Monkey D. Garp of One Piece

Monkey D. Garp is a Vice Admiral of the Navy Headquarters and the father of Monkey D. Dragon, as well as the grandfather of Monkey D. Luffy. He is also often referred to as Garp the Fist (jap. ゲンコツのガープ, Genkotsu no Gāpu). Furthermore, he is hailed as a hero of the navy and thus enjoys great respect throughout the world. Currently, he has retired from the navy, but he is still active in its ranks as an instructor and may therefore continue to bear his title as Vice Admiral.

Appearance

Garp is now an old man who has left his best days far behind him. He is grey-haired and his skin is wrinkled. He also has an equally grey beard (a Henriquatre) and extremely bushy eyebrows. Around his left eye he has a hook-shaped scar. Who is to blame for this scar is unknown, but he has had it for over twenty years. Garp is a tall man with an extremely strong upper body. In contrast, his lower body (from the waist up) is relatively narrow by comparison.

Until his meeting with Luffy in Chapter 431, he was only seen wearing a dog mask, which seems to be his trademark, as the dog head is also the figurehead of his naval ship.

In addition, he always wears a suit consisting of a white double-breasted suit and white suit trousers. Underneath is a dark blue shirt in combination with a light blue tie. Over his shoulders hangs a white naval coat with the inscription “Justice” (Jap. 正義, “Seigi”), typical of an officer. Unlike many other senior officers, his coat has red and black striped Epaulette.

24 years ago, his beard was still black and his hair was already starting to turn grey. At that time he still wore a black double-breasted suit. He combined this with a white shirt and a red tie.

Family

Garp’s family circumstances are extremely complicated and certainly very disappointing for himself. His son is the most dangerous criminal in the world, Dragon the revolutionary and his biological grandson Luffy is a wanted pirate. In addition, he counts the Pirate King’s son, Ace, as part of his family as well and considers him his grandson. However, as is surely known, Ace has also become a pirate. That all of his descendants are wanted by the police is very hard on Garp, for he had intended for them all to have great careers in the Navy. Whenever he meets one of them, he accuses them of their wrongdoing. Such was the case when Ace was to be executed.
Since Garp could not handle raising his two grandsons alone because he was kept busy by his high rank, he entrusted them to Dadan, a female mountain raider. However, he often came to check up on his grandchildren and their development, so Luffy and Ace, and later Sabo, had very strict and hard training sessions. Although Ace and Luffy were often tormented by their grandfather, they always respected him and could come to him with problems-.

Personality

Garp is a naval officer through and through. He remained loyal to his employer for several years, even when his drawkel was about to be executed. Even though he did not actively participate in the war against Whitebeard, who wanted to free Ace, he was present and thus proved his loyalty by not wantingonly sabotaging the execution. He is also one of the Marine’s greatest personalities and a great role model. After his fist bump against Marco when he tried to save Ace, the Navy’s combat morale skyrocketed during the war.

Still, his family is above all else to him. On his first visit to Water 7, Garp refrained from arresting Luffy and his gang, though he certainly had the chance. On his second visit, however, after Sengoku saw through Garp’s deception, he was ready to kill Luffy. On Marine Ford, he was again unable to stop Luffy as he stormed the scaffold, and allowed himself to be deliberately defeated by his grandson. When Ace was finally killed by Akainu, he had to be restrained by Sengoku, as he would have killed him otherwise.

He also finds it incredibly amusing the way his family shakes up the world and laughs about it publicly, which has earned him many a reprimand. Sengoku said that if he wasn’t the hero of the Navy, he already wouldn’t be working for them.

As a Vice Admiral, he is a loyal officer, but he often gets his own way. For example, he traveled to Ace in Impel Down shortly before the war without informing his superiors. He also has an unusual number of criminals in his immediate circle of acquaintances for a naval officer. For example, he referred to mountain robber Chief Dadan and even Gol D. Roger as his friends.

Like his grandson Luffy, Garp wears his heart on his sleeve and tells naval internals and secrets without thinking about it. For example, he told Luffy that his father was Dragon and then told him to forget it. Later, during a phone call with Sengoku, he openly said that Luffy was his grandson, leading the latter to conclude that Garp had spared him in Water 7 during his first visit.

Garp respected everyone who earned it. His nemesis Roger was almost like a brother to him, even though they had nearly killed each other many times. And since Roger knew that Garp was also an honorable man, he asked him to protect his unborn child despite their enmity. For Sterry, on the other hand, he had no respect for him whatsoever, insulted him, and cared in no way for his status. With Neptune, Garp again had a good relationship. Both seem to have similar views regarding the relationship and cooperation between the kingdoms of the Levely participants.

Skills and strength

Since Garp is already advanced in age, he has already passed his peak. Nevertheless, he is still a dangerous man, because he has tremendous physical strength. Thus, he can smash a cannon or a house wall with his bare hands. Moreover, he managed to easily hurl a gigantic cannonball at the Thousand Sunny and throw cannonballs with his hand faster than a cannon could fire them. When he did that, he commented that he was already pretty calcified.

Because of his tremendous strength he became vice-admiral and was even promoted to admiral, but he refused because he could not act as freely as before.

He is a celebrated hero in the Navy, being the only man to have cornered the pirate king Gol D. Roger several times. He was so animated by the thought of capturing Roger and preserving his freedom as a naval officer that he had no regard for anything. So often did he destroy naval vessels that his colleagues would not take him. Another proof of his monstrous strength is that Grand Admiral Sengoku had to restrain him when he wanted to kill Admiral Akainu, who had mortally wounded Ace shortly before. From this, it can be concluded that he can still manage to defeat an admiral despite his old age. Also, like any Vice Admiral, he is proficient in armor and observation shaki. Marco, in his phoenix form, he could hurl to the ground and injure with a haki enhanced fist strike. Something that not even Admiral Kizaru was able to do. He also used a haki enhanced fist strike to crush Don Chinjao’s skull in.

Past

Beginning of the naval career

Garp was born in the Goa Kingdom, as was his son Dragon and grandson Luffy. He joined the Navy 56 years ago, at the age of 22, along with Sengoku and Crane.

Rocks

Thirty-eight years ago, during the era of the Rocks Pirates, Garp earned his title as “Hero of the Navy” during the God Valley incident, by which he is still known today. In the process, he allied himself with future pirate king Gol D. Roger and defeated the Rocks Pirates, which included Big Mom, Whitebeard, Kaidou and Shiki, as well as their captain Rocks D. Xebec on the island of God Valley.

The fight against Don Chinjao

Thirty years ago, Garp fought the twelfth head of the Eight Treasures Navy, the well-known pirate Don Chinjao, who at the time had a bounty of over 500,000,000. In order to stand against him, Garp had previously destroyed eight mountains as a training unit. He also managed to defeat the strong pirate with one blow, almost killing him. Chinjao’s men were able to save him from capture, but Garp had dented the top of Chinjao’s head, causing his dangerous head blows to lose much of their power. This event also earned Garp his nickname “The Fist”. Chinjao in turn vowed to take revenge on Garp or his descendants.

Strong World

Twenty-five years ago, the Navy received word that the pirates Shiki and Roger were meeting at At War. Garp, whose favorite target was Roger, wanted to head straight there even though he had no orders to do so. He asked Vice Admiral Crane if she wanted to take him, but she refused, saying he always destroyed all the ships. So Garp was unable to move out. Shortly before that, he had repeatedly turned down the promotion to admiral that Grand Admiral Kong had offered him, for which he was admired by Kuzan.
Two years later, he fought alongside Sengoku against the infamous pirate Golden Lion, who attacked the naval headquarters alone. Together, the marines defeated the pirate, who was admitted to Impel Down. However, when Shiki broke out again, Garp was on home leave in Foosha Village. Sengoku informed Garp, who was concerned but knew that Shiki would not act rashly and would develop a plan first.

Garp and Roger

Garp was the marine whose ambitions to capture Roger were greatest. Thus, it was he who nearly captured the Pirate King several times. When Roger finally turned himself in, it was officially claimed that Garp had captured the Pirate King, making him a hero to the Navy.
Although the two men fought each other repeatedly, they had a deep respect for each other. After Roger was imprisoned at Impel Down, Garp even visited him.
Roger confided a secret to Garp: a woman was pregnant by him. He then asked Garp to protect the child, as he was not to blame for his father’s crimes. Although Garp did not promise him, he took care of the child. He tracked down the mother and when she died after giving birth, he took Ace.
Garp explained that it was easy to like Roger.

Raising Children

Garp was very rigorous and harsh when it came to raising first Ace and then later Luffy. Since he wanted them to become strong marines, he put them through rigorous training. Garp was so terrible to them that Luffy gets scared at the mere mention of Garp.
After Garp nearly killed his grandsons several times already, and it became obvious that they didn’t want to join the Navy, Garp entrusted them to a friend. That friend, as it turned out, was Dadan, a mountain raider who Garp trusted. Garp blamed Shanks for Luffy’s scheme to become the next pirate king.
Ace he handed over to Dadan at only a year old. Ten years later, he brought Luffy to her as well. He told his biological grandson that he and Ace would be brothers from now on and left, though Dadan asked him to take the kids back. But Garp was not deterred: she was raising his grandchildren and he was not arresting her.
Every now and then he came by to “educate” the boys: he beat them up.

Present

Captain Morgan

Garp was deputized to take Captain Morgan, who had been taken into custody because of his abuse of power. To that end, he met up with the Navy ship where both Morgan was confined and Koby and Helmeppo were on duty. In this first appearance in the manga, he still had his famous dog mask on. However, Garp was careless and so Morgan was able to attack him with his hatchet arm.
When Koby tried to stop the marines from shooting at Morgan and Helmeppo, Garp crushed the cannon and sheepishly explained that he had fallen asleep, which is why Morgan was able to get him.
Helmeppo escaped from his father and swam back to the Navy ship. He and Koby begged Garp’s forgiveness, as they were to blame for Morgan escaping.

Koby and Helmeppo

Garp was so impressed with Koby and Helmeppo that he took them to naval headquarters to train them. There he had them do the chores at hand, which included cleaning, sweeping, cleaning again, and training hard. Garp either trained them personally or had his subordinate Bogard finish them off.

Visit to Water 7

After the Straw Hat Pirates destroyed Enie’s lobby and returned to Water 7, Garp showed up there as well. He beat up his grandson and took off his mask for the first time in the manga. It was now revealed who he really was. After Luffy warned his friends that his grandpa was a very dangerous man, Garp got upset that Luffy had become a pirate against his wishes and that it was all the “redhead’s” fault. He then enlightened his grandson that Shanks was a very dangerous pirate who was counted among the Four Emperors, the most powerful pirates in the world.
Garp then had Koby and Helmeppo, whom he had already trained magnificently, face off against Luffy and Zoro. This trial of strength went clearly in favor of the pirates.

That same day, Garp accidentally let slip who Luffy’s father was: Dragon the revolutionary. When Garp realized that he shouldn’t have revealed that, he asked those present to forget about it. Since Luffy is Garp’s grandson, he didn’t want to capture him and sent him away. He wanted to come up with an excuse for the navy. Unfortunately, Sengoku didn’t agree with Garp’s decision and sent him off to capture his grandson. So Garp attacked the Straw Hat Pirates the moment they were about to leave Water 7 again. Garp attacked the ship alone, throwing cannonballs at it that were faster than if they had been fired from a cannon. To top it off, he tried a massive bullet larger than the Thousand Sunny. When the ship flew away at the proverbial last second, he was ecstatic.

Shiki’s Revenge

This information comes from One Piece Movie 10

At the beginning of the 10th movie, Garp was seen together with Sengoku in Marine Ford. There, he watched as Shiki, using his devil powers, dropped an entire fleet of warships on the naval headquarters. Despite the damage done by the flying pirate, Garp remained calm. While Sengoku was amazed that he was still alive, the Vice Admiral wondered where he had been for the last 20 years and if he had returned to take his revenge on the world.

Dark harbingers

When Sengoku was told by Bartholomew Kuma that he could not catch or kill Luffy on the Thriller Bark, Garp was seen laughing at the latest news about his grandson. As he did so, he ate crackers, which he then offered to the enraged Sengoku as well.

Shortly before the execution of his grandson Ace was to be carried out, Garp received word that the Vice Rogers, Silvers Rayleigh, was on the Sabaody Archipelago and was to be sold there as a slave in the Human Auctioning House. Garp declared the matter a secret, of which not even Sengoku was to be informed. The Navy, Garp’s reasoning was, could not take care of two legends at once. He wanted to take care of this matter himself.

In the Impel Down

When Ace was imprisoned in the Impel Down, Garp paid him an impromptu visit. With war against Whitebeard imminent, Sengoku was anything but thrilled about this wayward action. Garp was so horrified by the condition of his chained grandson that he had to ask him if he was even still alive.
In the conversation that followed, Ace asked Garp to kill him, which Garp refused. The war, which Ace wanted to avert, would take place anyway, because the navy had angered the ruler of the seas, Garp said. He then reproached Ace again for the fact that he and Luffy had not become marines, but had taken the worst possible opposite course. They then talked about Luffy and Ace’s fathers.

When Garp learned a little later – back at naval headquarters – that Luffy had invaded Impel Down, he found it so funny, as he did almost everything his grandsons did, that he drove Sengoku up the wall.

Was in Marine Ford

Shortly before Ace’s execution, Garp, along with Sengoku, were on the scaffold where the young pirate’s sentence was to be carried out. The Chief of the Navy announced to the Vice-Admiral that he would now announce to the world that Ace was the son of Roger.

After Whitebeard’s attack began, Garp refused to comply with the Navy’s plans, but didn’t want to hinder them either. Therefore, he took a seat on the scaffold next to Ace and reminisced about him and Luffy. To Sengoku, Garp represented that he would not prevent the execution, since Ace, as a pirate, deserved no other punishment. When Luffy, along with criminals from the Impel Down, appeared in the middle of the fighting, it became too much even for Garp. He was afraid that both of his grandsons would die that day.

Although Garp had decided not to actively intervene, he knew he had to join the fighting when the pirates stormed Oris Square. Thus, he stopped Marco, who was trying to free Ace. Garp took a seat in the chair where Akainu was previously sitting and announced that anyone who wanted to get to Ace would have to kill him first. Garp’s intervention motivated the marines, as he is considered a legendary man. When Luffy stormed the scaffold, Garp stood in his way, but remembering young Luffy, he couldn’t beat his grandson, so he stopped his attack. Thus, Luffy was able to knock his grandfather off the scaffold with just one punch.

Sengoku, meanwhile, didn’t care if Ace lived or not. He just wanted to put an end to Whitebeard. Garp agreed with him and could already see the end of this old era. When Akainu attacked Luffy and Ace threw himself into the attack, Garp knew that this was the end for Ace. He raged inside and had to be restrained by Sengoku or he would have tried to kill the admiral. After Ace actually died, Garp cried bitter tears.

After Koby stood in Akainu’s way in the war against Whitebeard, Garp was very impressed with his protégé’s maturity. So when Shanks showed up with his gang, he was incensed to see him, but it also ended the war.

After the war

After the war, Garp took a vacation back home. He told the townspeople that he had destroyed a pirate ship on his way to the Foosha Village and that there would be many new pirates since the death of Whitebeard and his announcement that One Piece existed. Suddenly, Dadan appeared and attacked Garp. She blamed him for the deaths of Ace and Luffy. Garp, who didn’t fight back, let her beat on him until Makino intervened. Garp explained that Luffy had escaped in a submarine and was thus still alive. Dadan and the villagers were somewhat reassured by this.

As became known shortly thereafter, Garp had resigned from his post. From now on, he only wanted to train young marines. Although he had given up his post, he was still allowed to carry the title of vice admiral.

Escort for the Levely

As part of the upcoming Levely in 1524, Garp and his ship were chosen for an escort. After the Neptune family appeared on the surface, Garp escorted them to the Red Port. While there, he commented on Shirahoshi’s beauty, which exceeded all expectations. While at the Red Port, Sterry and his entourage also arrived. Sterry stated that Garp was from Goa and for that reason he was also his subordinate. However, Garp behaved quite disrespectfully towards Sterry, which visibly shocked the King of Goa.

As the Regents of the World ascended to the top of the Redline on the Bondola, Garp stayed down at the Red Port and dined there with several other high-ranking marines. Earlier, they had just overheard a conversation between Emperors Kaidou and Big Mom, which Garp took in stride, even though they were after Luffy’s head. As a result, Hina took the floor and mentioned the “Rocks” era that had taken place over 40 years ago. During that time, Garp also attained the title of “Hero of the Navy”. While that group and their deeds were long in the past, Garp mentioned that he didn’t know how the Navy would deal with that threat if it came to a new beginning of their era.

When the negotiations were over, Garp escorted the Neptune family back to their home. He stayed for a cup of tea and together they reviewed the Levely. At the end, Garp brought up a message he had received from Mary Geoise shortly after their departure. Apparently there had been an incident involving the Kingdom of Arabasta. The Navy was said to have already been working hard on the matter.

Miscellaneous

• Luffy seems to have inherited a trait from him. So they both suddenly fall asleep when Garp tries to punch Luffy in the face.
• He was hunting the then pirate Shakuyaku 40 years ago.
• Garp’s character design is very reminiscent of the old, bearded man from Romance Dawn 2. (Show Manga Image / Hide) (Show anime image / Hide)

• In the SBS to Volume 65, Oda drew the Navy’s former highest-ranking soldiers as children, including Garp. Show / Hide Image
• Garp’s favorite foods are Senbei and curry.