The man behind the highly popular Japanese Animation One Piece is known to myself, and I'm sure many others, as a genius of character creation and story telling. This man has time and time again impressed me, and millions of others, across the world with his insatiable imagination and creativity in story creation and character development alike. I have
personally been highly inspired by the actions, words, and abilities of the main character Luffy, who I have always loved since the very beginning for his courageous efforts, fun-loving attitude and, most importantly, his heroic acts that never cease to amaze me. One moment Luffy will be laughing and carrying on as though nothing matters in the world to him, and with a drop of a hat (straw hat perhaps for him specifically), he will be ready to take on even the most frightening villains in order to protect his friends. When it comes to protecting those he cares about, nothing can, or ever could, stop Luffy from attaining whatever power he needs for the overcoming of seemingly insurmountable odds. From the amazing ideas he comes up with for how to fight best using his elastically rubberized body, to his unyielding determination to be the freest man on the sea, Luffy never gives up and that's just one of his endearing qualities of which there are many. When asked why he wants to become the king of the pirates by a very well known and powerful pirate, and what he would do after conquering the seas, he simply states : "conquer? I don't want to conquer anything. I just think the guy with the most freedom in the whole world is the pirate king!!" This, among many other unique moments with the character, has solidified Luffy in my mind as a great hero, worthy of praise and admiration for wanting to seek power not for a means in and of itself, but in order to wield such power to protect all who cherish freedom as he does. I only hope that we have a Luffy out there (and hopefully multiple variations as well) in the real world who is so unyielding to the powers that should not be that they are the ones scared at the thought of losing to such a powerfully free individual. Although I have come to love many characters from many different stories ranging from Neo in the Matrix trilogy to Goku from Dragonball just to name a couple, Luffy will always hold a special place in my heart for too many reasons to name here in just one post. I have taken inspiration from the character to the extent that I will gladly fight for the freedom of all sentient beings in order to preserve hope, liberty, freedom, and prosperity for all, and if the time comes, I will find the Will to rise up against tyranny in all its forms and disguises. Thank you, Mr. Oda, for the remarkable character you have created that has allowed this spurring of emotion inside of me that makes me smile even in dark times, because the ones who should be scared are the ones who oppose freedom loving souls such as myself, as well as many others, and the straw hat wearing man that will one day become the King, not to rule, but to be the most free and to create a free society for all.