A boy in a straw hat and red vest stretches his arm far across a sunny harbour pier to punch a hulking pirate silhouette.

Original artwork, not a still

Monkey D. Luffy

Gomu Gomu no... Pistol!

— One Piece · 1999

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Every Luffy fight begins from this punch, and the name tells you everything about him: a rubber boy who describes his strongest move as a pistol and means it. The "Gomu Gomu no" pattern became the template for hundreds of numbered, named attacks across the series, and fans shout it with arms stretched back. Which English version you know it from tells you when you started watching.

Context reviewed

In context

Spoilers for One PieceShow the scene

The attack is Luffy's first named move. In the Japanese original it is "Gomu Gomu no Pisutoru", with pisutoru written as pistol. In the anime it first appears in episode 1, "I'm Luffy! The Man Who's Gonna Be King of the Pirates!", when Luffy, fished out of a barrel by a cruise ship, fights off Alvida's pirate crew and uses it on Alvida herself. His stretched punch gets its name from his boast to Shanks that his fist is as strong as pistol fire. In the Funimation and VIZ versions it is "Gum-Gum Pistol", while this page keeps the Japanese form fans shout.

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