The "Big Three" shonen manga and anime have provided us with a lot of entertainment over the years, and there is basically no one, whether anime fan or not, who is not familiar with Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. In this article, we will talk about these three great works, while also learning about the protagonists – Naruto Uzumaki, Ichigo Kurosaki, and Monkey D. Luffy. In this article, we decided to tell you who is the strongest of the three.

Ichigo Kurosaki is, at his peak, the strongest; second is Luffy, with Gear 5 and the Hito Hito no Mi, model: Nika, while Naruto, after losing Kurama, comes in third. The final battle against Yhwach showed that Ichigo has unlocked incredible powers, and it is a fact that he has fought the toughest opponents of the three. Luffy came in second after defeating Kaido, one of One Piece's greatest villains, while Naruto fell to third place after losing many of his powers upon Kurama's death.

In this article, we'll introduce the three protagonists and finally explain why Ichigo comes first, Luffy second, and Naruto third. It will be like most of our articles, except it will focus on three characters instead of two.

Naruto and his powers

Naruto Uzumaki is the main protagonist of the Naruto anime and manga, created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a young ninja from the fictional village of Konoha. The villagers ridicule Naruto because of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, a malevolent creature that attacked Konoha throughout its history, which was sealed within Naruto's body.

At first, Naruto is portrayed as a talentless student who spends his time inventing useless techniques like the Eroticism Technique and, later, the Harem Technique.

From that moment on, Naruto manages to improve enormously thanks to his unlimited desire to learn and train under the tutelage of Kakashi and, above all, Jiraiya, who teaches him various skills (such as harnessing the Fox's chakra up to the third tail while maintaining his personality) and to improve energy concentration) and two techniques that will prove fundamental for him: the first is the Recall Technique, with which he becomes able to summon toads that support him in combat and in the use of certain techniques, while the second is the Rasengan, of which he will create numerous variations.

In addition to having a chakra reserve at least four times greater than Kakashi's (and over a hundred times greater when factoring in the fox's chakra), Naruto also possesses remarkable physical strength, which the fox has boosted. Due to his propensity for Wind-type chakra and other factors, he excels in close-quarters combat but also possesses long-range skills. He primarily uses ninjutsu and taijutsu in combat, but he has also demonstrated great expertise with ninja tools, most notably when working with Sasuke.

Over time, Naruto learned to control the fox's chakra to the point where he could develop up to the third tail of the demon's cloak; but upon developing the fourth, he underwent a radical transformation and lost his sanity to the point where he could no longer distinguish friend from foe. To avoid harming others and himself, Naruto decided not to use the demon's chakra as a resource in an emergency, relying on his own strength at the expense of the demon's constant requests.

Monkey D. Luffy and his powers

Monkey D. Luffy is the main protagonist of the anime and manga One Piece, created by Eiichirō Oda. His body is made of rubber after eating a Devil Fruit, specifically the "Gomu Gomu Fruit." He is the captain of the pirate crew known as the Straw Hat Pirates, founded by himself to fulfill his dream of finding One Piece. He is originally from East Blue.

Luffy has demonstrated incredibly superhuman strength and fighting ability. At first glance, his thin appearance makes him appear weak, which is usually misleading to the enemy.

Throughout the series, Luffy has demonstrated strength far superior to that of humans, even defeating a sea king with a single punch. This is due to the intense training he underwent under his grandfather Monkey D. Garp, which involved throwing him into dangerous jungles and attaching him to balloons to raise him to great heights, making him one of the most powerful characters in the series.

Luffy, despite not being very intelligent or strategic, has shown to have an opposite effect against Logia-type Devil Fruit users, for example his fight against Crocodile, and the idea of ​​using water to hit him (since his Devil Fruit, the Suna Suna cannot control sand and manipulate it), Luffy could not hit him because Crocodile was made of sand and Luffy discovered that wetting his fists with water could hit him, even using his own blood to defeat him.

Luffy possesses the elastic properties of gum, but as a side effect, he cannot swim since water nullifies his energy, paralyzing his body. During battles, Luffy takes advantage of his elastic properties to stretch one or more of his limbs and snap them back by throwing them at his opponents. This, combined with his immense strength, makes Luffy a very powerful character.

Ichigo Kurosaki and his powers

Ichigo Kurosaki is a fictional character and the protagonist of the manga Bleach and the anime adaptation of the same name. He was created by Tite Kubo, a 17-year-old high school student with the ability to see ghosts. After an unfortunate incident, a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki transfers her powers to him so he can save his family, after which he becomes a Soul Reaper himself.

Ichigo's Zanpakutō is called Zangetsu. Unlike other Shinigami, Ichigo's Zanpakutō is always in Shikai form. The Zanpakutō is so large because Ichigo cannot control its spiritual power. Zangetsu's soul is a middle-aged man with sunglasses and a long cape. He is portrayed as a wise and calm man who enjoys testing Ichigo in unusual ways.

Zangetsu's Bankai is called Tensa Zangetsu. Ichigo's Bankai causes his Zanpakutō to shrink and his uniform to change. He can also move faster and his reflexes have improved. Zangetsu's special attack is Getsuga Tenshō, which fires an energy attack from the top of Ichigo's sword. Tensa Zangetsu's soul is a younger version of Zangetsu, roughly Ichigo's age. He is also aggressive.

In addition to his Shinigami powers, Ichigo also possesses Hollow powers. After losing his first fight with Byakuya Kuchiki and losing his Shinigami powers with him, he went to train with Kisuke Urahara to regain his Shinigami powers. During this training, Ichigo also partially became a Hollow. The Hollow's strength grows throughout the series.

Unlike Ichigo, the Hollow fights like a berserker. The Hollow ignores Ichigo's injuries and surpasses Ichigo's speed and strength. Ichigo was taught to control the Hollow by the Visored, who allowed him to summon his Hollow powers without the Hollow taking control of him. After controlling the Hollow, Ichigo trains to extend the time he has to use the power. His limit is 11 seconds, but it is considerably longer during his fight with Grimmjow Jeagerjaques.

After his fight with Aizen in Karakura Town, all of Ichigo's powers disappeared and he became ordinary. But after training with Xcution, Soul Society restored his powers.

Naruto Uzumaki vs. Monkey D. Luffy vs. Ichigo Kurosaki: Who is stronger?

And even though Ichigo is the least popular of the three (Ichigo never became as popular as Naruto or Luffy), he is the strongest. During his fight with Yhwach—who is also, by far, the most powerful opponent any of the three protagonists have faced—Ichigo demonstrated incredible skills and powers, proving he is strong enough to kill a god. On top of that, consider the fact that Bleach's villains (ranging from Arrancar to Quincy) are the toughest of the lot, and neither Naruto nor Luffy have faced opponents that powerful; Kaguya was on a similar level, but Naruto only managed to seal her and not defeat her (while Ichigo actually killed Yhwach). On the other hand, Luffy has never fought anyone on such a level.

As for Luffy, he rose through the ranks thanks to the Wano Country Arc, which revealed a lot about the Straw Hats. Namely, we discovered that his Gomu Gomu no Mi was actually the legendary Hito Hito no Mi, model: Nika, which gave Luffy the powers of a god, and he also managed to activate Gear 5. All of this allowed him to defeat Kaido in the most fanciful way imaginable, so we finally placed him in second place.

And finally, Naruto, who was first for a long time until Ichigo's fight with Yhwach, is not in third place. Okay, we should state right away that Naruto is an incredible fighter and has some incredible powers and abilities up his sleeve. However, since losing Kurama in Boruto, Naruto has become significantly weaker, especially compared to these two, who have only grown stronger. That's why we had to put Naruto in last place, even though it bears repeating that the differences between them aren't that great.