Luffy cannot become pirate king without defeating Shanks or any other of the four Yonko, the four strongest pirates in the world. Similarly, Usopp’s father is also part of Shank’s crew and in order to become the best sharpshooter, he will have to surpass his father.

4. Episode 4. After seeing Shanks stand up against the bandit leader Higuma, a young Luffy declares that he will one day become the king of all pirates.

In terms of fighting prowess, Luffy is, again, on a level above Queen’s since he managed to defeat Katakuri. Furthermore, he’s gotten even stronger since then and his Haki control has improved drastically as well.

Fight Blackbeard for One Piece, Luffy becomes Pirate King after that, and then once he gathers enough allies, it’s all out war on the World Government and the Marines. He gets it at the end of the manga after he defeats Blackbeard.

Several times Luffy has demonstrated that he is perfectly equipped to become the Pirate King, however, he has also been humbled several times. At Fish-Man Island, the Straw Hat Pirates faced their first challenge after the time-skip. They faced the New Fishman Pirates, who were led by Hody Jones.

Shanks sacrificed his arm to save Luffy from the Sea King. Another instance was when Whitebeard met Luffy at Marineford. Whitebeard was impressed with Luffy’s grit and he ordered the Whitebeard Pirates to give their all to help Luffy as he would be able to save Ace from being executed.

Luffy fought and defeated Charlotte Katakuri at Whole Cake Island and disrupted the balance of things at Totto Land. He was a nuisance for the Big Mom Pirates. Luffy’s strength has increased and it is obvious that it is only going to increase from here on out. Luffy is different from regular pirates.