The following contains spoilers for the One Piece manga by Eiichiro Oda, available in English from Viz Media.
It isn’t uncommon for shonen stories to feature characters that are seemingly immortal; no matter how hard they try, they just can’t seem to be killed. If anything, shonen titles have perfected the art of the “fake-out” death, when the audience is absolutely sure that a character has died, only to have them return later.
Fake-out deaths are a cheap way to build tension in a story, and it’s something that works quite well, especially in a weekly manga format like One Piece. It keeps readers guessing every week, waiting and wanting to find out what happens next. Some characters are infamous for surviving mortal wounds or otherwise impossible circumstances, and yet they have no issue rising from the grave only moments later.
Pell Was the Earliest Example of a Character That Should Have Died
Back in the “Alabasta” arc, the stage was set during the climax of what was already a fairly long saga. Crocodile had incited a civil war in the kingdom so that he could become king of Alabasta, gaining access to the poneglyph that contains the information necessary for finding Pluton, an ancient weapon. However, before the civil war had begun, Crocodile planted a massive bomb in the palace of the city, easily annihilating the structure and everyone inside it.
During Luffy’s final battle with Crocodile, the rest of the Straw Hats focused on cleaning up the rest of Crocodile’s crew and trying to get the soldiers to stop fighting each other. When they learned about the bomb, they frantically searched the city for it. Vivi eventually found the bomb but was unable to disarm it. It was here that Pell, guardian of Alabasta and loyal friend of the sovereignty, made the ultimate sacrifice — supposedly.
With his ability to transform into a bird thanks to his devil fruit, Pell grabbed the bomb and flew it high into the air, far away from the city. The bomb exploded, seemingly consuming Pell in the process. In the aftermath of the battle days later, however, Pell was completely fine, with no explanation given of how he survived. This could have been an amazing send-off for the character, embracing one of the core themes of One Piece: loyalty.
Oda Makes Strange Choices on Who Lives and Dies
Loyalty is key for characters who make sacrificial plays, literally putting their bodies on the line for a cause or for others — and yet those are the characters that are most often robbed of a satisfying conclusion. In the “Wano” arc, the longest arc in the story to date, only around four characters actually died, and two of them were completely unexpected by most fans.
Ashura Doji and Izo of the Red Scabbards sacrificed themselves in the battle, but there’s one character who almost certainly deserved it more than them: Kin’emon. Kin’emon has been with the Straw Hats almost since they stepped foot in the New World, all in his quest to return to Wano and help free it from Kaido and Orochi’s clutches. He’s been through some of the toughest battles in the story just to see his country free once more.
During the battle of Onigashima, after being beaten nearly to death by Kaido, Kin’emon pleaded with Luffy to save Wano in his stead. It was a perfect moment for a send-off, and yet Kin’emon survived. A short while later, Kin’emon recovered and encountered Kaido again. Overwhelmingly outmatched, Kaido smashed Kin’emon’s skull and then skewered him with a nearby katana — and Kin’emon somehow survived once again.
Deaths Add Punch to the Story
CP0, government agents who were present during the battle of Onigashima, were tasked with ensuring the demise of Luffy after he awakened his gear fifth form. Guernica, the leader of the squad, was the one who almost made this happen. For interfering in the battle, he was annihilated by Kaido in one of the most brutal deaths in the series — or so the fans thought, as in the latest SBS, 104, Oda revealed that Guernica survived the encounter.
It’s difficult to say exactly why Oda doesn’t want to kill off his characters. It’s not as if One Piece suddenly needs to become a bloodbath, bodies dropping left and right, but the fact that characters who are almost certainly dead repeatedly survive the impossible makes those moments retroactively have a lesser impact. Sacrifice for a greater cause is typically seen as one of the noblest things a person can do, and while perhaps it’s the thought that counts, seeing a character actually die would give more weight to what should be the climax of their character arc, and a huge emotional payoff for the fans.
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