our destination. One that is surprisingly not presented within our protagonist Luffy and in order to really dive into this topic, we need to set our sights on his opponent, Charlotte Kartakuri. Born 48 years ago to his tyrannical mother and emperor of the sea, Charlotte Lynn Lynn. At the age of two, Kartakuri tasted a donut for the very first time, immediately adopting them as his favoritist of foods. Although due to eating too many of them, far, far too quickly, Kartakuri's cheeks tore apart. These scars, of course, made him a prime target for bullying with various other children things who labeled him as a pelican eel. At one stage, his older brother, Paris Barris, suggested that Kartakuri would be able to make friends if he'd just covered his mouth. However, not wanting to compromise who he was, Kartakuri simply replied, forget it. This is me. If they laugh, I'll just beat him up. Although that would result in quite an unintended consequence as the bullies took revenge by beating up Kartakuri's younger sister Charlotte Brulee. Kartakuri immediately blamed himself. He had been too soft, naive, and even selfish. So he came up with a solution to become a person so overwhelmingly powerful that nobody would dare harm those he loved. I'll show no weakness. I'll make them fear my perfection. And over the next 38 years, Kartakuri would hone his strength and status, rising to become a sweet commander of the Big One Pirates. But more importantly, Kartakuri successfully built his image of fearsome perfection. With all sorts of wild rumors spreading across Tautaland. He's a super human. He's never laid down in his life. He's a man who looks down on the very earth itself. He is proud, cold, and powerful. At all times, the perfect man. Even Kartakuri himself believed this image. He was the very embodiment of perfection. And someone so feared that nobody would ever dare lay a hand on his family ever again. And you know, that's a very common state of mind for one piece antagonists. They all tend to think they have things more or less figured out. That is until they come face to face with a certain pirate captain named Monkey D. Luffy. With chapter 825, we began the whole cake island dark. The climax of which was centered around a delightful tea party being held in Tautaland, which was then promptly crashed by Luffy and friends of Luffy, who was here to rescue one of his crew members. An action that would soon forcibly throw him into direct conflict with Kartakuri. Before that though, it's important to understand what Luffy presents to Kartakuri. This sloppy, goofy, moronic, rubber dude man is the embodiment of imperfection. He is simultaneously loud, arrogant, and weak. So weak that he clearly doesn't even have the power to protect those dear Tim, as shown by the mere fact that he had to travel all the way to Hulkake Island in the first place. And worst of all, look at that scar under his eye. Luffy doesn't even have the sense to cover it up. This man's shameful imperfection is on display for the entire world to see, and what's worse is that he doesn't care. Boiling it down to basics, Luffy and Kartakuri's goals aren't that different from one another. They both want to protect those they hold dear, but Luffy is such a half-baked and half-fast incarnation that it serves as an insult to everything Kartakuri stands for. And furthermore, Luffy was a threat, an embarrassing yet chaotic force, unbound by traditional logic that needed to be dealt with right here and now, lest Kartakuri's family be put at risk. And it would be at this moment that something very surprising happened. Luffy, having seen Kartakuri as a similar threat to his own crew, took the initiative and forced the sweet commander into a realm known as the Mirror World, a sort of pocket dimension created by the devil for the abilities of Kartakuri's sister, Brulee. Upon entering, Luffy immediately shattered the exit, effectively sealing himself in there with Kartakuri, thrusting both of them into what would be a life-altering battle. Although with that said, some say that Luffy was actually attempting to smash the subscribe button for the Grand Line Review, which would have resulted in a consistent injection of One Piece Culture uploaded straight into his YouTube feed. Of course, Kartakuri being perfect, he had already done that. So I'd recommend that we all follow Kartakuri's example and please do say hi in the comments below if you are a new member of the Grand Fleet. Welcome. And so the opening skirmish began, yielding yet another surprise for both combatants in regards to their double fruit abilities. Luffy, as the user of the Goma Goma Nami, a Paramecia type, that obviously turned his body into rubber, got quite a shock when he discovered that Kartakuri had consumed a curious fruit named the mochi mochi nomi, a special Paramecia that allowed him to manipulate and become mochi, which is like a sticky sort of Japanese rice cake. Quite delicious. The end result being that these two actually possessed extraordinarily similar abilities, which allowed Kartakuri to mimic Luffy's techniques or allowed Luffy to mimic Kartakuri's techniques depending on which way you want to look at it. And whilst Kartakuri didn't quite understand this yet, he was essentially fighting a direct reflection of himself, a man with the same powers and the same goals who had simply elected to achieve them via a very different philosophy. Luffy is what Kartakuri may have become if he'd stuck to his childlike mindset in regards to not caring about how others viewed him. And of course we should point out that rather appropriately, Kartakuri was fighting this reflection of himself in a literal mirror world. So there's that. With a few key differences, one of which being that Kartakuri was Luffy's superior in almost every way. He was stronger, faster, more efficient, and his double fruit allowed him extra degrees of utility that Luffy's did not. And he also had one more very key advantage being Kartakuri's possession of advanced observation hockey, which was honed so thoroughly that he could even see briefly into the future. Luffy was completely outmatched, bailing to land even a single blow. And I want to make this very clear right here and now. Physically, there was no path to victory for Luffy. And as such, he was eventually swallowed up by Kartakuri's mochi. Like literally swallowed, not a fancy metaphor. At which point Kartakuri considered this a job well done, good, good, and called upon his personal chefs waiting in the wings. You see, Kartakuri has something of a daily ritual, which is basically glorified snacky time, whereby Kartakuri sequesters himself in a private area to relax and eat his beloved doughnuts in peace. So that's usually the idea anyway. Because on this occasion, Luffy had used his special technique of eating his way out of any situation to escape his mochi-related demise, proceeding to shatter Kartakuri's private room to discover what can only be described as this. He's a superhuman. He's never laid down in his life. He's a man who looks down on the very earth itself. He is proud, cold, and powerful. At all times, the perfect man. Perfect, eh? Hastily, Kartakuri leapt into action, like a teenager whose parents had just walked in on them using the internet, immediately murdering his private chefs who had viewed the scene and re-engaged Luffy. But by now, it was too late. There was no getting this toothpaste back into the tube. The illusion of perfection had been completely shattered, and Luffy was able to take advantage of this by landing his very first hit of the fight. I thought you were invincible. My punches went right through you. I thought they didn't work, but I was wrong. My attacks can hit you. And indeed, they could, but it's not because of anything Luffy did. Rather, it was because of the state of emergency that Kartakuri had been plummeted into mentally. This was an unprecedented crisis because not only did his opponent now believe that he was not invincible, but Kartakuri also needed to grapple with that idea himself. Four decades of building this perfect image had been eviscerated in mere seconds. It gave Kartakuri a very stark look at reality, one that he could no longer deny. And rather interestingly, Luffy never actually commented on what he saw, which was a very new sensation for Kartakuri. During his childhood, people had always been quick to point out Kartakuri's scars, but Luffy's only concern was that their fight wasn't over. Making Luffy quite possibly the only person in Kartakuri's entire life who had not immediately judged him for his scars. Alas, their fight did continue. Kartakuri maintained his overwhelming physical advantages, sending Luffy flat into the ground, time after time after time again, many countless of times. However, beneath all of this, a secondary battle was being waged. One on the mental plane where Luffy had acquired a distinct advantage. Because as much as there was an impossible obstacle standing in his way, Luffy's mind was relatively clear. Meanwhile, Kartakuri was placed in an ever-deteriorating state coming to question himself, as well as quite frankly, his sheer and utter failure to have defeated Luffy by now. Physically, this was still not a match. This remained a one-sided smackdown. And yet the question in Kartakuri's mind wasn't so much why does Luffy keep standing up? As it was, why am I not capable of keeping him down? It was a complete crisis of self that was only going to become infinitely worse as Kartakuri's sister, another one, Flampe, interrupted the battle, allowing Kartakuri to inflict a fatal blow on Luffy, skewering him with his trident. And there would be no recovery from this. At this stage, the fight was over. But instead of basking in the glorious victory of having defended his home territory, Kartakuri was infuriated. This was the worst possible outcome. Because not only had Luffy destroyed Kartakuri's illusion of perfection, but the implication that he needed help to win this fight was not something that Kartakuri was willing to live with. Because, you know, that would make him pretty damn imperfect, wouldn't it? What's more interesting though, is that over the hours and hours of combat that he had endured, Kartakuri had begun to develop a begrudging respect for Luffy, a man who was living the exact same lifestyle that the 10-year-old Kartakuri had represented. And furthermore, Luffy was succeeding at it. So on top of everything, to see Luffy's efforts disrespected by his sister, well, that was a step too far for the mental state of Kartakuri, who decided to equalize the playing field by raising his trident and skewering his own stomach. As well as enact potentially far more painful by removing his scarf and revealing his face to all those watching. In Kartakuri's words, if you're going to laugh at that idiot, then laugh at me too. Which is a very understated moment really, because this is Kartakuri abandoning his prior philosophy and embracing his imperfections. Slowly but surely, Luffy had incidentally changed Kartakuri's entire outlook on life. Because as shameful of a creature as Luffy may have seemed, he actually upheld Kartakuri's values, sheer drive and determination to protect better than the large majority of his family. Especially his mother, the tyrant, who had no qualms with attacking and even killing her own children. And the more Kartakuri looked at Luffy, the stronger that reflection began to resemble him. What followed would no longer be a simple skirmish to protect his family. The remainder of this battle would be a conflict of self. One that I'm not convinced Kartakuri necessarily wanted to win. This is because Luffy proving victorious would more or less free Kartakuri from his long build facade. But Luffy would certainly have to earn it. Which I should say that he had been. Luffy had not simply been getting smacked down over and over again for no reason. Instead, he had been thrusting himself into the heart of battle to see if he could reach a point where he was able to use advanced observation hierarchy. The future site that Kartakuri had been invoking. And that plan with some remembered words from his mentor, Silver's Ray Lee was working. With Luffy gradually picking up a working mastery of the technique. Now something else that became apparent at this stage is that Kartakuri had another weakness. One that likely would never have presented itself in any other situation. Because whilst undeniably stronger, faster and more efficient, Kartakuri was becoming inferior to Luffy in terms of stamina and durability. To put it quite simply, Kartakuri was not used to being hit this much, if at all. And what's worse is that he was also not used to hitting others for this long. So if you were to picture yourself as Kartakuri, imagine yourself hitting a punching bag for hours and hours and hours. You're probably going to get tired. And this meant that every rare strike Luffy landed hit that much harder. And every strike that Kartakuri conjured came at greater and greater expense to his stamina. All of which would culminate in one final clash of the man who has never fallen versus the man who always gets back up again. In this moment, Luffy assumed a new gear fourth form known as Snakeman. And wielded all of his hard gained experience to face off against Kartakuri in her brief yet brutal climax. One that left both combatants with absolutely nothing left to give. And as Luffy struggled to get back up onto his feet, he found Kartakuri proudly standing before him. Upright, as always. And in this situation, victory probably would have gone to whoever could have mustered even the tiniest portion of energy to throw into a basic punch. As for who that would have been, we can only speculate. What we do know is that by this point, only one of our combatants still had the will and reason left to fight. Kartakuri was physically exhausted, mentally drained and had nothing left to act for. His image and philosophy had been shattered in front of his eyes, but weirdly enough, that gave him a sliver of hope. So Kartakuri looked at his reflection and manifested the last bit of energy he had into a simple question. Will you come back someday to topple Big Mom? To which Luffy responded, as only Luffy can, with an, of course I will, I'm the man who will become the king of the pirates. And with that, after 12 hours of combat, Kartakuri fell flat onto his back, accepting this new bittersweet flavor of defeat. He's a superhuman. He's never laid down in his life. He's a man who looks down on the very earth itself. He is proud, cold and powerful. At all times, the perfect man. After Luffy left to escape the empire with his crew, Kartakuri would be attended to by Brulee. Very much mirroring the situation they'd found themselves and his children, except this time it was Kartakuri lying in a pool of his own blood. And it would only be at this point that Kartakuri recalled what Brulee had said to him on that very day. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt. If you ask me, you'll find the way you are. Thus bringing your clothes to the longest and most impactful day of Kartakuri's life. And just as a bit of an afterward to this story, I've chosen to tell it this way because this is one of the most misunderstood fights in all of One Piece. There are a lot of people who have and who will continue to claim that this is plot armor or just bad. Bad writing from Oda, bad author, bad. And I think they feel that way because there is this overwhelming tendency to view this conflict from only Luffy's perspective. I mean, it makes sense. He's the main character after all, but this fight is not about him. I mean, yeah, he has his own sub-blood happening when trying to learn future side and all, but the 19 chapters or so that this battle takes up is very much a character study of Kartakuri and how he was changed by interacting with Luffy as so many often are in the series. It's not something we often see explored purely in a fight in almost entirely without any flashbacks whatsoever, but this journey is very much by Luffy versus Kartakuri is easily my favorite conflict in all of One Piece. But if you'd like to see another amazing conflict within the series, then please do check out this video which covers the lifelong struggle between Shanks and Blackbeard. Very intriguing stuff. So I look forward to seeing you there.