One Piece: Oda Reveals His Most Bothersome Character

Oda has proven himself to be one of the greatest mangaka of all time, and this doesn't come as a surprise to the fans, given his incredible dedication to his craft, and of course, the consistency that he has shown with One Piece over the last two decades. Over this time, Oda has crafted a surreal world, with hundreds of places, and, of course, thousands of characters.

Of course, while Oda loves his story to bits, there are certain aspects of it that give him a head-scratcher. Oda has, time and again, spoken of things that he has found difficulty with when tackling One Piece, and of course, when it comes to the most bothersome character in the entire series, he has one particular individual singled out, and that person might actually surprise the fans.

The Character That Bothers Oda The Most

Oda Finds Luffy To Be Quite Bothersome

One Piece has many characters with distinct personalities. Oda is a master of character writing, and this particular aspect of his story is what attracts quite a lot of the fans. One Piece isn't generally known for the flashiest of fights, even though it has some of the very best that fans have ever seen. It is the storytelling, the worldbuilding, and of course, the meticulous attention to detail to both the plot and the characters that makes it as good as it is. When it comes to these aspects, One Piece is absolutely unmatched, and that in itself means that Oda has paid special attention to these particular aspects of the story.

Naturally, Oda has had to handle his characters in a specific manner, or risk losing all the characterization that he has built over the years. As the story continues, of course, it is going to be even harder for Oda to make sure that his characters stay in line. Now, it might be easy for him to do with some characters. However, it is much more difficult to do with others. In this regard, the most difficult character for Oda to handle, and in his own words, the most bothersome one, is none other than the protagonist of the series, Monkey D. Luffy. Here's what Oda, the author of One Piece, has had to say about Luffy and his character over the years:

Of course, Luffy is the heart and soul of One Piece, and this certainly does not mean that Oda finds Luffy difficult to deal with. It is just that this particular character is written so well that Oda often has to put brakes on him, otherwise, the story simply won't go in the direction that he wants it to go. Oda has mentioned on many occasions that his characters have a will of their own. For an author, making a character do anything is possible. However, the author then has to think whether the action that they are making the character take is in line with the personality that they have established for them in the first place.

In this regard, Luffy would often do things that would go against Oda's particular plan for that arc. For this reason, Oda has run into trouble on multiple occasions while handling Luffy, and this aspect of Luffy's character is what keeps Oda up at night, figuratively.

How Luffy Was Nerfed Across The Many Arcs Of One Piece

Oda Has Nerfed Luffy On Many Occasions

When it comes to Luffy, after the 2-year time skip, this problem has been more apparent for Oda. Luffy is way too powerful at this point in time, and for him to stand in the path of the villains and not defeat them immediately is quite a challenge. Still, Oda has figured out many intriguing obstacles and nerfed him accordingly in the many arcs, so that the particular sequence of events makes much more sense.

For instance, right from the beginning of the post-timeskip of One Piece, this problem has been apparent. In Fishman Island, Luffy could have defeated Hody immediately. Even after he consumed the many steroids that he did, Luffy could easily have wrapped up the arc, however, Oda first had Luffy earn the trust of all the Fishmen, which is in line with his personality, and at the same time, makes the arc more intriguing.

By doing that, Oda shot down two birds with a single stone, and that just goes to highlight the problem that Luffy's powerful and free-spirited character often causes for him. Similarly, in Punk Hazard, there was absolutely no threat to Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates, yet, Oda had to come up with interesting ordeals that would delay Luffy from beating the enemies too quickly.

Luffy's Ascension To Yonko And What That Means For His Power

Luffy Has Now Become An Emperor Of The Sea

In the Final Saga of One Piece, it can be said that this problem is more prevalent than ever before. This is simply down to the fact that Luffy has now ascended to the position of Yonko. He is easily one of the strongest characters in the series, and, to make things even more difficult for Oda himself, Luffy now has power with absolutely no limitations. Luffy has awakened Gear 5, and that means he can essentially do anything that he wants, with the only limitation for him being his very own imagination, and of course, in some regards, his stamina.

Because of that, Luffy is essentially impossible for anyone to defeat, at least based on what fans have seen so far. For instance, in Egghead, Oda had to make sure that Luffy did not essentially cut Lucci out of the entire arc, as he easily could have done it at the beginning if he wanted to. Similarly, when Luffy fought against Kizaru, the Admiral could easily have been taken out of the entire arc, however, Oda had Luffy fight in a way where that was avoided.

Meanwhile, the major antagonists of the story from here onwards were given powers that could be comparable to Luffy himself and that was utterly necessary. Had the Five Elders not had immortality, Luffy could easily have defeated one of them in Egghead as well, and then, this would have risked lowering the quality of the story in many ways.

Furthermore, fans should keep in mind that whenever Oda can, he will nerf Luffy in many ways. This is the fans' answer to the question of why Luffy doesn't rely on Advanced Conqueror's Haki in many battles. If he were to do so, then the arcs would simply end way too quickly. For that reason, Oda has to either introduce stronger villains, or create conditions where Luffy is on the back foot, such as what is happening right now on Egghead with all Five Elders having assembled. Still, fans should get used to Luffy being nerfed more than ever before, especially now, as he is way too powerful.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1112, is set to be April 21, 2024.