This article contains spoilers for One Piece's Elbaf Arc.
Summary
- Luffy's actions put him on the World Government's radar early in One Piece.
- World Government possibly avoided confronting Luffy to keep Sun God Nika Fruit's secret.
- Luffy's allies and timing helped him evade capture, despite World Government's knowledge.
While Oda has told a fairly consistent story, with One Piece being as long as it is, there are bound to be a few elements of the story that don’t make complete sense. Whether it’s power levels or the full extent of Devil Fruit abilities, some seemingly important plot elements are brushed under the rug, and ignored. Still, although these plot points aren’t necessary to the overall story of One Piece, some fans believe they should be directly addressed and explained.
One such detail involves how the leaders of the World Government refused to do much to stop Luffy, despite the rookie pirate frequently using the Sun God Nika Fruit and proudly proclaiming his middle initial of D. Although both these details would supposedly make Luffy an extreme enemy of the World Government, the entire system refused to intercept him until he was already far too powerful. This has left many fans wondering why the World Government didn’t track Luffy down sooner in One Piece.
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Luffy Was On The World Government's Radar Fairly Early In One Piece
His Fruit Should Have Been Fairly Obvious To The Elders And Imu
Throughout the early stages of Luffy’s journey, the pirate had a fairly low level of fame, only defeating small-time pirates. Even later, with Alabasta being covered up by the Navy, and Skypiea taking place far from the Blue Seas, Luffy didn’t start to appear on the world’s radar until One Piece's Enies Lobby, when he declared himself a public enemy of the World Government. At this point in the story, it is safe to assume that the World Government knows of Luffy’s existence, acknowledging that he has both the Will of the D and abilities that are very similar to the Sun God Nika Fruit.
Huff... Huff... Joy Boy!!! - Imu upon feeling Joy Boy's Haki
However, from here, it seems the World Government isn’t too interested in apprehending Luffy, instead allowing the crew to continue their adventures leading to the Thriller Bark Arc. However, between Sabaody and Marineford, there were arguably plenty of opportunities for One Piece's World Government to easily defeat the comparably weak pirate, thus eliminating their Nika problem. However, once he had undergone his time skip training, Luffy became exponentially stronger, making taking him down much harder than it would have been before.
Why Did The World Government Leave Luffy Alone For So Long?
Luffy May Have Been Harder To Find Than Most Fans Expect
- The World Government Wanted To Carefully Deal With Luffy's Situation
- The World Government Already Tried Capturing Him Multiple Times
So, this left many fans wondering why the World Government didn’t deal with Luffy when he was still weak. Although there isn’t a direct answer, some fans have come up with a few solutions to this issue. Firstly, some fans believe that to keep the Sun God Nika Fruit hidden from society, they couldn’t directly confront Luffy without potentially revealing sensitive information to the world. If the secret of the Sun God Nika Fruit’s existence were to be released, it may cause a revolution even larger than the Revolutionary Army.
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Besides needing to handle the problem with tact, at Enies Lobby, after the crew had survived the Buster Call, two Navy Officials were actually sent to apprehend Luffy. Luckily for the crew, these two were the Hero of the Navy, Garp, and Kuzan, two of the few Marines who would let Luffy go free. Overall, while they did send high-ranking officials to stop Luffy, they sent the worst people they could for the job.
After Thriller Bark Luffy Was Quickly On The Move
He Had Assistance From Many Allies To Keep Him Hidden
Finally, once the crew escaped, the Straw Hat Crew seemingly disappeared from the spotlight, dealing with problems like Thriller Bark and the beginning of One Piece's Sabaody Archipelago behind the scenes. Then, right as Luffy made himself known to Kizaru, he was once again sent safely to Amazon Lily. As for Impel Down and Marineford, by the time Luffy made national news, the war had ended quickly after.
Pirates have declared war against the World Government!! - Spandam
Still, it seems odd that the Five Elders or One Piece's God’s Knights didn’t teleport to the war and defeat Luffy there, though it’s likely that the full extent of these characters hadn’t even been developed yet. In the end, while it doesn’t make too much sense overall for Luffy to evade the World Government for so long, fans have come up with some decently reasonable justifications. Still, with a story as cleanly written as One Piece, moments like these often tend to stand out in the minds of fans.
- 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
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
- Seasons
- 21
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Based On
- Manga
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Number of Episodes
- 1122
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.72
