Sabo vs. Luffy: Who Would Win in a Fight?

One Piece is an anime that certainly has its fair share of strong and powerful characters. And while its protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, is certainly among them, there are some characters that are (or have been) as powerful or even more powerful than Luffy at some point in the manga and anime. In this article, we are going to see whether one character fits this category, as we are going to pit Luffy against his childhood friend Sabo, the sworn brother of both Luffy and Ace, to see who the stronger of the two is.

Although the two would never fight because they’re friends, Luffy would be able to defeat Sabo. Earlier, their powers were roughly on the same level, but with Luffy recently unlocking the true potential of his Devil Fruit and activating Gear 5, Sabo wouldn’t really stand a chance against the prospective Pirate King. Luckily for Sabo that they are close friends.

The rest of this article will further elaborate on the above-given answer, as we are going to compare Luffy and Sabo in more detail. Through several categories, you are going to see who the stronger of the two is and why our answer is like it is, i.e., why Luffy would ultimately be able to defeat Sabo if they would fight.

Physical powers

Sabo has shown great agility, as he easily dodged a fighting fish attack at Corrida Coliseum, where he was shown to be able to take on Diamante, Supreme Officer of the Donquixote Pirates, and Emperor Blackbeard’s commander Burgess, known for his titanic strength, who displayed incredible brute strength, being able to destroy the entire Corrida Colosseum with his haki-infused fists with ease.

He himself has claimed that his fingers are as strong and resilient as a dragon’s claws; this fact has been demonstrated after denting the rifles of several Marines and parrying Bastille’s greatsword with one hand. He appears to be powerful enough to take down a Marine Vice Admiral like Bastille very easily.

After eating the Mera Mera he increased his power and fought against Admiral Fujitora, however as the fight progressed, the Admiral looked unharmed while Sabo began to show injuries, although the fight was interrupted in favor of him. Later on, he was able to defeat without a scratch the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates’ first fleet: Jesus Burgess.

Luffy is endowed with immense physical strength, enough to lift gigantic boulders and shatter steel with his bare hands. His physical strength derives in part from the workouts his grandfather Garp subjected him to as a child, where he survived critical circumstances and used to face huge ferocious beasts. Even as a child he was able to defeat grown-ups and endure Polchemy’s torture.

His physical strength is such as to overwhelm the strongest fugitives of the eastern sea and to rival even that of the fish-men, as demonstrated in the battles against Arlong and Hody Jones, whose strength was even higher than that of the average of their race. In particular against Hody, after two years of training, he showed himself clearly superior, so much so that he defeated him despite being powered by Energy Steroids.

Sure, Sabo is powerful and strong, so strong that he can stop a blade with his fingers, but Luffy has since grown so much that he has surpassed this level of power and that is why he gets this point.

Points: Sabo 0, Luffy 1

Devil Fruit

Sabo consumed the Mera Mera no Mi, a Logia-type Devil Fruit, which was previously eaten by Ace before he died. With it, Sabo is able to become the element of fire and control the flames that flow from his own body at his will. After eating the fruit, Sabo was immediately able to use one of Ace’s signature techniques, Hiken, which was powerful enough to break through the floor of the Corrida Coliseum and expose the underground facility, though he later showed difficulty in controlling the fruit because he had just eaten it.

While facing off against a group of Marines led by Fujitora, Sabo was shown to have gained greater control of the Mera Mera no Mi, even imbuing his pipe with fire. He was also able to use the power of the fruit to escape one of Admiral Fujitora’s gravity attacks, being able to turn his body into fire to accomplish this feat.

Luffy ate Gomu Gomu Devil Fruit which made him rubber, giving him the ability to stretch his body parts and hit enemies from a long distance. Although as a child he had problems in fully controlling his power, after an intense training of over ten years, Luffy was able to use the fruit to exponentially improve his physical strength and his agility, thus making him a dangerous opponent.

Despite his fighting style sometimes appears improvised, it is precisely his creativity that makes him an unpredictable opponent, capable of overturning critical situations by adapting from time to time to combat. His rubber body also makes him extremely durable and immune to marine bullets, normal punches and even electricity.

However, he is not immune to swords and knives, as well as to dehydration or poison, although after the fight with Magellan he becomes immune to a wide variety of these.

The same goes for this category as well. Ace’s Mera Mera no Mi is extremely powerful and we know that Ace managed to counter Blackbeard’s Fruit with it, but with Luffy unlocking the true powers of his Devil Fruit, Sabo wouldn’t stand a chance.

Points: Sabo 0, Luffy 2

Haki

Sabo commands Observation Haki, though his proficiency with it has barely been shown in canon. In Dressrosa, he could feel Luffy’s Haki fading during his battle with Doflamingo. In his clash with Burgess, Sabo confirms that he is capable of using Armament Haki. His Haki is so powerful that he was able to destroy Corrida Colosseum completely while imbuing his fists with it.

Luffy was trained by Rayleigh to become an expert Haki user. He knows how to use the Observation Haki, which he instinctively used for the first time against Mihawk, avoiding a swing that would have cut off his arms. He also mastered the Armament Haki at high levels, making it an essential part of Gear Fourth. Using this ability in combination with the powers of his own devil fruit, Luffy is also able to ignite his fists thanks to his friction.

He also knows how to use the rarest form of Haki, the Royal Haki, which is the one he prefers. With it, he was able to knock out fifty thousand fish-men at once. During his confrontation with Kaido, he proved to be one of the very few individuals able to use her to enhance his attacks. His third fight against the emperor also ripped through the sky.

With Sabo only commanding two types of Haki and Luffy commanding all three of them, it is clear that Luffy wins the points in this category because he controls more types than Sabo.

Points: Sabo 0, Luffy 3

Weapons

As a child, his method of combat was based on hitting his enemies with a pipe; after the timeskip, he seems to continue to use a similar pipeline, effectively fighting opponents as powerful as Diamante or Burgess. When he uses Busoshoku Haki on his weapon, he becomes much tougher and more powerful, easily breaking one of Diamante’s weapons.

Luffy rarely uses weapons in combat, mostly due to his inexperience and the inability to use them. In his childhood, he wielded a metal pipe and that is probably the most sophisticated weapon he successfully handled. In Arlong Park, Luffy briefly tried to fight with swords but failed miserably.

As we have pointed out on several occasions, Luffy never ever wins in this category simply because he doesn’t use weapons. Sabo is, on the other hand, a master with his pipe, which he combines with Armament Haki, thus being even stronger..

Points: Sabo 1, Luffy 3

Sabo vs. Luffy: Who wins?

Now, the first thing we have to emphasize here is that Luffy and Sabo are childhood friends, in fact, more than that – they’re sworn brothers, along with the late Portgas D. Ace. This is why both of them took Ace’s death so hard. Having said this, we don’t think that Sabo and Luffy would ever fight (at least not seriously; something along the Luffy vs. Usopp fight is theoretically possible, although not probably) simply because it wouldn’t make much sense, really.

But, despite all of that, it is clear who would win at this point, and that is Luffy. Namely, had we written this article several years ago, the situation would have been a tad different, i.e., the winner would not be so obvious and we’d really have to see where Luffy would ultimately succeed and where not. Now that Luffy has unlocked Gear 5 and also activated the true power of his Gomu Gomu no Mi, Sabo would only win if Luffy decided to let him win. Otherwise, Sabo doesn’t really stand a chance.

The only category where Sabo would win is the weapons usage, but that is due to the fact that Luffy rarely if ever uses weapons and is extremely clumsy with them. Sabo is nowhere near being the best weapons master in the series, but he could still win against Luffy if it would come down to a weapons fight between them.

Having said all of this, it is quite clear that Luffy is the winner. Luffy surpasses Sabo in every category but one and ultimately, Sabo simply doesn’t have what it takes to counter Luffy and his powers. Luffy is stronger, he has a more powerful Devil Fruit and controls all three types of Haki, thus surpassing Sabo in all those fields. Luckily for Sabo, as we have said, the two of them are basically brothers, as that means that Luffy would actually never fight him seriously.