Monkey D. Luffy is a pirate and the captain of the infamous Straw Hat crew. Often, Luffy is seen as a hero simply because he's the protagonist of the One Piece series and essentially does things that one would expect from a hero.

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However, Luffy has never claimed to be a hero in his entire life. Luffy is, first and foremost, a pirate and that means things like being a hero or a villain don't bother him much. In fact, throughout the series, Luffy has done countless things that a regular hero would never think about doing but a pirate wouldn't hesitate to go ahead with.

10 Luffy Has Stolen From Many People He Helped

Luffy laughing One Piece

Luffy has been the savior of numerous countries in the One Piece series, and countless people are indebted to him, ranging from the people of Cocoyashi Village all the way to the samurai of Wano. At the same time, Luffy doesn't hesitate to steal from the very same people because he is a pirate and he can do so. This was seen during the Skypiea arc where Luffy, after defeating Enel, stole quite a lot of gold from Nola. The people of the country were perfectly fine with it and were actually going to reward him with more gold.

9 Luffy Has Taken Criminals On His Ship Over The Years

Nico Robin as miss all sunday One Piece

Luffy is a one-of-a-kind pirate captain, and while a hero would hesitate to allow an enemy to join his ship, he doesn't think much about it. Luffy chose Nami to be his navigator despite knowing that she stole from people. After the Alabasta arc, Luffy allowed Nico Robin, an enemy of the kingdom of Alabasta, to join them just because he felt like it. Robin was an assassin who had betrayed countless people in the past, but that never made a difference to Luffy.

8 Luffy Hates To Share His Food Even With His Friends

Luffy eating meat in One Piece.

One would expect a hero to share food with their friends, but that doesn't apply to the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy loves his friends but he rarely, if ever, will he give his food to them. According to Luffy, only heroes share their food, and he is strictly opposed to being one of them. Of course, that doesn't mean the rest of the crew doesn't eat. Luffy chose Sanji to be his cook for a reason, and he always makes sure everyone is fed well.

7 Luffy Values His Friends' Lives Over Everyone Else

Anime One Piece Time Skip Luffy Reflects

Luffy isn't someone who values everyone's lives equally. To him, his friends are the most important people, along with his brothers, Ace and Sabo. Luffy will have no mercy for those who harm his friends.

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He's openly threatened to kill anyone who laughs at Usopp's dreams. At other times, Luffy has destroyed entire crews because they harmed his crewmates, and he even attacked a Government stronghold to free Ace at the cost of hundreds of lives.

6 Luffy Took Margaret As Hostage During The Amazon Lily Arc

The Kuja pirates gathered on the jungle island of Amazon Lily

After landing on the island of women, Amazon Lily, Luffy was attacked by the Kuja for entering their country. Although Luffy tried to reason with them, he failed to convince them. His next best idea was to take one of them hostage, so he took Margaret with him and escaped to the forest. Luffy didn't intend to harm her, but to the people of the country, Luffy had kidnapped a warrior. Given his personality, Luffy didn't care what they thought of him, and all he wanted was to get out of the island in the first place.

5 Luffy Freed Numerous Prisoners During The Impel Down Arc

Portgas D. Ace In Impel Down

The Impel Down arc of the story saw Luffy infiltrate the World Government stronghold, Impel Down, to free his brother, Portgas D. Ace. In his attempt to free Ace, Luffy freed countless prisoners, some of whom were locked up for committing atrocities across the world. As expected, Luffy didn't care about the consequences as long as Ace was saved. A hero would certainly not go down this road, once again proving that Luffy is not one of them.

4 Luffy Has Worked With His Former Enemies For Ace's Sake

A One Piece still has Crocodile the Warlord smiling while smoking a cigar

Luffy defeated the Shichibukai, Sir Crocodile, during the Alabasta arc of One Piece. This landed him in Impel Down, and surprisingly, it was Luffy who freed him from the prison.

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Crocodile was responsible for almost destroying Vivi's country, yet Luffy freed him and worked together with him because he realized he needed his help. The two broke out of the prison, freeing countless others with him, and eventually went their own ways after the Paramount War was over.

3 Luffy Thinks It's Okay To Destroy Countries Over Meat

Luffy Sabaody Archipelago angry

During the Fishman Island arc of One Piece, Luffy talked to Big Mom for the very first time and was shocked to see that she was willing to destroy the country just because they couldn't deliver the promised amount of candy to her that month. What's even more shocking was the fact that Luffy thought it didn't make sense for her to destroy a country over candy, but it would've been understandable if it had been about meat. He probably would never do it himself, but he certainly doesn't think it's wrong to do so.

2 Luffy Kidnapped Brulee During The Whole Cake Island Arc

Brulee in the one piece anime

Luffy kidnapped Brulee on multiple occasions during the Whole Cake Island arc, and during his fight against Katakuri, he used her to escape from the fight against the Yonko Commander when his Haki ran out. According to Luffy, there are no rules in a pirate battle, so he doesn't care about making use of a hostage in a fight to gain some time until his Haki returns to him.

1 Luffy Claimed There Were No Rights Or Wrongs In The Fight Against Katakuri

Katakuri Combining His Mochi With Armament Haki To Fight Luffy

Although Luffy fights with honor at times, he doesn't care about maintaining an image during one. His fight against Katakuri saw him run through most of the fight simply because he wasn't on his level at the time. He even trapped the Yonko Commander in the Mirro-World and escaped but returned to defeat him when he thought he could fight again. Luffy himself claimed that there were no rights or wrongs in a pirate battle, and he certainly showed it throughout the fight.

NEXT: One Piece: 10 Times Nami Saved The Day