10 emotional moments in One Piece that will make you cry

❘ Updated: 2024-01-09T18:59:12

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Consider this your warning to grab some tissues, because we’ll be listing off the 10 most emotional moments in One Piece that made us all extremely teary eyed.

Any fan of the franchise could tell you that One Piece isn’t all laughs and fights, with some sincere emotional scenes spread all across the series. Be it a wholesome moment or an emotionally destroying backstory, One Piece proves it can handle the situation when things get teary-eyed.

We’re not necessarily counting only sad moments on this list as, while often played for jokes, One Piece also contains some of the most sincerely wholesome and fulfilling moments in all of anime. These are often overshadowed by the sad moments, but we’ll include what we can in the hope of evening things out emotionally. Fair Warning – Spoilers ahead!

The 10 most emotional moments in One Piece

We’ll only be including moments that are a part of completed arcs in this list, which means nothing from Egghead Island. Which is a good thing because otherwise, we’d be talking about Bartholomew Kuma’s backstory all day.

10. Trafalgar Law’s backstory with Corazon

Possibly the most popular character out of the Worst Generation, outside of the Straw Hat crew, comes Trafalgar Law, a pirate doctor with strange powers that fit his sadistic style. On the other hand, his backstory is full of darkness and, surprisingly, compassion after he meets Corazon, an undercover agent spying on his brother Donquixote Doflamingo.

Delving into his backstory, Law suffers from Amber Lead syndrome, a seemingly terminal disease; Law doesn’t know how long he has left to live, so he becomes roped into the events that lead to the Donquixote Family gaining power in the criminal world. The amount of genuine love Corazon shows Law gives him hope to survive as they find a cure with the Op-Op Fruit, meaning operation, even if it comes at the loss of Corazon’s life.

9. Usopp and Luffy’s falling out over the Merry

After hearing the news that the Going Merry is beyond repair, tensions reach their peak as a recovering Usopp refuses to accept this news. Usopp has let the crew down by allowing their money to repair their ship to get stolen by Franky’s crime family, and he can’t come close to matching up to them when he tries to recover it.

Usopp projects himself onto the conversation quite a lot because he feels like Luffy is talking about him as well as the Going Merry; broken beyond repair, and being thrown away is easier than putting in the effort to fix the situation. This is very applicable to possibly the weakest member of the Straw Hat crew, who was left as beaten and broken as the Going Merry.

8. Usopp rejoins the crew

We didn’t say that all of these One Piece emotional moments needed to be sad, did we? After breaking up in Water 7, the Straw Hats and Usopp in disguise join forces to save Nico Robin from the clutches of CP9, succeed, and return to Water 7 to gain the shipwright Franky and a new ship, the Thousand Sunny. The only thing missing is their marksman.

Before Usopp swallows his pride, Zoro makes a good point about not letting Usopp re-join unless he apologizes. Unfortunately, he’s right not to let Luffy’s role as Captain be seriously undermined. On the happier side is how every character reacts; most of them cry, as do we. Zoro being proud of Usopp and Sanji just screaming in joy always seals how precious this moment is for the crew and audience alike.

7. Arlong betrays Nami

Back in the East Blue, when he took over Nami’s village, Arlong struck a deal with Nami that she could buy her town’s freedom for 100 million berries as long as she worked for the pirate drawing maps for him. Until this point where Nami breaks down, she’s strong and almost asks as the Straw Hats babysitter so they don’t fall overboard. Seeing a character as strong as this fall apart, even going as far as self-harming, is challenging, to say the least.

It’s the way that Arlong pulls the rub out from under Nami that makes her break down, using some marine grunts working under Arlong’s bribes, so he technically hasn’t broken their deal. Nami isn’t a fool; she knows that Arlong would do anything to keep a valuable navigator around, with the worst-case situation being her gaining a semblance of Stockholm Syndrome for her Fishman captor.

6. Chopper’s backstory with Dr. Hiriluk

Our favorite furry doctor is naturally hesitant to help the Straw Hats when they appear on his snowy doorstep, so when Dr. Kureha reveals Chopper’s backstory to the recovering Nami, we get a closer look at Chopper’s loyalties to his island and awful mistreatment by the humans and wildlife alike after eating a human-human Devil Fruit with nowhere to turn, the fatally ill Dr. Hiriluk brings Chopper in from the cold and treats him as his own son.

Chopper’s backstory comes with a message: “Good intentions can only go so far if you can’t back them up.” Hiriluk wasn’t a good doctor; calling him a quack was, unfortunately, accurate, but he was an optimist who had faith that the corrupt Drum Kingdom still had a chance of being healed from the evil of their ruler, Wapol. As the crew leaves Drum Island, Chopper sees Hiriluk’s wish fulfilled with a sky full of cherry blossoms sending him off.

5. Nico Robin’s backstory, Ohara and beyond

Having a tragic backstory doesn’t automatically make you a Straw Hat, but you can’t deny it probably helps, and Robin certainly has that. Bullied as a child due to her odd Devil Fruit abilities, Robin sought solace in knowledge and was paid back in kind by her entire village getting killed by the Marines. Surviving through Aokiji’s mercy only to get a temptingly high bounty on her head.

What seals Robin’s tragedy isn’t just the incident at Ohara but also how the world treats a young Robin as she tries to survive growing up with a target on her back. The coldness of strangers towards a small girl needing help, only finding safety in the criminal underworld, which ties her backstory up all the way to Baroque Works and Crocodile.

4. Kuma breaks up the Straw Hat crew

Saboady Archipelago is an infamous arc where Luffy puts the crew in the crosshairs of the Marine Admirals due to slugging a Celestial Dragon, saving their Fishman friends from slavery. From this point onwards, it is an uphill battle for survival against the marines, the mechanical monsters that are the Pacifista, Admiral Kizaru, and eventually the damning Bartholomew Kuma.

What Kuma does, with hindsight, is a mercy for the Straw Hats as they are far from being ready to take on the next stage of their adventures in the New World; splitting them up gives them time to train for their journey ahead. However, this doesn’t make the struggle any easier as Luffy weeps hopelessly as his beloved crew vanishes one by one.

3. Ace dies in Luffy’s arms

The deaths in One Piece are almost always emotional, but what makes Ace’s death really hurt is because of how close Luffy came to saving him. After being split up by Kuma, Luffy learns that the navy plans to execute his brother Ace and must save him. Luffy rushes through Amazon Lily, Impel Down all the way to the war at Marineford, and gets as close as freeing Ace from his shackles before the unthinkable happens.

In true big brother fashion, Ace blocks a fatal blow from the marine admiral Akainu, leaving Luffy comatose as Jimbei helps him escape Marineford. The fallout of this situation makes Luffy grateful he still has his crew even if they’re lost somewhere out in the world, all of which prepare to find Luffy as soon as they hear the word of what’s happened until their captain declares the plan to delay their reunion.

2. Brooks’ backstory and the bittersweet Binks’ Sake

An image of Brook sharing his dream with Straw Hat Luffy

Brook is the most cheery member of the Straw Hats next to Luffy, but behind that bony smile is the saddest backstory in the entire series. It wouldn’t be surprising if the poor afro-skeleton lost his mind, and the way the jokes around about the past, he probably has. During Thriller Bark, the more we learn about Brook, the sadder the situation becomes, and we all rally behind him to become a Straw Hat.

Brook, knowing Laboon the Whale gives him a closer connection to the Straw Hats, his former captain dying from illness, him and his crew all gradually dying after an enemy attack while singing “Binks’ Sake,” his Devil Fruit ability granting him another chance at life, but he couldn’t find his body until it was reduced to bones, and on top of everything, him being alone for almost 50 years. The one upside here is that Brook can finally sing with friends once again.

1. The crew says goodbye to the Going Merry

Saying goodbye to a friend can be difficult; saying goodbye to a friend because they’re dying is harder. The Going Merry was the Straw Hats’ ship, home, and friend until the wear and tear of grand adventure gradually wore the old girl down. Though the crew aimed to fix her up with the spoils from Skypiea, she was ruled beyond repair, and Luffy handles this very poorly.

The Going Merry not being fixable is the launch point of the emotional story of Water 7; it’s what leads to Usopp and Luffy having their massive falling out and to make matters worse, CP9 sends the poor ship off to sink in a storm. The boat gains sentience, rescues the crew from Enis Lobby, and Luffy’s emotional apology for how they’ve taken advantage of their friend, only to be met with an ethereal voice thanking the crew for such a wonderful life. That scene is a tear-jerker that sticks with every One Piece fan.

Those are our rankings of the most emotional moments in One Piece. For more One Piece rankings, check out our picks for the best story arcs in One Piece and what we consider the best fights in the entire One Piece series, or maybe check out Luffy’s new look on Egghead Island.

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