Monkey D. Luffy , often addressed as Straw Hat Luffy , is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the One Piece franchise created by Eiichiro Oda. He first appears in the manga chapter Romance Dawn first published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on August 4, 1997. He is introduced as a boy who possesses elasticity powers after eating a devil fruit. Luffy is captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, a group of pirates he assembles himself as he quests to find the One Piece and become the King of the Pirates. His primary motivation throughout the series is to reach the goal with all of his comrades, a task he pursues no matter what stands in his way. While he is goofy and reckless, he gets quite serious when anyone is in serious danger, notably his crew, whom he considers his friends. Luffy has starred in most of the episodes, films, and specials of the anime series One Piece, as well as many of the spin-off video games. Outside of the One Piece franchise, Luffy has had an appearance in the crossover manga Cross Epoch. He has also been the subject of other parodies, and has appeared in various special events and in Japanese pop culture.