Luffy, the protagonist of the popular anime and manga series One Piece, is known for having rubber powers that allow him to stretch his body in incredible ways. One of Luffy’s signature abilities is being able to pump air into his body and inflate himself like a balloon. This allows him to do things like cushion blows during a fight or even float through the air for a short time.
Luffy’s Devil Fruit powers
Luffy gained these rubber powers after eating a Devil Fruit called the Gum-Gum Fruit when he was a child. The Gum-Gum Fruit turned Luffy’s body into rubber and gave him immunity to electricity. It also took away Luffy’s ability to swim – a common weakness among Devil Fruit users.
By training hard since eating the Gum-Gum Fruit, Luffy has learned to take advantage of his stretchy, rubbery body in creative ways during combat. He’s able to stretch, bend, twist, and inflate his limbs to increase the range and impact of his punches, kicks, and headbutts. Luffy can also use his elastic body to defend against attacks by dispersing the force of blows.
Gum-Gum Balloon technique
One of Luffy’s signature moves is called Gum-Gum Balloon. To perform this technique, Luffy swallows and inhales a huge amount of air, inflating his torso into a large, round balloon shape. Luffy will sometimes use Gum-Gum Balloon right before an enemy attack hits him, allowing the air inside him to absorb the impact and protect his body.
When inflated into a balloon, Luffy also becomes lighter and gains the ability to float and hover in the air for a short period of time. By releasing air quickly behind him, Luffy can use Gum-Gum Balloon to propel himself forward for faster flying attacks or even slow his descent from high places.
Limits of Luffy’s air walking ability
While Luffy can briefly float and maneuver in the air using Gum-Gum Balloon, he cannot continuously walk or run through the open air. Luffy’s ability to fly relies on the air he inhales to become buoyant. Once he releases that air, he will start falling again. The amount of air Luffy can inhale also limits how long he can float uninterrupted.
Additionally, Luffy has no real way to propel himself through the air other than blowing out air sporadically to change direction somewhat. He relies on jumping off solid objects or surfaces to give him momentum for flying attacks. Without anything to jump off of, he lacks a way to gain horizontal speed and mobility when in the air.
Fart propulsion
One unorthodox way Luffy has been shown moving through the air for longer periods is by using his farts. After inflating into a balloon, Luffy can propel himself by farting. The gusts of gas act like jet propulsion, allowing him to fly over long distances horizontally. This silly technique is mostly used for comedic effect rather than serious fights, given it’s unpredictable and unrefined nature.
While farting to fly may provide more airborne mobility, it still doesn’t give Luffy true, sustained walking or running through the open air. The bursts of propulsion only carry him so far before he starts dropping again. Luffy’s ability to move through the air relies on outside techniques like jumping off objects or inhaling lots of air – passing gas just momentarily delays his descent.
How Luffy could walk on air
While Luffy’s rubber body grants him some aerial maneuverability, he possesses no innate power to walk on air continuously. However, Luffy could potentially gain the ability to walk on air through a couple different methods:
Haki
Haki is a special spiritual energy that exists within everyone in the One Piece world. There are three types of Haki – Observation, Armament, and Conqueror’s. If Luffy could master the Armament form of Haki, he may be able to use it to walk on air.
Armament Haki allows the user to create an invisible armor around themselves for defense. This energy can also be projected outside the body. Skilled users can damage opponents internally with it or destroy objects in contact. If Luffy could learn to constantly project Armament Haki beneath his feet, he could potentially walk on the air.
Awakening
All Devil Fruits contain an ultimate technique known as “Awakening”. If Luffy could awaken his Gum-Gum Fruit powers, he may gain the ability to walk on air.
Doflamingo, for example, awakened his String-String Fruit powers. This allowed him to turn his environment into strings that he could manipulate and control. If Luffy awakened his fruit, he may be able to turn the air around him into rubber to walk on. Luffy would need to fully master his Devil Fruit first to reach this level though.
Other flying Devil Fruit
One other way Luffy could gain air walking is by consuming a second Devil Fruit with flying powers. Many Devil Fruits in the One Piece world offer levitation or aerial mobility abilities. By eating one of these fruits, Luffy could potentially stack its powers on top of his rubber body.
Of course, consuming two Devil Fruits would be incredibly dangerous and life-threatening. It’s considered impossible to eat more than one Devil Fruit, so Luffy would have to find a creative way around this limitation.
Conclusion
Based on Luffy’s rubber abilities alone, continuous walking or running on air is not feasible. Temporary floating and aerial maneuvers are possible through moves like Gum-Gum Balloon, but he lacks any natural, sustainable way to move through the open sky.
By mastering Haki or his Devil Fruit Awakening, or acquiring another complementary Devil Fruit, Luffy could potentially overcome his limits and unlock true sky walking. But barring major power growth, Luffy’s airborne mobility will remain restricted to jumping between footholds and brief inflation floating.