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According to the One Piece wikia's Enel page, Enel's power won't work against Luffy because he is a rubber-man. But at some point, I'm confused from this fact since lighting that strikes at 1 Million Volts would burn anything, even rubber. Also, he melted gold and placed on Luffy's hand.

So my question is, is there any logical reason why is it that Luffy doesn't feel any hurt when Enel strikes him?? I will not include what episodes this happen.

NARENDRA SINGH
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Victor111
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    While we wait for the physics majors to show up, we can read some of the answers to a similar question asked over [at reddit](http://www.reddit.com/r/estimation/comments/1id3dp/how_many_volts_does_it_take_to_overpower_rubber/) or read about the [human battery](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2626148/Man-dubbed-human-battery-withstand-million-volt-shocks-cooks-sausages-bare-hands.html), an actual human that can withstand a million volt shocks. I guess it all depends on the current? Ok nvm that, lets wait for the experts to show up. – Peter Raeves Jun 25 '15 at 17:45

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No, it isn't logical, but it was deliberate. TVTropes has a trope which perfectly summarizes this kind of phenomenon: "Acceptable Breaks from Reality".

A Willing Suspension of Disbelief is a must for almost any work of fiction. There are certain elements of story or gameplay where realism would simply make a work tedious, difficult, or confusing for the audience. Thus there are ways in which works will be blatantly, unabashedly unrealistic, and nobody really minds.

The manga deliberately takes liberties with certain inconvenient real-life physics rules for the sake of drama or balance; Most Logia Devil Fruits would have been way overpowered and/or impractical if the manga followed the laws of physics faithfully. Akainu's magma powers, for instance, would have made him unapproachable because his magma would have vaporized everything without even needing to make contact. For the same kind of reason, Luffy is completely immune to electricity; Enel would have won way too easily otherwise.

totoofze47
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  • Thanks for the idea. But base on your example, Akainu can also choose to make himself approachable. The same way, Enel can boost his electrical power against luffy. Do we have any supporting details/references on how situations like this happen according to the OP world? They say luffy is immune to electricity, but on what voltage can he be immune? – Victor111 Jun 25 '15 at 22:44
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    @Victor111 Luffy is always immune to electricity, no matter the voltage, because this is a fictional story. That is what totoofze47 explained. A lot of things don't make sense, like Enel being able to live on the moon without oxygen... You need to take it all with a grain of salt. Rubber does not conduct electricity, so if you are working with electricity you wear rubber shoes and rubber gloves and that's basically the idea, but you shouldn't go into too much detail. Oda needed an excuse for Luffy to beat Logia users without using Haki and that's how he came up with the "natural enemy" concept – Peter Raeves Jun 26 '15 at 09:05
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    @Victor111 It's exactly the same concept as in Pokemon, where electricity attacks do nothing against ground types, *because they are grounded*, which is much more complicated in real life than that, but going through an explanation would be too troublesome (and boring) for battle shonen manga. – Peter Raeves Jun 26 '15 at 09:11
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    Thanks. Very specific details, so now I could tell this to some kids about this "natural enemy". Really helpful thanks. – Victor111 Jun 26 '15 at 14:45
  • I think this answer only states the obvious and misses the point. Everyone knows this story does not stick to the most rigorous physical laws on earth. One piece is a _fiction_. You're right, that's true! But given it is a fiction, it makes a lot of physical sense. The question was not if it is absolutely logical but if there is _any_ logical reason. And there is. Another answer addresses it. – theSameTime Dec 10 '19 at 08:30
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Logically Speaking,

Luffy would be the person most vulnerable to lightning attacks, as rubber, being a resistor, cannot channel a high concentration of electricity away like metals can. Fortunately for Luffy, this means that a lightning strike would rarely ever hit him, and if he were struck, it's unlikely it could kill him, as the electricity would not have a chance to pass through his internal organs, but would cause severe damage to the location of the strike. High voltages and lightning will usually just melt rubber.

Funnily enough, the character most logically capable of facing Enel would be Gan Fall, as though lightning would be more likely to hit him, any strike would be channeled by his metal suit of armor around his body, into the ground, never passing through any internal organs, preventing damage. See: Faraday Cages; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

If the world of One Piece were governed by Earthly physics, Enel would be easily beatable by a knight in (shining) armor. But for us to suspend disbelief by believing in all the crazy stuff that happens in One Piece-Land, I assume we must also accept this.

Mac Stringer
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    Lightning takes the path of least resistance, so it would probably go around him if we assume its easier to flow through the air than rubber, which is probably how Oda intended it to be. – Ryan Aug 17 '18 at 17:49
  • So lightning won't reach him but discharge with a direct contact should burn him, huh? Should we then assume that Ener's third attack on Luffy was very close but not a direct-contact hit? That would explain it all! I like it. So, in the end, Luffy was just lucky enough that Ener never grabbed him before releasing a lightning? – theSameTime Dec 09 '19 at 21:20
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To be honest, Enel was ridiculously strong anyway even with his handicap against Luffy. Although since he has complete control of lightning and electricity, he would probably be able to melt Luffy into a puddle of goo within seconds, realistically speaking.

However, the idea that a knight in shining armor could beat Enel sounds realistically feasible until you take into account what Enel can do. Remember how he could instantly melt down the gold and manipulate it through electromagnetism? Well, what they don’t say is that he could technically do that with any metal as long as it has a magnetic field. Enel would be able to literally crush Gan Fall in his own armor. In fact, approaching Enel with any metal is suicidal since he’s essentially an indestructible Magneto.

If he comes back, he’ll be a killer in the New World because with his haki he’d be able to move his body parts out of the way of haki users with swords. With a little improvement, nothing could touch him.

Aki Tanaka
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God Nebulexeis
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I know this is old, but.... let's use anime logic and assume that rubber has truly infinite resistance. If high voltage source is applied on Luffy, there still wouldn't be any current flowing through Luffy, rendering him completely safe, right?

As for Pokemon, I really don't agree with their setting. it should be the other way around. Ground should be extra weak against electricity. Since they are directly grounded, when connected to a voltage source, massive current flows through them, causing them extra harm. So ground types should've been set to be extra weak against electricity.

In contrast, flying type is hardly connected to anything else in mid air, so electricity without high enough voltage shouldn't even affect them, so flying type should've been set to resist electricity more than normal....

What do you guys think?

Skywalker
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  • Welcome to Anime.SE! It's okay to answer old questions, but please try and stick to the actual question, which is about One Piece, not Pokémon. If you're trying to respond to Peter Raeves' comments on the accepted answer, please don't use answers to do that; that's not what they're for. – F1Krazy Dec 24 '20 at 17:04