Is Luffy a romantic or a realist?
He’s quite a realist.
Isn’t he a romantic who pursues his dreams?
Robots are romantic, and admiring robots is romantic.
He dreams of becoming the Pirate King, so he’s a romantic.
He’s both a romantic and a realist.
He has elements of both.
During the Alabasta arc, he told Vivi, “People will die,” and “You’re being naive.”
He makes a pretty level-headed observation.
He seems to be able to see the reality of death and remain calm.
He has the ability to realistically and sharply analyze the exchange of deaths in battle and decide what to do.
His face is different from his usual dreamy demeanor.
He witnessed the massacre caused by the Gray Terminal fire as a child.
He thought his close friend Sabo had died, too.
When you experience the death of a friend as a child, you inevitably become more realistic.
Perhaps childhood experiences have made him more calm about life and death.
It’s precisely because he’s a realist who knows that people will die that he can become a romantic who pursues dreams.