Top 10 Shocking One Piece Moments

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 “One Piece” moments that made our eyes bug out of our heads!

When the Straw Hat crew meets Brook, a goofy living skeleton with an afro, they don’t know what to make of him. However, despite his outward silliness, he soon earns their respect, particularly after they learn of his goal. 50 years ago, he and his late crew left behind a friend of theirs. Brook wants to return someday to let their friend know they didn’t abandon him. What blows the Straw Hats’ minds, and the audience’s, is that his friend is a whale - and one that they’ve met before! The idea that Laboon, whom the Straw Hats met hundreds of episodes prior would end up being so important is just one example of the amazing interconnectedness of the “One Piece” world!

Fans are given a pretty good understanding of how the World Government of the “One Piece” world works. The world nobles rule atop Mariejois, with the Five Elders acting as the main decision makers. Meanwhile, the member nations’ monarchs all convene at a summit called the Levelly, or Reverie, once every few years. However, in the most recent summit, we’re introduced to a symbolic Empty Throne. This symbol ostensibly indicates that no one rules the world. But, soon after its introduction, we learn that the throne does have an occupant. The Five Elders, who should be the highest of the high, instead bow to a mysterious person named Imu, who sits atop the throne. The fanbase and theory crafters basically exploded after this revelation!

Marshall D. Teach, better known as Blackbeard, is always a wild card! After showing up at the Marineford War and killing his former captain, Whitebeard, Teach decides to show the world something it’s never seen before. After doing something yet to be revealed to Whitebeard’s dead body, Teach reveals that he has somehow acquired the earthquake powers of his ex-captain! Not only are his new abilities literally earthshaking, but Blackbeard also manages to do what no other character has done thus far - possess the powers of two Devil Fruits! Until this point, fans had been told that anyone who eats 2 of them will die, but somehow Blackbeard managed to upset the natural order, and leave us all with our jaws on the floor!

Upon the Straw Hats’ arrival at Water 7, Robin is approached by a masked person from CP9, a secret government agency. These masked individuals and a blackmailed Robin then attack Iceberg, the town’s mayor and head shipwright. They seek the blueprints to an ancient weapon, Pluton, which Iceburg once had in his possession. When Iceburg comes face to face with the assassins, a familiar bird lands on the shoulder of one of them. He and the audience realize as the spies remove their masks that they’re actually Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, and Blueno, most of whom have worked for Iceburg for years! Like a ship encountering his namesake in the fog, Iceburg never saw it coming, and neither did we!

The island…er, elephant of Zou is ravaged by the Beasts Pirates and its people, er, minks subjected to torture and poison gas attacks. Their attackers are in search of a Wano ninja named Raizo who’s supposedly there, but the minks are adamant that he isn’t. Because of how much they endured, the Straw Hats are reluctant to bring up their Wano samurai friends. That is, until Kin’emon and company blunder in asking about Raizo. Yet, we and the Straw Hats are flabbergasted when the minks inform them that Raizo is safe! The sheer dedication and friendship in suffering what they have for one friend is incredibly moving and truly surprising.

The Marineford War delivers bombshell after bombshell and it all kicks off with a whopper! Luffy’s brother, Portgas D. Ace is set to be executed. Sure, Ace is high up in Whitebeard’s crew, but there’s a deeper significance to executing him specifically. Atop the execution platform, Fleet Admiral Sengoku urges Ace to declare the truth. And the fans were sure that this is when Ace and Luffy’s father Dragon would get a name drop. Except, Sengoku drops a nuke - Ace’s father is actually the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger! This revelation had fans reexamining everything about not only Luffy and Ace’s relationship, but also struggling to comprehend that the protagonist’s elder brother was the child of the most famous pirate in “One Piece” history!

Marineford is crazy from start to finish, and this is how it ends! Pirates and Marines alike are engaged in meaningless conflict. And when brave young Koby steps in to put a stop to things, it looks like he’s about to die! Except, the last person fans expected to get involved arrives at the last minute to save him - Shanks! Luffy’s mentor and one of the Four Emperors rolls up with his crew and challenges everyone there to fight him, if they still want to battle! And nobody wants to mess with him! The shock of one of the series’ most enigmatic figures showing up out of the blue is matched only by the flex he pulls in making a war blink first!

For most of “One Piece,” each story arc follows a similar structure - the Straw Hats come to a new island, have an adventure, beat up a bad guy, then go to the next island. But when they arrive at the Sabaody Archipelago, they bite off more than they can chew. They’re faced with several strong foes that they can’t defeat. And into the mix comes the Warlord Bartholomew Kuma. The titanic, soft-spoken man slaps Zoro, making him seemingly vanish. One by one, each member of the crew is sent away using Kuma’s powers, leaving only Luffy; distraught and beating his fists against the ground. Luffy’s horror and anguish mirror our own, as this left everyone completely shook!

There are a few ironclad rules in “One Piece,” and for most of the series, fans thought that one of them was “characters only die in flashbacks.” But, once again, the Marineford arc changed everything! Following Luffy’s rescue of Ace, the hotblooded young pirate (Ace, not Luffy) is goaded into fighting by the ruthless Admiral Akainu. Overwhelmed in battle, Ace steps in to save his brother when Akainu makes a move for Luffy - taking the blow and receiving a mortal wound. Luffy’s complete breakdown is all of us in this moment! The loss of a beloved character is shocking enough, but this death completely changed the aforementioned rule, raising the stakes for the rest of the story!

Basic “One Piece” lore - Luffy ate the Gum Gum Fruit, so he has rubber powers. Except, 1000 plus episodes in, we learn that’s not quite the case! After a near death experience, Luffy’s fruit awakens and we learn that it’s actually based on the fictional Sun God Nika. It’s less rubber, and more rubber hose animation! The peak of Luffy’s powers lets him bend the laws of physics in cartoony ways that are both ridiculous and ridiculously powerful! This revelation had absolutely everyone’s eyes popping out of their heads and our brains struggling to keep up…when we weren’t busting a gut laughing!

Which “One Piece” moment had you cartoonishly surprised? Send us flying with your favorites in the comments!