Naruto vs. Luffy vs. Ichigo: Who Is the Most Powerful of the Three?

The “Big Three” shonen manga and anime have provided us with a lot of entertainment over the years, and there is basically no one, whether they are fans of anime or not, that does not know about Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. In this article, we will talk about these three great works, as you will find out about the protagonists – Naruto Uzumaki, Ichigo Kurosaki, and Monkey D. Luffy. In this article, we have decided to tell you who the strongest of the three is.

Ichigo Kurosaki is, at his peak, the strongest; second is Luffy, with Gear 5 and the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, while Naruto, after having lost Kurama, comes third. The final battle against Yhwach showed that Ichigo unlocked some amazing powers, and it is a fact that he has fought the toughest opponents of the three. Luffy came second after defeating Kaido, one of One Piece‘s biggest villains, whereas Naruto fell to third place after losing many of his powers when Kurama died.

In this article, we will introduce the three protagonists and ultimately explain why Ichigo comes first, Luffy second, and Naruto third. This will be like most of our articles, except that it will focus on three instead of two characters.

Naruto and his powers

Naruto Uzumaki is the main protagonist of the anime and manga Naruto, created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a young ninja from the fictional village of Konohagakure. The villagers ridicule Naruto on account of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox—a malevolent creature that attacked Konohagakure during its history—that was sealed away in Naruto’s body.

At first, Naruto is portrayed as a very untalented student who spends his time inventing useless techniques like the Eroticism Technique and, later the Harem Technique.

From this moment, Naruto manages to improve thanks enormously to his unlimited desire to learn and train under the tutelage of Kakashi and, above all of Jiraiya, who teaches him various skills (such as exploiting Fox’s chakra up to the third tail while maintaining his personality and to improve energy concentration) and two techniques that will prove to be fundamental for him: the first is the Recall Technique, with which he becomes able to summon toads that support him in fights and in the use of some techniques, while the second is the Rasengan, of which he will create numerous variations.

In addition to having a chakra reserve that is at least four times greater than Kakashi’s (and over a hundred times greater when taking into account the fox’s chakra), Naruto also has a remarkable physical resistance that the fox has boosted. Due to his propensity for the Wind-type chakra and other factors, he excels in close-quarters battle but also has long-range skills. He mostly uses ninjutsu and taijutsu in combat, but he has also demonstrated great expertise with ninja tools, especially while working with Sasuke.

Over time Naruto learns to control the fox’s chakra to the point where he can develop up to the third tail of the demon’s mantle; at the development of the fourth, however, he undergoes a radical transformation and loses his reason to the point of no longer distinguishing friend from foe. To avoid harming others and himself, Naruto has decided not to resort to the demon’s chakra as a resource in an emergency, relying on his own strength at the expense of the Demon’s assiduous requests.

Monkey D. Luffy and his powers

Monkey D. Luffy is the main protagonist of the anime and manga One Piece, created by Eiichirō Oda. His body is made of rubber after eating a devil fruit, specifically the “Gomu Gomu fruit” He is the captain of the pirate crew known as the Straw Hat Pirates, founded by himself to fulfill his dream of finding the One Piece. He is originally from East Blue.

Luffy has shown to have incredibly superhuman strength and a good capacity for fights. At first glance, his thin appearance makes him seem to show weakness, which the latter is usually deceptive in the enemy’s eyes.

Throughout the series, Luffy has shown a force far superior to humans, even defeating a sea king with one punch. This is due to the intense training that his grandfather Monkey D. Garp subjected him, which consisted of throwing him away in the middle of dangerous jungles and tying him to some balloons to raise him to great heights, making him one of the most powerful characters in the series.

Luffy, despite not being very smart or strategic, has shown to have an inverse effect when facing users of Logia-type Devil Fruits, for example his fight against Crocodile, and the idea of ​​using water to hit him (since his devil fruit, the Suna Suna cannot control the sand and manipulate it), Luffy could not hit him because Crocodile was made of sand and Luffy discovered that wetting his fists with water could hit him, even using his own blood to defeat him.

Luffy possesses the elastic properties of gum, but as a side effect, he cannot swim since the water cancels his energy, paralyzing his body. In fights, Luffy takes advantage of his elastic properties to stretch one or more of his limbs and make them return by throwing them toward his opponents. This, combined with his outsized strength, makes Luffy a highly powerful character.

Ichigo Kurosaki and his powers

Ichigo Kurosaki is a fictional character, the protagonist of the manga Bleach and the anime adaptation of the same name. He was created by Tite Kubo, a 17-year-old high-school student who can see ghosts. After an unfortunate incident, a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki transfers her powers to him so he can save his family, after which he becomes a Soul Reaper himself.

Ichigo’s Zanpakutō is called Zangetsu. Unlike other Shinigami, Ichigo’s Zanpakutō is always in the Shikai form. The Zanpakutō is so big because Ichigo cannot control his spiritual power. Zangetsu’s soul is a middle-aged man with sunglasses and a long cloak. He is portrayed as a wise and calm man who likes to test Ichigo in unusual ways.

Zangetsu’s Bankai is called Tensa Zangetsu. Ichigo’s Bankai causes his Zanpakutō to shrink, and his uniform changes. He can also move faster, and his reflex has improved. Zangetsu’s special attack is the Getsuga Tenshō, which launches an energy attack from the top of Ichigo’s sword. The soul of Tensa Zangetsu is a younger version of Zangetsu, about Ichigo’s age. He is also aggressive.

In addition to his Shinigami powers, Ichigo also has Hollow powers. After losing his first fight with Byakuya Kuchiki and losing his Shinigami powers with it, he went to train with Kisuke Urahara to regain the Shinigami powers. During that training, Ichigo also partially became a Hollow. The Hollow’s strength grows throughout the series.

Unlike Ichigo, the Hollow fights like a berserker. The Hollow disregards Ichigo’s injuries and surpasses Ichigo’s speed and strength. Ichigo has been taught to control the Hollow by the Vizards, who let him summon his Hollow powers without the Hollow taking control. After controlling the Hollow, Ichigo trains to extend the time he has to use the power. His limit is 11 seconds, but it is considerably longer during his fight with Grimmjow Jeagerjaques.

After his fight with Aizen in Karakura city, all of Ichigo’s powers have disappeared, and he has become ordinary. But after training with Xcution, Soul Society has given him back his powers.

Naruto Uzumaki vs. Monkey D. Luffy vs. Ichigo Kurosaki: Who is the strongest?

And while Ichigo is the least popular of the three (Ichigo never became as popular as Naruto or Luffy), he is the strongest one. During his fight with Yhwach – who is also, by far, the most powerful opponent that any of the three protagonists have faced – Ichigo demonstrated some amazing skills and powers, proving that he is strong enough to basically, kill a god. On top of that, you have to consider the fact that the villains from Bleach (ranging from the Arrancar to the Quincy) are the toughest of the lot and that neither Naruto nor Luffy have faced such powerful opponents; Kaguya was on a similar level, but Naruto only managed to seal her off and not actually defeat her (whilst Ichigo actually did kill Yhwach). In contrast, Luffy never fought anyone on such a level.

As for Luffy, he rose up the ranks thanks to the Wano Country Arc, which revealed a lot about the Straw Hat. Namely, we found out that his Gomu Gomu no Mi was actually the legendary Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, which gave Luffy the powers of a god, and he also managed to activate Gear 5. All of this enabled him to defeat Kaido in the most whimsical way imaginable, so we ultimately put him in second place.

And finally, Naruto, who was first for a long time until Ichigo’s fight against Yhwach happened, is not in third place. Okay, we have to state immediately that Naruto is an amazing fighter and that he has some amazing powers and abilities up his sleeve. Still, since losing Kurama in Boruto, Naruto has become significantly weaker, especially when compared to these two, who’ve only grown. This is why we had to put Naruto in last place, although we have to repeat that the differences between them are not that big.

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