Being a series targeting the shonen demographic, One Piece rarely allows its characters to die. After all, it is supposed to be a happy adventure filled with excitement and thrill. Killing off its characters would be contradicting that idea. However, that is not to say that the franchise is completely devoid of death.
One Piece also has its fair share of tragic scenes. Though characters dying are a rare occurrence in the series, it can be really heartbreaking when it does happen. And here are ten of the saddest deaths in the series.
10 Montblanc Noland Spent His Last Breaths Branded as a Liar
Montblanc Noland may not be a main character in One Piece, but that doesn’t make his fate any less tragic. He was the explorer who discovered the City of Gold, as well as the one who saved it. Unfortunately, his tale would be branded as a lie as time flew by. And that’s due to the knock-up stream.
The stream sent the so-called City of Gold into Skypiea, so when Noland returned with the royalty in tow, he found nothing but the remains of the island. Furious by Noland’s supposed lies, Noland was executed. He would then be regarded as the biggest liar in history.
9 Pedro’s Death Allowed the Straw Hat Pirates to Escape
Pedro was a Mink who volunteered to accompany the Straw Hat Pirates in their bid to save Sanji from the Big Mom Pirates. He partnered up with Brook to steal the Big Mom Pirates’ Ponegliff, and they did succeed. The problem, however, was when they were trying to escape.
Perospero, Big Mom’s eldest son, managed to corner the group. That was when Pedro decided to sacrifice himself. He strapped himself with explosives and detonated them. It was through this sacrifice that the group got an opportunity to flee. The only reason Pedro’s death wasn’t as impactful is that Pedro hadn’t spent long with the Straw Hats.
8 Yasuie Sacrificed Himself for the Rebellion
Yasuie’s greatest sacrifice was when the Red Scabbards finally returned to Wano. They were setting up their planned revolt with the help of the pirates and the Minks, but Orochi managed to get wind of their plans.
Yasuie decided to take the blame and brush it off as a childish prank. While his efforts allowed the plan to come to fruition, he lost his life in the process. To make matters worse, his constituents couldn’t even shed tears for him due to the effects of the SMILEs. Instead of crying, they were laughing at his tragedy.
7 Belle-Mère Couldn’t Deny Being a Mother
When the Arlong Pirates first arrived at Cocoyashi Village, they demanded the villagers pay for their lives. Adults were told to pay 100,000 Berry for their lives, while each child would have to pay 50,000 Berry.
Even at that time, Belle-Mère was already strapped for money. She only had 100,000 Berry, and she could have gotten away with her life should she have given in to Arlong’s demands. However, Belle-Mère couldn’t bring it upon herself to deny the fact that she was Nami and Nojiko’s mother, albeit in name only. As a result, Arlong took her life.
6 Oden Boiled for an Hour for His Vassals
When Oden was still living, he kept saying that he was born to boil. Interestingly, that was literally how his journey ended. He and his vassals lost to Kaido and were punished to be executed by boiling.
Oden, however, negotiated with Kaido. He asked Kaido to let anybody still living after an hour of boiling be given their freedom. When the Emperor agreed, he proceeded to carry all of his vassals and endured an hour-long torture. All of his vassals managed to survive, but he unfortunately lost his life in the process.
5 Corazon Offered his Life to Save Law
Corazon might have acted like he hated children, but it was far from reality. He was only acting cruelly in the hopes of driving the said kids away from following his evil brother. He exemplified that in his last moments.
He kidnapped Law and searched for a way to cure his white lead disease. They hopped hospitals to no avail. When Doflamingo eventually caught up to them, Corazon sacrificed himself in order to let Law escape while also making sure to cure the boy’s sickness.
4 Dr. Hiriluk Is One of the Few Good Parental Figures in One Piece
When Dr. Hiriluk eventually fell sick, Chopper tried to concoct the best medicine for him. But instead of medicine, the reindeer concocted a poison, mistaking the skull and bones symbol for a Jolly Roger.
Dr. Hiriluk, however, still drank the poison despite knowing the truth. He couldn’t forsake the efforts of his beloved son. And in order to ensure that Chopper wouldn’t blame himself for his death, Dr. Hiriluk took his own life even before the poison took effect.
3 The Rumbar Pirates Had One Last Concert
The Rumbar Pirates is the pirate crew Laboon has been waiting to come back. Since the whale had gotten too big to take with them, they left him at Twin Capes and promised to return to him.
Unfortunately, Grand Line hadn’t been good to them. The entire crew was wiped out by poison, though they didn’t immediately lose their lives. And so, Brook proposed to record one final song. He then promised to take the recording to Laboon. The sadder part was the fact that Brook continued to play as his crewmates met their demise one by one.
2 Ace’s Death Was Something the Fandom Dreaded
When Ace was captured by the Marines, Luffy went through hell and high waters in order to save him. The entire fandom witnessed what Luffy had to go through for the sake of his brother.
That being said, the entire fandom rooted for Luffy to succeed and eventually cheered as Luffy freed Ace. However, what happened next stirred the fans’ emotions negatively. After all, seeing Ace lose his life a few moments away from freedom was devastating at the very least.
1 Going Merry Wanted One Final Trip
Despite being broken beyond repair, the Going Merry didn’t just want to say goodbye to the Straw Hat Pirates. The ship wanted to continue doing its job. And it also proved that.
When Robin was taken by CP9 to Enies Lobby, the broken Merry called Iceberg for some repairs. It wanted to set sail with the Straw Hats one last time, saving them from mortal peril. Unfortunately, the Going Merry broke the moment they got to safety, and the Straw Hat Pirates had to emotionally send it off to the seas of One Piece.