Why One Piece Fans Don’t Respect Its Strongest Creature

Warning: contains major spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1030!

When it comes to killing off characters, One Piece is beginning to follow the same pattern as Marvel and DC as some characters just won’t stay dead. While this has already been a source of frustration to fans, the handling of characters’ deaths is getting especially bothersome. After all, if no one can actually die at their hands, how bad could the current villain really be?

One Piece began publishing in 1997 and has hit numerous major milestones. Besides being the best-selling manga series in history, it has released 100 volumes, 1,000 chapters, and the One Piece anime will soon air its 1,000th episode. Captain Monkey D. Luffy of the Straw Hat Pirates has come a long way in his journey to becoming King of the Pirates, but he still has a way to go – particularly since beginning his fight with the strongest creature in One Piece: Kaido.

Created by the series’ mangaka, Eiichiro Oda, translated by Stephen Paul, and lettered by Vanessa Satone, a recent chapter of One Piece has highlighted a recurring flaw of the series. Chapter 1030: Echoing the Impermanence of All Things reveals that more characters have survived after previously being thought dead. This is rather ironic considering this manga chapter’s title. Impermanence could apply to life – after all, every journey has to come to an end – but here fans can also apply it to the idea of character deaths being impermanent. In this chapter, Kiku, Kanjuro, and Kin’emon are all revealed to be very much alive, taking the same route as Pell. While Luffy has seemingly died in the past – like in his multiple battles with Sir Crocodile in the Alabasta arc – it wouldn’t make sense for him to actually be written out. After all, he is the series’ hero. However, other One Piece characters should definitely be fair game and the fact that so many characters are returning without much consequence is undermining the weight of the current arc – and arcs to come.

As the series has progressed, the Straw Hat Pirates’ foes have become stronger and harder to defeat. This is why the main group has had to train and improve their independent skills over the last twenty-four years. During the current Wano Country arc, the biggest foe is supposed to be Kaido, but he may not be as villainous – or powerful – as initially believed and advertised.

Luffy’s current foe, Kaido, has been referred to as the “Strongest Creature,” but so far, he isn’t living up to the hype. This has only provided confusion regarding why Luffy hasn’t been able to beat him yet. As one of the strongest devil fruit ability wielders, Luffy has toppled powerful foes in the past, even if it took a little time. And while many of his foes live up to their reputations, he has simply bested them by fighting with more passion and strategy. Kaido has no reason to not be defeated, especially since characters with less strength than Luffy are able to survive Kaido stabbing them or beheading them, in the cases of Kin’emon and Orochi, respectively. By this point in the arc, the intensity should be ramped up and Kaido should appear unbeatable. Yet he hasn’t even been able to fully defeat lesser foes than Luffy.

This lack of tension is making One Piece‘s current arc feel less like a must-read story and more like a lull in an otherwise epic tale. Pell, Kin’emon, Kiku, Kanjuro, Orochi are proving to be easy to resurrect and it lessens some of the arc’s impact.

About The Author

Samantha King
(832 Articles Published)

Samantha King is a Comic News Writer for Screen Rant. She has a B.A. in English & American Literature with a concentration in Shakespeare and a minor in Creative Writing from UTEP. She also has a M.S. in Library Science from the University of North Texas.

Samantha used to get in trouble for reading comics in class back in high school, but she gets the last laugh. She took a graphic novel course in college and now gets paid to write about comics. She runs her own blog at: www.therealworldaccordingtosam.blogspot.com

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