How did you feel about...

[Future Warrior]

Luffy being related to great figures such as Dragon and Garp? Do you think it took away from Luffy as being the underdog of the story?

 

[Fantastische Hure]

He already started-off as very powerful to begin with. Stomped most of East-Blue with ease. And also had a connection to Shanks from who he for the time-being inherited the Pirate-King’s hat from.

 

[SSJ2]

I'm fine with it because of how Luffy was shown in Romance Dawn. Aside from his attitude that was similar to that of Roger's, he was shown to be a typical weak child, so he wasn't born as a prodigy because of his family. And while he was stronger than most of the thugs in East Blue, I'd say he was still a huge underdog by the time he made it to the Grand Line.

 

[Warmmedown]

Garp added to it for sure, since it adds family conflict and drama (especially at the marineford fight), added another early compassionate link with the marines. Dragon idk same applies to the Xragon-Harp relationship as Luffy_Garp. It's definitely cool to see the reactions of the powerful people with links to Luffy (Garp, Dragon, Shanks) as he goes through stages of his journey and makes marks on the world, rather than everyone being a stranger. It's also cool to look fplorwards to Luffy crossing paths with those characterrs - I definitely look forward to it more thna if they were strangers.

The whole destiny thing coild be somewhat disappointing, although it doesn't ruin the series for me since the SHs adventures and actions are still impressive and being a nobody was never a major theme of the series (unlike with Naruto where he was supposed to be an ostracised, talentless nobody with no cool bloodline or familial fighting tradition and that was the main thing that made him inspiring, although maybe the mamgaka would say the moral is that you can't know someone's ancestry from their present state or that any powerful person can have family who at some point are not powerful. Or Goukuu-saa where he was supposed to be a low-class, unimportant, low-powered saiyan who overcame that with training and care for others).

 

[Fantastische Hure]

^that’s a long facking bracket

 

[Future Warrior]

The whole destiny thing coild be somewhat disappointing, although it doesn't ruin the series for me since the SHs adventures and actions are still impressive and being a nobody was never a major theme of the series (unlike with Naruto where he was supposed to be an ostracised, talentless nobody with no cool bloodline or familial fighting tradition and that was the main thing that made him inspiring, although maybe the mamgaka would say the moral is that you can't know someone's ancestry from their present state or that any powerful person can have family who at some point are not powerful. Or Goukuu-saa where he was supposed to be a low-class, unimportant, low-powered saiyan who overcame that with training and care for others).

I think the problem with the destiny aspect with OP is that it goes against the nature of the series which is absolute freedom. Luffy is the personification of that theme. Predeterminism or fate would mean nobody actually has any agency for their actions, which is honestly a very big contradiction that could be dangerously close to Naruto levels of bad depending on how Oda writes it.