Has Luffy Ever Killed Anyone in One Piece?
A lot of fictional protagonists, especially in comic books, do not kill because of various reasons; Superman and Batman are notable examples of this. But, this isn’t a comics-exclusive phenomenon, as such characters appear in other media as well. Monkey D. Luffy is definitely as famous as Batman and Superman, since One Piece is a truly global phenomenon. But, does Luffy kill? In this article, we are going to answer whether Luffy has killed anyone in the series.
Luffy has not killed anyone in the One Piece canon. Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece, explained that “for a pirate not to kill an enemy, it’s giving them a 2nd chance to fight for their dreams.” Luffy, thus, doesn’t want to kill his enemies because he wants to give them another chance to chase their dreams and succeed. Luffy killed Baron Omatsuri in one of the movies, but this story is not canon.
The rest of this article is going to elaborate on why Monkey D. Luffy does not kill his enemies in One Piece. We are going to give a precise answer to the question, but also explain the exception of Baron Omatrusi, which happened in one of the One Piece movies. Be careful, though, as there will be spoilers in the article.
Has Luffy ever killed anyone in One Piece?
As far as the One Piece canon is concerned, Luffy has not killed anyone so far. He has had some amazing battles and he has certainly been angered by a lot of his opponents, but he never actually killed anyone. When asked, writer Eiichiro Oda actually explained why that is, so here is what Oda-sensei had to say:
D: How come Luffy never kills his enemies? Throughout “One Piece” manga so far, he didn’t kill Mohji and Helmeppo, but Axe-arm Morgan was killed by Zoro, why is that?
O: Hmm! That’s a very good question. First, I have to announce that Morgan is still alive. He’s currently in jail, where he was placed by his former subordinates. Why doesn’t Luffy kill his enemies? Because in that era, everyone uses their lives to fight for their dreams. For an enemy, when their dream has been shattered, it is the same as losing a fight, and as painful as death. I believe, for a pirate not to kill an enemy, it’s giving them a 2nd chance to fight for their dreams.
As you can see, there is very specific reasoning behind Luffy’s no-killing rule. Namely, Luffy does not deal in absolutes and he is a guy who lives for his dream. Living in a very intriguing world, Luffy is aware that a lot of the enemies he has met on the way also have dreams of their own. Killing them would, of course, deprive them of the possibility to realize those dreams, and Luffy doesn’t want to do that to them.
Luffy believes in second chances and that everyone can become a better person. He is an idealist in that aspect and he tends not to allow his anger to get in the way of that. So, by sparing them, he gives them a second chance to make their dreams come true and to become better, which is why he refuses to kill them.
Did Luffy kill Baron Omatsuri?
Now that you’ve read our answer, you might say – hey, but wait! Luffy did kill someone… umm… that guy from that movie?! Yes, Baron Omatrusi from Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island, the sixth One Piece movie. Now, before we resolve this, let us see what happened in the first place.
While Gol D. Roger was still sailing, Omatsuri was a pirate captain of the Red Arrows Pirates, having a very close relationship with his crew and even getting to know the Roger Pirates. At some point, there would be a terrible storm that would kill all the crew except Omatsuri himself, who would end up shipwrecked on an island in Paradise.
At some point, he found a plant on the island called Carnation Lily and somehow discovered that said plant had the ability to create solid illusions of anyone if fed human flesh. Omatsuri, knowing this, spent the next several years luring pirates to the island under the delusion that it was a relaxing resort to feed them to the Carnation Lily in order to be with his crew again.
When the Straw Hat Pirates arrived on the island, Omatsuri appeared in front of them and forced them to participate in a fishing contest against Muchigoro and Rosario, which they managed to win. Omatsuri, noticeably upset, allowed them to continue advancing on the island. While Usopp, Nami, Zoro, and Sanji participated in the second task, Omatsuri appeared in the graveyard where Chopper and the Teahouse Pirates were and proceeded to shoot and capture Chopper to feed Carnation Lily.
As night fell, Omatsuri showed up for dinner and left the Straw Hats with the Kotetsu show, however, Nico Robin was investigating the island and ended up finding the ancient wrecked ship on the surface of the island. Omatsuri ran into her and after exchanging words he shot her and then fed the flower to her.
As night fell, Omatsuri reappeared in front of the Straw Hats, who were worried about the disappearances and everything that had happened on the island, and proceeded to explain to them what the third and final test would consist of, but the Straw Hats refused to listen to him and ran away indignant.
To his misfortune, the test consisted of a hunt, where the Red Arrows Pirates would try to shoot them in order to kill them and feed the Carnation Lily. All of the Straw Hats would eventually be captured except for Luffy, who was about to be captured by Omatsuri, but was saved by one of Brief’s hoots, ending up in his bunker.
Omatsuri meanwhile revived both Muchigoro and DJ Gappa, who were “withered”. Suddenly, Luffy appeared walking towards the mountain where the gigantic stem of the Carnation Lily lay. Omatsuri, who was also there, told him that his friends were already dead and that he would not get anything. After hearing that, a bloody battle began in which Luffy tried to attack Omatsuri in various ways, but Omatsuri always anticipated his movements and managed to pin his limbs to a rock with his flexes.
Omatsuri, ready to deliver the killing blow, was surprised when Luffy disappeared, again thanks to Brief helping Luffy recover so he could continue fighting. Back on the battlefield, Luffy engaged the Baron in another fight while Brief tried to distract Omaturi by appearing and disappearing from the ground, however, one of the explosive flexes would end up partially hitting him, leaving him injured.
Omatsuri decided to end Brief’s life by firing dozens of homing flexes at him at once, but Luffy was able to save him by using a stone as a shield. Due to this fact, Luffy became enraged and attacked Omatsuri with all his strength, being able to connect a powerful blow to his face.
Next, Luffy proceeded to hit the giant stem of the Carnation Lily several times in order to damage it and free his friends, but to his misfortune, the baron had dropped his bow and had allowed the Carnation Lily to manifest its true form on his shoulder, seeing himself like a horrible and amorphous creature. Lily turned the stem into thousands of flexes, which went towards Luffy leaving him very injured and weakened.
Seeing this, Omatsuri began to remember the day his entire crew was massacred one stormy night decades ago expressing how much he had come to suffer all that time. Seeing that Luffy, being impaled by dozens of flexes and on the verge of death, was still trying to save his friends, he was very surprised, so much so that he did not realize that Papa had picked up his bow and was pointing at Carnation Lily with one of its flexes.
Papa fired and the flex hit the Carnation Lily squarely, killing it instantly and turning all the illusions the plant had created into mere roots. Omatsuri, being aware of this, desperately tried between tears to “rebuild” the Carnation Lily so that he could have his friends with him again and never be alone again. However, when trying to revive him, he didn’t realize that Luffy had gotten close enough to him to hit him with the last of his strength.
This attack marked the end of Omatsuri’s life. After his death, Omatsuri ended up in what would seem to be a limbo, where he was able to hear the voices of several of his former crewmates, who thanked him for never forgetting them but also told him that, instead of “reviving” them, he should have searched for new ones, with whom to sail the seas.
Now, it becomes clear that Luffy did kill Baron Omatsuri, as the film’s titular villain angered him like no one of his enemies before. Still, this one doesn’t really count as the movie is not canon, which means that the fact that Luffy does not kill still remains intact.
