One Piece / Tropes K to M

Tropes for One Piece
Tropes A to B (Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole, Arc Villain, Berserk Button, Beware the Silly Ones, Big Brother Instinct, Bowdlerise, Break the Cutie) | Tropes C to D (Call-Back, Chekhov's Gun, Cliffhanger, Combat Pragmatist, Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, Curb-Stomp Battle, Dark and Troubled Past, Deconstructed Character Archetype) | Tropes E to F (Early Installment Weirdness, Famous Last Words, Foreshadowing) | Tropes G to J (Heart is an Awesome Power, Hypocrite) | Tropes K to M (Laser-Guided Karma, Logical Weakness, Mass "Oh, Crap!", Moral Myopia, Muscles Are Meaningless) | Tropes N to P (Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, Oh, Crap!, O.O.C. Is Serious Business) | Tropes Q to S (The Reveal, Shout-Out, Spanner in the Works, Superpower Lottery) | Tropes T to Z (Wham Episode, Wham Line)

K

• Kamaitachi: The tenth movie features, among the other creatures under Shiki's rule, the Tsujigiri Itachi (killer weasel), which actually wield small scythes with blades made from a Kenju (sword-tree) leaf.
• Kamehame Hadoken: King Neptune's Ultramarine.
• Kangaroo Court: According to Nami, the World Government considers merely being sent to Enies Lobby enough evidence for either execution or a sentence at Impel Down. Criminals are simply walked through an empty courthouse and are immediately given their sentence. This is simply an urban legend, although the reality — judgment at the hands of the Just Eleven Jurymen (imprisoned former pirates hoping to drag any other criminals down with them) and Chief Justice Baskerville (an insane, three-headed Hanging Judge) — is hardly an improvement.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Eneru and Doctor Hogback get away with nothing more than some bruises. The first is one of the most psychotic villains in the series, the second is one of the most disgusting.
  • Triple-Subverted in Wapol's case. When he's defeated by the Straw Hats he ends up getting launched all the way to another island, forced to eat garbage and live as a bum. There he makes friends with a dog and it appears he's been humbled after losing everything, then a toy maker finds him and wants to pay him for the special metal he can create from garbage to make toys. His "wapometal" ends up in high demand due to its unique properties, and he becomes even RICHER than when he was Drum Island's king. After the Time Skip he's now married to a supermodel and is the king of his own evil kingdom (or at least a kingdom he calls Evil Drum Kingdom; whether it's actually evil or he just named it that is uncertain), officially recognized by the World Government! But he loses it all once again when he accidentally learns one of the World Government's most carefully-guarded secrets, and has to go on the run to avoid being killed.
• Karmic Butt-Monkey:
  • Spandam, the cowardly and manipulative leader of CP9 who constantly suffers punishment since his debut from both enemies and allies. All of it is well-deserved, given that he's responsible for the execution of Franky and Iceburg's mentor Tom, severe abuse of Nico Robin while literally dragging her to Enies Lobby, and trying to get his hands on the blueprints for the ancient weapon Pluton. The end of the Enies Lobby arc has him left beaten senseless and a broken spine and Rob Lucci eventually becoming his new boss when they get transferred to CP0.
  • Demalo Black, a Fat Bastard pirate who got the ingenious idea to impersonate Luffy in order to amass an army of strong pirates. When the real Strawhats return to Sabaody, Black and his crew of Fakes end up getting effortlessly beaten up and and/or humiliated multiple times by them and the marines, not to mention pirates like Caribou who were planning on killing them to bolster their own reputation. Black is beaten senselessly by Sentomaru and arrested while the other fakes are Buried Alive by Caribou.
  • Buggy the Clown, a low-level pirate captain who terrorized the East Blue. Upon meeting Luffy, he?s subjected to one indignity after another, from having his own power exploited for a Groin Attack, to getting struck by lightning, to getting locked up in Impel Down and used as a Human Shield by other characters.
  • "Wet Haired" Caribou, an Ax-Crazy up and coming pirate who favors burying his victims alive and tries to kill Luffy to bolster his reputation. When he tries to do the latter, he?s easily dealt with and ends up suffering all kinds of misfortunes upon arriving in the New World. Whether it's getting his ass kicked by stronger pirates like Luffy and Pekoms or becoming one of the inmates in Kaido's prison in Wano.
  • Caesar Clown, the Big Bad of the Punk Hazard arc who specializes in making WMDs, one of which was responsible for the destruction of an entire island, sees his own followers as expendable guinea pigs, and subjected dozens of children to an experimental gigantification formula that also reduced their remaining lifespan to less than five years. Following Caesar's defeat, he's reduced to a bargaining chip and tool to be used by the Straw Hats and Trafalgar Law due to the latter holding his heart hostage. He's also doomed to suffer the wrath of Big Mom, as instead of using the funds she gave him to create the gigantification formula she wanted, Caesar shamelessly blew it all on groupies and alcohol because he thought he was safe from her as he supposedly had the indirect protection of Kaido through Donquixote Doflamingo.
• Kiai: In Chapter 519, Luffy did this... and knocked out a large number of the Amazonian audience.
  • And now another repeat performance by Luffy in Chapter 569 in the Marine Headquarters just as his brother was about to be executed, knocking out not only the executioner, but even some Marines and New World Pirates, as well as Mr. 3 disguised as the other executioner. As expected, this act captures the attention of every high-ranking person on both sides, particularly Fleet Admiral Sengoku!
  • Anyone with Conqueror's Haki can do this.
• Ki Manipulation: Haki (Ambition) is essentially this.
  • It is present in all living things and comes in 3 "colours": "Obsevation" (Kenbunshoku), AKA Mantra, which allows the user to sense other living things and predict their actions; "Armament" (Busoshoku), which allows the user to use their spirit as an invisible armor of sorts to enhance their attack and defense, which can also be imbued into weapons; and "Conqueror" (Haoshoku), which allows the user to intimidate others with weaker spirits than themselves into unconciousness. Only one in a million people can use that last one.
    • Armament Haki can be used to harm Logia Devil Fruit users by "touching the substantial body beneath the protection of a Devil Fruit". And above that, is the ability to not only clad oneself in Haki, but also to destroy the target from inside out, making it superior against physically tough opponents..
• Kick the Dog: Pirate Empress Boa Hancock's mission in life is to kick every cute fuzzy animal that crosses her path.
  "Just who in blazes had the gall to place a kitten in my path?!!"
  • As about less literal examples — how about every single significant villain?
  • Averted with Smoker, whose first scene looks like it's about to be a typical kick the dog moment: a little girl bumps into him, spilling her ice cream cone and ruining his expensive uniform. The look on his face and the way even his own soldiers are scared of him implies he's about to do something terrible... but then Smoker apologizes for his pants "eating" her ice cream and gives her money for a bigger cone.
  • This gets invoked by Rob Lucci, who tells Paulie that if he can't believe that his long time coworkers are actually WG assassins, Lucci would step on Iceburg's face to help convince him.
• The Kiddie Ride: A kiddie ride was made by Banpresto, featuring Luffy and Tony Chopper.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Shanks and Buggy, who were cabin boys on Gold Roger's ship.
• Kidnapped from Behind: In the Thriller Bark arc, Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy are each quietly grabbed one by one by Moria's zombie spiders without the remaining crew realizing they were taken until long after the spiders had left with them.
• Killer Rabbit:
  • Chopper. He is believed to be the pet of the crew and has the smallest known bounty of a known and acknowledged pirate: 50 berri. In truth, he is a deadly analytical fighter able of becoming a 50ft monster.
  • A more literal example would be the Lapahn on Drum Island.
  • Another literal example with Carrot of the Mink Tribe, who will maul anyone that tries to eat her carrots without permission. But this is subverted since she's usually a Nice Girl and very amicable when not angry.
• Kill the Poor: A flashback shows this happening in Luffy's home island in an effort of "clean things up" before a visit of the World Nobles.
• Kissing Discretion Shot: Pudding and Sanji's big kiss at the end of the Whole Cake Island Arc takes place just off-screen from the reader's point of view, though both of their reactions immediately afterward make it abundantly clear what just happened.
• Kneel Before Frodo: King Nefeltari Cobra at the end of the Alabasta arc.
• Knight of Cerebus: Arlong is arguably the first to really raise the stakes for the Straw Hat crew, then follow this up with an enemy Luffy can't fight in the form of Smoker... it's clear that the world of the series is changed forever.
  • Akainu as well, being the first person to kill a prominent character outside of a flashback.
• Knight Templar: Many of the notable underlings of the World Government. Some of the others, like Smoker, seem Knight Templarish, until you remember that The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, like Straw Hats, actually are exceptions.
  • Admiral Akainu in particular deserves a honorary mention for blowing up a refugee ship out of suspicion that some people, targeted by the World Government, might be aboard.
    • And later on, almost killing Coby just because he was trying to talk some sense into the other Marines. They had technically achieved their objective, but were ruthlessly going after the fleeing pirates and leaving their wounded Marine compatriots behind.
  • And CP9, but especially Rob Lucci, whose personal doctrine of "Dark Justice" marks extreme Knight Templar tendencies.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Oddly enough, this can be played straight AND inverted. Ace has proved, with Blackbeard, that he's perfectly serious about pounding in anyone who even considers hurting Luffy. Luffy, despite being the younger brother, has broken into the One Piece world's most highly guarded prison, let loose hundreds of convicts, and wrecked havoc all across the Marine HQ all for the sake of rescuing his older brother, Ace.
  • Luffy's other surrogate big brother Sabo is equally as determined to protect him, seeing it as part of taking up Ace's will. He's even willing to defy his boss Dragon to do so. (Although since Dragon is Luffy's father he probably doesn't mind.)
• Know When to Fold 'Em: For a series stuffed to the brim with Determinators, there are at least a few moments when "cut and run" is thought of as a viable tactic. For example, during the Whitebeard war, when the arrival of Shanks convinces Sengoku that taking on a fresh Emperor and his crew ain't exactly the brightest move. He's all too willing to make concessions just to keep the peace.
  • Also, when the Straw Hats are surrounded by the powerful Haki-using Sentamaru, Kizaru (an Admiral), multiple Pacifista, and Bartholomew Kuma. They decide to run. It doesn't work.
• Knuckle Cracking: Luffy's Let's Get Dangerous! moments.
• Kraken and Leviathan: Aside from the world having some of the biggest (and most absurd-looking) sea monsters to exist, the Straw Hat Crew's new Team Pet is a literal Kraken..
• Kryptonite Factor: People with Devil Fruit powers can have their abilities stripped away through contact with Seastone or by submerging them in water (which they're unable to swim in, and which cancels their powers). People who ate Logia Devil Fruits often have unique weaknesses. Such as sand is ineffectual against water, and electricity won't work against rubber. Ace can, and almost was at one point, be defeated by a fire extinguisher.
  • [Poison is ineffective against wax. Even Mr. 3 was surprised by that one.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Sea water is everywhere, also while the Marines make liberal use of Seastone, they almost never use it offensively, instead making ship lining and handcuffs out of it.
  • The guards in Impel Down was shown using cannons loaded with Seastone nets, so they appear to be learning.
  • Smoker has his jutte tipped with the stuff.
• Kudzu Plot: It's what you get when you mix a large cast with 900 chapters and counting. To call the plot expansive would be far more than an understatement. As the story progresses, in addition to the titular One Piece, plot points introduce include the Poneglyphs, Ancient Weapons (Pluton, Neptune, and Poseidon), the Void Century, and the Will of D. While they're all referenced throughout the series at least a few times, there is still little actual knowledge on the real nature of any of them, save for Poseidon, which is revealed to be a means of controlling the Sea Kings.

L

• Lady Land: Amazon Lily Island
  • Inverted when Sanji is sent to an island full of transvestites.
• Lady of War: Nico Robin, Boa Hancock, and Hina.
• Lampshade Hanging: Chapter 577 is appropriately titled, "Major Events Piling Up One After Another".
• Lancer vs. Dragon: Zoro is often pitted against the first mate of enemy crews, particularly in the first half of the series. The most egregious examples being Cabaji in the Orange Town arc, Hatchen in Arlong Park arc, Mr. 1/Daz Bonez in the Alabasta arc, Ohm in the Skypeia arc, and Kaku during the Enies Lobby. All generally considered the second most dangerous of their groups.
• Landing in Someone's Bathtub: Played for Drama. Luffy drops into Hancock's bath, but he isn't flustered about it at all. Hancock is not ashamed of her nudity in the slightest either, but she does try to kill Luffy because he saw a shameful mark that was branded upon her back.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: What's hidden inside Hannyabal's chin? COULD IT BE DREAMS??!!
• Lap Pillow: There's a couple of platonic examples:
  • First, after the events of the battle with the New Fish-Man Pirates, Chopper rests on Robin's lap because he was paralyzed due to the aftereffects of Monster Point. This prompts jealousy in Sanji.
  • Later, in the Punk Hazard Arc, the Straw Hats and allies find out that they've been captured in a cage by Caesar. Here, everyone is awake besides Franky, who is sleeping soundly in Robin's lap.
  • Even later, in the Dressrosa Arc, Momonosuke rests his head in Nami's lap since they were playing "Samurai". This causes Brook to put his head onto Nami's lap since he thought they were having a "head-in-crotch" party. Nami's reacts to this by comically punching Brook.
  • Also in the Dressrosa arc, after Doflamingo is defeated, a tired Luffy rests his head on Rebecca's lap. She's profusely crying Tears of Joy all over him, but this doesn't bother his sleep.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: After meeting the cute mermaid Camie, Zoro promptly deletes his memory of having met the not so cute mermaid Kokoro through sheer willpower. See Chapter 491.
• The Last Dance: When the crew Brooke was originally with learned they were about to die from poisoned arrows, they got up and played Bink's Sake together one more time.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler:
  • Considering how much they have been shown and advertised, it's pretty hard not to learn ahead of time that Miss All Sunday (Nico Robin) and Franky turn good.
  • The twelfth movie also expects you to be up-to-date with the manga, or at least have read/watched the Fish-Man Island arc, as it spoils two huge plot points revealed at the end of this arc.
  • Ace's death and [[spoilers:Sabo's existence/reappearance as well.]]
  • Luffy's transformation into Gear 5, a very pivotal moment in the series in term of both the character's growth and the lore of the world, was spoiled heavily in the anime with a trailer and tons of merchandise right before its proper debut in Episode 1070.
• Late to the Realization: Surprisingly both played straight, subverted, and averted within the span of a few minutes during the halfway point of Luffy and Foxy's match during the Groggy Boxing round of the Davy Back Fight. While hunting down Foxy in his own cabin, who (Foxy) had just used his Foxy Face Transformation in an attempt to throw Luffy off. Luffy runs into a random room where he crosses paths with Foxy, who is donning a ridiculously-oversized Paper-Thin Disguise of a woman's mask. Luffy, being the Idiot Hero that he is, actually falls for it, only to walk out for a few seconds and then put the connection that the "woman" had the same chin as Foxy, bringing his own train of thought to the conclusion that the "woman" that he just encountered was Foxy's sister. Luffy still holds on to this belief, even after Foxy launches a surprise attack and makes a break for it right in front of his face, believing that Foxy's "sister" was purposely distracting Luffy from Foxy's "true whereabouts."
• Laughably Evil: Ooh boy, where to start ? Buggy The Clown, and even that is because he's sensitive about his nose. Wapol when he ate the fat out of his body and became slim. Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas, and Mr. 2 Bon Clay before his Heel–Face Turn. Foxy when he acts very arrogantly, only to be insulted and feel down. Spandam in every scene where he isn't doing something horrible, including when he burnt himself with his own coffee. And some Lampshade Hanging of when Kaku of CP9 turned into a giraffe.
  • Boa Hancock was as well, according to one amazon's words, "Looking down on someone so much, she's looking up!" But she wasn't so much evil than an ice queen waiting to defrost. And she did a Heel–Face Turn. Although not in front of her subjects, though.
• Lawful Stupid: The World Government is ruled by a bunch of arrogant, disgustingly inept elites who are perfectly willing to ignore a massive prison break comprised of some of the worst criminals the world has ever known to save face and to focus on erasing out the remainder of Roger's legacy. Brilliant, guys.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: On the last page of Chapter 597, Luffy says "The pirate 'Straw Hat Luffy' is going on a holiday for a bit", then at the bottom of page it is announced that the manga is going on a four week break, its longest so far. We get it, Oda.
  • There's also the part where in Chapter 627, after a seven chapter long flashback arc (One of the longest, if not the longest so far), Jimbei tells everyone that he's sorry that it took so long to tell them the whole story. Almost as if Oda himself is apologizing to the readers for the flashback taking so long by having Jimbei say it for him.
• Leave Him to Me!: A heroic example. Even though Hody Jones has taken some of his crew captive, Jimbei tells Luffy not to fight Hody and leave him to Jimbei in order to stop the repeating cycle of hatred between Fish-men and humans. However, considering the fact that Jimbei has been captured, along with the fact that Hody was the one who assassinated Otohime, he might've reconsidered.
  • Until the reveal that Jimbei had (mostly) planned for that to happen, with the intent of allowing Luffy to fight Hody and come across as a hero to Fish-Man Island instead of a Jerkass who beat the crap out of Hody For the Evulz.
• Left Stuck After Attack: At the start of One Piece's battles in Arlong Park, Luffy slams his feet into the ground to anchor himself for an attack only to promptly realize after the attack that he's stuck himself into the rock.
• Leitmotif: Each member of the Straw Hat crew except the ships have one that play during their respective eyecatches.
  • Several of the movie villains, namely General Gasparde, the Wapol brothers, and Gold Lion Shiki all have recurring musical motifs in various tracks relating to them.
• A Lesson in Defeat: Mihawk gives Zoro one at the Baratie.
• Lethal Lava Land: Half of Punk Hazard.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: During the flight from the Pacifistas.
  • Happens repeatedly in the Dressrosa arc. Currently the groups are: Luffy and Zoro are racing to the royal palace to rescue the captured Law. Franky, Robin, and Usopp are off to destroy the SMILE factory and knock out Sugar to reverse the effects of the humans transformed into toys. Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and Brook have set sail to the next island because Big Mom has come for Caesar Clown.
  • Happens again in the Zou arc.
  • Warlord Bartholomew Kuma sends the Straw Hat crew one by one to different locations across the world. Although Luffy gives them a cryptic message to reunite 2 years later, it is revealed that Kuma separated the crew to allow them to escape from Sentomaru and Admiral Kizaru and that they were not ready to challenge the New World.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Nami attempts this in chapter 1012 when both Ulti, a top fighter of Kaido's, and Big Mom are furious at the other for actions their side took. It's subverted when both sides yell at Nami they will be coming after her next for crimes Nami or the Straw Hats committed against them.
• Level Ate: Totland, Big Mom's main domain. An archipelago consisting of 35 dessert-themed islands like chocolate and cake.
• Libation for the Dead: After the crew defeat Arlong, Genzo pours sake on Nami's adoptive mother's grave.
• Liberty Over Prosperity: Luffy expresses little to no interest in treasure, and doesn't care if One Piece even exists. His main motivation for becoming Pirate King is to be able to have the most freedom. This goes even beyond safety or warnings, from fellow pirates and allies, or Lawful Marines. He once declared war on the entire World Government because it got in the way of him saving his crewmate. He'll do whatever the heck he wants, and damn the consequences; we're lucky he's a good guy.
• Life-or-Limb Decision:
  • When trapped by his feet and slowly being turned into a candle by Mr. 3, Zoro decides to cut off his feet and try to fight his way out. He gets a decent way through his ankles before Luffy shows up at which point Zoro leaves it to him.
  • Zeff has two variations depending on the medium, but both are to save Sanji.
    • In the manga he eats his leg to avoid starving to death. He had some food on hand, but he gave it to Sanji so they both could survive.
    • In the anime, when he dives in to save a drowning Sanji, Zeff's leg is caught in some chains. Acting quickly, he severs his leg to save Sanji.
• Light Is Not Good: Admiral Kizaru. That smile of his may fool you for a short time, but if you did any form of piracy in your life, then expect him to kick your ass, and a light-based explosion to blow you into itty-bitty pieces. The only reason why he doesn't go after the Seven Warlords of the Sea is because he's not legally allowed to. It's only mildly subverted (at least from his perspective) in that he believes he's right and the pirates, no matter what reason, are sinners.
  • Another Marine example is Fleet Admiral Sengoku, a man who is nicknamed after the Buddha, and ''can actually transform into a copy of the Buddha'', yet he supports the fairly oppressive World Government's policies and tells Saul not to question his orders.
    • Sengoku has some morals, though. He did not like it when the WG decided to pretend the jailbreak didn't happen instead of putting out warrants.
• Lightning Bruiser: The zombie giant Oars. No, really. We know what you're thinking. The words "giant" and "zombie" would imply he's slow moving, but in a battle, he would disappear from the scene to give a serious counter-attack. He avoided Franky's ammunition at point blank range and knocked him out with a kick. Some Lampshade Hanging was made on this. It was finally explained that since he had Luffy's shadow in him, he had his agility. No, seriously.
  • Also Lucci, Kaku, and Jyabura of CP9 in their Zoan-produced forms, Nightmare Luffy, and Kuma.
• Like Father, Unlike Son
  • Wapol's father when he was alive was a benevolent king who was very much loved by his people. Wapol on the other hand, is a spoiled Royal Brat who is so selfish that nobody can believe he is his father's son. When he took over the throne after his father died, he not only abused his power but also abandoned his people when Blackbeard attacked. Suffice to say, Wapol is hated very much by his subjects to the point that they arm themselves when he decides to show his ugly mug again.
  • Garp is the greatest Marine to have protected the peace of the World Government, having notably brought in the Pirate King Gold Roger to justice. His son Dragon is the leader of the Revolutionaries who aims to topple down the World Government.
  • Doflamingo is a manipulative asshole who only values the lives of those who prove useful to his goals, and even then towards them he doesn't take kindly to betrayal. In regards to his true origin, this is not surprising as he's actually a former World Noble, the same people who keep slaves and freely shoot others without repercussion. What's surprising however is in regards to his parents. His parents, namely his father, were actually genuinely good people unlike their World Noble contemporaries, who even decided to step down from their privileged but abusive social status to live among the common folk.
  • Sanji has grew to become the exact opposite of what his father wanted him to be: a kind cook who uses no weapons ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of others. Germa 66's mentality, which exploits technology for only military uses, has a low consideration of human life. Common soldiers are even used as "walls" to shield the main Germa members (Sanji's father and brothers) from the opponent's attacks. Sanji's passion for cooking has also been obstacled during his early years since nobles were not meant to think about others. Thank you Zeff for saving the poor boy.
• Lilliputian Warriors: The gnomes of Dressrosa are a few inches tall. When they capture Robin they even tie the person down like the Liliputians did to Gulliver.
• Limited Destination Time: The log poses tell you where the next island is. If you go to an island and want to go somewhere other than where the log pose will set itself to, you have to get off the island before that happens. That was the situation in Jaya: they needed to make sure they left before they lost the heading for Sky Island.
• Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Played With. In East Blue, the majority of opponents did not have Devil Fruits as Devil Fruit users were comparatively more rare. Even so, they could still give Luffy somewhat of a challenge. Devil Fruit Users became much more common on the Grand Line, with many powerful and destructive abilities displayed. However, many non-Devil Fruit users are shown being able to keep up due to the increasing prevalence of Haki including Gold Roger himself.
• Literally Shattered Lives: Aokiji's Ice-Ice Fruit turns him into ice; it shatters when hit, but he can simply pull himself together like the T-1000. He also sometimes threatens to do this to people he freezes.
• Little Brother Is Watching: Discussed more than anything in the Fish-Man Island arc. A recurring theme throughout that arc is the Cycle of Revenge and central characters of the arc not wanting to pass their prejudices regarding humans on to the next generation, even when some of them could not let go of that hatred themselves. Arc villains the New Fish-Man Pirates are a case of Corruption of a Minor because that prejudice was passed down to them.
• Live-Action Escort Mission: In the most recent flashback, Fisher Tiger ends up having a recently freed human slave girl on his ship. For some reason, she just won't stop smiling. After he's told about what the life of a slave is like, Tiger decides to bring the girl home. He personally brings her back and all seems good... until Marines show up and try to kill him.
• Living Drawing: Gecko Moria's painting zombies, which are zombies created to look like portraits and paintings, some of which look to be Shout Outs to real life paintings.
• Living Ghost: Perona ate the Horo Horo no Mi, or the Hollow Hollow Fruit, which gives her the ability to summon small ghosts that can suck the willpower out of her opponents, making them too depressed to fight, or large ghosts that can physically harm opponents. These ghosts can also explode if they make contact with the opponent at Perona's command. Not only that, but the fruit also gives Perona ghost-like abilities, such as intangibility, flight, and even the ability to change size. Subverted, since it turns out that Perona herself doesn't have these abilities, but she can only create an Astral Projection of herself that does. However, after the Time Skip, she gains some of the ghost-like abilities for herself, such as flight.
• Living Legend: There are several powerful pirates who fit in this category, most notably Silvers Rayleigh, the Number Two of Gold Roger himself.
• Living MacGuffin: Robin, most likely the only person in the world who can read Poneglyphs, and Franky, for being in possession of the Pluton's blueprints, both become this during the Enies Lobby arc.
• Living Structure Monster: One of Gecko Moria's zombies is a wall zombie, a literal wall with a human face stretched out and stitched on. It doesn't do much except appear and block an entrance some of the Straw Hats were going to use to escape from other zombies.
• Living Weapon: We have a dog and an elephant that were once a gun and a sword before eating a Devil Fruit. They can still act as weapons, so this is a Type 1. In Chapter 649, we find out that Shirahoshi is a Type 2. Being able to talk to and control FREAKING SEA KINGS makes her one of these. Her weapon's name is even Poseidon.
• Logical Weakness: Has its own page.
• Long Runner: One of the most famous. As of 2022, One Piece is celebrating its 25th anniversary and it is currently the oldest manga that is still serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump. The second oldest^note barring Hunter × Hunter, which has been been on hiatus for years is My Hero Academia, which premiered in 2014. It kind of makes the series rather Lonely at the Top, since other long-running series like Naruto and Bleach have already ended and even the famous Kochi Kame ended after 40 years of serialization.
• Loony Fan: It turns out Bartolomeo is one of these to Luffy.
  • It later turns to out to apply to his entire crew as well!
• Loophole Abuse: The Davy Back Fight allows the team that wins each match to pick a member of the opposing team and force him or her to join their crew. After winning the second round and the Straw Hats now may pick one person from Foxy's team, Nami considers choosing Foxy, who is set to compete in the Combat event against Luffy, so that they win by default in the third match and can easily get Chopper back. While some members of the opposing team hypocritically protest, Robin notes that this is legal, but none of the Straw Hats want Foxy with them.
  • Nobody can refuse or harm the absolutely abhorrent World Nobles in any fashion without severe repercussions, (Unless you're Luffy, who doesn't care). But, as Reverie reveals, there's nothing stopping a fellow, reformed World Noble from beating the ever crap out of another, or alternatively, said reformed Noble "ordering" the heroes to attack them. Subverted when Garling executes Mjosgard for doing that.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle:
  • Played Straight and Averted with Luffy. While he tends to lose his sandals in battle every now and then, he is very careful never to lose his hat.
  • Happens to Vivi when her sandals break as she desperately searches for Crocodile's time bomb in Alubarna.
• Loss of Identity: The sentient toys on the island of Dressrosa are in fact humans who were turned into toys because of a Devil Fruit user. While the toy creature retains all memories of their previous form, those humans close to him or her forget.
• Lost Technology: Pluton, Poseidon and Uranus.
• Love Can Make You Gonk: Sanji is rather prone to this unfortunate condition.
• Low Culture, High Tech: During the timeskip, Chopper was sent to Torino Kingdom, where the natives dress like your standard primitive tribe (grass skirt, no shirt, spears). On closer inspection however, those spears are equipped with mechanisms to launch the tips, and they possess highly organized libraries stocked with advanced medicinal knowledge.
• Lower-Deck Episode: The cover arc for Coby and Helmeppo.
• Loyalty Mission:
  • Nami was one of the first to join the Straw Hats (after Zoro), but as a shameless thief who is openly Only in It for the Money, her loyalty is somewhat suspect. It's not until Luffy and the crew free her hometown from Arlong that she truly becomes one of the True Companions.
  • Nico Robin follows much the same pattern. She is introduced as a villain and joins the crew under suspicious circumstances. After the Straw Hats declare war on the World Government to rescue her, she reveals her mysterious past and truly joins the crew.
  • The Whole Cake Island Arc might be one for Sanji.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Subverted. Luffy let Portgas D. Ace die, but said death was a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Lucky Charms Title: The manga's logo, at least. The Straw Hats' jolly roger forms the O, a silhouette of Luffy forms the I, and the last E is a sideways anchor.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Luffy's father is the world's most wanted criminal, Monkey D. Dragon, and his grandfather is the legendary Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp.
  • And then, our expectations get twisted when it turns out that Ace's father is actually Gold Roger.

M

• MacGuffin: The "One Piece".
  • The characters seem to think of it as something of a MacGuffin as well. Luffy turns down an offer of information about it because that would make his adventure less interesting.
  • [Whitebeard finally gives some information on One Piece before he dies.
• MacGuffin Super-Person: Shirahoshi is the ancient weapon called Poseidon. Vander Decken wants to marry her so he can use her ability to control Sea Kings.
• MacGuffin Title: The titular One Piece is Gold Roger's hidden treasure, located on Laugh Tale.
• Mad Artist:
  • Mr. 3 likes to think of himself this way when he's turning people into wax statues. His partner, Miss Goldenweek, counts as an antagonistic artist too, but she comes across as less "mad" and more "working on commission.
  • Giolla/Jiora of the Donquixote Pirates ate the Ato Ato Fruit which lets her change the shape and appearance of objects and people. She uses it to turn enemies and their weapons into "art".
• Made of Iron: There are countless characters this applies to, but Zoro and Jimbei stand out. The latter somehow made a full recovery from taking a stream of lava through the ribcage.
• Made of Indestructium:
  • Anything made of seastone is apparently "stronger than diamonds", which leads one to question how it was cut. Most likely the same way diamonds are cut: with Seastone dust applied on a milling cutter.
    • The craftsman of Wano are said to be able to work with Seastone and are able to produce much smaller, finer pieces from it than the World Government. (Hence the lack of Seastone bullets outside Wano.) It's unknown how they do this considering Wano's technology level is roughly the equivalent of Feudal Japan.
  • Also, the swords in the setting. There are several people that can swing them hard enough to create shockwaves of air, and in Mihawk's case, just one of which is powerful enough to split the top off of a freaking frozen tsunami hundreds of feet long... how do they not just shatter? Or even get worn away?? Also, Rokushiki: Rankyaku has exactly the same effect, but it's performed with your legs. Seriously. This trope is zig-zagged so much...
    • Averted with Trafalgar Law's Devil Fruit, and subverted with Zoro's regular swords in the Flashback Episode where he met Johnny.
    • This gets some explanation from Mihawk after the time-skip: he uses Armament Haki to permanently coat his blade. This effectively makes the blade quite a bit more durable. He considers any chip to his blade to be a scar upon his honor and pride.
  • The Siege Walls deployed during the Battle of Marineford. They are about the only thing that manages to tank Whitebeard's Quake powers, albeit heavily dented.
• Madness Mantra: Usopp likes to say, when faced with an enemy or place he just got a scare out of: "[Name] scary... [name] scary... [name] scary..."
  • Chopper seems to have picked up the habit a bit.
• Mad Scientist: Dr. Hogback, Vegapunk and, to a lesser extent, Franky.
  • Caesar Clown, of the highest caliber.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Most of the Devil Fruit powers are given some sort of expository explanation beforehand, and they tend to be used very consistently.
  • The general rules (Devil Fruit users cannot swim, there cannot be more than one specific fruit/power at the same time, etc) are consistent across the board. Any exceptions, either real (Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit and Chopper's four extra forms) or imagined (Initially mistaking Thriller Bark's zombies as being the same as Brook) are typically unique and always Lampshaded.
  • The series is actually ambiguous if Devil Fruits are magical or some kind of Lost Technology version of Sufficiently Advanced Bamboo Technology. During the early parts of the Egghead Island Arc, it's revealed that it's possible to artificially replicate Devil Fruits to at least some degree, and Dr. Vegapunk has discovered they are "embodiments of human dreams and desires". Whether that makes them fantastical, scientific, or Fantastic Science is still ambiguous.
  • When Zoro claims his sword Sandai Kitetsu in Loguetown, its former owner warns him that it is cursed with a thirst for blood that will ultimately lead to its bearer's demise. The series is ambiguous if this is actually true, or if it's simply a swordsman's superstition. The ability for skilled warriors to permanently infuse Haki into their weapons further muddies the water. Then there's the titular threat in the film The Cursed Holy Sword, where the cursed blade can not only control its user, but also mold their body, first regrowing a severed arm and then Hulking Out.
  • Both Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island and One Piece Film: Red feature an Eldritch Abomination as the secret villain, which are completely separate from Devil Fruits and anything "natural" to the One Piece world.
• Magical Floating Shawl:
  • The members of Ryuugu royal family of merfolk all have floating stoles. In particular, for Princess Shirahoshi, it's merged with her halter top.
  • It's revealed that when Zoan type Devil Fruit users achieve an Awakening, they gain a brand-new form known as an Awakened form that looks similar to the Hybrid form with the addition of shawls floating around their bodies. Both Lucci and Kaku displayed these forms in the Egghead arc as well as Luffy when he unlocked Gear Fifth at the end of the Wano Country arc. Interestingly, Luffy's form is unique in that the shawls around Gear Fifth are white in color, whereas Lucci and Kaku both have black shawls. Whether this is a common difference for Mythical Zoans or is something unique to Luffy is not yet known.
• Magic Antidote: One Piece zig-zags all over this one. Generally, healing actually does take time in the series, but sometimes, medicines and concoctions take effect instantly (the big example here is Chopper's Rumble Ball, which seems to activate as soon as he bites it). Sometimes, though, it's hard to tell if healing is actually genuinely complete after a few minutes, or if the characters are such Determinators that they don't realize they haven't healed yet.
  • Lampshaded early in the series when Yosaku appears to have immediately recovered from Scurvy. Nami points out that he shouldn't have healed so quickly, but he doesn't seem to hear her. He then faints again less than a minute after dancing around.
• Magic Mushroom: Bizarre mushrooms do appear at various points in the media. When Luffy first reaches Amazon Lily, he unwisely eats a mushroom which caused mushrooms to grow all over him. Adventure of Nebulandia features a variety of weird mushrooms, with the most prominent being poisonous mushrooms that steal the eater's desire to do anything, and mushrooms that can cure the aforementioned. One Piece Film: Red has Wake-shrooms, which can keep the eater awake for prolonged periods no matter what, but will eventually kill the eater if overused.
• Magic Compass:
  • Rather than point north the Log Pose, a special compass used to navigate the Grand Line, instead points to nearby islands. This is because islands on the Grand Line have magnetic fields of their own so powerful they make any normal compass useless. Once you arrive at an island, the Log Pose "logs" the island after enough time passes and begins pointing to the next island.
  • There is also the Eternal Pose, a compass permanently locked onto a specific island which can be used to navigate to that island and only that island.
  • In the second half of the Grand Line, the New World, a Log Pose using three needles is used. The force with which the needles move are an indication of the danger level of the island to boot.
  • A non-magnetism example would be Vivre Cards, slips of paper which are linked to a person's life force and can show where they are located. Put the paper on a table or in your hand, and it will move on its own in the general direction of the person it's linked to. Luffy had once for his brother Ace, which he used in his rescue attempt in the Impel Down arc. Sabo also got one for Luffy created so he can find Luffy if needed.
• Magic Pants: At least two-thirds of the Devil Fruit users. Oda justifies it by saying that if the Devil Fruits' users clothes changed along with them all the time, the series would have too much unnecessary nudity. Still, some fruit powers don't affect clothing, like Jewelry Bonney and Ain's rejuvenating abilities, which leave the victims as children in oversized clothes. Honey Queen, a Logia user from one of the movies, also leaves her clothes behind when she transforms into her element.
• Magnetic Hero:
  • Lampshaded by Hawkeye Mihawk in reference to Luffy: "This is... the most dangerous ability in this world!" He does have a tendency to turn people into allies just by being around them.
  • While not the main character, Buggy, of all people, shows signs of this. After he manipulating a shipful of escaped convicts into helping him, Jimbei comments that "it looks like he has a talent for this..."
• Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: In Chapter 447 "That geezer-tree and... a unicorn are having a drink!"
• Making a Splash: While deadly enough on land, once in the water Fish-man Karate of the Fish-men can produce effects like splitting waves and throwing around streams of water with the force of cannons.
  • There's also Merman Combat, which is basically the merfolk equivalent of the above.
• Mama Bear: Bellemere is the earliest example within the series. Chef Zeff, Corazon, and Whitebeard also serve as Papa Wolves. The queen of this, however, is Portgas D. Rouge for staying pregnant for nearly two years, by sheer willpower, to ensure Ace's safety.
  • Post Timeskip, Nami shows signs of this when giant children ask for her to help them get back home. She orders Sanji and the others to help them.
• Man-Eating Plant: Lots of them on the Bowin Archipelago, the island where Kuma sends Usopp to. Episode 455 takes it to its logical conclusion by revealing that the entire island is in fact a Man-Eating Plant, which periodically tips its petals into the air, sending any unfortunate creature not holding onto something into its gaping maw.
  • Post-timeskip, Usopp seems to have taken to using them as weapons.
• Manly Tears: Many and frequent, though Franky is especially prone to blubbering at the drop of a hat while fervently denying it.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Crocodile. Fullbody fancied himself one, early in the series.
  • And from what we've seen so far, Donquixote Doflamingo.
• Marriage of Convenience: Don Chinjao has planned to have his grandson Sai, the leader of the Happo Navy, to marry the daughter of the general of the Nippo Navy as a bridge for the two navies to merge and become stronger. Sai in the end decides not to, though.
  • This is how Big Mom strengthens her crew — by marrying off her children to powerful people. Sanji's family want him to marry one of her daughters to form an alliance between them.
• Marshmallow Hell: Nami's greeting to Usopp after the time skip.
  "You've... been doing some growing of your own, I see."
• Martial Arts and Crafts: The series features plenty weird martial arts, some of them derived from mundane activities.
  • Sanji has to fight a batshit insane "noodle martial artist", who uses noodles as weapons — including firing noodle darts through his nose or creating giant noodle tentacles. Sanji uses his own Chef of Iron training to beat him.
• Mask Power: Usopp/Sogeking after the Enies Lobby arc.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: Luffy was inspired by Shanks, who apprenticed under Roger.
• Master of Your Domain: Life Return (Seimei Kikan).
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Was Luffy being saved from Buggy's wrath by way of a convenient lightning bolt due to fate, something to do with Dragon, or perhaps just a natural consequence of holding up a metal sword on a high platform in the middle of a thunderstorm? As it turns out, it might have just been Luffy's electrical insulation as a rubber man, something Enel learned the hard way.
• Meaningful Echo: Queen Otohime always pinky swears with her children as a promise to make their future better. When she was dying, her oldest son Fukaboshi promises her that they will collect all the signatures she had long fought for and they will protect Shirahoshi, to reassure her that the future will be better. They seal the promise with a pinky swear.
  • Done again when the Straw Hats leave Fish-Man Island, Shirahoshi pinky swears with them that not only will they meet again, but that she'll be stronger when they do.
  • At his death, Roger proclaims that One Piece exists, sparking the Pirate Age. At his death, Whitebeard proclaims that One Piece exists, sparking the New Age.
• Meaningful Funeral: Just try not to cry when they consign the Going Merry to the depths, we dare you.
  • Chapter 590: Ace and Whitebeard's graves.
• Meaningful Name: Many names. Usopp is a combination of "Aesop" and the Japanese word "to lie"; the One Piece Blackbeard and Whitebeard are named Teach and Edward, respectively, after the real-life "Blackbeard" Edward Teach; a gangster-themed Supernova is named Capone; and Donquixote Doflamingo, a man who doesn't believe in dreams, is named after the most iconic dreamer in Western literature.
  • Ironically, Doflamingo shares one trait with his namesake, namely the fact that neither realize that their beliefs are merely a product of their own insanity.
  • Silvers Rayleigh has a triple meaningful — or even quadruple — name combined with Fridge Brilliance. For starters, silver is commonly held to be the second most valuable metal after gold, which is fitting as Rayleigh is Roger's second in command, and Roger is more well known by "Gold" Roger than his real name. The name 'Rayleigh' may be a reference to Lord Rayleigh, a physicist who explained the phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering, an effect whereby light can be scattered by particles that are smaller in size than wavelength of light. Reference Rayleigh's fight with Kizaru, a light Logia. His name also sounds strikingly similar to Sir Walter Raleigh, who was a 16th century English explorer who ransacked a Spanish outpost. Also, there is the connection that Rayleigh's last name (Silvers) can also refer to Long John Silver, of the popular book regarding piracy of the nautical nature, Treasure Island. It could all just be a cosmic coincidence, but given Oda's track record...
  • Nami and Nojiko's foster mother was called Bellemere. Belle-mère can mean either mother-in-law or stepmother in French, depending on context.
  • The country Kuma sends Brooke too is referred to as Harahettania, the land of poverty. "Harahettania" just means "I'm-hungry-nia" in Japanese.
  • Rob Lucci is a hilarious meta-subversion of this. A reader wrote in suggesting that Oda was invoking this trope, what with his surname being a synonym for "steal" in English and his personal name being "light" in Italian. Oda responds with a hasty I Meant to Do That (and parenthetical Lampshade Hanging of that trope).
• Mechanical Monster: The Pacifistas, Made of Diamond and wielding firepower said to be the equivalent of a battleship.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: The entirety of the Marineford Arc turns out to be this. The Marines win the battle, and Ace and Whitebeard are dead. But killing those two, which was supposed to act as a warning against the pirates of the world, only invigorated them further after Whitebeard declared that the One Piece does exist. That includes Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates, who spend the next two years after the battle training and becoming stronger, becoming an even bigger thorn in the World Government's side. On top of that, the Marines lost several prisoners of Impel Down, including Blackbeard, who now has two Devil Fruit powers, including Whitebeard's Quake Quake Fruit power, and none of the self-control to go with it. Finally, a Fridge Horror that slowly sets in is that all of the Marines who died during the battle died for nothing, which causes several high-profile Marine higher-ups to quit out of disgust.
• Medal of Dishonor: Smoker is furious at the promotion given for Alabaster's salvation when it is the Straw Hat Pirates who were the country's saviors; his participation in it was negligible at best compared to even Tashigi. The Government was basically cornered at this point; either cover up the truth with this sham of a medal, or openly admit that Pirates saved a country from one of their own rogue privateers.
• Medicinal Cuisine: The Kamabakka Kingdom has a number of special cooking recipes collectively called "Attack Cuisine" that are both delicious and incredibly nutritious, to the point that all of the residents of the kingdom have powerful and fit physiques. While it is freely offered to visitors, only those who have gone through "Bride Training" and take up Newkama Kenpo are allowed to learn the recipes, though Sanji later takes up Emporio Ivankov's challenge in order to learn them himself.
• Men Are the Expendable Gender: While there isn't any shortage of dramatic male death and while women get no special treatment when it comes to physical fights, you will hardly ever see a woman getting killed on-panel. While it is possible to find female death in flashbacks or female Posthumous Characters, it took years of existence of the series to see a female opponent getting Killed Off for Real in the person of Monet.
• The Men First: Played for comedy with T-Bone. Then played completely straight with Luffy, who goes through ridiculous lengths to protect his crew before his own well-being (Nami at Drum Island, Mr. 2 at Impel Down, etc.) and most recently Whitebeard, badass, Father to His Men extraordinaire.
• Merciful Minion: In the Arlong arc, Nami pretends to stab Usopp to save him from the Fish-men.
• Meta Origin: The Devil Fruit. Paramecia-type give you superpowers, Zoan-type transforms you into an animal, and Logia-type effectively give you complete control over an element. These powers can be given to humans, animals, or even inanimate objects, and most recently "awakened" Zoan-type Devil Fruits have shown up. As have Ancient and Mythical Zoans, making what was previously seen as the least useful type seem quite a bit more worthwhile; X Drake's Ancient Zoan turns him into a T. rex, while Marco the Phoenix's Mythical Zoan turns him into exactly what you'd expect.
• Meteor-Summoning Attack:
  • Fujitora, who ate a fruit that grants him the power to control gravity, has such control over his power that it allows him to summon meteorites from outer space to overwhelm his enemies.
  • During the Paramount War, Admiral Akainu used his lava based logia powers to launch what look like small balls of lava into the sky. This resulted in titanic fist shaped balls of lava descending upon Whitebeard's fleet.
• Miles Gloriosus: Usopp, of course. Though lately, he's gotten better at not running away at the first sign of danger.
• A Million Is a Statistic: Robin explains that the reason the Marines can so easily use a Buster Call to wipe an island off the map is because "You can't see people on a map."
• Million to One Chance: The reputed odds of someone possessing the Color of the Supreme King Haki. Though since 7 different characters have been confirmed to have it (Luffy, Boa Hancock, Shanks, Silvers Rayleigh, Whitebeard, Ace, Donquixote Doflamingo, and Don Chinjao—who claims there are many more in the New World who possess it), you get the impression that it's not as rare as people say.
  • Alternatively, it could be said those with this power find themselves at the epicenters of great events in history and it is fate that they meet up.
  • However, it needs to be pointed out that this series has a massive cast, and that's not even counting the virtually numberless masses comprising the various Red Shirt Armies and the civilian population. And as pointed out, the Marineford drew in nearly all of the most powerful characters in the series, so of course just about all of the characters with Conqueror's Haki are going to end up in the same place. In fact, it's a bit telling that an arc containing so many powerful characters introduced so few that actually have it.
• Mind Screw: The Punk Hazard arc started out as pretty much this, what with the dragon, the talking samurai head/legs, the bird woman, and the nursery full of giant children. Obviously, these things were explained later on, but there's no doubting how weird it all was.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Pearl, who has such a good defense that no one managed to hit him before, has a Freak Out when Luffy manages to make him bleed.
• Mirror Character: Doflamingo and Law share a lot of similarities, which is why Doflamingo wished for him to join his crew. Both had terrible childhoods that sparked a desire for vengeance. Law lost a lot of these traits thanks to Corazon's influence, but notably kept a version of Doflamingo's Jolly Roger as his own and parroted Doflamingo's phrase "the weak don't get to decide how they die." When fighting Doflamingo, he also stated that unlike Corazon, he had no qualms with killing Doflamingo, which is what the Shichibukai himself would have done.
• Miser Advisor: Nami pretty much always has money on her mind. Occasionally in her eyes as well.
• Misfit Mobilization Moment: The Straw Hats' Power Walk to Arlong's base of operations.
• Missed Him by That Much: An amusing scene where Luffy and Buggy are standing right next to each other and keep looking in exactly the wrong direction to actually see each other. They even have a brief conversation without realizing who they're talking to.
• Missing Mom: Several characters are affected or motivated by the lack or loss of their mother. Nami, Usopp, Robin, Sanji, Princess Shirahoshi, Ace, Rebecca, Momonosuke, Law, Vivi... In an SBS, Oda actually explained why this trope is so common in the series:

  Oda: That's because "Mother" is the antonym of "Adventure".

• Mistaken for Badass:
  • Buggy the Clown received this treatment when a bunch of Impel Down escapees heard that he was on Gold Roger's crew alongside Shanks, even though he was just an apprentice. Throughout the remainder of the Marineford Arc, the convicts believed everything Buggy did was badass, so much so that they eventually joined his crew.
  • This trope us used again when the Impostor Straw Hats attempted to build a crew made of the strongest rookies they could find. Unfortunately, unlike Buggy, their secret is exposed and they lose their recruits. Guess Oda only wanted Buggy to be that lucky.
• Mistaken for Destitute: A short, anime-only subplot in Loguetown has Tashigi mistaking Zoro for a drifter, and "gifting" him a job as a janitor at the local Marine base. Ironically, while the Strawhats as a whole usually aren't that good at holding on to money, in this case Zoro actually had a decent amount on him (borrowed, at highway-robbery interest, from Nami).
• Mobile City:
  • Discussed with Iceburg, the mayor of the island city-state Water 7. Thinking of the increasingly intense "Aqua Laguna" storms that periodically ravage the island, he considers turning Water 7 into a huge mobile island vessel.
  • Germa Kingdom's "territory" consists of several big ships that can combine into one and separate when necessary.
• Mobile Shrubbery: Both King Nefertari Cobra and Igaram used to follow young Vivi in her adventurous exploits outside the palace by hiding behind shrubbery and tiptoeing after her, just to make sure she felt independent but was safe.
• Modesty Towel: Used after Luffy defeated Crocodile while everyone is in their own gender baths. Gets averted when the guys are looking over at the girls and Nami decides to give them what she liked to call: Happiness... PUNCH! Made funnier by Vivi's horrified expression at Nami when she does this.
• The Mole:
  • Nico Robin infiltrated Baroque Works offscreen and managed to be The Leader's right-hand woman. She's not evil; she just hoped to find out about the lost 100-year gap in history by following his investigations on a related matter.
  • Vergo is one for Doflamingo in the Punk Hazard Arc, assigned to monitor Caesar Clown and his experiments.
  • Doflamingo's brother Rosinante was one for the Marines as he used his position in the crew to sabotage his plans and prevent children from joining him.
  • Denjiro, aka Kyoshiro was in deep cover in Orochi's ranks and was taking care of Kozuki Hiyori, preventing Orochi finding anything about her.
  • Kurozumi Kanjuro was the mole in the Nine Red Scabbards for Orochi, hampering them whenever possible in Dressrosa and Zou Arcs, was the one who informed Jack about Raizo's location and informed Orochi about the new location.
• Moment of Weakness: When Luffy angrily tells Usopp in Water Seven that he can just get off their ship if he doesn't like how Luffy does things.
• Money Fetish: Nami has this. She just can't have enough of it. She's even the current page picture!
  • She's gotten better with time, though; now she almost never scams her own crewmates and considers them more important than money. For example, when Usopp was robbed of a whopping 200 millon by the Frankies she seemed to not care about the money and said that the priority was that Usopp was alright.
• Monster Clown: In movie 10, Gold Lion Shiki employs one: Dr. Indigo. With his crazy face-paint, ridiculous looks, and fart-noise shoes, he makes for a good Villainous Harlequin. He starts heading towards this trope once he drops his silly behavior and begins to conjure ghostly fire from nowhere and sling it around.
  • Buggy's original design leaned more towards this theme than his final, buffoonish self. However, even in his first appearance in One Piece proper, he was originally presented as more menacing before becoming a comic relief character.
• Monster Mash: Thriller Bark. It even has a nod to Thriller by Michael Jackson.
• Mood Whiplash: The Water Seven/CP9 arc is the king of this trope.
  • Right after the Straw Hats and Aokiji team up to save a group of stranded civilians (and the former celebrates, complete with cheerful music), Aokiji informs them that he has to kill them. And then proceeds to curb stomp everyone.
• Mooks: And how. The low-class soldiers will charge in by the hundreds, then get carted back out again a short time later on a single, massive stretcher, never once questioning why they should willingly get themselves beat up or what's so great about the World Government or Marines anyway. The best example of mooks since the stormtroopers. By the Enies' Lobby arc, the Straw Hats have grown strong enough that Marine Captains are treated as mooks from that point onward.
• Moonwalk Dance: Jango is a big Shout-Out to Michael Jackson and he shows it by not only dressing like him but literally moonwalking in his very introduction.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: The Straw Hats are morally ambiguous pirates that are motivated by self-interest and personal goals, but tend to do good anyway by defeating more evil pirates (or Marines) that happened to do something to offend them. Other pirates can be anything from Chaotic Good adventurers to Selfish Evil jerkasses. Likewise, Marines can be anything from legitimate heroes to guys who just want a check to well-meaning extremists to Knight Templars.
• Moral Myopia: The series is interesting with this given the main characters are pirates and therefore technically criminals:
  • In the Water 7 saga, the Foxy Pirates challenge the Straw Hat crew to a best 2 out of 3 Davy Back Fight, where pirate crews bet their own members in competitive games. After the Straw Hat crew won the second round, it was time for them to choose a member from the Foxy crew. Because the third round is a fight between captains, Nami suggests choosing Captain Foxy so that they would win the third round by default. The Foxy Pirates then begin to yell and jeer at her for such a dirty tactic, never-mind the fact that they have been blatantly cheating throughout the competition, something Robin was quick to point out.
  • In Water 7, the Franky Family brutally beats up Usopp and steals the money he was carrying. The Straw Hats, in turn, raided their base and beat the living crap out of everyone there. Franky is furious that anyone would dare to harm his family, never mind that his family started the entire conflict. However, the Straw Hats are pirates and the Franky Family are bounty hunters who protect the city; they assumed that Usopp, as a pirate, stole the money in the first place.
  • Spandam. The best example of this would probably be his calling Robin a selfish bitch for refusing to die so he can get a promotion. Not long before that he was ranting about how great and kind he was and what a bitch Robin was, apparently forgetting about condemning all the Marines under his command to death and refusing to retract the command in order to save face. Damn pirates, always getting in the way of justice.
  • Absalom from the Thriller Bark arc. When he's not running from Zombie!Lola's attempts to force him into marriage, he's trying to force Nami into marriage.
  • Boa Hancock Does Not Like Men because the first men she met in her life (she lives in a Lady Land) captured her and sold her to the World Nobles as slaves, which has also left her with a fear of being subjugated thereafter. At her debut, Hancock is highly arrogant, shows little concern for the well-being of her subjects, and generally believes that everyone has to capitulate to her (and most people will); this doesn't exactly give her much moral high ground over the World Nobles, let alone the entire male sex. Unlike Gild Tesoro below, Hancock is portrayed as a sympathetic character, whose aforementioned traits haven't disappeared after the reveal of the Freudian Excuse, albeit toned down and portrayed more comedically. At the same time, it is shown that she does care for her subjects and fears that The Reveal of their secret past would destroy them.
  • Marigold and Sandersonia happily enable Hancock's behavior. When Luffy (who had earlier gone out of his way to conceal their slave marks while they were trying to kill him) asks Hancock to go to Marijoa, where the sisters were enslaved, so he can rescue his brother, they start screaming about what a cruel, selfish man he is and demand that Hancock petrify him.
  • Arlong. Fish- and Merfolk have been victims of Fantastic Racism from humans for a long time. So when Arlong comes into a position of power, what does he do? Enslave a town of people, kill a girl's surrogate mother before her eyes and then forces the girl to work for him, and basically go on and on about how fish people are "the superior species" and being a racist jerk. It is later revealed that Arlong based his operations and priorities (tyranny, slavery, and hoarding wealth) on his knowledge of human society, and he was trying to obtain the freedom and power he couldn't get as a Fish-man on a dry land by trying to act like a human, more specifically the Celestial Dragons, arguably the most sickeningly evil characters in the series.
  • Arlong's spiritual successor, Hody Jones, is even worse since he lacks Arlong's love for his fellow Fish-men. He rants about the evil humans have done to Fish-men and how anyone who sympathizes with humans is traitors who need to be killed. Unlike Arlong, he never experienced any misdeeds or racism from humans. He's just a product of living in a very negative environment where hatred against humans is often preached. He also coldly murders innocents, Fish-men, mermen, and human alike to achieve his goals and enslaves humans and rides around on them like horses. Jimbei outright calls this playing Celestial Dragon.
  • Hody displays this trope outside his misanthropy. Vander Decken, who Hody had allied with to kill off Shirahoshi, decides to hurl the country-sized boat Noah down on Fish-Man Island, putting everyone on the island, including Hody's crew, in danger of being squashed. Hody labels Decken a traitor for this and climbs up the ship to give him a piece of his mind. However, Hody himself decides that dropping Noah on Fish-Man Island is a good idea, and tries to kill Decken to shut off his powers while the ship is still above the island. Evidently, he wasn't mad that Decken was going to crush his crew, but just himself, casually acknowledging that thousands of his men are going to die and planning to replace them with human slaves.
  • While we're on the subject, the Celestial Dragons absolutely live for this trope. Descendants of the kings that founded the World Government, they have become incredibly insular and aloof to the point that they believe that having their every whim fulfilled is much more important than the lives or freedom of anyone else. Get in their way on the street? They'll happily have you shot, or enslave you, depending on their whims. They take Moral Myopia to a whole new level.
  • Donquixote Doflamingo is another major example. Yes, his life did, in fact, go to hell (to where he still has nightmares about it and tends to drink), it all changed when he was taken in by a gang of teenagers who quickly made him leader because of his Conqueror's Haki. It is obvious Doflamingo, and by extension is crew, considers crimes against him to be worthy of death. This makes a lot more sense when it comes to light that he was born a Celestial Dragon and his family left the nobility and that's where his attitude comes from.
  • Viola is a minor example, expressing a mild distrust of men (nowhere near as much as Hancock above) because they all lie to her. She says this to Sanji, who had been captured and beaten up because she manipulated him.
  • Gild Tesoro, the Big Bad of One Piece Film: Gold, was once enslaved by the World Nobles. Toward the end of the film, he's displaying the exact same god complex over everyone.
  • Pekoms wholeheartedly serves one of the Four Emperors, Big Mom, who is notorious for destroying entire countries when they fail to give her what she wants. He later learns how this feels when the crew of another Emperor destroys his own country when they aren't given what they want, promptly flying into a screaming rage and swearing vengeance on the culprits.
  • Vinsmoke Judge is The Social Darwinist who thinks Virtue Is Weakness, and that Might Makes Right. He's not afraid to use his own soldiers as Human Shields, and spent most of the arc threatening Sanji's father figure, Zeff, to get his cooperation. When he realizes that the Big Mom Pirates are going to kill him and his family, he breaks down and begs for his life. Those around him, even his own family, mock Judge for his Villainous Breakdown.
• More Hero than Thou: Sanji and Zoro pulled this crap on Thriller Bark, until the latter knocked the former unconscious.
• Morphic Resonance: Devil Fruit users who have abilities to transform themselves into something (IE Every Zoan fruit and some Paramecias) will always keep some defining feature that belong to their original bodies. Kaku, for example, has a very square shaped body when he transforms into a Giraffe and Baby 5 keeps her facial features when she transforms into a missile.
• The Most Wanted:
  • The leader of the Revolutionary Army, Monkey D. Dragon, is called "the most wanted criminal in the world", as the group openly defies the World Government and have converted several countries to their cause.
  • It's assumed the first "World's Most Wanted" went for Gol D. Roger, a dreadful pirate that stole all the treasures of the world, revealed after his capture and before his execution that all the treasures were in one place, the "One Piece" and the location will die with him, starting the "pirate fever" that launches the story. Though Gol D. Roger may have been once the most wanted, being "Pirate King" and all, he's a Posthumous Character. Late in the series, Roger's bounty is revealed to have been the highest of any pirate in the world (5.5 billion), followed by the recently-deceased Whitebeard. Kaido holds the distinction of having the highest active bounty (4.6 billion) and thus the top of the World Government's hitlist.
  • The Ope-Ope Fruit is stated several times to be the "ultimate Devil Fruit" thanks to its extreme versatility, miraculous medical applications, and ability to grant eternal youth (at the cost of its user's life). When it was last up for sale thirteen years ago by the Barrels Pirates, it's estimated worth was at least 5 billion berries to the Marines and other potential buyers. When combined with his own personal bounty (500 million) as of the Wano arc, this makes the current Ope-Ope holder, Trafalgar Law, as valuable and sought after as Gol D. Roger himself. It's implied that though Corazon's death defined Law's future, Law himself had already lost any chance he had of living a normal life the moment he ate the Fruit.
• Mountaintop Healthcare: In the "Drum Island Arc", Nami falls sick and forces the Straw Hats to make a detour to the titular island to find her a doctor. However Luffy is told the only doctor of the island is a "witch" who lives in a castle at the highest mountain peak of the island. So he, along with Sanji, go to take Nami there having to brave monster rabbits called Laphan, an avalanche (which knocks out Sanji), direct attacks by the Big Bad Wapol and his subordinates and finally having to scale the mountain with his bare hands and feet. Luckily said doctor was home and indeed manages to heal the three. After the arc and the disposal of Wapol, the newly crowned Dalton re-dubs the island as Sakura Kingdom and the castle becomes the main HQ for medical practice.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Despite Nami's greed and Usopp's cowardice, both are decent, even heroic characters underneath.
• Mr. Fanservice:
  • If they're not drawn to be monstrously Gonk-ish or over-the-top silly, most of the men in the series fall somewhere between "roguishly suave" and "ruggedly handsome." Luffy, Zoro, Ace, Smoker, and Trafalgar Law, to name a few.
  • For the ladies who prefer their men older, we present to you Shanks.
  • Sanji, who most recently became bait for a very different sort of Estrogen Brigade, much to his dismay.
  • Yorki: A drunken blonde cowboy pirate who loves singing and cute animals. Delicious.
  • After the timeskip, the whole Straw Hat male crew became this (except of course the unmistakably machinized Franky and the all-bones Brook). We have to mention Sanji's smart and small goatee, Zoro's mature atmosphere and manly scar, Usopp's whole new muscular build and much-much cooler style, and Luffy's scar and serious moments which tell that there is a lot more in him than he usually looks. Even Chopper evolved from the "just cute" part to become a multitude of baits with his differently looking forms for the furry-loving part of the Estrogen Brigade...
• Ms. Fanservice: The series is known (and a touch infamous) for its curvy ladies, Nami and Robin in particular.
  • There's also Hancock, Ms. Doublefinger, Porche, Kalifa, and Marguerite.
• Mugging the Monster: Most of the Jaya arc has this in some form or another, with Bellamy and his crew being the muggers. The first time, Luffy and Zoro just shrug off their insults, despite either being able to beat the entire crew single-handed. Then Bellamy goes and robs Luffy's new friends. Big mistake. Later on, Sarquiss, Bellamy's first mate, accidentally bumps into Blackbeard and starts mouthing off. Blackbeard gives him a nice taste of the wooden dock for his trouble.
  • Immediately after the time skip, a random pirate crew posing as the Straw Hats come across the genuine Nami and Usopp, who give the imposters a small taste of what they've been learning over the past two years. Then the same fakes have the misfortune of threatening the real Luffy. Luffy nonchalantly dodges a bullet to the head from Fake Luffy's pistol (never mind that, since he's all but immune to blunt force, it'd probably bruise him at the most) and knocks out all of the Fake Straw Hats present with Haki.
  • In the Dressrosa arc, Spartan, a star at the colosseum, is insulted that "Lucy", a seemingly old frail man, is participating in the tournament and attacked him, only to the easily defeated by the disguised Luffy.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Hatchan, Nico Robin, Omigumo, and Zoro when using his mysterious 9-sword style.
  • Also one of Whitebeard's allies, who has an octopus theme and six fully functional arms. Whether he's a Fish-man hybrid or a Devil Fruit user is yet to be seen.
• Multiple Demographic Appeal: Adult female readers compose one of the manga's largest audiences.
• Multiple Head Case: Judge Baskerville subverts this trope, as it turns out he's actually two shorter guys sitting on the legs of one really tall guy in the middle.
• Multiple Reference Pun: Sanji's parage shot and Nami's hometown Cocayashi Village (See entry on that page for details).
• Mundane Made Awesome: Sanji makes cooking look epic.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: A bit of a rule; many of the men in One Piece are very ripped, but generally speaking, having visible muscles or imposing size doesn't necessarily translate into strength. Luffy and Sanji, for example, are both in very good shape, but not grossly muscular; yet they are stronger than men who tend to be literally twice their size. And of course, Luffy and his brother Ace were punching out grown men and wild animals at the tender ages of 7 and 10, respectively. And on the opposite side, after the Time Skip, we have the formerly stick-skinny Usopp who is now even more muscular than Luffy... but still possesses average human strength.
  • And as for the super strong women, not too many of them are muscular, but rather simply bigger. There are exceptions even to this though; the government assassin Kalifa is a moderately sized woman, yet can kick holes in through a stone wall.
• Musical Assassin: Scratchmen Apoo. (His own body is the instrument.) Brook as well, most commonly using a violin before the timeskip and a guitar after.
• Mutants:
  • Most of the strongest people get that way via training really, really, really hard, getting a Devil Fruit, or most likely both. Big Mom is neither, she's simply a freak of nature. She was born abnormally strong and despite not being a giant grew so rapidly she might as well be, and by age 5 was strong enough to seriously injure or kill giants on accident. Deconstructed, as her unique nature no one knew how to properly care for her, which ultimately lead to her severe mental illness as an adult.
  • Anyone that has ever eaten a Devil Fruit is mutated. Unfortunately, they're no longer able to swim.
• Mutually Unequal Relationship:
  • Luffy and Law agreed to ally their pirate groups with each other. The thing is that Law merely sees it as a means to an end, while Luffy thinks this means they're friends — and if you've watched the series, you'll know how far Luffy would go to protect his friends.
  • At first, Luffy isn't interested in the idea of becoming the boss of other pirate captains, in this case Cavendish, Bartolomeo, Sai, Ideo, Leo, Hajrudin, and Orlumbus. But they decide to pledge loyalty to him anyway, without his consent. Thus, the Straw Hat Grand Fleet is born. The exact deal becomes "the captains can go anywhere they like, but whenever Luffy needs help, they'll come to his aid".
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: The whole point of the show. The adventures were launched when Gold Roger announced the existence of One Piece at his execution.
• My Favorite Shirt: Luffy's hat is his greatest personal treasure, and perhaps the only of his possessions that would put him into an Unstoppable Rage if lost or damaged. It's because Shanks gave it to him.
• My Greatest Failure: Luffy has two: the defeat of his crew that scattered them over the oceans and being unable to save Ace.
  • Jimbei is also haunted by Ace's death and the fact that he indirectly let Arlong terrorize East Blue and contributed to Nami's tragic past.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Luffy will occassionally announce himself when he's about to kick some bad guy ass, particularly when they hurt or insult his crew.
• My Suit Is Also Super: Clothes stretch, grow, shrink, regenerate, and transform along with the wearer, with a few exceptions. No Hand Wave is attempted in-series, but Oda admits in his Q&A column that if Devil Fruit powers were portrayed more realistically, his manga would have a lot of unnecessary nudity.
• Mysterious Parent: Monkey D. Dragon, Luffy's father. Virtually nothing is known about him, and he's had only a few sparse appearances to date.
• Myth Arc: The past history of the world and the crimes of the World Government, as well as the long term plans of several villains.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The panel where Zoro decapitates a dragon is almost identical to the one where Ryuma did the same in Wanted! (1998).
  • A possible one for Romance Dawn: before her child was born, Portgas D. Rouge would have the child be named Ace if it was a boy, or Anne if it was a girl. Anne was the name of the girl in Romance Dawn V.2, whose character would be part of the basis for Nami.

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