Starting from Foosha village, Luffy has had an incredible journey with twists and turns. He has shown us what he is capable of throughout every arc. However, Luffy’s power mainly comes from his devil fruit. However, have you ever asked yourself: “What if Luffy did not eat his fruit, Gomu Gomu no mi?” In any case, fasten your seat belts because we are sailing on a captivating and intriguing journey.
Shanks Keeps The Fruit Away from Luffy
To create a smooth story, we should set up things in a way that will not be contradicting any character’s behavior. So, in our story, Shanks does not put the Gomu Gomu fruit in an easily reachable place and keeps it in his ship. Therefore, Luffy cannot eat the fruit.
Note: Since Luffy did not eat the Gomu Gomu fruit, his behavior, and attitude will not alter and go in a slightly different direction than the original story. It is a critical point to keep in mind because from what we observe in Chapter 1 and in the meeting between Shanks and Whitebeard, Shanks intentionally let Luffy eat the fruit.
Considering this, it should not be a surprise to us if Shanks actually does not give his straw hat to Luffy. It means that Shanks will not lose his left arm when saving him from the Sea monster to manipulate him emotionally. It means that Luffy will not have great feelings towards Shanks as he has in the original timeline but will still admire him. You may question my last arguments, but you also know that there was no way a Sea monster could grab Shanks’s hand. So, these 2 scenes will not happen.
Luffy’s Childhood with His Brothers
From that time on, Luffy’s journey with mountain bandits, Dadan, Ace, and Sabo goes in the same direction as it was in the original plot line. They spend their time together and become brothers:
However, this time, there is a “little” change that will cause “big” results in the future. Three brothers were spending some of their time with friendly match-ups. In the original timeline, Luffy was trying to get used to his fruit. But this time, since he does not have a devil fruit, he will put his efforts to improve his combat abilities.
Taking this into consideration, we can say that Luffy will be physically stronger and have more haki thanks to this. However, it is not that big for him to awaken armament or observation haki yet.
And then, years later, training after training, Luffy finally sets out to the Sea, 3 years after Ace. This time, the score between Ace and Luffy is 99 – 1, with 99 wins for Ace, and 1 win for Luffy. This number might sound ridiculous, but remember that in the original timeline, he had 0 wins against Ace. The reason why Luffy, in this timeline, has a victory is that he learned some fighting skills by fighting against Ace. Not having a fruit to master allowed him to focus more on his battle IQ, physical strength, and some fighting skills.
Then, let’s move to the first major saga of the series: East Blue Saga where Luffy will gather his first crewmates.
East Blue Saga
East Blue is the weakest one among the 4 Seas, and as we saw in the original timeline, Luffy did not struggle much against his opponents in East Blue. Therefore, without his fruit, he would not lose any of these fights. Even, some of the fights might take less time since Luffy would not be joking around with his fruit:
Simply, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji would join the crew in the exact same way. Luffy’s fruit was no use against Smoker, so he will not have more hardship or success this time, as well. Dragon will come and save Luffy, and the Straw Hat Pirates… Wait a second! If Luffy does not wear his Straw Hat in this timeline, what would Strawhat pirates be called now? Maybe Luffy Pirates since most of the pirate crew names are after the name of the captain. However, Luffy is way more creative than others, so he would come up with an interesting name:
The Drem Pirates
Given that all the members of the crew have a dream they pursue, it would be the best fit. This name suits well to the narrative of the story too. If we have decided on the name of the pirate crew, then let’s move to the second major saga: Alabasta Saga
Alabasta Saga
As the crew continues their journey, they are getting stronger and stronger like in the original timeline. However, in this timeline, he is getting much stronger each fight since his power is solely brute force. That said, the Dream Pirates meet Laboon and Vivi and are about to go to Alabasta. They reach Little Garden and fight against Baroque Works. After defeating Mr. 3, they head to Drum Island.
In Drum Island, Luffy meets Dr. Kureha and Chopper who will soon join the Dream Pirates. Our crew defeats Wapol and frees the country. Then, they head to Alabasta where they first meet Ace. After Ace took care of Billions, our crew continued on their way to Alabasta.
Luffy vs Crocodile
Since not having a fruit does not change the story much, other than fights, it is better to speed up these parts. So, Luffy is against Crocodile, and unfortunately, he gets beaten in the same way:
Moving on, as the Dream Pirates fight against BW members, Luffy gets stands up and comes to fight against Crocodile once again.
As we mentioned earlier, Luffy’s behavior and attitude will slightly be different since he did not eat the Gomu Gomu fruit. He is more likely to be serious about his fights than the original timeline. It means that he will not mess around like that:
After he learns that he can damage Crocodile with water, he fights seriously for a while against him. This time, Luffy gives more damage to Crocodile thanks to improved physical strength. However, he lost the fight again, and everything is going to be decided in the final battle.
Luffy uses his blood to fight against Crocodile, however, in this tense battle, he somehow manages to awaken his armament haki. With improved and powered punches, he manages to defeat Crocodile a little easier than he did in the original timeline. However, he is aware of his haki yet.
Long story, short, the Dream Pirates rest after a tough battle. Tomorrow of that day, they leave Alabasta with a legendary farewell to Vivi:
Jaya & Skypiea
After escaping from the Marines, Dream Pirates encounter a falling ship. Thanks to a map they got from the ship, they decide to go the Sky Island. But first, they make a visit to Jaya Island. Luffy, once again, lets Bellamy do whatever he wants and just leaves him.
After getting their ship ready for the flight, the Dream Pirates, for the first time in their lives, visits an island in the skies! So far, they have not deviated from the original timeline. However, things are gonna be interesting in the climax of the arc: Luffy vs Enel. Can Luffy beat Enel without his rubber abilities?
Luffy vs Enel
In the original timeline, Luffy managed to overcome Enel thanks to his devil fruit that nullified Enel’s lightning attacks. In this timeline, however, Luffy does not possess rubber abilities, making him vulnerable to lightning as any other human. Then, how will he be able to beat Enel?
The key to defeating Enel lies usage of haki. Before diving into Enel vs Luffy fight, it would be better to bring Luffy vs Katakuri fight as an example. At that time, Luffy was able to “surpass” Katakuri thanks to their endless battle. Luffy learned Advanced Observation Haki thanks to that fight. It will be no different here.
Enel was the first person to use observation haki in a fight in the series. When Luffy fights against him, he will have greater trouble. During his fight against Crocodile, he managed to awaken his armament haki and use it. When Enel pushes Luffy toward his limits, he will, once again, be able to use it. However, this time, he will need more than that.
In the middle of a tremendous battle against Enel, Luffy has to awaken his observation haki to dodge Enel’s lightning attacks. The one that will teach him Observation haki is Enel himself. It is safe to say that Luffy’s punch with armament haki would probably be stronger than his rubber punches. A stronger physical strength combined with Armament haki and newly learned Observation haki would make Luffy the victor of the battle.
Unfortunately, the consequences of the battle will be worse than it was in the original since this time, Luffy endured a lot of Lightning strikes that actually hurt him. After quite a rest, the Dream Pirates wake up and are ready to continue their journey.
On their to the next island, Zoro and Sanji ask Luffy how he was able to hurt Enel. Remember that since Luffy defeated Enel thanks to his rubber body in the original timeline, they might not have bothered to ask. However, since this time, Luffy is not rubber, they might wonder about it. And of course, Luffy will tell them, but in a hard-to-understand way because he does not also know well.
The End of Part 1
If you liked the story so far, I am happy about that! And if you have some questions or critiques, send me them through Instagram. I will share Part 2 soon, so join our newsletter to be the first one to read it!