Summary
Though Luffy is already an immensely strong pirate, he can often end up underestimating his opponents. The main reason for this is simply because of how stubborn and hard-headed Luffy is. He doesn’t care too much about a person’s reputation, all he wants is to kick their butt if they’ve been acting unjustly, believing that he’s more than capable of taking them down with his own set of elastic Gomu Gomu abilities.
However, there are several villains inOne Piece’sstory who would be greatly underestimated by Luffy, resulting in some of his most humiliating defeats in the entire series. Though Luffy and his crew would eventually succeed in defeating most of these devious characters once and for all, it’s fair to say that the captain ofthe Straw Hat crewnever expected them to be quite as strong as they would end up being.
7Aokiji
Though Long Ring Long Island is often seen by fans as a largely unimportant arc in the grand scheme of the story, one important character who makes an official debut in this part of the plot is Aokiji. At this point, Aokiji was still an admiral, and after reuniting with Nico Robin and threatening to take her away, Luffy bravely steps up and challenges Aokiji to a one-on-one fight.
Needless to say, considering the enormous gap between their power levels at this point, Aokiiji defeats Luffy with his ice powers without even breaking a sweat. This would be the first time Luffy realized justhow strong the Admirals truly are, which pushes him to become much stronger to one day have any chance of beating these guys in combat.
6Crocodile
After Vivi explains to the Straw Hats that her country of Alabasta has been taken over by a vicious warlord known as Crocodile, Luffy makes it crystal clear that he’s going to be the one who stops the tyrant in his tracks. Luffy remains optimistic about his chances, that is, until he actually meets Crocodile and is promptly defeated by hisSand-based Devil Fruit, which leaves Luffy for dead in the middle of nowhere.
If not for Nico Robin, Luffy surely would have met his end here, showing just how much he underestimated the fearsome Shichibukai of the sea. After multiple attempts, Luffy was eventually able to come out the victor by weakening Crocodile with water, but even then, he barely made it out of the desert island with his life intact.
5Magellan
One Of Luffy’s Most Brutal Defeats Came At The Hands Of Magellan
Magellan, the head prison guard of Impel Down, initially seemed like just another dangerous opponent for Luffy to take down, but it soon becomes clear he’s a lot stronger than he is letting on. Magellan’s Devil Fruit allows him to control and use poison, which he deploys during his first battle with Luffy to completely overwhelm him, leaving the Straw Hat captain in a pretty miserable state, despite Luffy being more than prepared to take Magellan down just a few seconds prior.
Though he only appears in this arc, Magellan is still considered to be one ofLuffy’s toughest opponentsto date. Luffy may have felt like he had what it took to deal with Magellan as part of the prison escape, so he never expected the fight would conclude with him ending up near-death lying in a pool of poison.
4Whitebeard
Luffy, Unaware Of Whtiebeard, Initially Downplayed His Role In The Marineford War
Luffy wasn’t the only one who wanted to save Ace from being executed after he was handed over to the marines. Whitebeard, Ace’s captain, and his entire fleet were also there to help, but when Luffy meets Whitebeard for the first time, he doesn’t seem all that accepting of his help. In fact, Luffy tells Whitebeard that it’s going to be him who saves Ace, ignoring the Yonko’s recommendation that he stay out of the way.
Soon after, though, Luffy is forced to acknowledge Whitebeard’s overwhelming strength after witnessing him cause an earthquake with a single punch, thanks to his Devil Fruit. After the war finally came to a close, Luffy would reflect on Whitebeard’s efforts in the war, respecting his determination to try and save Ace in any way that he could.
3Rob Lucci
Luffy’s First Encounter With Lucci Didn’t Exactly Go All That Well
Though Lucci’s exact intentions are kept a mystery at the beginning ofthe Water 7 arc, the truth is, he and his group are actually CP-0; secret agents who carry out the government’s dirty work. As a result, Luffy and the gang come to find out that Lucci is actually after Nico Robin, the last known survivor of Ohara, prompting the captain to charge head-first at Lucci, unaware of how absurdly strong this guy is.
With a single Finger Pistol attack, Lucci skewers Luffy and launches him halfway across the island, doing the same to Zoro not long after. It’s ironic to see Lucci having such a hard time standing up to Gear 5 Luffy in the recent Egghead arc, since the dynamic between the two was much different back in Water 7.
2Big Mom
Though Big Mom acts as the main villain ofWhole Cake Island, she actually makes her official debut much earlier during Fishman Island. After Luffy eats a bunch of sweets that were promised to the Yonko, he gets on a Den-Den Mushi and starts bad-mouthing Big Mom, seemingly not caring about the fact that she’s known as one of the strongest pirates in the world, and is infamous for being a ruthless monster in combat.
In classic Luffy fashion, he is determined to take the fight to Big Mom once the crew trespass Whole Cake Island to save Sanji, but despite his training and abilities, he’s unable to even land a scratch on her. Thanks to her mastery of Armament Haki, paired with her army of Homies who are always protecting her, Big Mom proves far too much for the Straw Hats to handle, and a much bigger threat than Luffy initially realized.
It’s Not Long After Stepping Into Wano That Luffy Comes To Realize The True Strength Of Kaido
Once the Straw Hats set sail for Wano Kuni, their mission is clear; take down Kaido and Orochi to liberate the country from theirtyrannical rule. However, as a Yonko who has been dubbed “unkillable” by much of the world, it was clear that nothing less than an army of immensely powerful soldiers would be needed to defeat Kaido, but despite that, Luffy decided to charge head-first into battle regardless, not long after he washes up in Wano.
Despite being fully prepared to prove his strength over Kaido, Luffy is utterly humiliated by a devastating Thunder Bagua, and this is just one of several times when Luffy was defeated by the monstrous Yonko. Even though the likes of Law and Kine’mon had assured Luffy that Kaido was not someone to be taken lightly, it would take a mace to the face for Luffy to finally realize this reality.
