One Piece: The Symbolism Behind Luffy's Straw Hat, Explained

Even the smallest of things in One Piece have depth to them. One such thing is Luffy's Straw Hat which holds symbolism of great significance but what?

It is an art in itself for an anime/manga franchise to stay fresh, engaging, and enjoyable even after thousands of chapters and episodes. Somehow, this has not been the case with One Piece, the masterpiece of manga author Eiichiro Oda. It is due to his impeccable storytelling skills and prowess as a manga author that One Piece has become one of three big shōnen anime franchises of all time and one of the few commercially and critically acclaimed anime/manga franchises of all time. Oda and his genius have come a long way since the airing of One Piece in 1999.

There are a lot of elements that set One Piece aside from the rest of the shōnen franchises such as Oda's unparalleled way of foreshadowing, building momentum, and delivering some of the biggest reveals in the history of the shōnen genre. Another great feature of his body of work is the immense depth and details carefully drawn even in the smallest of things and in characters that on the periphery seem unimportant. One such great detail or symbolism laid down by Oda can be found in the fan-favorite Monkey D. Luffy's straw hat. Let's explore the more profound meaning and symbolism behind Luff's straw hat.

RELATED: One Piece: Poneglyphs, Explained

One of the core ideas or symbolism that Luffy's straw hat carries is the fact that it represents the time of the dawn. If observed, Luffy's straw hat looks a lot like a rising run. The hat is worn by Luffy of all the other people in the franchise because Luffy's character believes the most in the idea of freedom that too absolute freedom especially, in a world like that of One Piece. Therefore, his straw hat combined with his persona is a perfect representation of how Luffy brings his idea of freedom with him everywhere he goes and liberates people from different areas. He has been liberating people from one thing or the other since he began his journey including his own crew members.

And what metaphorically represents liberation and freedom after years and years of slavery or fight against oppression better than the rising sun after a deep night of struggle and terror. This is one facet that Luffy's straw hat specifically symbolizes, everywhere that straw hat goes it brings freedom and liberation with it.

Luffy who is supposed to be the next Joy Boy has a connection to the previous Joy Boy as they both used to wear a straw hat, although, the original Joy Boy's straw hat was gigantic just like himself. But how does the straw hat connect Luffy and Joy Boy? In an SBS, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda revealed what would different inanimate objects would look like if they were to have a living human form, these objects included items like Zoro's sword and even Luffy's straw hat. The straw hat's imagined human form was revealed to be like that of a fish-man. Oda also hinted at the notion that such animate objects take their appearance after their makers which is also why Zoro's sword Wado Ichimonji's imagined human form looked like its forger, Shimotsuki Kozaburo.

Now the intriguing part about this is that all the people who have worn this straw hat have had good and deep relations with the fish-men community and the Ryugu Kingdom. Gol D. Roger, the king of the pirates and the first person to have worn the concerned straw hat in the franchise had good relations with fish-men, he passed the hat to Shanks who is also a friend of the fish-men. Finally, Shanks passed the straw hat to Luffy and the latter has a strong bond with the fish-men and the Ryugu kingdom. The amusing part about this coincidence is that the original Joy Boy who also used to wear a straw hat had good relations with the fish-men and the Ryugu Kingdom, and was even planning to bring them to the surface world.

Hence, it is quite possible that Luffy's straw hat was crafted by a fish-man who were good friends with Gol D. Roger or maybe even with the original Joy Boy. If this turns out to be true, then the straw hat's story comes full circle with Luffy as the straw hat has returned to its original owner as Luffy is supposed to be a reincarnation of the original Joy Boy. However, there is one weak link in this almost great theory that Oda has given a glimpse of in the story, it is the giant straw hat in Impel Down which Imu was shown to be staring at.

There is yet a lot to be revealed about the original Joy Boy, the Void Century, Luffy's straw hat, and the giant straw hat that is currently in the lowermost level of Impel Down. The fans are excited about different possibilities and story angles that can be used with the above-mentioned items and concepts. However, there is only one person that knows the story behind all these things, Eiichiro Oda and fans will only know about them once Oda decides to reveal them as the story of One Piece moves forward.

One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

MORE: One Piece: What To Expect From The Chapter

Adarsh is an anime pundit moving across anime verse(s) 24 frames per second, appreciating the good ol' art of Japanese animation storytelling.