Many One Piece fans are dying to know who’s more powerful; Luffy or Zoro. Seeing the fierce duo defeat enemies is always a treat to the eyes.
But who’d come out victorious in a head-to-head fight?
Although Luffy is the main protagonist of the series, Zoro is no joke either. Both straw hat pirates hold immense strength and power. Let’s compare who would remain victorious if the two infamous pirates go at each other.
Monkey D. Luffy – Power and Abilities
Monkey D. Luffy has the special ability of a devil fruit, “Gomu Gomu No”. Gomu Gomu No is the devil fruit that gives the user an elastic body and the power of the rubber.
In fact, you can call Luffy a rubber man.
Being a user of devil fruit Gomu Gomu No, Luffy can stretch his body as he wants and he can evolve the power of rubber into different forms. The forms he can perform using the fruit include:
- Second Gear
- Third Gear
- Fourth Gear
Second Gear
Luffy’s second gear enables him to upgrade his power, speed, and mobility by increasing his blood circulation. Though it’s temporary and burns a lot of energy quickly, the blood circulation gives Luffy a significant power boost.
With the help of gear second, Luffy enhanced his powers and defeated some infamous pirates, and saved his crew members multiple times.
Third Gear
Luffy’s third gear is a transformation where he bites his thumb and pumps air into his arm which enables his limbs to grow to the size of an actual giant’s.
His third gear gives him an outrageous power that could easily sink a marine battleship with a single blow of his giant fist.
Because of Gear’s third transformation, Luffy was able to defeat the top official member of CP 9, Rob Lucci, and saved his crew member Nico Robin, the archaeologist of the Straw Hat Pirates, who was captured by the World Government.
Fourth Gear
Gear fourth is the transformation technique that provides Luffy an enormous amount of power with various shapes and sizes exceeding the power of both gears second and third.
Luffy’s gear fourth has three versions: Bounce Man, Tank Man, and Snake Man respectively. All those versions enable Luffy to transform into a monster with enormous power.
Zoro – Power and Abilities
Roronoa Zoro is one of the strongest crew members of the straw hat pirates who aims to be the world’s strongest swordsman.
Aiming to be the world’s greatest swordsman, Zoro has trained very hard for ages and accomplished unique and powerful sword techniques.
Zoro’s swords also played a vital role to push him to be the most powerful and wanted criminal in the worst generation.
Zoro has used many swords till now but currently, he’s using:
- Wado Ichimonji
- Sandai Kitetsu
- Enma
There are numerous sword techniques that Zoro has excelled in with his powerful swords such as:
Three sword styles
In three sword style technique, Zoro uses all three swords to strike opponents creating a whirlwind that can easily knock out dozens of opponents at the same time.
King of the hell three-sword style
This is the advanced version of the three sword style where Zoro allows Enma to absorb his Haki and utilizes it to attack with great power.
Two Sword Style
This is the original sword style used by Zoro since his childhood before using the three swords style. It helps him to perform his drastic signature move called nigiri.
One sword Style
One sword style is the crucial move that Zoro mastered in the journey of swordsmanship. This sword style helps him to execute a move called Shishi Sonson to defeat or damage the opponent with a single blow.
Nine sword style
Nine sword style (Ashura) is the most severe move of Zoro surrounding him with a dark aura with sufficient anger. With this technique, he was able to deliver a strike that delivered a permanent scar on Kaidou(the strongest creature alive).
Foxfire Style
Firefox style is a sword style that could cut through flames used by Kin’emon(one of the most powerful samurai of Wano). Later on, Zoro used this technique during the battle against Kaidou and Big Mom at Onigashima.
Luffy and Zoro’s Haki Comparison
There are three types of Haki respectively: Armament (Bosushoku Haki), Conqueror’s (Haoshoku Haki), and Observation (Kenbunshoku) Haki.
Luffy VS Zoro: Conqueror’s (Haoshoku Haki)
Luffy is a user of Haoshoku Haki, which is a very rare type used by the ones who have the qualities of a king.
He first used this Haki at the Flying Fish Riders and then used it at the arena of Amazon Lily involuntarily to stop from being killed.
He, later on, used this on the wolves at Impel Down Lvl 5 and at the marineford unintentionally to knock out the executors of his brother Portgas D. Ace (second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates).
Afterward, Luffy used this Haki to knock out 50,000 Fishman pirates and used to infuse this Haki into his arms and legs in order to gain immense strength during the fight against Kaidou.
Zoro can also use Haoshoku Haki, a very rare type of Haki which is indicated to have the qualities of the King. However, he was unaware of the Haki possessed.
While battling against the King, he was using Haoshoku Haki to eliminate multiple beast pirates.
After being acknowledged for Haki he possesses, he evolved his ability and infused Haki in the swords which knocked the shit out of King.
Luffy’s Observation (Kenbunshoku Haki)
Luffy learned this Kenboshoku Haki during the two-year time skip with Silvers Rayleigh (Right Hand Man of the Pirate King Gol D.Roger).
With the use of this Haki, he is capable of sensing the presence, emotions, and intents of others. This Haki helps him to predict the moves of the opponent and dodges the assaults and bullets.
While in Totto Land(Territory of the Yonko Big Mom), he considerably improved his observation haki while battling against Katakuri.
He was able to improve his Haki so much that he was able to dodge Katakuri’s attacks and see further into the future and analyze the consequences.
Luffy VS Zoro: Armament (Busoshoku Haki)
Luffy learned the use of this Haki during the two-year timeskip which helped him to increase his attacking and defensive power. He is able to catch and blow a strike on Logia Users.
Busoshoku Haki combined with gear four is Luffy’s most dangerous form which helped Luffy to defeat the top sweet generals of Yonko Big Mom, Katakuri, and Charlotte Cracker.
Later on at Udon, Luffy learned to use Bushoshoku Haki in order to avoid the tough scales of Kaidou.
Subsequently, Luffy trained this Haki under the direction of Hyogo (Former Yakuza Boss of Flower Capital) and was able to transmit haki at his own will. During the battle against Kaidou, he was able to strike a blow hurting Kaidou with the help of Busoshoku Haki.
Throughout his two years of training with Dracule Mihawk, he learned to use this Haki efficiently. He could coat his swords using this Haki, turning them into black blades, which makes them more powerful and durable.
He was able to defend against the penetrating forceful strings of Doflamingo’s Birdcage which could easily slice up mountains and buildings into shreds.
Although he was about to reach the limit while battling against Big Mom and Kaidou, he enhanced his nine sword style(Ashura), by using both Armament and Conquerors Haki, dealing a serious scar on Kaidou in his hybrid-dragon form.
Zoro and Luffy will power comparison
Luffy’s willpower is unimaginably great. As long as Luffy’s opponent has meat, Luffy never gets defeated.
During the fights, he never gave up either physically or mentally. He’s a bit clumsy but he never gives up even if the opponent exceeds his power or strength.
He saved his crewmates from the World Government, Yonko Big Mom, and many other powerful marines and infamous pirates but didn’t even flinch to give up on saving his crewmates.
Although he has faced many casualties and consequences in the journey toward his dream of becoming Pirate King, he didn’t abandon his dream and has been giving continuity to his voyage.
Likewise, Luffy and Zoro also have unshakable willpower. He is always committed to helping his captain to chase his dream, the King of pirates.
After taking a taste of defeat, he became so serious that he trained every day with the goal to surpass Dracule Mihawk. This shows how great willpower he has to become the world’s greatest swordsman.
In the thriller Bark, Luffy defeated Gecko Moria but he took serious damage. At the same time, Bartholomew Kuma arrived and tried to execute Luffy but Zoro begged to take his own life instead of Luffy.
Kuma stated that he wouldn’t kill Luffy if Zoro took all the pain Luffy had through the battle with Gekko Moria. But he didn’t hesitate a bit and took all Luffy’s pain.
In the morning, when the crew woke up they found Zoro covered in blood with a ferocious look on his face. When the crew asked him why he was covered in blood, he stated “NOTHING HAPPENED”.
Who would win, Luffy vs Zoro?
Luffy and Zoro both are the strongest protagonists of the series, One Piece. They both have fought alongside numerous powerful opponents. After all the comparisons above, we’ve come to the conclusion that Luffy ultimately defeats Zoro.
First of all, Zoro would never consciously battle with his beloved captain who saved his life in the very beginning.
Luffy’s power and ability are far greater than that of Zoro and even in terms of willpower, the captain of the straw hats has more than that of the pirate hunter.
And the final and interesting reason that Luffy will remain victorious is that when Luffy calls Zoro in the battle arena, the pirate hunter will lose his way again and we might see him in another anime.
