In What Episode Did Luffy Punch the Celestial Dragon? (& Why?)
The World Nobles, also known as the Celestial Dragons, are descendants of 19 of the 20 founding Kings of the organization known as the World Government. Several of the antagonists of the One Piece series are part of this family of descendants. Now, while their true fighting skills are debatable, they are powerful, that cannot be denied, and considers themselves to be untouchable by “common” folk. But, being himself, Luffy broke this rule as well when he punched the crap out of Saint Charlos. In this article, we are going to tell you when and why did Luffy punch the Celestial Dragon.
Monkey D. Luffy punched Saint Charlos in the face in Episode 396 of the One Piece anime, titled “The Exploding Fist! Destroy the Auction”; the episode premiered on April 12, 2009. This happened because he was infuriated with his snobbish attitude and behavior. As for the manga, the incident happened in Chapter 502, titled “The Incident of the Celestial Dragons”.
The rest of this article is going to give you a detailed insight into the incident that happened between Saint Charlos and Monkey D. Luffy during the Sabaody Archipelago Arc. We’re going to tell you when it happened and why it happened so that you know everything there is about the incident. Be careful, as there are going to be spoilers in this article.
In what episode did Luffy punch Saint Charlos?
The events we are about to describe in the next section actually happened in Episode 396 of the One Piece anime, titled “The Exploding Fist! Destroy the Auction”; the episode premiered on April 12, 2009. As for the manga, the same events took place in Chapter 502, titled “The Incident of the Celestial Dragons,” which came out on June 9, 2008.
Why did Luffy punch Saint Charlos?
Now that you know when it happened, let us simply revisit this story so that you can understand why it happened. Saint Charlos is introduced as a snobbish World Noble who thinks he can afford anything; this is evidenced through the fact that he buys slaves and mistreats them, and when he travels on the Sabaody Archipelago, he does so on human backs.
Passing by a stretcher carrying a wounded man, he does not hesitate to knock it down, then orders the nurse to become his thirteenth wife. Zoro, who witnessed the scene, tries to attack him but Jewelry Bonney stops him and calms the two men down. Saint Charlos leaves thinking that Zoro is dead after he shot him, not knowing that in fact he had missed him, and we see him again later in the slave auction room.
It is there that he discovers what he has wanted for a long time, a mermaid, Camie in this case, and buys her for 500,000,000 Berrys. Luffy then appears to save the mermaid, Octo tries to stop him but, unfortunately, he loses his jacket and the crowd discovers that he is a fish-man. Saint Charlos, who hates this species, shoots him, which challenges Luffy.
Despite Octo’s recommendations and the threat of seeing an Admiral land, Luffy sends him into the background with an incredible right-hand punch. Saint Charlos and his family are saved a little later by soldiers from the Navy. While the Neptune family arrive at Mary Geoise, Charlos with the help of binoculars sees Shirahoshi from his domain; he pays close attention to it.
The latter bursts into the hall of Pangea Castle a little later accompanied by a giant slave, and asks him to seize Shirahoshi in order to make him his pet. Vivi and Rebecca try to intervene but are held back by other nobles who wish to avoid a diplomatic incident. Leo and Sai, unable to contain themselves, rush to free Shirahoshi but are violently stopped by Lucci, who tells them that the Celestial Dragons are gods in this world and that it is normal that the gods can obtain whatever they desire.
Despite the fact that she knows that one cannot reason with a Celestial Dragon, Vivi tries, in vain, a last resort. Neptune, furious, tells her to stop and that he will recover Shirahoshi by force and then return to the sea. Charlos then asks to Lucci strikes down Neptune but is violently struck by a club, which to everyone’s surprise, is held by another Celestial Dragon who knows the Neptune family well, Saint Mjosgard.
Charlos is lying on the ground unconscious. Following the incident, Charlos is transported on the back of his giant slave who heads for the Celestial Dragons portal to heal his wounds. Charlos curses Mjosgard as his father Rosward, who has knowledge of the situation, arrives on the back of Bartholomew Kuma, who has become “the invincible slave” whom the Celestial Dragons each praise in turn.
Charlos is very enthusiastic at this news; Rosward then gives him a demonstration: he hits and stabs Kuma without him moaning or crying. Roswald qualifies him as a slave of exceptional quality which impresses Charlos. Later, while the Levely was underway, Charlos apparently fell victim to a failed assassination attempt by an unknown assailant.
Now that we’ve told you everything, it becomes clear why Luffy beat the crap out of Charlos. Charlos is an evil person and his disgusting behavior towards the people around him infuriated Luffy. Luffy’s ideals are completely opposite from everything that Charlos and his World Nobles represent, which is why he acted without thinking.
Luffy knew his strengths and he knew his position, which is why he did not fear the Celestial Dragon or the Navy. He punched Charlos because he was and is a despicable and vile person, because he treats others like shit, and because he hates such people and such behavior.
Monkey D. Luffy punched him, ultimately, because he was true to himself and his own ideals. Had he not intervened then, he would have disappointed himself and he ultimately did not want that; he probably couldn’t live with himself. We have to add that the punch was wholly deserved and that Luffy did the right thing by punching the vile World Noble in the face.
