The Straw Hats of One Piece have journeyed for over two decades and a thousand chapters. From the East Blue to Egghead Island and beyond, they’ve experienced life-threatening perils and witnessed outstanding sights that keep fans coming back for more.
While the Straw Hats have become significantly more powerful over time, their personalities remain surprisingly stagnant. Whether as individuals or as a crew, there are many essential lessons they have yet to adequately learn. Such flaws may prove fatal as One Piece reaches its final chapters and plot armor becomes less reliable.
10 Brook Soliciting Women
While not the Straw Hats’ worst offender, Brook’s harassment of women is one of the most grating hallmarks of his character. He often asks perfect strangers if he can see their panties, a gambit that has almost always failed, with the exception of Shakky.
It also results in Brook being physically pummeled, often even by members of his own crew. Given that the skeleton presents himself as a cordial gentleman, he needs to start acting like one if his character is to have any semblance of consistency and respect.
9 Zoro Getting Lost
Zoro’s horrible navigational skills are a cornerstone of his character. Ever since Syrup Village, he’s demonstrated a complete obliviousness to his surroundings that often makes him late for battle. This is exacerbated further by his insistence that his directional skills are fine and his desire to go off on his own.
Considering that Zoro is the second most powerful Straw Hat, it’s essential that he either improves his navigational ability or accepts that he has none. There are only so many fights he can arrive late to before one of his comrades end up seriously wounded or dead.
8 Splitting Up Constantly
The Straw Hats have a serious issue with splitting up. Technically beginning at Sabaody but meaningfully since Dressrosa, their refusal to stay as a cohesive unit made many arcs more difficult than needed.
Considering that Luffy’s crew ventured to Whole Cake Island, home of the Big Mom Pirates and verifiable Emperor territory, dividing his already meager forces even further realistically should have resulted in his death. The Straw Hats illustrated how successful they were working together at Onigashima, so it makes no sense to keep pulling them apart in the series’ final chapters.
7 Using Their Contacts
Over the years, the Straw Hats have made valuable contacts across the high seas. Bartholomeo and the Straw Hat Grand Fleet are exceptional examples, given how they can supplement the heroes’ admittedly scarce numbers in brutal wars of attrition.
Additionally, Luffy’s friends rank among the highest echelons of the World Government. From Neptune to Riku and arguably even Garp, the Straw Hats have a surprising amount of friends in an organization strongly dedicated to their undoing. Given the Navy’s growing hostility, it’s advisable to call on them so that the World Government’s wrath is somewhat staunched.
6 Don’t Trust Everyone
Luffy’s friendly nature is both his greatest asset and worst undoing. It comes with a profound sense of gullibility, as seen when trusting Kanjuro solely on Kin’emon’s word despite the man’s repeated attempts to sabotage them.
Luffy was also prone to trust Galdino and Buggy when helping to escape Impel Down, both of whom secretly hated and wanted to destroy him. The only reason the trio actually escaped together was that there was no feasible way they could have left the Straw Hats captain behind when procuring their own freedom.
5 Sanji’s Self Control
Sanji’s lack of self-control is detrimental in almost every way. He cannot help himself around women to such an extent that he’ll refuse to fight one, even if it means saving one of his female colleagues.
Additionally, some women are so beautiful that it has surprisingly serious consequences for Sanji. On Fish-Man Island, seeing mermaids induced a nosebleed so profound that Chopper had to treat him at a hospital. In Onigashima, he wanders into the Pleasure District rather than staying on task to defeat the Beast Pirates and actually help the denizens of Wano.
4 Other Crew Members Need To Get Stronger
The Straw Hats have a massive disparity in power that makes the arcs uneven. The only characters equipped to fight are the “Monster Trio,” Jimbei, and Franky. Everyone else’s success hinges on theirs, making them a liability in more serious encounters.
It is especially unfortunate for Chopper, whose Monster Point was once powerful enough to fracture Enies Lobby and defeat a Cipher Pol agent in a single hit. Chopper may have mastered the Monster Point, but its strength is still comparatively lacking when measured against the New World’s worst threats.
3 Luffy Jumping To Conclusions
Despite being the Straw Hats’ captain, Luffy has less restraint than his other members. Often, he jumps to aggressive conclusions that put everyone else at risk, sometimes even directly.
For example, Luffy attacked Zoro at Whiskey Peak since he couldn’t conceive that his “hosts” were actually evil Baroque Works agents. Similarly, he immediately trusted Law as an ally despite what the man had recently done to their crew simply because the Warlord said that he could be trusted. Luffy may have become stronger, but his excitability is easy to exploit.
2 Stop Breaking The Plan
The Straw Hats have a horrible tendency to break their originally devised plans. Whole Cake Island was a particularly jarring offender since Luffy stayed behind to fight Katakuri rather than accompany his friends.
The villain easily could have been left in Brulee’s mirror world, but Luffy simply wanted a challenge so that he could become stronger. Considering that Big Mom actively tore through their ship as the Straw Hats were being pursued by an entire fleet of pirates, Luffy’s actions show the consequences of what happens when one improvises based on personal whims.
1 Don’t Always Spare Villains
The Straw Hats have an unspoken rule where they do not kill any of their opponents. This has frequently come back to haunt them, as seen through instances like Bellamy and Rob Lucci.
Gecko Moria was the worst consequence of the Straw Hats’ mercy, as he has frequently plagued the heroes’ interests ever since. Whether helping cut down Oars Jr. at Marineford or joining the Blackbeard Pirates, Moria will be essential in the battles to come. Should the Straw Hats have finished him when given the chance, they wouldn’t need to worry about what Blackbeard is planning or whose corpses he intends to dredge up.
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