This list contains spoilers!
Summary
- One Piece villains often have sympathetic backstories, highlighting the humanity beneath their actions.
- Many antagonists in the series have endured immense suffering before becoming despicable villains.
- Characters like Aokiji and Kuma have faced physical and emotional trauma, leading to their villainous roles.
Eiichiro Oda, the author of the immensely popular One Piece series, has a knack for creating villains who end up being oddly sympathetic. While there are more than a few antagonists seen in the series who want nothing more than to destroy everything and everyone that steps in their way, it's often revealed that they themselves have experienced an immense amount of suffering throughout their lives before getting to this point. Of course, this doesn't excuse their actions in the main story, but it can at least help to emphasize the humanity that lies beneath the surface.
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On the other hand, there have also been several One Piece villains who have experienced a lot of hardship within the main story itself, both mentally and physically, especially those who were forced to take a punch or two from Luffy and the Straw Hats. Many of these villains are downright despicable, but it is still important to acknowledge just how much they've been through as individuals.
Aokiji
Aokiji Was Cast Out Of The Marines And Lost A Limb For Good Measure
- First Appearance: Episode 227
Aokiji is a rather interesting character in the story, as while he was initially introduced as an admiral of the Marines, he didn't end up holding his position for very long. When Sengoku retired as the Fleet Admiral, Aokiji and Akainu engaged in an intense battle to see who would take up the mantle of being the Marines' new leader, with the latter of the two coming out as the victor. Not only did Aokiji lose a limb as a result of this battle, but he also left his position after realizing that he would be forced to serve under his arch rival if he were to remain in his position.
Aokiji has suffered a lot at the hands of Akainu, and though he may seem pretty jolly as a member of Blackbeard's crew nowadays, it's clear that he still has a lot of mental trauma from his time in Marines. An example of this is how he constantly reflects on his actions back in Ohara, which continues to haunt him even to this day.
Bellamy
Bellamy's Own Role Model Turned On Him And Almost Ended His Life
- First Appearance: Episode 146
It seems as though anytime Bellamy shows up in the story, he is always destined to be embarrassed in one way or another. After shooting his mouth off at Luffy back in Jaya, Bellamy is embarrassed in front of his whole crew after being taken down with a single punch from the Straw Hat captain. He would then reappear much later in Dressrosa, where he was able to serve under his role model, Doflamingo.
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While this should have been a dream come true, it turns out that Doflamingo was only using him as an expendable pawn, and came very close to killing him after he had served his purpose. In the end, Bellamy had endured so much that he would decide to step down from being a pirate entirely, in order to hopefully live a new life where he could finally be happy.
Gecko Moria
The Lazy Warlord's Entire Crew Was Obliterated By Kaido
- First Appearance: Episode 343
Gecko Moria isn't exactly the most proactive of the Warlords, as he can often be found lounging around and minding his own business, but he is still someone who was strong enough to go against the ferocious Kaido many years ago. That being said, though, the battle didn't exactly end up going Moria's way, as he would ultimately lose all of his crew members during the conflict.
This is why Moria's crew, who are seen in Thriller Bark, are mostly made up of zombies, as he wanted to find a way to relive his glory days while blocking out the tragedy that had struck him only a few years before. He's also been humiliated quite a few times in the main story, such as when he rocked up to Blackbeard's Island to try and save Absalom, only to find that his dear friend had been killed for his Devil Fruit.
Kaido
Kaido Has Been Stabbed, Slashed, And Tortured More Times Than He Can Count
- First Appearance: Episode 739
Kaido may have earned the title of the strongest pirate around, but he doesn't exactly seem all that pleased about being unkillable. In fact, the first time fans are introduced to Kaido is when he willingly throws himself off a Sky Island in an attempt to end his life once and for all, but this isn't the only time his body has been through the ringer. Throughout his long life as a pirate, Kaido has been sentenced to death a total of 40 times, though considering the size of his body, there was nothing the Marines could do to actually kill him once he was captured.
Pair this with the fact that Kaido is a raging alcoholic who can often be seen washing his sorrows away with a bottle or two, and it's clear that this guy is far from happy. This does start to make sense, considering Kaido was sold off by his own village as a bargaining ticket, so while his childhood probably already caused him enough emotional stress, he's also taken more of a physical beating than anyone else in the entire series.
Senor Pink
Keeping His Identity A Secret Ended Up Causing Senor Pink More Harm Than Good
- First Appearance: Episode 632
From first glance, Senor Pink may look like yet another wacky character design conjured up by Oda, but there's actually a reason why this goon is always dressed up as a baby. A few years before the main story, Senor Pink had fallen in love with a woman by the name of Russian, but because of her hatred for pirates, he would keep it a secret that he was actually a member of Doflamingo's makeshift family.
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After the two got married and had a son, their child would sadly end up losing his life. Not only that, but Russian would eventually learn about Pink's true affiliations and would also find herself in the hospital after being caught up in a landslide. The only thing Senior Pink could do was dress up as a baby to try and remind his dying wife about their beloved son to make her happy, which is certainly a pretty harrowing backstory for someone who initially comes across as little more than a goofball.
Big Mom
Big Mom's Insatiable Hunger Drove Everyone Away From Her
- First Appearance: Episode 816
Despite technically being a human, it was clear from the moment she was born that Big Mom was very different from other kids. Her enormous size and ferocious appetite made her extremely difficult to handle, resulting in her parents abandoning her on the island of Elbaph not long after she was born. While she was then taken in by Mother Caramel, whom she came to form a close bond with, Big Mom's obsession with eating anything she could get her hands on ultimately resulted in her wreaking havoc across all of Elbaph.
It would get to the point where, during her sixth birthday party, it is heavily implied that Big Mom ended up eating Caramel and all the other kids, without even realizing what she had just done. Needless to say, Big Mom's dangerous habits ended up driving everyone away from her, and though she would use this as an advantage once she became a Yonko, it felt like much more of a curse when she was still a child.
Doflamingo
In Doflamingo's Eyes, Everyone Turned On Him, Even His Family
- First Appearance: Episode 151
As someone who was born a Celestial Dragon, Doflamingo believed as a child that he was destined to live a life of luxury, but this would change when his father recommended that they live among the common folk. After his mother ended up losing her life to starvation, the rest of his family would be strung up and almost burned at the stake due to their status as World Nobles, only barely managing to escape the ordeal due to Doflamingo's awakened Haki.
Not long before this incident took place, Doflamingo's father tried to contact the World Nobles to ask for help, only to be met with radio silence. As a result of this, Doflamingo decided that his father was to blame and promptly murdered him for his actions. Through his eyes, he had been betrayed by everyone just because of his status as a Celestial Dragon, resulting in him becoming the maniacal mastermind that appears in the main story.
Kuma
The Immensely Powerful Former Warlord Has Been Through One Hell Of An Emotional Journey
- First Appearance: Episode 151
Kuma could be considered more of an ally these days, but he has frequently acted as an antagonist towards the Straw Hats when he has shown up in past story arcs, such as Sabaody and Thriller Bark. However, while this did make him easy to hate, the truth is, he has one of the most emotional and sympathetic backstories in the entire series. As part of the Buccaneer race, which was believed to have been lost to time, Kuma and his family were quickly apprehended by the World Government, who would take it upon themselves to kill both of his parents in cold blood.
Just when it looked like Kuma was able to get back on his feet after meeting an inspiring young woman by the name of Ginny, his life would once again be thrown into turmoil after he found her dead. While Ginny did leave behind a daughter by the name of Bonney, in order for him to convince Vegapunk to cure Bonney's disease, Kuma was made to be a weapon of the World Government who would have all of his free will completely removed, turning him into a mindless slave with no emotions to speak of. It just goes to show that it's never wise to judge a book by its cover, as while Kuma may have seemed like little more than a ruthless Warlord when he first appeared, he only ended up this way because of the amount of torture he was forced to endure throughout his life.
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
- Creator(s)
- Eiichiro Oda
