Highlights
- Oda’s character writing in One Piece is highly praised, with well-rounded characters that impress fans in many ways.
- Despite fan complaints about the lack of deaths in the series, One Piece has had significant deaths that propel the plot and character development.
- Oda avoids meaningless deaths and only kills off characters when necessary for the story, as he wants to end the series with a big party and a focus on freedom and joy.
Oda has created a fascinating world in One Piece and fans absolutely love the many characters that he has written over the years. When it comes to character writing, Oda is one of the very best to have graced the manga world. The vast majority of the characters in One Piece are very well-written, and they all manage to impress the fans in many ways.
These characters aren’t entirely dependent on their level of strength. Instead, these are characters with set goals who, with time, continue to work towards them and are very well-rounded characters, overall. Whether one talks about dynamic characters or static characters, One Piece has some of the very best. Yet, Oda has often come under fire from certain fans for not killing off many characters in his story. There is a very big reason for that and many misconceptions surrounding this whole debacle as well.
The Deaths In One Piece
One Piece has seen quite a lot of deaths over the years. This is expected of a series that has continued for over two decades now and some of the most significant deaths in the story come in the form of flashbacks. Other than that, One Piece has also killed some significant characters, two of whom ended up dying in the Paramount War. Luffy’s beloved brother, Ace, was one such character who ended up losing his life tragically in the Paramount War. Ace was captured by Blackbeard after he was defeated and then turned over to the Navy. The Navy, knowing that Ace was Roger’s very own son, decided to execute him and this led to a war with the Whitebeard Pirates.
Luffy found himself in the midst of this war in an attempt to save his brother and, even though he succeeded in saving his life, Ace ended up giving his life away by saving Luffy instead. This was a very tragic and ironic death and it certainly did elevate the Marineford arc and what came after by quite a degree. Ace was not the only character who ended up dying in the Paramount War of One Piece. His captain, Whitebeard, followed him as well. Whitebeard came to Marineford to save his son, however, in the end, he sacrificed his life so that his children could get away from the island safely. Whitebeard successfully managed to hold off the Navy, and, in the end, Blackbeard and his treachery led to the death of this incredibly powerful Emperor of the Sea. These two deaths are considered to be some of the very best in the entirety of One Piece and they certainly aren’t there just for show.
The Misconception Around One Piece Deaths
When one speaks of death in One Piece, the vast majority of the fans simply complain that the series does not have enough in it. This is somewhat of a misconstrued argument. From the very beginning, One Piece has had several deaths in the story. In fact, fans have seen deaths as early as the Syrup Village arc, where Usopp’s mother was known to have died a very early death. As the story continued, dead characters kept getting revealed in One Piece, mostly through flashbacks. While fans might argue that these deaths don’t happen in the present timeline, that doesn’t make them any less significant. The death of a character shouldn’t exist just for show.
A character death is a means to move the plot forward and, because of that, quite a lot of deaths in One Piece and in any other form of media are plot devices for either character progression, or, for the plot to move forward in a particular direction.
For instance, the death of Ace was used by Oda as a means to make Luffy stronger. In a similar manner, the death of Bellemere was used by Oda as a plot device to shape the character of Nami. The vast majority of deaths in fiction are used to propel the plot in a certain direction and Oda has masterfully accomplished that in his story. However, even when speaking of deaths in the present timeline, there are many in One Piece that fans simply choose to ignore.
For instance, just in the Wano Country arc, fans have seen the death of the likes of Yasuie, and potentially even Kaido and Big Mom, who are absolutely massive characters. The likes of Izo and Ashura also ended up dying in the raid. Speaking of the Final Saga, the likes of Mjosgard and King Cobra, were also killed off, along with characters such as Shaka and Pythagoras. There are many deaths in One Piece that often take place, yet, the series keeps its reputation of not killing off many characters.
Why One Piece Deaths Are Somewhat Rare
The thing fans need to realize about deaths in One Piece is that Oda will only kill off characters when it is absolutely necessary for a certain plot related to it to go somewhere. Often, series use deaths as a means for shock value or to serve cheap purposes. One Piece isn’t like that. In One Piece, even the characters who end up dying should have a proper character arc and character-defining moments. Oda doesn’t just introduce characters to kill them off randomly. Oda illustrates a character perfectly, and makes them stand on their own feet. These characters are then only killed off when it is absolutely necessary and there is no way around it. If possible, Oda would like to avoid killing too many characters because, at the heart of it, One Piece is a story about freedom and joy and parties, which is what Luffy as a character, represents.
Oda himself has spoken about this on many occasions in the past and, according to him, he doesn’t like to kill off too many characters for a specific reason. Here’s what he has to say about killing off characters:
“The reason I don’t want to draw scenes where people die is because I want to draw a party after the battle. If someone dies, you can’t have an enjoyable party. A party is my ideal form of friendship. I want to end with One Piece with a big party.”
It is clear that Oda does not like to kill off characters meaninglessly. For instance, series such as Jujutsu Kaisen often feature meaningless deaths; the characters are simply introduced to be killed off and these are meaningless deaths because the characters aren’t fleshed out enough for the fans to even care about them, to begin with. Other series use that in cheap ways or for very ridiculous purposes. Neji’s death from Naruto, which was used to bring Hinata and Naruto together, comes to mind. Oda absolutely avoids doing this and he realizes the fact that killing of characters isn’t essential for the story to move forward. However, where it is absolutely necessary, Oda doesn’t shy away from taking them out of the plot entirely.
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. Since One Piece is going to be on break, the release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1102, is set to be December 25, 2023.