As one of the most popular anime and manga series in existence, One Piece has a dedicated fanbase who love to discuss anything and everything related to the Straw Hats, from ranking the strongest Devil Fruits to speculating all about different characters.
While it’s fun to talk about power scaling (although it’s kind of a pointless topic when it comes to One Piece, but that’s a can of worms for another day), it’s also just as fun to celebrate the property’s ability to make us laugh in one moment and sob uncontrollably the next.
Even people who aren’t fans of One Piece know the series can be both hilarious and full of action, but few realize just how emotional the plot can be. Here are 10 of the saddest moments in One Piece that never fail to get us in our feels.
10. Usopp leaves the Straw Hats
Usopp is one of the first members to join the Straw Hats and by the Water Seven arc, he’d become an integral part of the crew. Spurred by feelings of inadequacy and a belief that Luffy was heartlessly giving up on Merry when she could still be fixed, Usopp decides to leave the crew. His resulting fight with Luffy is incredibly difficult to watch, and although it’s only temporary (extremely so, as emphasized by Sniper King joining the party shortly after) I can’t help but feel bad watching the friends fight. Thankfully, Usopp realizes his mistake and apologizes to the Straw Hats after the events of Enies Lobby.
9. Sanji crying in the rain the night before his wedding
Sanji voluntarily leaves the crew in order to participate in a political wedding to one of Big Mom’s daughters, the seemingly sweet Pudding so that his family stays far away from his friends. There’s several scenes before this that are noteworthy — the scene where Luffy’s voice breaks as he tells Sanji he can’t be King of the Pirates without him; instant tears — but there’s just something so heartbreaking about this scene in particular. Pudding mocks Sanji without knowing he can hear every word when up to this point, Sanji believed Pudding was just as much a victim of her family’s schemes as he was. As he hears her laughing, we’re shown a closeup of Sanji silently sobbing while failing to light his cigarette in the rain. Can’t something go right for him for once?
8. Corazon saves Trafalgar Law at the cost of his own life
Law’s entire backstory is just tragedy after tragedy, but his friendship with Corazon was a beacon of hope for a kid with little left. The young Law joined the Doflamingo Pirates as a terminally-ill child with no family or home, but soon found a family in the compassionate Corazon, Doflamingo’s brother. Although Doflamingo is searching for the Ope-Ope fruit, Corazon gives it to Law and cures his illness for good. Sadly, Corazon’s luck runs out not too soon after, and in a final act of selflessness, he hides Law in a treasure chest and uses Calm to keep him quiet so Doflamingo can’t find him. The resulting confrontation between Corazon and his blood brother is made all the more tragic by his chosen brother listening in as he meets his end. Corazon manages to keep himself alive just long enough to make sure Law can get away quietly; there was nary a dry eye in my home when Law realized his friend had died because he could now hear himself sob.
7. Robin’s entire island being destroyed in the Busker Call
During the Enies Lobby Arc, Robin’s backstory is revealed in full and it’s just as tragic as you’d expect. Robin comes from the West Blue island of Ohara, a land of scholars dedicated to archiving history. Under their tutelage, Robin becomes the youngest scholar in Ohara and secretly learns to read Poneglyphs even though the older scholars tried to keep her away from their research of the Void Century as it is heavily prohibited by the World Government. Unfortunately, the World Government realizes Ohara is breaking this taboo and their solution is to completely destroy the island via the Busker Call. Robin tragically watches the Marines eradicate everyone on her entire island, including her mother and ostensibly her new friend Jaguar D. Saul, and while she’s spared the same fate by Kuzan, she spends the majority of her life unable to connect with anyone because of her status as a criminal. Knowing her backstory makes the “I want to live” scene all the more meaningful, but damn is it sad.
6. Bell-mère’s death and Nami joining the Arlong Pirates in order to save her village
Many One Piece fans will cite the Arlong Park Arc as the first time they thought to themselves, “Oh, this is really good,” and with reason; the scene where Luffy places his straw hat, his “treasure,” on Nami’s head as a silent assurance he was going to handle Arlong just because his crew member was sad is one of the best parts of One Piece (or “Peak Piece” as the fans like to call it). That scene would lack its impact if not for Nami’s tragic backstory before it; we learn Nami was raised by Bell-mère, a former Marine with a trouble-making past, who adopted Nami and another child, Nojiko, and raised the two as her daughters. When Arlong and his pirates invaded their island, Belle-mère sacrificed herself in order to protect her daughters.
Nami then ends up becoming the Arlong Pirates’ navigator in order to earn enough money to buy back her village. Unfortunately, this agreement assumes Arlong will actually honor it, and soon Nami’s money is confiscated by Marines. Watching Nami mutilate her Arlong tattoo in frustration before Luffy stops her is heartbreaking, especially after all she’s endured.
5. Tony Tony Chopper caused Dr. Hiriluk’s death
When the crew first meets Chopper, Luffy and Sanji first try to eat him. Then, when they realize how cool he is, Luffy tries to recruit him and Dr. Kureha shares Chopper’s sad backstory with the crew. When Chopper was just a young reindeer, the other reindeer bullied him for his blue nose — how does Oda think of these things? — and when he ate the Human-Human Fruit, they bullied him for that too. Chopper, now too human for the reindeer and too reindeer for the humans, found himself on the fringes of society until the kind Dr. Hiriluk nursed him back to health after Chopper was wounded at the hands of scared villagers. The two developed a father-son relationship and Hiriluk’s belief that every illness has a cure shaped Chopper’s outlook on medicine, helping him become the incredible doctor he is today.
When Hiriluk realizes he’s terminally ill with only days to live, he kicks Chopper out of his home rather than have him witness his death. Chopper soon realizes what’s wrong and goes on a journey to find the Amiudake mushroom, believing it can cure any illness. Bruised and battered, he returns with the mushroom and Hiriluk, moved by Chopper’s concern, eats it and proclaims himself cured. Sadly, the mushroom is incredibly poisonous — Hiriuk had always told Chopper the Jolly Roger was a symbol of vitality so Chopper mistook the skull and crossbones symbol next to the mushroom as a good thing — and Chopper had inadvertently shortened Hiriluk’s life. In order to prevent Chopper from being the reason for his death, Hiriluk drinks a poison which causes a huge explosion in front of Wapol’s castle.
4. Chouchou defending his late owner’s shop
Oda establishes what kind of story he’s telling early on in the series. Yes, there’s plenty of action and gags, but the world of One Piece is also often a cruel one. This is shown during Luffy’s battle with the Buggy Pirates, when he meets Chouchou, the dog who defends his late owner’s shop day and night from would-be thieves. He doesn’t leave his post even when Buggy’s cronies come to burn the house down, holding on even when they injure him. When his master’s house burns down, he stands outside and watches, breaking all our hearts in the process. Leave it to Oda to somehow make a scene similar to Futurama‘s saddest episode even sadder.
3. Brook singing ‘Binx’s Brew’ as his crew collapses around him
Brook and his entire crew succumbed to an enemy they could not defeat the only way they knew how: while singing. The Rumbar Pirates’ last hurrah starts off joyful as the entire crew plays instruments and dances to a rendition of “Bink’s Brew” before slowing falling one by one to their injuries. Brook continues singing and playing the piano while each instrument and voice fades out around him, until he is the only one left. Through tears, Brook continues to play until he too collapses. Brook’s Revive-Revive Fruit helps him come back to life (though after his body decomposed) but seeing him wander his ship alone just emphasizes how sad this is.
Not only did Brook and his entire crew die, they died before they could reunite with Laboon. This alone almost makes this reach the top spot on this list but thankfully, Brook’s fruit and the Straw Hats are giving him another chance to fulfill that promise.
2. Ace’s death
When Luffy first hears his brother Ace is sentenced to death and awaiting his execution in Impel Down, Luffy immediately jumps into action. Up until this point in the series, Luffy had never really failed before, or at least not in a way that mattered. That’s what makes it so devastating when he does fail; Ace’s death is already heartbreaking, but for it to happen after Luffy successfully freed him — brutal.
While reading this for the first time, I knew the odds were stacked against the two brothers but when Luffy continually defies next to impossible odds, I became hopeful he would beat these ones too. Watching Ace die because he jumped in front of his brother when Akainu attacked (and seeing Luffy’s resulting grief) is still one of the saddest moments in One Piece.
1. The Going Merry takes her final voyage
I know you’re probably thinking, “What? Luffy’s brother dies and this random writer really thinks a ship dying is somehow sadder than that?” And you know what? It’s valid. But for me, the Going Merry’s death is still the saddest moment in One Piece — leave it to Oda for making me cry real tears over a ship but here we are!
he came back for the Straw Hats! She got fixed up just enough to save the crew from Enies Lobby — yes, this was already enough to make me cry — and then when they sailed back to Water Seven, she finally had to rest. The crew was crying, I was crying, and the Going Merry still wanted to sail with them even longer! Luffy apologizes to her for not taking proper care of her (I’m openly sobbing by this point in the scene) and she tells him she was happy sailing with them all the same. Gone but never forgotten, Going Merry.