This article contains spoilers for the One Piece anime
Monkey D. Garp is one of the most fascinating characters in all of One Piece. While it's long been established that this old geezer has been an incredibly important figure in history, earning him the title Hero of the Marines, for much of the One Piece story, he only shows up here and there to offer a few gags or dad jokes. This does make sense though, considering that, these days, he is more or less a retired Marine who prefers to laze around and eat chips than actually follow orders, especially if they come directly from the Celestial Dragons.
As a result, it was quite hard to get an idea of not only Garp's history, but also his actual abilities in combat, considering he's a character who Oda has tried to keep under wraps for as long as possible in order to build fan suspension and speculation. In the recent story arcs, though, Garp has been showing up a lot more frequently, and while he's had quite a few memorable scenes scattered throughout the series, there's a specific one which managed to completely change people's perceptions of him, and it's a scene that many fans will probably never forget about, considering how downright epic it was.
Garp's Galaxy Impact
Garp Sends Shockwaves Through An Entire Island With One Punch
- Garp unleashes his strongest ability yet
- An immensely powerful blow to rescue his most beloved student
After the Warlords were disbanded by the World Government, the Marines had the unenviable task on their hands of trying to apprehend every one of the Shichibukai, considering they were now all considered outlaws who needed to be brought to justice. While Kobe was the one who was sent to apprehend Boa Hancock, this mission ended up going horribly wrong after he was kidnapped by none other than Blackbeard. This would inevitably attract the attention of Garp, who saw Kobe as his protégé, but while he would usually send some other powerful Marine to deal with these kinds of incidents, Garp's close bond with Kobe is so strong that it encouraged him to take matters into his own hands.
"Koby is the future of the Navy! Not only that, he's my beloved pupil" - Garp
After setting his sights on Fullalead Island and spotting Kobe from a distance, Garp launches himself into the air and unleashes what still stands as the most devastating attack in the series, Galaxy Impact. With a single strike, Garp was able to send shockwaves throughout the entire island, blowing away everything and anyone who was caught in the explosive blast.
While this already looked absolutely stunning in the manga, the anime went above and beyond with the sleek animation to ensure this attack looked as flashy and awe-inspiring as possible. It's a shocking moment that no One Piece fan will ever be able to forget, but while it may look cool from a visual perspective, this scene also ended up having a pretty big impact on the way Garp was actually viewed by much of the fan base.
How Garp Proved Fans Wrong
He's Not Quite As Old And Slow As Some May Have Believed
- Garp is far past his prime
- Fans have long pondered how strong Garp still is in his old age
For a while, many fans have been led to believe that Garp was nowhere near as strong as he was back in his heyday. After all, while he did manage to defeat the Rocks Pirates, along with a little help from Roger, that was still more than 30 years before the main story even kicks off, so it would be easy to assume that he's lost a lot of his luster as the years have passed. Pair this with the fact that Garp usually seems pretty unbothered about getting into fights whenever he can help it, and it makes sense why many would presume that he's just not all that overpowered these days.
A specific scene which sparked a lot of debate surrounding Garp's current power level was back in Marineford, where Sengoku pinned Garp to the ground after he swore to take revenge on Akainu for killing Ace. While this was clearly a significant threat from Garp, there were many doubts and debates about whether he would even be able to stand a chance against Akainu, considering how immensely powerful the former Admiral already is thanks to his Devil Fruit.
"You'd better not let go of me, Sengoku... Otherwise, I'll kill that damn Sakazuki" - Garp
Thanks to this new scene, however, fans have finally been given a glimpse of what exactly Garp could have potentially done if Sengoku hadn't stopped him in his tracks. In a broader sense, though, the Galaxy Impact also wiped away any doubts that Garp was getting old and slow as a Marine, and instead, demonstrated that he still has more than enough left in the tank to take down anyone he regards as an enemy.
Is Garp The Strongest Marine Right Now?
Not Many Can Say That They Could Hold Their Own Against Garp
The Marines have a stacked roster of powerful fighters, many of whom can take down an entire pirate crew in no more than a few attacks, but could any of them really stack up to Garp, even in his old age? While it can be hard to say for certain, considering the Marines very rarely fight against one another, the only ones who would really stand a chance are the Admirals, but even then, when it comes to raw strength, it doesn't seem like Kizaru, Fujitora, or Greenbull would manage to hang on for very long if they were being pummeled relentlessly by Garp. That being said, though, they could still use their speed to their advantage to potentially outmaneuver him, considering Garp is still in his older years, after all.
As for Aokiji, who was formally an Admiral, while he did technically manage to barely overcome Garp, this was only because he had the other Blackbeard pirates to back him up, including Shiryu, who stabbed Garp when he wasn't looking. The fact that it takes an entire pirate crew just to handle one older man who is way past his prime just goes to show how durable Garp still is, even today.
The one Marine who probably has the best shot of taking down Garp is Akainu, primarily because of his Devil Fruit. Oda has gone on record saying that Akainu has one of the best Devil Fruit in the series when it comes to its offensive capabilities, even admitting that if Akainu was the protagonist of the story, he would have found the One Piece in no more than a single year. As was made clear during the Marineford War, Akainu is capable of melting anyone who gets in his way through his magma, so it would definitely be a treat for fans to see him and Garp duke it out in the future if they ever cross paths.
- 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
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
- Creator(s)
- Eiichiro Oda
