 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review your source for everything One Piece and today we are going to be focusing on the core structure of the Straw Hat Pirates, a little something that we like to call the Monster Trio, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, who together form a collective and insurmountable mountain of power within the crew. That or an unstoppable tsunami of power depending upon their targets at the time. But these three aren't just pillars of the Straw Hats but it goes even further than that because they form a foundation of One Piece itself which can be seen reflected in almost every popularity poll where they tend to be the top three in that exact order Luffy, Zoro and Sanji. There are only two exceptions to this one of which was the first poll in which Shanks took third place and Sanji took fourth and the fifth poll which Fowler beat both Zoro and Sanji to claim second place. These aberrations aside though when you really boil down the impact of One Piece you can generally find yourself falling into one of or even all three of these Monster Trio caps and once you fall in ever so deeply you will be confronted with the subscribe button for the ground line review. The pressing of which will grant you regular One Piece content uploaded straight into your YouTube beat and it's very important that you join the Grand Fleet so that we can become part of the Monster Trio of YouTube. But as for something that's actually relevant I want to start this examination with the name Monster Trio itself. It's one of the most well established terms in the One Piece fan vernacular and it's important to point out that Monster Trio is not an official label given to Luffy, Zoro and Sanji anywhere in the actual series not in the official translations anyway. As far as I can tell we have a bit of a chicken and egg scenario happening here. The true origins of the term have been lost in the void century of the internet and the earliest reference I can find was on a forum in 2008. The problem is that is almost certainly not where the term was coined as I do recall it being used earlier than that because yes I am old thank you for asking and I remember One Piece forums in the times prior to 2008 oh no. What I suspect happened though is that in some deep dark forum culture this term emerged as local canon which was then adopted by a variety of fan sub and scanlation groups which then proceeded to popularize it throughout the world. Otherwise there's nothing in official One Piece to indicate its origin. Many people will point to a scene during the alabaster arc where Luffy, Zoro and Sanji defeat a giant send or a dragon together and they'll say that Nami either called them the Monster Trio right then and there or said that the three of them were stronger than a monster and that may very well be true in some sort of scanlation or fan sub out there. But in both the official manga and anime translations it just shows Nami feeling sorry for the dragon which I suppose she does call a monster and just as a quick side note anime Nami looks like she's seen some pretty disturbing stuff but there are other instances in the series where they are referred to much more vaguely as like the three strongest guys and such but even though the term monster trio is entirely a fan creation its core idea is pretty undeniable within the series and that's because there was a palpable atmosphere whenever these three come together as a team which generally involves combat of course in the intro I called them unstoppable and insurmountable which is very clearly shown in situations like the aforementioned send or a dragon or a similar situation which three of them were facing off against Surume on their way to Fishman Island or even immediately after the time skip where these three were the only ones to face off against Pasquista and they dismissed the cyborgs quite comfortably. It's always a special moment to see them working together which doesn't actually happen all that often and it never happens against a primary antagonist at least not directly anyway which is very purposeful by Oda and it works for a wide array of reasons one of which is that the idea and effect of the monster trio is far more prominently on display when the three of them are not together weirdly enough in these situations Luffy, Zoro and Sanji each effectively become crew leaders and the rest of the straw hats or specific are characters will gravitate towards whichever member of the monster trio was closest because it really doesn't matter if it's Luffy, Zoro or Sanji just being with any one of them provides you with a feeling of safety and confidence a great example of which is when Sanji led half the crew to Zoe from Dressrosa. Meanwhile if we do find ourselves in a situation where we don't have a member of the monster trio present it is noticeably more uncertain perhaps even chaotic such as Nami, Usopp and Chopper's adventures on Thriller Bark a trio which presents their own fun dynamic but it really doesn't matter what the combination is we could also go with Robin, Frankie and Brooke they're more powerful but they are missing an essential foundation which is usually represented in one of Luffy, Zoro or Sanji. Furthermore I would argue that more often than not it's actually essential to keep these three separated and the video as stated by me thus far would paint Luffy, Zoro and Sanji as this kind of perfect team and that's not necessarily true rather than a trio it could be argued that these three form more of a triumvirate a set of leaders working towards a common goal because each of them have their own individual methodologies that don't necessarily mix with the other two for example Luffy is the kind of guy who prefers to rush right into the center of the action fist first while say Sanji adopts a much more tactical approach and then there's Zoro who you would think is much the same as Luffy but he travels into battle at a much more casual pace and often gets comically lost in the process and really the main times when we do see these three acting together is probably when they're hungry and keen for some giant monster meat in addition to this we also need to take personal relationships into account in this trio foundation we have a series of volatile relationships Zoro and Sanji have this extreme rivalry and a general distaste for one another and while they do get along better with Luffy they also both become incredibly annoyed with their captain which makes direct teamwork as a trio very tricky in fact you could say that they are more or less incapable of working together as a trio however they are more than capable of working in tandem as a triumvirate which is a significantly more useful factor to have in the kind of crazy situations that our crew finds themselves in and Oda even goes to further lengths to highlight this trio mostly while apart because in addition to core leadership they also possess a powerful aura surrounding them and I'm not just talking about their various masteries of Haki in fact I'm not talking about that at all it's much more raw than that so Zoro would be the most obvious example here because he has been referred to as a demon or possessing demonic qualities on multiple occasions meanwhile Sanji replicates this feeling through his own techniques with his signature combative form now being Diablo Jumbo which literally means Devil's leg gone during the searing flames of hell to dispatch whatever incredibly unfortunate opponent just so happens to stand in his way and then of course you have Luffy who being a member of the mysterious Di people is referred to as the enemy of the gods and even a devil and is often depicted throughout the world as this incredibly sinister pirate but even with what we know of Luffy his willpower is more terrifying than anything Zoro and Sanji can muster so all three of them have this very otherworldly quality that elevates them from the rest of the crew and does very much place them in their own cononic tier one way or another not necessarily to do its strength mind you and now is probably a good time to ask ourselves could the monster trio dynamic be interrupted or expanded traditionally this hasn't been possible because most draw hat recruits tend to fill a more technical purpose I mean going back to the days of East Blue there was an undeniable divide between the monster trio as opposed to Nami and Usopp and Chopper started to blur that line a bit I suppose because he was a capable fighter then with Robin Brooke and Frankie doing much the same but none of them presented the core qualities that the monster trio possessed that made them the monster trio however recently a certain whale shark has upended things because a thought that pops up frequently in fan discussion seems to be the idea that Jinbei joining the crew turns this into a monster quartet and there's good reason for that thought because Jinbei is extraordinarily powerful in his own right I mean it's not clear how he would stack up against Luffy Zoro Sanji but I suppose the fact that it's so unclear is actually all we need to know plus Jinbei is also a natural leader albeit with a much more classical style the one key difference between Jinbei and our established trio is that the former warlord does not possess the same sort of otherworldly aura that Luffy Zoro and Sanji exude that's kind of it though and that's not necessarily a great reason to automatically exclude him from crew prominence and I guess this is where the whole idea that the monster trio name is fan made comes up again we really can't be taking the idea of a definitive top three straw hat set in stone too seriously anymore and using the idea of the monster trio certainly is not something that should be invoked if you were trying to say power scale Jinbei with the rest of the crew what's going to be more important is Jinbei's dynamic which I look forward to seeing more of I'd say that there's every chance he slips into more of a robin style role you know confident powerful and a wise background figure but it's hard to deny the possibility of a monster quartet and it's something that we should probably be open to exploring despite it contradicting fan cannon but dwelling on the trio for now I also think it's important to say that this construct is unique within the world of one piece it's very difficult to find a crew who have this sort of semi equal dynamic for example I think it would be a mistake to compare the monster trio to something like the all-stars or the lead performers and whatever you want to call them of the beast pirates and that's because there is a far clearer separation of power and authority with Kaido than there is with Luffy and that goes for most of the other emperors as well big moment of sweet commanders white beard in his division commanders I suppose blackbeard would come kind of close because he does rely on his crew in very much the same way Luffy does which is to say that they make up for his shortcomings and blackbeard does like to roll the dice of fate and I suppose you could say that with shanks he has a core relationship with figures like Ben Beckman lucky Ruin Yasopp which without knowing more specifics does seem to emulate the Luffy Zoro Sanji feeling but otherwise I think this difference is very purposeful and it goes on to highlight that the straw hats are far more than just their captain which I think is something the emperors have a hard time getting away from with such powerful figureheads a lot of those crews seem to exist with the sole purpose of fulfilling the wishes of their terrifying powerful captain whereas the straw hats have and always will be a more collaborative effort with each crew member having their own independent dreams which is another reason why this trio is just so solid because they have multiple reasons to fight with a drive and will power that just surpasses and engulfs whoever or whatever stands in their way and at the same time this monster trio idea also provides a great mechanism of subversion provided it isn't abused and what I mean by that is that because we're also used to the thought that Luffy Zoro and Sanji are completely unstoppable it's very effective to put us in a situation where all three of them are defeated right in front of our eyes like during Long Ring Long Land when the crew encountered Alkeji Luffy Zoro and Sanji each failed to overcome his opponent and that provided us with a very deep sense of despair as well as perspective on the world for us as readers and watchers and some of the one piece films try to take advantage of this as well like when all three of them took on Zephyr in film Z and ultimately proved ineffective seeing them beaten is a shock right to the core of our system and it leaves us very bare with seemingly no defense against whatever we're facing and on super rare occasions it can even be used for comedy once again returning to Thriller Bark where the defeat of all three led to this wonderful moment but the really weird thing is that even though this was played for comedy you can see everything I've spoken about when they all wake up after the beautiful swordswoman with meat comment and they all have this similarly terrifying aura about them which once again yes is played purely for comedy but it is yet another example of the trio motif at play and I guess most importantly this trio brings with it a sense of completion the straw hats as a whole are noticeably impacted by the absence of any one of these individuals that's a core reason why we had to go and take Sanji back on Hawkeek Island because what would even be the point of approaching Wano without a completed trio it would have been very similar to being on Hawkeek Island without Zoro and that's why Wano is a very exciting arc for me because it's the first time since what mid-dressrosa that the monster trio dynamic is in play once more and I have no doubt that they will prove to be as unstoppable and insurmountable But what do you guys think? Please do leave your thoughts in the comments below or even join my discord server and if you'd like to see more videos like this then please do go and check out some of my other content or even subscribe to the channel for more glorious one-piece business uploaded straight into your YouTube feeds but for now this has been the ground-line review and I'll see you next time