Note: This analysis contains spoilers for all of One Piece up to the time of this post’s release. If you don’t want to be spoiled then don’t read this post or read all of the manga first.

Luffy is often called a generic Goku clone. He eats a lot, likes to fight, is pretty dumb and protects his friends. Recently, Luffy has acted more like a captain, ordering Jinbei to return alive when leaving him at Totto Land. This isn’t the first instance of Luffy becoming more like a captain though. In fact, the entire Summit Wat/Paramount War saga is set up so that Luffy can truly appreciate his crew, and realize that as a captain, he has people he can depend on.

Thriller Bark

While not officially a part of the Summit War Saga, this is where Luffy’s arc begins. Thriller Bark places a lot of emphasis on the importance of a crew in many different ways. First up is the most obvious element, Brook. Brook lost his entire crew while on the Grand Line, only surviving because of his devil fruit. He wandered the sea for years, searching for any companion, mourning the loss of his crew. When Luffy shows up and immediately asks Brook to join the Straw Hats, Brook accepts without hesitation. Luffy doesn’t know it at the time, but Brook was looking for any sort of companionship after losing his crew. Luffy was asking any weird creature he saw on Thriller Bark to join their crew, but when Brook asks to join after playing to “Bink’s Brew” Luffy accepts without hesitation. Luffy sees how important a pirate crew can be to others than himself.

This arc’s contributions don’t end with Brook though. The fight against Oars has all of the Straw Hats (and their future member Brook) participating. They show off their skills individually, but also do a lot of combination attacks, something only possible with a crew, and not an individual. They were only able to defeat Oars because they worked as a crew to fight him. Even the powered up Nightmare Luffy couldn’t defeat Oars alone. Luffy had to depend heavily on his crew here, even if he didn’t realize it.

Finally, Gecko Moria also has a large impact on Luffy’s arc here. Gecko Moria is the first villain in a long time who is a pure pirate, one trying to become the Pirate King. He too lost his crew, and unlike Brook (or Luffy later), he turns to despair and starts using controllable zombies to do his bidding instead of real people. Despite this, he does have a few loyal crew members in Absalom, Perona, and Hogback. Absalom and Hogback save Moria at the end of the arc, and even though Perona tries to run and steal Moria’s treasure, she ultimately ends up wanting to return to Moria’s side after being sent away by Kuma. These actions all show their loyalty to Moria, and the respect a crew has for their captain. Despite this, Moria loses because he doesn’t depend on his crew and instead uses his zombies. With knowledge of the future, Moria can be seen as a fallen Luffy. If Luffy had gave up after the events to come, he likely would’ve ended up like Moria.

Sabaody Archipelago

This arc features a few fights where the Straw Hats again cooperate as a team, but it’s main contribution to Luffy’s arc comes later. It is important to note that Luffy first uses Conquerer’s Haki, which cements his place as a leader. When the crew is attacked again by Kuma, they are picked off one by one, disappearing into thin air, leaving Luffy for last so he can watch. Luffy feels complete despair as his crew is gone. He feels at a loss as to what to do, especially after the events of Thriller Bark. Finally Kuma attacks Luffy and he too disappears, leaving an ominous ending where the Straw Hat pirates are separated.

Amazon Lily

Luffy wakes up on a strange island in the middle of the jungle and realizes that the rest of his crew must also be on a different island like him. He explores the jungle, but comes across many different problems that make him want his crew. He realizes that there is a lot he can’t do without his crew. He even fights against Haki users, and doesn’t understand why they can hurt him. He has trouble against these foes, showing just how powerless he is even in fights, the one thing he could always do. This isn’t his lowest point of despair though, that comes later. He still believes that he and his crew can meet back up at Sabaody.

Impel Down

After hearing that his brother, Ace will be executed, Luffy has to try and stop the execution. He feels bad about abandoning his crew, but must do this. He storms the prison, Impel Down, in order to reach the lowest level and save Ace. Along the way he meets many past enemies and new faces, all who join together to help him fight Magellan, travel to the lowest level, defeat poison, and so on. This shows how infectious Luffy’s personality is, and establishes him as someone that people will follow.

This arc also introduces a future crewmate, Jinbei. He tells Ace that he would only help Luffy if he liked Luffy. Jinbei is immediately drawn to Luffy, and as shown later, wants to serve under him as a member of his crew. Everything’s not all good though. Luffy can’t get everyone to follow him, and many are only joining the group to escape the prison. Luffy is a great leader, but he is missing the people that will follow him to the ends of the earth. He is missing his crew.

Marineford

Luffy and the escapees travel to Marienford since Ace has been transferred there. While the odds were against Luffy at Impel Down, here he is way over his head. All the big players are leagues above Luffy in terms of strength. Despite this Luffy pours all his efforts to save Ace. The Whitebeard Pirates, Ivankov, Jinbei, Hancock, Mr. 3 and more all help him in his quest. Sadly, their efforts are in vain. Luffy reaches Ace and unlocks the handcuffs, but Ace is killed protecting Luffy from Akainu. Luffy feel ultimate despair at this moment, going into shock. He simply can’t believe what happened despite his efforts.

Everyone that helped Luffy was only able to help Luffy escape in the end. They couldn’t save Ace, showing that even though they all helped him so much, Luffy really needed his crew. He even needed Ace to protect him, forcing Luffy to learn how powerless he really is, but since his crew is not with him, it puts even more emphasis on the importance of a crew.

Post War

Luffy reflects on his past with Ace, and almost falls into despair. While his crew is not dead, they are gone from him and his brother died. He doesn’t take the path of Gecko Moria, instead listening to his future crewmate, Jinbei. Luffy doubts that he will become the Pirate King, but Jinbei pulls him out of the depths and makes him realize that Luffy still has his crew. He saw what happens to people who lose their crew, loses his crew, realizes how powerless he is, and fails to save something important to him. Luffy is able to move beyond his despair and accept the fact that he has a crew, if nothing else. He sends out a message to his crew to meet in two years, showing his immense faith that he has gained in his crew, and his leadership qualities. He knows that they will be there when he comes back because he has that much trust in his crew, and they have an equal amount for their captain.

Return to Sabaody

Again, this arc isn’t technically a part of the Summit War saga. This arc show the reunion between the Straw Hats, showing off how all the things they learned helps them escape Sabaody. Everyone is stronger, and everyone returned even though there were questions about Brook returning or not. Luffy’s faith in his crew is not misplaced. This shows how great of a captain Luffy really is for having such a loyal crew that he cares for.

Luffy has always cared for his crew and accepted that there are things he can’t do, but he never understood what that really meant until he went out on his own without his crew. He accepts his role as captain in this saga, and only continues to grow from here. Luffy may have a lot of similarities to Goku, but he is certainly not a clone. Luffy goes through his own arc exclusive to what he is, the captain of the Straw Hats.