- Gol D. Roger’s strawhat
- Full Crew Cosplay: The idea of forming a crew
- Luffy vs. Strongest Other Person
Good old Monkey D. Luffy (MDL, for now on). Although he is as renowned in the manga One Piece (of which he is one of the main protagonists) just as much as his crew is, being that he holds the outstanding position of being the Captain of one of the most wanted pirate crews in the One Piece world currently (and as he might be supposedly destined to obtain the greatest treasure of the seas), he has consequently conjured some phenomena uniquely attributed for him. Notice I said for him and not to him, which I say because I don’t mean to imply it’s as directly and solely caused by him.
Perhaps you’ve seen pictures of people cosplaying, and amidst all the guns, cool-silver plating, go-go boots, pink and green spray painted hair, you may have seen perhaps a rather out place, common, Florida tourist-type looking-fellow with a small straw hat that has a red-band just above the brim. This hat is the hat that means all to the man MDL, and without it, it just wouldn’t be the same One Piece. It was passed down onto him by his hero, the pirate who most inspired him to become one, “Red-Haired” Shanks, who actually had the hat be passed down to him from the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. This hat has taken a life of its own, as various vloggers can be seen wearing it or having it in the background of their rooms, not only that, but many vloggers have themselves proposed various theories as to why Luffy received the hat in the first place (beyond just what we’re told in the manga), its function, the symbolism around it, and more. Effectively, it has taken a life of its own, yet inseparable from the idea of Luffy and his destiny to be great, such that many people interested in One Piece recognize it as such and have worked on its image such that it increases its significance.
The hat’s significance in One Piece can’t be overlooked, but, to return to the idea of cosplaying, you rarely see a group of cosplayers solely grouped up wearing a Luffy outfit with the hat. No, usually if you see the hat, it means that you will see a green-haired man with 3 swords, a long-nosed man with a sling, some one possibly dressed as a reindeer, and a few other distinctive folks One Piece fans with recognize. Who are they? None other than the Straw Hat Pirates, of course!! As a work of culture, full One Piece crews of Straw Hat Pirates cosplayers have inspired others to cosplay as rival pirates or allies. What is further interesting though is that these kind of images point to the idea of having a real life “crew” for some folks. Indeed, I have read a few forums that consider what it would taken to put together a crew just as cool and tightly-knit as the crews (more so the Straw Hat Pirates though) we find on One Piece. The “crews” we see people putting together in cosplay groups could be seen as working within the faction of people who would like to have camaraderie we see like that in the manga.
But on talk of elements of cooperation, now we find the work of competition. Luffy is no originator to this trend, indeed Batman, Superman, and others have long ran appearances on these “mediums’, but we that he is now getting a spot in the ever-illustrious renditions and conversation about “who would win in a fight between character 1 and character 2.” (typically it’s the strongest characters of a book, movie, manga, TV series, video game, etc.). Personally, it is so cool to see Luffy versed up against people like Goku and Superman, because I remember when I first saw these A vs. B matches come along for Goke and Superman, so in a way like watching a tradition build. Not only is Luffy pit against old school dudes like the Bats and the Man, but he is also pit against his contemporary, popular manga “rivals”, so to speak, Naruto (of the eponymous popular manga-turned-TV series) and Ichigo (also another popular character from the manga Bleach). Like the Straw Hat and One Piece pirates, these A vs. B matches mark down yet another that Luffy has not only been embraced by people, but has been “radiated out”, so to speak, in the culture by them too, and I bet by the time the series ends (we have been told by the One Piece creator that it won’t be for at least 10 years) there’ll be many more of these to be found around.