10/03/13 18:40:25 ¶ ●

Why Monkey D. Luffy Is My Biggest Hero

A couple of weeks ago I started watching one of my favorite TV series of all times: One Piece. As you know I’m working on zCasting 3000 now. I want to figure out what that company stands for. What kind of place is that going to be like? I recalled One Piece that I used to watch when I was 17 or so. What I liked about One Piece was not just the story, but the way the main character, Monkey D. Luffy, approaches his goal of becoming the king of pirates.

A repeating pattern in this series is that people keep telling the not-yet king of pirates that reaching his goal is impossible, out of reach, that he should stop trying. As you can imagine from an anime, the way this is displayed, is very repetitive¹.

His only reaction to well meant advice and expressed doubts like this, at least in the early episodes, is: he just stands there smiling, laughing, and then saying “we’ll see when I get there.”
He emanates a certain calmness. He’s young and appears to be a kid just having a crazy idea, an idea not very well thought through. But it is actually the opposite, he has thought about his career choice very well and he is aware that he has to kick everybody’s butt if he wants to become king of pirates.

"If you don’t want the negative reputation, you shouldn’t be a pirate" ~ Monkey D. Luffy

Of course this is all idealistic and it’s just a TV show, but why not be idealistic about personal goals? Rather than being stuck in the current, one can also just live as if the goal was reached already.

And that’s why I’m a fan of Monkey. Not just because of that. There are other “values” this show holds high that I can identify myself with too. But it’s one of my main reasons.