"He's the one with the infectious smile": Iñaki Godoy's Introduction to Luffy Came by Chance, Not from Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, but from a Video Game.

Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of One Piece, is one of the most iconic anime characters out there. The captain of the Straw Hat pirates was brought to life by Iñaki Godoy in Netflix’s One Piece Live-Action series.

Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece Live-Action

The eight-episode series received nothing but positive reviews from the series’ fans all around the globe. A huge credit for its success goes to none other than Godoy’s amazing portrayal of Luffy.

Iñaki Godoy Didn’t Learn About Monkey D. Luffy From One Piece

One Piece anime began its journey in 1999. Since then, millions have fallen in love with Monkey D. Luffy. The majority of fans learned about Luffy either from the anime or by reading the manga. However, Iñaki Godoy came to know about Luffy through a video game.

In an interview with Kirsten Carey of The Mary Sue, Godoy referred to Luffy as the guy with the crazy smile.

I knew One Piece because I’m very into comic books, video games … I specifically knew Luffy from a video game I used to play at my computer class. It was an online video game, and Luffy was one of the playable characters. I used to know him as, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the guy with the crazy smile.’

Well, that’s one way to define the protagonist of one of the most popular anime of all time. But Godoy is certainly not wrong. Over the years, Luffy has handled the toughest of journeys with nothing but a smile on his face.

Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece Live-Action

In fact, Luffy’s smile is right up there with his iconic line in terms of popularity among fans. A key reason behind One Piece Live-Action was that Godoy nailed Luffy’s smile, among other things, without making the character sound cringe.

How did Iñaki Godoy land Monkey D. Luffy’s Role in One Piece Live-Action?

Live-action movies and TV shows based on anime were known for being inaccurate and simply unbearable for most fans. However, One Piece Live-Action changed history with its first eight episodes.

In the same interview with The Mary Sue, Inaki Godoy shared the hilarious story of how he landed the role of Monkey D. Luffy in the series.

I got my audition for One Piece—I didn’t know it was for One Piece at first. As soon as I knew it was for One Piece, I sat down, I put on this YouTube video, and it was like, ‘Who is Monkey D. Luffy? Let’s analyze this,’ … and then I did my callback, and then I got the role! So thank you to that one YouTuber who made that amazing video analyzing the character, because—hey, it helped me out with my audition, dude! Thanks!

Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece Live-Action

The way Godoy embraced Luffy’s essence from top to bottom, no one would have guessed that he had no clue about the anime. After all, Godoy’s acting was extremely convincing, and most fans would have guessed that the 20-year-old had been a fan of the series for years.

Regardless of the past, Godoy did justice to the role, and fans cannot wait to see him return as Luffy in One Piece Live-Action season two.