Luffy's Intelligence

Zulen

So… do you think Luffy is smart or dumb? He's shown a little bit of both to me.

Normally, Luffy acts simple-minded and doesn't understand the situation at all, while even the idiots of idiots could wrap their head around it.

However, he's also able to detect subtle weaknesses in his opponent's. He found out Crocodile's weakness, while even the smartest and strongest warriors were like ants before him. That's pretty amazing.

Aside from this, he learned Soru from Bleuno. Not only that, he was almost a master at it from the start. He overpowered a Rokushiki user, using a technique he took 5 minutes to learn, while the CP9 had practiced and mastered their entire lives.

He can be a genius to geniuses, and a complete retard at the same time.

mr_bushido

@Private:

He can be a genius to geniuses, and a complete retard at the same time.

You just answered your own question, so there's not much left to discuss. But yes, Luffy is an "idiot savant".

Local-chan

he's a smart person, just simple.

Cr4zy

There was thread about this. Really, I think he just doesnt even try to think.

Mr. All Sunday

It's pretty obvious that he isn't stupid, the Gears and several of his attacks are extremely creative and complex. So I think idiot savant sounds about right.

Kazuma the Shell Bullet

He's dumb when he wants to be. He's smart when he wants to be. Does that answer your question?

Zulen

My rhetorical question destroyed my own thread.

nguyen

He can be simple minded at times. He's only smart when he needs to be.

*Meh*

Intelligence, as it is currently understood, can be categorized seven or more ways. Unfortunately, I don't remember all seven off the top of my head. I do remember that Logical, Physical/Spatial, Visual, Aural, and Musical were in the list. Judging by his "battle prowess", Luffy has a fairly high degree of Visual intelligence. Seeing as he also cues in on the physical aspects of his opponents' offense, his Physical/Spatial should be pretty high as well. But let's face it: he won't listen, he doesn't think, and if he was any good at singing, he'd be his own musician.

UPRC

The way I see it, Luffy is a combat genius who is able to quickly adapt to change.

His intelligence, well.. I think he's basically average. There are certain things Luffy can't wrap his head around at all. He is not playing dumb, he is just a freakin goof. He's not stupid, not at all, he's just.. A goof.

zeroxtb

didn't Oda actually state that Luffy is an idiot in one of his SBS dealies? i don't know.

anyways, i think that he's smart when he needs to be, but 80% of the time he's an impulsive retard. But that's just what makes him so rad