Luffy has done many things during his adventures to shorten his life expectancy. Rubber pirate or not, if he keeps pushing himself, he’ll soon die.
Spanning the many arcs of One Piece over the years, Monkey D. Luffy has put himself into plenty of danger. In fact, it’s safe to say that Rubber Pirate or not, Luffy is lucky to be alive. Despite the youthful vitality he exhibits, the fact of the matter is: he might not have long to live.
Not only is Luffy constantly making enemies out of dangerous opponents, but he puts his body through all manner of physically taxing experiences. Sooner or later, the things he’s done to himself will almost certainly take their toll. It’s all but guaranteed the hero won’t be dying of old age.
Second Gear Raises Luffy’s Blood Pressure
Using Second Gear has definitely shortened Luffy’s lifespan. The technique involved him pumping blood through his body at an accelerated rate in order to give himself a boost in speed and power. World Government agent Rob Lucci was quick to point out the issue with this technique, explaining that pumping blood through the heart and the rest of one’s circulatory system like this was a good way to destroy it. Even as a rubber man, Luffy was undoubtedly creating lasting damage to himself from within.
What Lucci was describing is a real-life phenomenon. When the heart becomes enlarged due to high blood pressure, it can lead to all sorts of fatal conditions like cardiomyopathy and cardiac hypertrophy, which can ultimately result in heart failure. By forcing blood through his body, Luffy was inadvertently stretching out his heart muscles and making it more difficult to pump blood normally.
Luffy Took 10 Years Off His Life by Altering His Own Hormones
Gear Second’s life-shortening side effect is made worse by how often Luffy relies on the technique. In occasional, short bursts, his rubber body should be able to keep up with the strain. However, the longer he fights and the more often he uses it, the more likely he is to pave the road for heart problems later in life.
Another lifespan-costing experience took place while Luffy was in Impel Down. In order to save the Straw Hat Pirate from the warden Magellan’s venom, Emporio Ivankov used their Devil Fruit powers to alter the hormones in the boy’s body to strengthen his immune system. The process was excruciating, lasted for hours, and ultimately took approximately 10 years off of Luffy’s life expectancy. He only survived the ordeal is because of his indomitable will to live.
Both of these points and a few more are put forth by Quora commenter Tevin Davis. They also implied that Luffy’s Third and Fourth Gears put a similar tax on his life, though this isn’t explicitly stated in the narrative. Tevin believed that Luffy will die at a young age like his idol Gol D. Roger.
Other commenters on Quora have their own responses to this theory. One mentioned that Roger died at 53, so even if Luffy dies young, fans will still get plenty out of him. In this same vein, some believe Luffy’s early death will either be saved for an end-of-series epilogue or not come up in the story at all.
Could Trafalgar Law turn Luffy Into the Immortal Sun God?
Some predicted that Trafalgar Law will use his Op-Op Fruit’s powers to perform the Perpetual Youth Surgery on Luffy to save his life. One commenter even envisioned this surgery making Luffy into “the immortal Sun God, sailing the seas forever, always seeking new adventures and new tyrants to stop on an eternal quest to prevent another world government from ever rising again.” This is loosely based on the rumor of Nika the Sun God mentioned by Who’s-Who. If this one ended up being true, it would have to be saved for the end of the series once all of One Piece’s central conflicts are resolved. Otherwise, all tension from the story could be removed by making the protagonist immortal.
Whether it happens during or after the series, Luffy’s early death seems all but guaranteed. However, this shouldn’t be seen as such a bad thing; Luffy has had enough adventures and experiences to last multiple lifetimes and he’s still got plenty more to go. He hasn’t even found the One Piece yet. If he died having lived his life so short and sweet, he shouldn’t have any regrets when he passes on.
