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One Piece is the most popular ongoing anime series in the world and has been since its inception back in 1999. Ichiro Oda’s magnum opus somehow continues to hit new highs even after such a long runtime. And no conversation about shonen anime is complete without the genre-defining Naruto and Naturo Shippuden. The series’, although still ongoing through its successor Boruto, capped off Naruto’s story nicely. Since both Naruto and One Piece are in the same genre, it has a lot of people wondering which of the two protagonists is the best. So who is stronger, Naruto or Luffy?
What Makes Luffy Stronger?
On the high seas of One Piece, many pirates have etched their names into the annals of history, the strongest ones have gotten the title of emperor. Luffy is one such pirate, he is the grandson of the greatest Navy Admiral who ever lived, Monkey D. Garp, but Luffy decided to take his own path in life. Having eaten the Gum-Gum devil fruit, he is entirely made of rubber and can shrug off the biggest impacts with little to no damage.
In One Piece, there is an ability known as Haki, that is reserved for only the most talented of fighters. It allows a fighter to harden any part of their body to hit harder or to withstand otherwise fatal blows. But among Haki users, there is an even more powerful subset, those who can use Conqerer’s Haki, namely, Luffy. He was once able to use his Conqerer’s Haki to knock out an army of 50 thousand men with just a look. Add to that his constantly developing ability to predict the future that he honed against Big Mom’s oldest son, Katakuri, and he starts to become one of the most formidable pirates in the world.
Luffy gained the biggest power-up when he learned the Gear Second and Gear Third abilities which leveraged his rubber body and made him a superhuman. But even those pale in comparison to Gear Fourth, which combined his Devil Fruit powers with his Conquerer’s Haki and allowed him to make new forms like Snake Man.
But Luffy’s crowning ability is his Gear Fifth, which is essentially the awakening of his Devil Fruit, Hito Hito No Mi, Sun God Pika. This awakening allows Luffy to fight however he wants, the world around him is, like him, just made of soft bouncy rubber. In his fight with Kaido, he easily grabbed his lightning attack and used it as a weapon against the Ex-Emperor of the sea. He even turned into a giant during the fight.
Where Luffy struggles is the sea itself, like all other Devil Fruit eaters, he can not swim at all, and even getting into the sea even for a second completely incapacitates him.
What Makes Naruto Stronger?
In the world of Naruto, he is by far the strongest shinobi, followed only by his best friend Sasuke. Not only is he the son of one of the most powerful ninjas to have ever lived, but he is also a Jinchuriki, which means he has a tailed beast sealed within him. Naruto is the Nine-Tail fox Jinchuriki, host to the extremely powerful Kurama. Throughout the show, Naruto mastered the power of every tailed beast and became the Hokage of the Leaf village.
Naruto’s powers include the ability to use Sage mode which allows him access to limitless chakra, and when combined with the Tailed Beast Mode, Naruto’s firepower is unrivaled. Not only has he defeated other ninjas who were phenomenal warriors in their own right, but Naruto has gone toe-to-toe with enemies who could be considered gods.
In Naruto’s fight with Kaguya Otutsuki, even if he wasn’t fighting alone, he was the majority of Team 7’s firepower. Although he was originally Kurama’s Jinchuriki, by the end of the show, he also gained small fragments of powers from the other eight Tailed-Beasts as well. This allowed him to combine his own Jutsu like Rasenshuriken with the Chakra of each Tailed-Beast for different outcomes.
Where Naruto struggles is his lack of variety when it comes to fighting. The only attacks he knows are a variation of his Rasengan and his Shadow Clone Jutsu. Other than that, he just gains more strength using his different forms.
So Who Is Stronger: Naruto or Luffy?
Finally coming to who is stronger, Naruto or Luffy, both seem simple-minded at first glance but are battle geniuses when it comes to one-on-one combat. While both fighters are extremely powerful, their abilities are different enough that a fair fight wouldn’t be an easy win for either. Naruto’s firepower is unmatched, surpassing that of Luffy by a large margin. But Luffy’s defensive capabilities are second to none, and it would take a lot of strength for anyone to even land a meaningful hit. Luckily for Naruto, he has no shortage in that department.
But that doesn’t mean Naruto quickly takes the win, because Luffy’s Observation Haki lets him predict his opponent’s attacks and movements for the next few seconds, allowing him to prepare in advance.
With that said, Naruto’s ability to overwhelm his opponents with his shadow clones and constant Rasengans and Rasenshurikens is impossible for Luffy to deal with, even with his powers of prediction. Couple that with near limitless Chakra reserves, and even with Gear Fifth, Luffy won’t be able to hold out for long because his Awakening is very draining. This will turn this fight into a battle of attrition, and Naruto can go on for days. As for Luffy turning into a giant, Naruto has dealt with foes just as big if not bigger than Luffy’s giant form. This means that, for now at least, the answer for who is stronger, Naruto or Luffy, goes to Naruto in a one-on-one fight.
But since One Piece is still ongoing, a rematch in the future might yield different results as Luffy gets more and more powerful.
