These scars aren’t easily hidden, but their origins remain something of a mystery in the anime, due to the violent nature of their depiction. That said, in the manga and the live-action adaptation, the origin of the scar beneath his eye is presented early on. Scars don’t necessarily make a man, but they can certainly tell a lot about where he’s been and what he’s been through.

Updated on October 16, 2023, by Ajay Aravind: Anime heroes are often given scars, which can mean anything from keepsakes of the past to promises of the future. Like Kenshin Himura and Kakashi Hakate, One Piece‘s Monkey D. Luffy is known for his signature scars. Although Luffy starts the story with a small scar under his left eye, he eventually goes on to acquire the gigantic X-mark branded on his chest. To answer the question “how did Luffy get his scar?,” we’ve updated this feature with some more information.

Luffy Gave Himself The Scar Under His Left Eye

In Chapter One of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga, Luffy hung around the docks and Shanks’ crew quite a bit. Seeing how much fun the pirate’s life could be when they were around, Luffy felt inspired to join them. Unfortunately, Shanks turned him down repeatedly because he was too young and didn’t yet have what it takes to become a pirate. Luffy didn’t like being refused, so he decided to prove himself to the pirates instead.

As the pirates gathered around, expecting him to pull one of the funny or ridiculous stunts he’d become famous for among them, Luffy took a knife and stabbed himself below the left eye. The pirates were actually a little flabbergasted by the act, which resulted in the first Luffy scar and certainly made him look as tough as a pirate. While there was some humor in this, it proved too brutal for the anime. In the manga and the Netflix series, however, it was one of the first moments after Gol D. Roger famously challenged the world to find the One Piece during his execution.

How Did Luffy Get His Scar On His Chest?

The second Luffy scar is a large “x” shape burned across his chest. He received the scar during the Marineford War arc. That said, the details about this Luffy scar aren’t really revealed until after the two-year time skip. During the Paramount War, the shock of seeing his brother Ace die was simply too much for Luffy to deal with. He went into a comatose state, and resigned himself to dying at the hands of Admiral Akainu, Ace’s killer. However, his allies jumped in to protect the Straw Hat captain, especially Jinbe, the Fishman and Knight of the Sea. Jinbe carried Luffy’s unconscious body away from the battlefield of Marineford while fleeing the relentless Akainu as he burned everything in his path with his magma devil fruit powers.

Jinbe leapt over into the harbor of Marineford but Akainu managed to follow after him. During the fall, the admiral pierced through Jinbe’s chest with his magma fist to reach the unconscious Luffy in Jinbe’s arms. As one would expect, Jinbe was in intense pain, and the magma attack left a deep imprint on the unconscious rubber man that would later become Luffy’s “x” scar. If not for Crocodile, Buggy, and the remaining Whitebeard Pirates, Jinbe and Luffy wouldn’t have survived Akainu’s brutal attack. As such, it’s thanks to Trafalgar Law and his crew’s sudden appearance that the two managed to recover from their near-fatal ordeal.

The Anime’s Story About Luffy’s Chest Scar Isn’t Canon

Strangely enough, an encounter during one of the anime’s filler arcs also gave Luffy a similar scar across his chest. This happened during the “Ocean’s Dream” arc where all the crew except for Robin woke up without any memories at all. It was left up to the mysterious newest member of the crew to help them put the pieces together and get back their memories.

The arc is actually a loose adaption of a 2003 PlayStation game titled One Piece: Ocean’s Dream! During this arc, Luffy and a hypnotized Zoro end up fighting, resulting in an X scar across Luffy’s chest when he’s wounded by Zoro. Because this was only filler, it’s not considered the true origin of Luffy’s chest scar. Still, given that the anime did the X scar first, it could be possible this arc gave Oda the inspiration for Luffy’s latest badge of war.

Scars are such great character details, as they tell the fans a story about where they’ve been and what their life may have been like in the past. Of course, Luffy’s no different. His eye scar shows his resolve to become a great pirate, one worthy of respect from his hero, Shanks. The Luffy chest scar, on the other hand, is a representation of how he’s able to bring people together. Luffy only met Jinbe and the Whitebeard Pirates on the day of his brother’s execution, but by the end of it, they were risking their own lives just to protect him. This is actually something that Dracule Mihawk comments on during the war: “It’s not a Devil Fruit, or some cheap trick… one by one, he turns the people around him into his allies… that man possesses the most terrifying power.” A scar says a lot about a person — and Luffy’s scars prove that he’s a force to be reckoned with.