Fighting Style

nlike Zoro or Sanji, Luffy's fighting style is completely improvised; it follows no particular code of honor, and so if necessary, he will attack women or animals, hit below the belt, attack his enemies even if they have their backs turned or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use enemies as human shields and even bite his opponents. While fighting, Luffy is adept at improvising, and regularly comes up with creative counterattacks to use against his enemies. This however leads both enemies and allies alike to wonder if Luffy is taking the fight seriously, especially when he comes up with ridiculous and over the top moves (like Crocodile when Luffy became Mizu Luffy), which prompts Luffy to respond that he's always serious.
When Luffy fights, he relies heavily on his instincts, which, interestingly enough, is mostly correct. Even as early as the Arlong Park arc, after getting bitten he managed to escape with his arm still in one piece by slamming Arlong's head to losen his jaw to get it out instead of simply pulling it. He picked out the real Mr. 3 from a bunch of wax look-a-likes on a hunch. He also destroyed Enel's Raigo using the gold ball as a conductor, but according to Oda he had no real idea what he was doing and was acting out of instinct. Before even learning Kenbunshoku Haki, Luffy could easily dodge any attack relying on his instinct as shown in his battle against Enel and Rob Lucci.