In the One Piece universe, it is believed that those who carry the secret name of D are the natural enemies of God. It is then no surprise that those carrying the name of D are some of the most badass characters in the entire series.
One such character is Monkey D Luffy (Straw hat), the captain of the infamous straw hat pirates and a member of the Worst Generation. Luffy is an exemplary captain who leads from the front with his heart on his sleeve. His dream is to become the King of the Pirates and, in order to do this, he will need to challenge the world itself. Along his journey, he has had incredible moments. These are some:
10 ARRIVAL AT SABAODY POST TIME SKIP
The straw hats originally intended to go straight into the new world via Fishman island, but things did not go to plan. Due to their weakness, the crew was believed to be wiped out by the 'tyrant' Bartolomeu Kuma. Of course, this was not actually true, instead, they were given the opportunity to go away and train for two years in preparation for the new world. Upon returning to Sabaody, Luffy is much stronger than before and this is clearly shown when he takes out PX-5 in a single hit, after easily evading a laser blast. This is particularly impressive, given that, two years prior, it took the combined strength of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji to take one down.
9 GEAR FOURTH SNAKE MAN
During Luffy's two year training on Rusukaina with Silvers Rayleigh, he focused on improving all forms of his haki. After extensive training, he improved his observation, but the truth is, haki blossoms best during intense life-threatening battles. This is what leads Luffy to unlock a new form in his gear transformation. Taking hints and cues from Katakuri during their fight, Luffy begins to see further and further into the future, via his observation haki. At the height of this, he goes into gear fourth snake man, a never seen before version. This gear focuses on observation and can be considered a speed gear. With his new future sight and speed, Luffy manages to take down Katakuri (a man with a bounty of over a billion).
8 GEAR FOURTH BOUNCE MAN
Upon initially transforming into this gear, one could be forgiven for believing that this was some sort of joke. Afterall, Donquiote Doflamingo himself thought so after seeing Luffy inflate into a bounce-ball like figure. But Luffy was completely serious and confident in this transformation due to rigorously training with it against the animals on Rusukaina. As soon as Luffy begins his onslaught against Doflamingo, it became clear that, even though this gear looked a bit comical, it was definitely not to be messed with. This new gear afforded Luffy devastating power and speed at a level never seen before. What followed was one of the most epic One piece fights ever, which culminated in a victory for, the now infamous rookie, 'Straw Hat Luffy'.
7 ANNOUNCING HIMSELF TO WHITEBEARD
It is common knowledge that, amongst all the pirates roaming the seas, the Yonko are the most powerful. Amongst them, Whitebeard holds particular prestige as a man who was a rival to the former pirate king Gol D Roger.
Upon his first-ever encounter with such a pirating legend, Luffy immediately announces that he, not Whitebeard, will be the one to become the King of the Pirates. This shocks everybody watching on at Marineford. After all, it’s not every day a rookie pirate challenges an established Yonko.
6 CHALLENGING THE WORLD GOVERNMENT
Robin, one of the straw hat pirates, was captured by CP9 and scheduled to be executed at Enies Lobby. At that point, the world could be forgiven for believing that was the end of her story. But Luffy and the rest of the straw hats were never going to let things go down like that, no matter who the enemy was. In this case, the enemy was the World Government, so the enemy was quite literally the world itself. After asking Robin to confess her true feelings, Luffy asked Sogeking (Usopp) to shoot down the flag of the World Government.
5 BREAKING INTO AND ESCAPING IMPEL DOWN
Impel down was viewed as an impregnable prison that the marines believed would never be able to fall or falter. Once, it was practically impossible for any pirate to escape. After hearing that his brother, Portgas D Ace, was confined in this prison and set to be executed, Luffy devised a plan to go and rescue him. With help, Luffy manages to break into Impel Down and wreak absolute havoc. His prison break aided the release of some of the most dangerous pirates the world has ever known. If that wasn't enough, Luffy managed to then escape this prison before turning up at Marineford to cause even more destruction and chaos.
4 CHALLENGING BIG MOM
After learning that Big Mom took over Fishman Island after Whitebeard's death, Luffy decides it's too dangerous to leave the territory in her hands. He openly announces to the Yonko that he would beat her and make Fishman Island his territory.
Again, this is ludicrous behavior because, as we later see, it's far more common for a rookie to work under a Yonko than go against one. Luffy takes this a bit further when he reaches Whole Cake Island and laughs off Big Mom's failure to become the pirate king. He did that while being held captive by one of her crew members.
3 ROLE AT MARINEFORD
The battle at Marineford is sometimes referred to as the war of the best because it featured some of the world’s strongest pirates and marines. Most of the recently appointed supernovas stood outside Marineford and watched as it unfolded. But one supernova, Monkey D Luffy, took part in this war and he did not merely make up the numbers either. Luffy was the catalyst that gave the Whitebeard pirates the opportunity to rescue Ace. Of course, Ace eventfully died, but on that day, Monkey D Luffy announced himself as one to watch.
2 USING CONQUERORS HAKI AT MARINEFORD
During the war, Whitebeard suffered heavy damage. This, along with his previously failing health, was making it increasingly difficult to rescue Ace, given the distance and troops between them. Sengoku realized this and called for Ace to be executed then and there. It is a wide held belief that haki blooms in the most deadly situations and nowhere has it been truer than at this moment. As Ace is about to be executed, Luffy musters everything in his spirit to scream "stop". This unlocked his latent ability, known as Conquerors Haki. This knocked out numerous marines, saved Ace as well as shocked almost everyone at Marineford.
1 PUNCHING A CELESTIAL DRAGON
The celestial dragons are the absolute top of the food chain in One Piece and their authority is seen as absolutely unchallengeable. After witnessing Saint Charlos shoot Hachi and dance around him, while he laid bleeding on the floor, a lot of people were disgusted but knew they had no power to do anything. Any act against him would have invited and an admiral to come after the guilty party (basically a death sentence, given the strength of the pirates at Sabaody at the time). Despite this, Luffy did not hesitate for a second before landing one of the most iconic punches in modern anime history.