What Would Happen If Luffy Was Evil?

Nami betrayed Luffy. Sanji abandoned him and beat him up. And Robin framed Luffy for assassination.

In all these circumstances, Luffy forgave his crewmates because of his kind heart and his faith in their relationships. But can you imagine what another pirate would have done in these situations. What would the main antagonist Blackbeard have done?

Or the ruthless Captain Kid? Well, what would have happened if instead of being kind-hearted and loving, Luffy was power-hungry and evil? Starting with chapter one when Luffy is first inspired to become a great pirate by Shanks.

This part of the story remains mostly the same, except for one key difference. Luffy is still captured by bandits. Shanks still rescues Luffy and loses his arm, and the iconic straw hat still gets passed down to Luffy.

However, the small difference comes when Shanks tells Luffy that cannot join his crew. In the original, Shanks tells Luffy that he is too young to join the crew. But for the purpose of this video, Shanks is going to tell Luffy that he is NOT STRONG ENOUGH to join the Red Hair Pirates.

And this small change is going to make Luffy believe that he can only become a great pirate by becoming that most powerful. And while already somewhat believes this idea, for this video Luffy is taking it to an extreme level. And he’ll also learn from Lucky Roux that in this world you must kill or be killed.

And you won’t believe how this small change is going to affect the battle at Marineford later on. For now, Shanks still leaves Dawn Island and Luffy spends ten years training before setting out to gather his pirate crew. And unlike the other What If videos we’ve done on this channel such as What if Luffy had the Admiral’s Devil Fruits or What if Luffy Joined Shanks’ crew, we are going to spend significant time focused on the East Blue because the dynamics of the Straw Hat crew are going to massively change.

So Luffy sets out, eager to gather a crew and fight anyone in his path. He still loves to have fun and party. He still wants to become the pirate king.

And he still has a way of convincing people to follow him. However, now he is a power-hungry pirate. He is more cold-hearted and he has less emotional intelligence.

Plus, he is willing to kill and he only wants crewmates who are strong or useful to his crew. The first person Luffy meets is this pink haired kid, Koby. Luffy mocks the enslaved deck swab for being such a weakling.

Luffy still clobbers Alvida and sets him free, but instead of becoming Luffy’s friend, this wanna-be marine now vows to one day take down Luffy himself. Next up is Shell Island. Here Luffy would easily defeat the corrupt marine captain Morgan and he would probably laugh at seeing Zoro all tied up.

Luffy would probably release Zoro after learning that Zoro is a famous bounty hunter and then challenges him to a duel. And even though swords are Luffy’s main weakness, he would probably defeat Zoro because the swordsman is weak from not eating for so long. However, Luffy is impressed by Zoro’s strength and instead of killing him, Luffy invites Zoro to join his crew.

Which Zoro accepts because growing stronger is also his main goal. The pair then travel to Orange Town, where the story essentially plays out the same. Luffy defeats Buggy and he lets Nami come along because she is a badass navigator, something the crew desperately needs.

And Nami would want to join because she can steal Luffy's treasure later on. And speaking of treasure, this version of Luffy would take most of the treasure from Buggy instead of leaving it for the ruined town. So even with the changes to Luffy, we still have our first two crewmates.

And they would likely seek out other pirates to fight and pillage before landing at Usopp’s hometown, Syrup Village. And this is where we have our first major change to the story. After defeating the fake-butler Kuro, Luffy never invites Usopp to join the crew because of his weak fighting capabilities.

So sorry Usopp fans, our sniper stays at Syrup Village. But at least he gets the girl. And no Usopp means no Merry, so Luffy and the crew will need to steal a different ship somewhere along the way.

Next up is the Baratie, where the story takes a dramatic  turn for the worse. The crew would still defeat this guy no problem, but things get really interesting when the world’s strongest swordsman Mihawk shows up. Because a battle-hungry Luffy would never let Zoro have all the fun fighting such a strong opponent.

And there are a lot of ways that this battle could go, but none of them are good for the Straw Hats. We already saw Zoro almost die from this encounter and it could be even worse for Luffy because of his weakness to blades. It is likely he could lose an arm or leg in this fight, but let’s just assume that he gets a similar massive injury like Zoro which means that the crew must stay at the Baratie while they heal.

And during this time, Luffy convinces Sanji to pursue his dreams of finding the All Blue, so the cook joins the crew as well. But this prolonged recovery leaves Nami with the perfect chance to betray Luffy. She steals the treasure, and the ship, and returns to her home island where she hopes to pay for her village’s freedom.

This leaves Luffy pissed off by not only his defeat to Mihawk, but that his crewmate would betray him. So we head to Arlong Park, where an enraged Luffy storms in, defeats the fishman Arlong who is terrorizing Nami’s village. And Luffy is furious that Nami betrayed him.

He could even threaten to destroy her village himself, but let’s assume that he eventually allows her to rejoin because he respects what she was doing to protect her people and her use to the crew. Certainly, that takes a different kind of strength. But now Nami and Luffy’s relationship is much shallower than it was in the original story.

So while Luffy is still saving islands from other bad pirates, he is not gaining as many friends and allies because he is fighting for selfish reasons. Keep watching to see how this will become a fatal flaw later on. At this point, we’ve got the whole crew minus Usopp as they reach Logue Town, the last island before the Grand Line.

Here Luffy is never captured by Buggy because well, Buggy is no longer alive. Yikes… But Luffy is still helpless to fight the marine captain Smoker, who ate the Smoke logia devil fruit. Luffy is still saved by his father dragon, but the defeat leaves Luffy desperate to learn how to fight Logia devil fruit users.

So instead of a party as the crew enters the Grand Line, an angry Luffy is just determined to get stronger. Now the first person they meet in the Grand Line is the former pirate king’s doctor, Crocus. And being a former Roger pirate means that he would surely know the basics of haki.

So with the defeat to Smoker still on his mind, Luffy convinces Crocus to teach him how to defeat Logia fruit users. This would require some time, but eventually the crew would learn the basics of Armament and Observation haki. And damn that’s going to make a huge difference to every single fight ahead.

Vivi, the princess of Alabasta, might still tag along with the hope that Luffy could save her kingdom. She could even tempt Luffy with the promise of a strong opponent to fight on her home island. However, when the crew arrives on Drm Island, I don’t think they could convince Chopper to join them because Luffy would care more about his monstrous powers instead of his capabilities as a doctor.

So no Chopper, but they do recruit some random doctor to join their crew. Next they travel to Alabasta, where Luffy is itching to fight another warlord of the sea after his defeat by Mihawk. And now that Luffy knows the basics of Haki, his fight with Crocodile goes much smoother.

He can actually punch the Sand logia fruit user and eventually manages to defeat him. So with Crocodile down, we now reach another interesting crossroads. While I think Robin would definitely join the crew, she would probably consider the straw hats to just be another group of bad guys that she would stay with to progress her own plans.

But the more interesting questions would be what happens with Crocodile? You see, we have many examples of other strong pirates recruiting defeated pirates to their crew. For example, the Emperor of the Sea, Kadio, tried to recruit Luffy after defeating the straw hat captain in Wano.

So while it is possible Crocodile could be arrested by the marines, this version of Luffy invites him to join the crew because he is a powerful fighter. So with two new crewmates from Alabasta, we continue to Jaya, and the fateful meeting with the darkness logia fruit user Blackbeard. After Luffy makes an example out of this springy pirate he would certainly challenge Blackbeard to a fight.

Blackbeard would welcome this because he is already trying to capture Luffy to turn him into the World Government. And with Luffy’s warped personality, these two have actually become very similar. They are both hungry for power.

They both believe in their dreams and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve them. And most importantly, they are both subscribed to this channel. But would you believe me if I told you that this similarity will lead them to joining forces later on?

Keep watching to find out why. But for now, we will assume that their fight essentially ends in a draw, and the straw hats fly up to the sky islands. Here they defeat the lightning fruit user Enel much easier because of Luffy’s rubber body but also because of their experience with haki.

Luffy could even try to recruit Enel, but I imagine Enel would probably decline. And at this point, Luffy’s bounty is significantly higher than it was during the original story. Luffy’s obsession with strength would likely mean he doesn’t worry about causing destruction.

So similarly to his rival Eustass kid, his bounty would rise even higher. Next the straw hats face one of their toughest challenges yet, the admiral Aokiji. The chilly fruit user has come to reclaim Robin, and he is simply too much for the crew to take on.

And this leads to an interesting dilemma. Since this version of Luffy has much less of a bond with his crewmates, it is possible he could abandon Robin. However, much like he welcomed Nami back, in this case he surprisingly decides to challenge the admiral one on one for Robin’s freedom.

And Luffy wouldn’t be as overwhelmed as he was in chapter 321. This version of Luffy is stronger and knows haki, but he would still lose and have to be saved by the crew’s doctor. But this takes us to Water 7, where the crew still needs a new ship after their crazy descent from Skypiea.

This arc plays out similar to the original. Luffy already put his neck on the line for Robin when he fought Aokiji, so he isn’t going to let the World Government take her now. So the arc ends with Franky making them a new ship before he joins the crew.

And as an added bonus, Luffy is much more interested in Franky’s weapons and he demands more guns on the new ship. In their new ship, the straw hats seek out fights with other strong pirates and marines in the Grand Line before eventually reaching the zombie infested floating island, Thriller Bark. Here Luffy stomps the warlord Gecko Moria, and Brook joins the crew.

And since the crew as a whole is much stronger, they are also able to escape from the warlord Kuma without much trouble. But next is Sabaody where the straw hats suffer an EVEN WORSE defeat than they did in the original story. In Chapter 506, we meet this old man, Silver Rayleigh, who was the right hand of the former pirate king.

And Rayleigh has actually been waiting for Luffy since the time Shanks told him about a certain kid who resembled their former captain, Roger. And originally, Rayleigh helps the crew as they prepare to enter the New World. But in this version, things are much different.

Both Rayleigh and Shanks have heard of Luffy's cold-hearted journey through the Grand Line and they now believe that Luffy is not fit to wear the straw hat. This leads Rayleigh to demand that Luffy change his ways or give up the hat. Luffy, of course, wouldn’t pay him any attention, which would lead to a mind-blowing confrontation.

Rayleigh challenges Luffy for the right to the hat. And Luffy accepts. Of course, Rayleigh, who was said to be nearly as strong as the former pirate king himself, would destroy Luffy and take the hat from Luffy’s unconscious head.

Bet you didn’t have that on your bingo card. This result could send the story in many different ways. The first route we are going to explore has Luffy staying on Sabaody where he vows to take the straw hat back from Rayleigh.

However, it is also at this time that the World Government announces that Luffy’s brother, Ace, is going to be executed. So Luffy and the crew head to Marineford. And just as much as Luffy wants to free Ace, he is equally excited to fight all the crazy strong marines and pirates who are coming to the war.

The straw hats arrive at Marineford just as the battle is underway. And while this version of the straw hats are definitely stronger than they were in the original story, they are still no match for the combined might of Mihawk, the cyborg Pacifistas, and the marine admirals. In this situation, it is also likely that the Emperor of the Sea, Whitebeard, would not trust Luffy.

So instead of being allies, they get in each other’s way. This leads to Ace being executed as planned, meaning Luffy failed even more miserably than in the original story. Perhaps a fitting lesson that the pursuit of power will not always get you what you want.

Assuming Luffy lives, he would likely be devastated over the loss of his brother and humiliated that he was too weak to save him. This could send him into an even deeper spiral where he becomes more desperate for power. This mindset would set him on a similar track to the last man that tried to take over the world, Rocks D.

Xebec. While we don’t know much about this pirate, we do know he was insanely powerful and tried to kill the world nobles. I think this Luffy would take the same path AND meet the same end, where he would be killed in battle, never having regained his straw hat.

Now, let’s back all the way up to after Luffy’s defeat to Rayleigh. From here, options two and three follow mostly the same route. In the original story, Luffy punched this world noble for trying to enslave his mermaid friend.

While this version of Luffy wouldn’t necessarily care about the slavery, I think his frustration after losing to Rayleigh could very easily cause him to attack a world noble anyway. Just like in the main story, this would summon the marines, the cyborg Pacifistas, and the admiral Kizaru to take out the straw hats. And while they might be able to survive the Pacifistas and even Kuma, who they already escaped from on Thriller Bark, in this version Rayleigh would not save them from Kizaru.

So Luffy would be captured, thrown in the underwater prison, Impel Down, and erased from the story. Or… not quite. Remember this is also around the time that Blackbeard breaks into Impel Down to recruit strong criminals to his crew.

So let’s assume that Ace is still taken to Marineford, Blackbeard overthrows the prison, and he takes the strongest prisoners with him. Including, are you ready…? Luffy.

That’s right. Evil Luffy and Blackbeard are on the same crew. For now.

So, the Blackbeard pirates travel to Marineford with the goal of killing Whitebeard and taking his devil fruit. However, this is where Luffy goes wild because at this point Ace has already been executed. Luffy realizes that he failed to save his brother because he was locked in jail.

This causes him to lose his mind. He starts to fight anyone in his path. Admirals, Whitebeard’s commanders, Warlords of the Sea.

He would probably even awaken his conquerors haki due to his immense rage. However, this is when Shanks shows up to stop the war. Shanks demands that everyone stops fighting.

And while the Marines and other pirates pull back, Luffy refuses to quit. Shanks is also wearing Luffy’s straw hat, and, in a rush of madness, Luffy challenges Shanks to a duel for the hat. Now, consider how Shanks would be feeling at this moment.

He is facing the kid who he once trusted with his treasured straw hat. The kid who he hoped would grow up to become the pirate king. But now standing before him is a twisted version who has been driven mad by his lust for power.

Shanks initially tries to talk Luffy out of fighting, but Luffy will not give up and eventually Shanks agrees, hoping that he can teach Luffy a lesson and get him to change his ways. But if they do fight, this version of Luffy simply has no chance of defeating Shanks. And here is where we can split off into our two final options for this Luffy's future.

One way this could go is that Shanks takes down Luffy, but as we’ve seen so often in the story, Luffy refuses to stay down. Even if Shanks begs him to stop, Luffy won’t quit. He keeps coming for Shanks and the Red Hair pirates, and ultimately Shanks is left with no choice.

He kills the enraged Luffy. And you might ask why Shanks would kill Luffy. Well if Shanks thinks that Luffy would be a danger to the world, similar to Rocks, then it would make sense for him to put Luffy down.

And this takes us to a third path, and the one we will explore more fully. Let’s imagine that Luffy has been knocked down by Shanks again and again. Shanks’ blade rests on Luffy’s neck, and finally, the rubber boy breaks down in tears.

He lets all of his anger and his frustrations. He thinks back on his journey so far, and all the cold-hearted things he’s done. And he finally realizes that he HAS lost his way.

After losing his brother in this battle, he realizes that he cannot keep living like this. He wants to care about the people around him and regrets not caring more about his crew. Seeing this, Shanks offers Luffy a choice.

Come away from Marineford with him and to learn how to be a great captain. Or die. Luffy accepts his former mentor’s offer and after some time spent with the Red Hair pirates, he reunites with his crew.

And this takes us to the time skip. But now instead of spending the two years training separately, the crew spends the time bonding and forming the real relationships that they had in the original story. After the time skip, the story would continue much as it had in the original story, only with a few of the crew members missing.

Luffy and crew advance through the New World now with Luffy’s greatest power. His ability to inspire others with his joyfulness, his friendship, and his selflessness. Which is a lesson he had to learn the hard way because he tried to overcome everything with strength and power, but he failed.

In the end he was not strong enough and he nearly lost everything, including his brother at Marineford. But this leads to an even more interesting question. What if Luffy was strong enough at Marineford?

Could he have saved Ace if he had his current storyline powers? In other words, what would happen if Gear 5 Luffy was at Marineford? If you want to find out, click this video right here.

Shanks for watching.