One Piece / Tropes T to Z

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)

T

• Take Me Instead: Zoro offers himself up to save Luffy from Kuma, and Sanji tries to offer himself up for both Zoro and Luffy, but gets knocked out by him.
• Take My Hand!:
  • Robin does this a lot with her powers whenever characters fall overboard or from other precarious places.
  • Luffy and Nami attempt (and fail) this right before the latter is vanished by Kuma.
  • Luffy reaches out towards [Ace in the anime's 11th opening.
• Take Our Word for It: In the flashback Chapter 354, Franky and Iceburg are shown the blueprints of the ancient legendary Pluton, a warship said to have the power to destroy the world. We never see the blueprints (and at the time of this writing, the ship itself yet to be seen), but judging by Franky and Iceburg's reactions, it's something incredibly monstrous and probably lives up to its reputation (since they're both shipwrights, their reactions certainly counts for something).
• Taking the Fight Outside: Sanji in later chapters meets his estranged father, Judge (that's his name), and they get into a heated argument about how Sanji doesn't fit into the family. In the end, Judge tells Sanji that they'll settle things outside. Cue fight scene.
• Talk Like a Pirate: * Arr-verted, shockingly (with the possible exception of Gold Roger...). Though there'll probably be a future character who will abuse this to no end. It's not so shocking: Japanese has no equivalent of the Pirate Talk. Not completely avoided, though — Brook's special laugh is the old-fashioned "Yohohoho!" The English translation of the manga will occasionally add in pirate talk, actually, but not to a great extent.
  • Zigzagged for the Funimation dub; some of these seadogs engage in Pirate Talk, while others will chose to forego the accent like the landlubbers they are, and some of these pirates get to a full accent when the seas be storming, or when great fights take place.
  • The most prominent example is King of the Pirates Gol. D Roger himself. Very fitting given that Eiichiro Oda designed him as a very typical, traditional pirate.
• Talking Animal:
  • Chopper, of course. Justified in that he was a normal reindeer with a blue nose before he ate the Human-Human Fruit.
  • Randolph of the Big Mom Pirates. He's actually a rabbit implanted with a piece of someone's soul by Big Mom's Devil Fruit power granting him human characteristics.
• Talk to the Fist: In Chapter 670, Clown begins to outline either his plan or the origins of Slime. Luffy simply jumps up into his face and grabs him. Later on he begins to rant about how Luffy's a small fish and asks him if he's willing to take on his big name benefactors, clearly displaying both Small Name, Big Ego and willful ignorance of the outside world. Luffy's retort is to deck him and state that he's always fighting guys like that.
• Tank Goodness: Franky brings one out to help fight off Hody Jones army.
• Tank-Tread Mecha: Franky can turn his legs into tank treads for faster movement.
• Tastes Like Friendship: Luffy being a simple-minded Big Eater, a surefire way to get him to like you instantly is to give him food. Just ask Nami, Rebecca or Tama. Even lampshaded in the Dressrosa arc, when Law expresses annoyance that Luffy's fighting for Rebecca's sake just because she gave him food.
• Tattooed Crook: Nami; Ace; Franky (among others).
• Taught by Experience: The farther the Straw Hat Pirates have gone into the Grand Line, the more skilled, inventive and more powerful the group became. Unfortunately before the Time Skip, the curve went up a bit too steeply.
• Taunting the Transformed: After Kaku transforms into a giraffe man thanks to the Devil Fruit, Usopp, Zoro and even Jabra immediately laugh and mock him. However, despite his ridiculous-looking form, it turns out that he's an extremely powerful combatant because of it, leaving all three of them eating their words soon after when Kaku kicks the Tower of Justice in half.
• Tautological Templar: The World Government. Though if you've read/watched past the Enies Lobby arc, you probably already knew that.
• Team Dad: Franky, according to Word of God.
• Team Mom: Nami frequently comes across as this, although Word of God places Robin in this role.
• Team Pet:
  • Surume, the Kraken.
  • The World Government considers Chopper this for the Straw Hat Pirates, and give him a miniscule bounty to match: 50 beli. Later doubling to a whopping 100 beli.
• Tears from a Stone: During Luffy and Usopp's duel, water ends up splashing the Going Merry's figurehead, and makes it (Fittingly enough) look like it's crying.
• Tear Off Your Face: This happens to Franky. Since he's a cyborg, the whole thing is played for laughs.
• Tears of Fear: Usually Played for Laughs with Nami, Usopp and Chopper.
• Tears of Joy: A regular occurence:
  • Sanji when he finally meets the mermaids.
  • Luffy and Usopp after Usopp rejoins the crew. Franky and Nami were also crying with joy, the latter more realistically.
  • Brook cries when Luffy tells him that Laboon is still alive and still waiting for him... even though he's a skeleton and has no tear ducts.
  • Luffy, Usopp and Chopper do that to anything mecha-related (e.g. laser beam, rockets, Humongous Mecha, etc.).
  • The ones Luffy sheds when Sabo finally reveals to him that he is alive.
  • Chopper does this near the end of his debut arc. It's enough to make ANYONE cry, so don't feel bad for bawling like Chopper after seeing this.
  • Vivi when she sees her True Companions the Straw Hats wordlessly show the sign of their friendship with her.
  • Nico Robin on several occasions in Enies Lobby after realizing that, after 20 years, she'd finally found True Companions.
  • Nami’s eyes well up with tears of joy when hears and sees her Captain Luffy coming to save her from Enel.
  • Jimbei shed Manly Tears when Nami told him that she forgave him.
  • Koala broke down into these when Fisher Tiger changed her slave mark into a sun mark, told her it is OK to cry (Breaking her Stepford Smiler façade in the process), and vowed to return her home.
  • In a flashback in the Dressrosa arc, even a badass gladiator like Kyros can't hold in tears of joy when his daughter is born.
  • Nami, Chopper, Brook and Momonosuke burst into tears of gratitude when Sanji arrives in Just in Time to save them from Doflamingo.
  • In Chapter 791, with Doflamingo down for the count, the Birdcage disappears and his reign of terror is brought to an end. The relieved citizens roar with joy and shed tears of happiness; even Kyros bursts into tears now that his, his family's and Dressrosa's fight and suffering is over. This combines with Book-Ends when you remember that people were crying happily when they bought into Doflamingo's Engineered Heroics that gave him control of Dressrosa.
  • In Chapter 797, after Rebecca tells Kyros that she doesn't give a crap about his criminal past, and throws away her status as princess so they can live together, both father and daughter cry tears of joy.
  • Luffy sheds a tear of joy when he learns Sanji gave up marrying a beautiful women to stay with his crew.
  • Reiju and her mother Sora respectively cry with happiness over how Sanji turned out to be a decent human being and not a inhumane killing machine like his brothers.
  • Charlotte Lilin aka Big Mom as a “little” girl cries fit to burst when Mother Caramel and the other Orphans make her a treat for her birthday. Eiichiro Oda to subvert it gruesomely as Linlin is so happy she can’t see what she’s doing and accidentally cannibalises her adoptive family.
  • Chiffron sheds a tear of joy when Bege saves her from her asshole brother Oven.
  • In Chapter 903, Coby sheds tears of joy and excitement when he read about Luffy's latest achievements. Humorously, Rebecca immediately noticed them and figured out he's a friend of Luffy's too despite being a Marine.
  • For a brief moment in Chapter 906, Rebecca and Leo humorously and adorably tear up when recounting to Vivi how Luffy saved Dressrosa.
  • In Wano the people of Leftover Town burst into tears of joy when Luffy saves them from starvation.
  • Inuarashi sheds some heartwarming tears upon remembering how Kozuki Oden stood up for him and Nekomamushi when they were young.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • Happens when Zoro and Sanji have to work together. Also, when Luffy, Buggy, Mr. 3, Crocodile, Mr. 1, Jimbei, and all of the other escaped inmates of Impel Down had to cooperate to try and save Ace.
  • According to Sengoku, the only reason why the members of the Rocks Pirates even tolerated one another is because of their captain, and when he died, the surviving members immediately drifted apart.
• Technicolor Toxin: Most of the toxins and venom shown onscreen are purple, including Magellan's venom, Musshuru's Spores, Crocodile's Hook and Shinokuni. But there's also green poison (the Daft Green trees in the tenth movie) and oddly colored toxins like the MH5 and Magellan's strongest attack.
• Tempting Fate: Usually exploited for comedic purpose, this series is rip with it.
  • After Franky recharges on cola and lets out the biggest SUUUUUUUUUPER thus far, the first words out of Fukuro's mouth are "You gonna hit me with another one of your weak punches (chapapa)?"
  • When the Straw Hats have just found the Log Pose, and Nami is reflecting on its importance:
    Nami: All right, Log Pose... I'll make sure to take good care of you. The fate of our journey is all up to you, after all. (Cue flying Luffy smashing into it via Sanji's kick)
  • This happens in the Dressrosa arc with Donquixote Doflamingo. He mentions how one of the remnants of the previous royal family had put her faith in two powerful pirates, Luffy and Trafalgar Law, to free the country. The latter is with him as he speaks, chained, beaten, bloody, and unconscious…
    Donquixote Doflamingo: …And Straw Hat Luffy will never come out of the Colosseum as a human. And right now, as for the other members of the Straw Hats, Cyborg Franky is attacking the Toy House on his own. But I don't think he can beat the executives of my family. The rest, Pirate Hunter Zoro, Foxfire Kin'emon, Nico Robin, and Sogeking are still here…but I don't think they can even reach the underground level.
  • His confidence in his family is well-founded; Señor Pink is an even match for Franky, and he's fighting him one-on-one with reinforcements on the way. But he's only right for one out of three; Luffy has already escaped the Colosseum, placed his trust in another to gain the tournament's prize, and is en route to the palace with Zoro and Kin'emon, and Robin and Usopp are already in the underground and planning to take down his most important executive.
• Tender Tears: Vivi and Franky. Both are highly emphatic and cry easily.
• Ten Paces and Turn: In the Loguetown arc, there's an episode in the anime where Usopp gets into one with a bounty hunter named Daddy Masterson.
• Terrible Trio: Toei is doing their darnedest to turn Foxy, Hamburg, and Porche into this in the anime... and have largely succeeded.
• Thanatos Gambit: Roger turned himself in to the World Government, and then reversed their intended effect of his execution with his last words. What was intended to be a lesson to all pirates ended up causing an Age of Piracy, arguably making the entire series a Thanatos Gambit.
  • Whitebeard decided to turn his death into one by confirming the treasure is real, erasing doubts of its falsehood and starting the whole thing all over again.
  • Trafalgar D Water Law set up a very big one too, spanning an entire arc. Thirteen years in the making, it was a wonderful plan that would unfortunately result in his death before it could finish playing out. Then the Straw Hats showed up.
• Thanks for the Mammary: Luffy's introduction to giant mermaid Princess Shirahoshi.
• Theme Naming: The Seven Warlords of the Sea are all named after animals, many women are named after birds, and everyone on Amazon Lily is named after a flower.
  • There's also Gold Roger and Rouge, both named after the Jolly Roger (or the French version jolie rouge, in Rouge's case).
    • Gold Roger and Silvers Rayleigh also count.
    • The Five Elders are named after the classical planets (Mercury to Saturn); the planets discovered in modern times - Uranus, Neptune (or rather its Greek equivalent, Poseidon), Pluto - interestingly share their names with the Ancient Weapons.
  • It isn't just characters: the art books and data books also have their own naming themes going on. Color Walk 3, 4, and 5 are named after animals that "rule" their respective habitat (Lion, Eagle, Shark), while the data books are Color-Coded for Your Convenience (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green).
• There Can Be Only One: In Chapter 634, after Hody starts to talk about what his plans are, he talks about being pirate king. At which point Luffy takes out half of his gang of pirates and tells Hody that there can be only one pirate king.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Doubles with Disproportionate Retribution: A group of scholars from a certain island is studying the Void Century, something the World Government deems a serious crime. Akainu's solution: blow the island and all its inhabitants (not just the scholars) to kingdom come. Even Aokiji, who isn't exactly soft himself, thought this was overkill.
  • A little elaboration on this — the plan was originally to blow up the island with the scholars on it. The other citizens had already been evacuated on another ship. However, Akainu (then known as Vice-Admiral Sakazuki) then blew up the evacuation ship, just on the off chance that one scholar managed to get on board. Not only was Aokiji (then known as Vice-Admiral Kuzan) disgusted, but it also stunned Spandine, the Jerkass General Failure of CP9 and the father of Spandam, who ordered the evacuation.
  • The attack that was used on Ohara is in itself overkill: the Buster Call. It uses a fleet of ten battleships commanded by five vice-admirals to utterly destroy one island — and the attack will not discriminate. It can and will destroy entire populations without thought, and it is the strongest attack commandeered by the Marines on a single target. Its sheer destructiveness means it is used as sparingly as possible, and can only be ordered by ten people in the world: the three admirals, the Fleet Admiral, the Commander-in-Chief, and the Five Elder Stars. The only way a person that is outside of that small group of people can order a Buster Call is if they are given the authority to do so by one of the group, via giving them their golden den den mushi.
• There Was a Door: Garp went of his way to smash through the wall of the home the Straw Hats were in simply to punch Luffy in the head. When his own subordinates ask why he would not simply go through the door, he simply said "It was cooler". At least he was polite enough to help repair the wall.
  • He ended up doing more harm than good.
• Third Eye: We're told there’s a whole tribe of them, though the only one we’ve seen is Charlotte Pudding who’s outright stated to only be a Half-Human Hybrid. Supposedly they have mysterious powers of insight.
• Third Party Stops Attack: Several times:
  • The best example has to be during the Marineford War Saga, Akainu is about to kill Coby due to the latter's outburst, then Shanks appears and stops the attack before stopping the war altogether.
  • During the Dressrosa arc Luffy stops Doflamingo from delivering a Finishing Stomp to Law by holding out his leg and stopping the attack cold.
• Third Time's The Charm: Luffy's fights against Crocodile. He lost the first two, and took him down in round 3.
• This Cannot Be!: Don Krieg doesn't take too well to getting beaten by Luffy and in response repeatedly shrieks that no one can defeat him.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Luffy takes this attitude during Zoro's duel with Mihawk. When Johnny and Yosaku attempt to intervene, Luffy holds them back and tells them to wait until the end, despite obviously wanting to help Zoro himself.
• This Is Unforgivable!: If Luffy sees you betraying your own True Companions, you better start praying.
  • Subverted when Boa Hancock petrifies her subjects, which made Luffy initially very angry. But when Hancock reversed the process and Luffy learned her Dark and Troubled Past, and the effect it had on her, he instantly forgave her.
  • Similarly averted when Franky found out that the Straw Hats pulled this exact trope on the Franky Family and even said the words "This is unforgivable, Straw Hat!", almost turning into a Cycle of Revenge. However, a series of circumstances allowed the Straw Hats and the Franky Family to work together, and in the end, Franky pulled a Heel–Face Turn, and joined the Straw Hats.
  • Franky and Iceburg have this towards each other, though both are eventual subversions. Iceburg blames Franky for enabling Tom's Frame-Up and imprisonment, but admits that, forgiveness or no, he is still happy Franky isn't dead. He later lets go when he realizes that Franky blames himself for what happened more than he does anyway. Franky is outraged Iceburg would go to work for the World Government, who were the ones who actually did the framing and imprisoning, but later acknowledges that Iceburg having connections was really the only thing keeping the Government from doing to him what they did to Tom.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Who knew that Usopp's natural negativity would be the one thing that made him immune to Perona's negative ghosts? She went horohoroHOLY CRAP!!!
• This Means War!: Luffy has declared War twice in his time as a pirate.
  • First was as part of his You Are Not Alone movement for Robin by declaring war against the World Government so they would be labeled as the same.
  • The second was after the Fish-Man Civil War: Luffy declares war against the Emperor Big Mom to free Fish-Man Island from her candy-coated fingers.
• Those Two Guys: Coby and Helmeppo; Johnny and Yosaku; Jango and Fullbody; Shachi and Penguin...
• Threatening Mediator: Near the closing of the Whitebeard War, Shanks and his Red Hair Pirates — another of the Four Emperors, like Whitebeard Pirates — shows up in Marineford and then threatens Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines to stop fighting by declaring that anyone who still wants to fight will have to fight against his side. And then the war promptly stops, with Shanks taking Whitebeard and Ace's corpses to be given proper burial.
• Through a Face Full of Fur: Yup, Chopper can do this.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Sanji finally meets beautiful mermaids. And they like him.
• Tickle Torture:
  • In the anime Nico Robin does this to a girl with her powers in the Ice Hunter arc to get the girl to tell her where the Strawhats flag is.
  • Carrot does this to Brulee in Chapter 851.
• Time Skip:
  • In the manga, the first chapter ends with one, starting from when Luffy was seven, then jumping 10 years.
  • The Straw Hats spent two years apart to better their abilities, after which they regrouped from all over the world, stronger than ever. Notably, that's more than twice the length of time that passed in the main plot which was told over the course of 13 years.
• Title Drop: Since the name of the manga is also the name of the ultimate treasure, this happens every so often.
• Title Montage:
  • Part of the 2nd opening, "Believe", has clips of the show's previous episodes as a background to the Straw Hats showing off their fighting skills.
  • The 22nd opening, "Over the Top", contains a short montage of scenes from the current episode, as a preview of sorts.
• To Be Continued: The famous "TO BE CONTINUED" end card has been in continuous use since Episode 3 (November 1999) with only very seldom visual variations, and usually with the same drum sound effect accompanying it.^note どーん！！
• Together in Death:
  • Gold Roger and his lover, Rouge, who died giving birth to his child.
  • In some ways, we could consider Whitebeard and Ace in a platonic sense, seeing what the former went through in order to rescue the latter.
  • In another platonic sense, if Luffy died in his battle against Donquixote Doflamingo in Dressrosa, Trafalgar Law had every intention of following after him in death as atonement for getting him involved in the fight in the first place. Thankfully, Luffy (of course) prevailed.
• Toilet Horror: During the Thriller Bark arc, which takes place on a horror themed island, there is a bit of a homage to what happens in bathrooms in horror movies. Nami while taking a shower is attacked by an invisible Absalom. Fortunately, she is saved before the pervert could do anything worse to her.
• Token Competent Minion:
  • The members of Buggy's crew aren't always incompetent, but have plenty of silly moments and don't accomplish much. The exception is Cabaji, who is dead serious every time he's onscreen and is able to take on Zoro.
  • The Baratie Arc has Gin, who does most of the heavy lifting for Don Krieg while the rest of the crew fails to get much done. He fights Sanji one-on-one and wins, but a stroke of conscience resulting from Sanji saving his life earlier causes him to lose this status.
  • In Skypiea, Enel has four priests who serve as commanders for his army. Of the four, only Ohm poses a significant challenge to the heroes. Satori is beaten in the trial he oversees before the war even starts, Shura is beaten shortly into the war's beginning, and Gedatsu, incapable of getting out of his own way, is beaten by Chopper, one of the weaker Straw Hats. In contrast, Ohm sets up his own mini-death game during Enel's larger game and greatly challenges numerous fighters, including dueling with Zoro.
  • In Thriller Bark, the members of Gecko Moria's "Mysterious Four" are somewhat competent, but do not pose a significant challenge. Moria's new zombie Oars, however, blows them out of the water, as the monster requires the combined efforts of the entire Straw Hat crew to defeat him; by the end of the arc, his threat level could be considered to have eclipsed that of Moria's.
• Token Good Teammate:
  • The Seven Warlords can be cruel, selfish, amoral, or a Jerkass... save for Jimbei who only took his position to protect Fish-Man Island and build up a better relationship between merpeople and humans. And also Kuma, who worked for them only as part of a deal to save Bonney.
  • Hatchan was the least cruel of the Arlong Pirates and he would later become an ally to the Straw Hats.
• Too Dumb to Live: Usopp jumped off the ship... while they were in the sea of clouds. Needless to say, he almost went splat.
  • Though, one should remember it was a sea of clouds that was capable of supporting their ship.
  • Actually Luffy, Brook, and Chopper have their moments. If they see the other drowning, they will jump in to save them, despite the fact they know they can't swim.
  • Also, Gedatsu deserves a mention here. He's so forgetful that at one point, he was thinking something at one of the Straw Hats only to realize that he was thinking it and that his mouth was closed. He has also forgotten to breathe, which could've led to this trope being literal, had it continued.
  • The World Nobles count, to an extent. They are utterly incapable of understanding that their downright reprehensible behavior tends to make them universally despised, and the "common" people absolutely will kill them if given half a chance to do so. One even had the nerve to insult a group of former-slave Fish-men on their island when they were armed, and he was alone, injured, and had no way of contacting the Admirals that normally keep people from delivering their long-deserved comeuppance. Would have undoubtedly gotten the dumbass killed, had Queen Otohime herself not stepped in.
    • Played for tragedy with Doquixote Homing. Although he had good intentions, and was certainly the White Sheep of any Noble seen so far, his overall naiveté and inexperience with people led to his death and the rest of his family either dead or tortured.
  • Did Demalo Black, who only had a 26-million-beli bounty, really think he could impersonate the 400-million-beli-bounty Luffy and NOT have Sentoumaru come with TWO Pacifistas to kick his ass?
    Sentoumaru: STRAW HAT ISN'T SOME PIECE OF TRASH LIKE YOU!!!
• Too Injured to Save: At the end of the Marineford arc. Just when Luffy and company were about to leave, Sakazuki attacked Luffy, but Ace got in the middle taking a lava punch that went through his chest. Luffy begged Ivankov to use his healing hormones as he has done on Luffy before, but Ivankov refused, knowing it would be useless.
• Took A Level In Bad Ass: Usopp. He got upset when it became clear that he was a weakling in a World of Badass. Cue his ascent to utter badassery as Sogeking, the King of Snipers, capable of defeating experienced Devil Fruit users and making hordes of Marines wet their collective pants. Usopp goes even further in the Dressrosa arc, unlocking Observation Haki and being declared a God by the gladiators.
  • Then there's Coby and Helmeppo. Hard to believe that the former was a chubby cry baby and was much shorter than we see him now, and the other was a Smug Snake idiot son, of one of the story's earliest (and perhaps most inefficient) Big Bad.
  • All of the Straw Hats who joined prior to the Water 7 arc (minus Robin) took a level in Badass in the Enies Lobby arc; every one of them either revealed their Next Tier Power-Up or their new weaponry and defeated significantly stronger opponents than they had faced before (up to that point).
    • And after the two year skip, they take another level in badass. Luffy learned Haki and has nearly perfected his gears, Zoro significantly increased his ability with swords and learned Haki, Sanji learned Haki and can run at super speeds on land, underwater, and through the air as well as improved combat abilities, Usopp becomes incredibly buff and masters Pop Greens, Nami has mastered weather control, Chopper has mastered his shapeshifting and his forms have become more powerful, Robin can now generate clones of herself and giant limbs, Franky made himself a new and more powerful body as well as a mech, and Brook gained enhanced musical abilities as well as complete mastery over his Devil Fruit. In addition, they all have become physically stronger and more durable than before (yes, even Nami) and they have even more new abilities aside from these initially-revealed ones that they continue to show off as the series gets deeper into the Timeskip.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Considering the warm, idealistic nature of this series, this trope has happened to several characters.
  • Nami went from the greedy and rude pirate chick who would constantly scam her crewmembers, to a loyal and rough-but-reasonable navigator who had the crew's best interests in heart.
  • Zoro went from being an uncaring cynical swordsman to being willing to die for his crew if he had to. Fortunately, he's still alive.
  • Robin went from a Straw Nihilist who did what she did to in order to stay alive, to a warm, if unflappable, Straw Hat who finally found her place.
  • All of the Straw Hats, really.
  • Even some of the villains get in on the action: In conjunction with her Devil Fruit, Alvida went from a Fat Bastard who treated her lackeys wrong, to the mellow firstmate of Buggy who shows the skin and treats those below her much better than before.
  • Speaking of Buggy, while he's still a Jerkass to everyone else, he at least treats his own men better now. Probably the ONLY other reason why he has one of the largest crews as Warlord later on.
  • CP9 got hit with this trope: After Spandam ratted them out, they were forced to recuperate as renegades. After a montage of Lucci's friends doing other jobs to have him feel better, the island they were on was attacked by marauding pirates. Lucci, obviously, dispatched them in a manner similar to his Dark Justice, but here, it was more of a defensive action. Also, if he still believed in Dark Justice, he would have arrested everyone on the island. Makes you wonder who else could be hit by this trope...
  • How about Bellamy? After seeing Skypeia with his own eyes, he suddenly dropped a lot of his cynical outlook in pirating. When he and Luffy met in Dressrosa, he declared that he would not bash other's dreams anymore. While he's still a jerk, he at least has more of a spine now.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: In one of the side cover stories in the manga, this happened to Buggy when a mother bird ate him.
  • Usopp as well. Perona's ghosts can make people feel negative and depressed. But Usopp is already so negative, the ghosts became depressed instead.
• Touch Telepathy: Violet normally doesn't have to be really close to another person to read his/her mind with her powers, but in order to let someone else read her mind, that someone should look at her eye through her circled thumb and pointer finger.
• Touch the Intangible: Channeling Haki through an attack lets it harm the setting's Elemental Shapeshifters, most of whom are otherwise Made of Air. When you don't have Haki, using an element that is strong against them can also have this effect, as shown when Luffy tries to use water against the living sand Crocodile.
• Tournament Arc: A mini one of these seems to be unfolding in the Dressrosa arc as Luffy competes to win his deceased brother Ace's former Devil Fruit. Unfortunately, that's just what Donquixote Doflamingo wanted him to do.
• Towering Flower: The strange forest island Usopp is trapped on before and during the Time Skip with only a man named Heracles keeping him company turns out to actually be a giant carnivorous flower.
• Toy Disguise: One scene during the Whole Cake Island arc has Carrot infiltrating Big Mom's bedroom to steal Brook back. When one of her guards woke up, she just adopted a cute pose, and the guard simply mistook her for a stuffed rabbit.
• Trademark Favorite Food: The Straw Hats' favorite food were revealed in an SBS and the manga:
  • Luffy loves meat, to the point that his perfect meal, including dessert and beverage, consists entirely of the stuff. He hates Cherry Pie, specifically from Mock Town.
    • If Luffy was a female, her favorite food would be salad.
  • Chopper likes all kinds of sweet food, but he's especially fond of chocolate and cotton candy, to the point that his Red Baron is "Cotton Candy Lover". He hates anything spicy.
  • Roronoa Zoro — White rice, Sea King meat, and anything that compliments ale. He hates chocolate and things that are too sweet.
  • Nami — Mainly tangerines as well as other kinds of fruit. She hates Orangette, a candied orange peel dipped in chocolate.
  • Usopp — Pike from an autumn island as well as other fish of the season, hates mushrooms.
  • Sanji — Spicy seafood pasta and food that compliments black tea. He hates Devil's Tongue (konjac).
  • Nico Robin — Sandwiches, cakes that aren't too sweet and food that complements coffee. She hates gum because she can't swallow it.
  • Franky — Hamburgers, french fries, and food that complements cola. He hates Marshmellows because they are too chewy.
  • Brook — Tea, takoyaki, and curry, hates lemon.
• Tragic Villain: This being a Shōnen series, there are a few here, but the prime example would have to be Charlotte Linlin, aka Big Mom. When you look at her past, you realize she never stood a chance. Born with innate destructive power and an untreatable eating disorder, her parents were forced to abandon her at Elbaf, pinning their hopes on the holy nun that lived there to help and care for her. The aforementioned holy nun, Mother Carmel, was kind to Linlin and inspired her with her dream of a world where all races could live together as equals. Alas, that was all a facade; Carmel was actually a child slaver who planned to sell Linlin to the government for one, final payday, and thus enabled Linlin's innocent, but ultimately violent behavior to exploit it as a selling point to her potential buyer. Linlin, however, never found out about Carmel's true nature, and grew to idolize and obsess over her, which only escalated after Carmel "disappeared" on her sixth birthday. Devastated, Linlin fell into the care of another enabler, her future head chef Streusen, and after that it was all downhill. Linlin took Carmel's supposed dream and made it her own, and then went out to sea in order to make it real by any means necessary, thoroughly twisting it. When it comes down to it, Big Mom is just a mentally unwell woman that was constantly exploited by others, leading her to base her entire life on ideals that were founded on lies.
• Training the Gift of Magic:
  • Potentially all living beings can employ the force of Haki (Ambition) that lets them augment their offense and defense with sheer power of will, and use precognitive ability. Not everyone realizes this, though, and the ability to use these powers is seen as rare, at least outside the New World sea. But much like physical training, you can train to tap into Haki abilities and then master them.
  • A clearer example of the trope is the rare type of Haki called "King's Disposition", which lets you subdue weak-willed people through force of will; it is described as a rare gift ("no amount of training will give you that Haki if you just don't happen to have it"), and only a handful of people have it. And like the other Haki types, if you happen to have it, it too can be trained.
• Traintop Battle: Franky's fight with CP9 member Nero atop the Puffing Tom.
• Training from Hell: All of the Straw Hats go through this during the Time Skip, with different levels of hellishness.
• Tranquil Fury: As long as Luffy is shouting and occasionally laughing while fighting you, you still have a chance. Once he stops doing these things, however, there is nothing on earth or heaven that can save you. Ask Arlong, Bellamy, and countless others.
  • From the first manga chapter, we have Red-Haired Shanks, when he sees that Higuma has kidnapped Luffy, he never raises his voice while talking, yet he makes it very clear that he doesn't like anyone hurting his friends.
  • Whitebeard when curbstomping Akainu after he kills Portgas D. Ace. Especially effective knowing what he does if anyone so much as touches a hair on his "sons" since he's such a Papa Wolf. Killing one would only produce this. Even having nearly half his face burnt off merely gives a response of "I'm just getting started". The manga title is even called "Silent Rage".
• Transformation Sequence: Wax-Wax Armor!
• Transvestite: Mr. 2, Bon Clay, and the natives of Kamabakka Kingdom.
• Trap Is the Only Option: In the Dressrosa Arc, Franky realizes right away that it's no coincidence Ace's Mera Mera Fruit is being offered as a prize at the Colosseum right when Luffy shows up on the island. But the prize has high sentimental value to Luffy, and Franky knows trying would be better than having Luffy regret losing the chance to get it. Besides, it's their only chance to find out the location of the Smiles factory.
• Treasure Map: Sometimes comes up, thought not as often as you'd think for pirates.
• Treachery Cover Up: When news got out that Crocodile had his sandy ass handed to him, the World Government credited the defeat to Smoker. Who, by the way, was less than happy about it.
• Tropical Island Adventure: The Grand Line consists of a Caribbean-like series of tropical islands on the equator, which the cast of course explore.
• Troubled Backstory Flashback: Most of the Straw Hat crew's flashback depict a (relatively) happier time before everything goes to hell. The post-Paramount War flashbacks for Ace, Luffy, and Sabo might very well be there just to wrench the stake further into the gaping wound in most fans hearts.
• Trouser Space: You would think that Spandam might be a little hesitant to take blueprints that Franky probably kept in his speedo.
  • Word of God says that Franky keeps his tools in his speedo.
  • In the G-8 filler arc, Luffy pulled the octoballoon from the end of Skypiea from his trousers.
    Zoro: Yeah, but... didn't it feel weird down there?
    Luffy: Down where?
• True Companions: (Former Trope Namer when the trope was named for a mistranslated Japanese word). The heart and soul of the story. Luffy, especially, lives and breathes this trope.
  • Whitebeard, all the way. For the World's Strongest Man, who could have had anything, anything, this world had to offer... this is all he ever wanted. He succeeded.
• Trust Me, I'm an X: Trafalgar Law tends to announce his profession with such a line. Though, it doesn't help that, in addition to being a doctor, he's a pirate. And, OH YEAH, his moniker is "Surgeon of Death," so you might not want to trust this guy too much.
  • Turns out he's actually pretty good at his trade. Good enough to save Luffy and Jimbei, who are respectively a human and a Fish-man, from the brink of death.
• Truth in Television: Hordy Jones joined the Neptune Army just to learn fighting skills so he could wage war against the humans. There are actually several white supremacists in the US who join the army in order to prepare for a supposedly upcoming race war.
• Tunnel King: Miss Merry Christmas.
  • Daruma.
  • Post Timeskip Horn Point Chopper.
• Tyke Bomb: All of CP9 apparently, but Rob Lucci was the the most infamous.
  • Averted in the case of Luffy and Ace who were trained from young ages by their grandfather to become strong sailors in the Marines... only to become two of the world's most wanted pirates.
• Two Guys and a Girl:
  • The three first members of Straw Hat Crew: Luffy, Zorro, and Nami.
  • In the weak trio, Luffy and Zoro are changed by Usopp and Chopper, Nami stays the Girl.
  • The Sweet Commanders (Katakuri, Crackers, and Smoothie) of Big Mom Crew count, too.
  • In the Marines: Sengoku, Garp, and Tsuru as three of the oldest members.

U

• Uber Mensch: Blackbeard.
• Uncertain Doom: This happens a lot to villains in the East Blue arc and a few times afterwards, it's a better alternative than having the Straw Hats (the heroes) outright murder the bad guys which goes against their lifestyle. Though Oda did show showing certain antagonists (like Baroque Works and CP9) surviving through cover stories, plus many former villains return in the Impel Down arc to help Luffy free Ace and fight the Marines.
  • Axe-Hand Morgan, the former Marine captain, was thought to be killed by Zoro by one fan until Oda corrected him by saying he was arrested. Morgan appeared in Coby's cover story where he escaped and then he was never seen again.
  • Kuro and the Black Cat Pirates (with the exception of Jango) are also nowhere to be seen after Luffy defeats Kuro and they flee Usopp's village. The anime shows Kuro having returned to his pirate life and reacting dispassionately to Luffy's first bounty poster.
  • Don Krieg, Gin and the other Krieg Pirates don't appear again after the Baratie arc. The arc involved Gin breathing in a lethal dose of poisonous gas and telling Sanji he might have not have long to live but he hoped to see him again on the Grand Line... which hasn't happened.
  • The fate of the Priests in Skypiea is very obscure: Gedatsu fell back to the Blue Sea and opened up a hot springs resort but the other three weren't so lucky. Satori took Sanji's Concasse (axe kick) to the skull and is never seen getting up again, in the Funimation dub Sotori and Kotori (Satori's brothers) even say that he was killed and want revenge which further confuses the issue. Shura was blasted by Wiper's Reject Dial to the chest and Ohm was sliced down by Zoro's Pound Cannon and (like Satori) didn't get up again. Even if they survived that, the Shandians banished them and the rest of Enel's forces to a drifting cloud, which means they will stay on this cloud until they all die or the cloud dissolves and they fall down into Blue Sea (which would kill them as well).
  • Yorki, Brook's friend and captain was not killed along with the rest of the Rumbar Pirates as he had fallen ill prior and was last reported traveling across the Calm Belt (which is filled with Sea Kings) but even if he crossed safely that was 90 years ago. So if Yorki didn't die of his sickness or wasn't eaten by a Sea King he'd be a very old man.
  • Shiki and the Golden Lion Pirates from Strong World have a status of "unknown", but since they fell unconscious from their collapsing island and Shiki at least had a Devil Fruit... they're likely dead.
  • Little Oars Jr. gets subjected to a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle against Doflamingo, Kuma and Moria at Marineford, and collapses, seemingly dead. It later turns out that he's still alive, and helps the Whitebeard Pirates advance, but his final fate is never conclusively revealed. The only two named characters who are explicitly stated to have died at Marineford are Ace and Whitebeard.
  • Charlotte Opera in Whole Cake Island arc had years of his life ripped out by his mother Big Mom for lying about Luffy and Nami's deaths. It's unclear whether he’s still alive or not, Charlotte Moscato was thought to be dead when Big Mom did the same thing to him when on a hunger rampage but was revealed to be alive later. No such luck for Opera though, whose fate is unknown.
  • From the same arc the Vinsmoke Family (Judge, Reiju, Ichiji, Niji and Yonji) Sanji's father, sister and brothers) were last seen fighting off Big Mom’s forces giving the Straw Hats time to escape and were shot down with special bullets from a Gatling Gun. Their fates would eventually be revealed in a cover story which showed that Judge, Reiju and Ichiji managed to escape Big Mom's forces but Niji and Yonji weren't so lucky.
  • Mother Carmel and the orphans' final fates are never explicitly confirmed, only told through the reactions of others. It's implied that Linlin ate them all, judging by the circumstances, bystander reactions, and Big Mom's unexplained inheritance of Carmel's powers right after she disappeared. Given the horrific and graphic nature of that implication, it's unlikely that it'll ever be shown in detail. Complicating matters is that Oda went on record in volume 16's SBS that eating Luffy would not grant someone his powers. An inconsistency, or a hint that not all is as it seems?
• Underestimating Badassery: Happens constantly, especially with the main characters, because they often appear to be very goofy characters. Expect to see in every single arc at least once an antagonist thinking Luffy or his crew-mates are easy targets, second-guessing themselves about how tough they are, or have a Smug Super/Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy attitude, and are then thoroughly clobbered shortly after. One major aversion occurs the Paramount War saga, where it is told to Luffy that he's way out of his depth on several separate occasions by multiple characters... and they're absolutely correct. Luffy may be tough, but every opponent he faced was much, much stronger than him this time.
• Undressing the Unconscious:
  • After Luffy crashes in the women-only Amazon Lily Island, he eats some poisonous mushrooms that make mushrooms grow all over his body and passes out. He's found and rescued by a trio of women who happen upon his unconscious body, who bring him back to their village where he's stripped and washed to remove the mushrooms. Once Luffy awakens, he's completely naked in a cell right in front of the curious female populace, who have never seen a man before. They eventually give him some new clothes to wear, however, they turn out to be rather girly looking, much to his displeasure.
  • When Absalom kidnaps Nami, he brings her unconscious to his zombie tailors and orders them to change her into a wedding dress because he plans to marry her.
• Unexpected Character: Bellamy's appearance in the Dressrosa arc took the fandom completely by surprise, since everybody had written him off as dead years ago. Similarly, the appearance of Jesus Burgess in that same arc also stunned the audience, in-universe and out.
• Unexpectedly Dark Episode:
  • Most flashback sequences that explore a character's background tend to be this, as they can feature rampant death, which is rare in the present storyline. At least two of those have involved genocide plots of entire countries. Even children weren't spared from being killed.
  • The sixth movie Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island. Much in contrast to the rest of the movies or the series in general, this one contains some really dark and disturbing imagery that would fit better in an actual Horror Movie.
• Unexplained Recovery: It's amazing what kind of things that people in this series go through, yet still live to tell the tale. For instance: Pell carrying a bomb out of the clock tower, seemingly getting blown up when it goes off, and still ends coming back just fine.
• Unfortunate Item Swap: Spandam mixes up his two snailphones, accidentally issuing a buster call ("Something has Gone Horribly Wrong here, level the place with heavy artillery, take no further orders from this phone") on his location.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Shiki at the start of One Piece Film: Strong World. Granted he was already a prick to begin with, but the Straw Hats go out of their way to warn him and his crew incoming of an typhoon that not even his weather staff can predict. After they avoid it, how does he show his gratitude? By kidnapping Nami and nearly killing the crew by dropping them dozen of feet from the air. Big mistake.
  • Done much earlier by Don Krieg, who attacks the restaurant that just saved both his and his crews' lives.
  • The Longarm Tribesmen who Brook decides to willingly work for during the timeskip repay him by trying to turn him over to the Marines when he tells them he plans on retiring.
  • Much like Shiki earlier, Z from the twelvth movie is saved by the Straw Hats, who found him drifting across the sea and tended to his wounds. How does Z thank them ? By attacking them the second he learns they are pirates. Then again, considering his past, who can blame him ? The last time he showed mercy to a pirate, the asshole came back, cut his arm, and slaughtered his entire division. Note also that he was actually quite grateful for the save, until he learned they were pirates..
• Unholy Nuke: God Eneru with his infamous, island-annihilating Raigou◊.
• Uniqueness Decay:
  • During the East Blue Saga Devil Fruits were considered to be myths by the majority of the population and even most of the villains that the Straw Hats fought. This meant that most people would freak out whenever Luffy busted out some of his trademark Rubber Man moves. In fact during the entirety of the Saga Luffy only fought three other Devil Fruit users^note  Buggy, Smoker and Alvida and it was always considered a big deal. Once the Straw Hats enter the Grand Line almost every major character of note has eaten some kind of Devil Fruit to the point that its noted those who are foolish enough to rely solely on their fruit powers are doomed to be squashed by the big fish of the seas.
  • Logia type Devil Fruit users become this by the time the series moves into the New World. During the first half of the series Logia's were considered to be damn near unbeatable thanks to their elemental abilities allowing them to dodge almost all normal attacks and cause mass scale damage to the point that the only way someone could stand a chance against Logia users was if someone either had a fruit with the exact opposing elemental nature or somehow imbued themselves with the element necessary to counteract their opponent. In the New World everyone has some form of Haki which allows them to bypass the abilities of Devil Fruit users meaning that those who are reliant on their Logia's are no longer the big fishes of the sea. This is even demonstrated in the Fishman Island arc when a Logia user tries to attack an underling of Big Mom who sends him flying with one punch and mocks him for thinking that having a Logia Fruit would give him an edge.
  • Speaking of Haki... Haki. Haki was completely unheard of throughout East Blue, and even in the first half of the Grand Line was an extremely rare ability. Following the Two-Year Time Skip and the Straw Hats entering the New World, virtually every signifigant character is capable of using at least one type of Haki. Even on the Straw Hats, Luffy went from being the only Haki-user to being one of five.
• Universal Poison: Averted with Magellan. His Doku-Doku no Mi gives him command over all poisons, running the gamut from minor irritants to paralytic agents to full-on stone-melting corrosives. Even with antidotes for some individual poisons, once he hits you with lethal doses of about a dozen different poisons you're beyond the help of medical science. Luffy found out the hard way that Magellan's poison wasn't just something he could Determinator his way through.
• Unknown Character: Mr. 6 and Miss Mother's Day from the Baroque Works Organization, they're never seen nor fought, and while their boss has yet to make an appearance in the New World, with their organization taken down by the protagonists, it's unlikely we'll ever get to know them.
• Unknown Relative: Luffy apparently never even thought of having a father (he only remembered having a grandpa) until his grandpa Garp points it out. It, of course, enables a reveal: that Luffy's father is an infamous criminal (the most wanted man in the world, in fact) named Dragon. It is implied that Dragon never raised Luffy and just left him in his hometown in East Blue.
• Unobtainium: Seastone.
• The Unreveal: Happens whenever information about One Piece or the Will of D is about to be revealed.
  • When Usopp asks Silvers Rayleigh what's on Laugh Tale and the specifics of the One Piece, Luffy basically says NO SPOILERS.
  • Later, Whitebeard flashes back to a conversation he had with Roger concerning the true nature of the Will of D, [but the flashback is cut off and Whitebeard dies a few pages later. All we know is it’s somehow connected to One Piece, which is apparently not what people think it is and will “shake the entire world” when someone finds it again.
  • In the Wano Arc we get a flashback concerning Kozuki Oden, who actually sailed with Roger on the voyage where they found the One Piece. Of course, the treasure itself is not revealed, and all we learn is that Roger laughed his ass off when he saw it (hence "Laugh Tale") and was 20 years “too early” to use it for its intended purpose, whatever that is. Oda said he had to be pretty careful not to spoil the ending of the entire series when he was writing it.
  • This is all pretty justified, as the nature of One Piece and the Will of D are integral to the climax Oda has been building toward for 23 years of real-world time.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: The villian Spandam has a pet sword that can turn into an elephant. Really. Its name is 'Funkfreed'.
• Unscaled Merfolk
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Sanji is not amused when he finds out he landed on an island full of transvestites.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Luffy's defeat of Sandersonia and Marigold falls into this. Luffy couldn't get past the Boa sisters' Haki abilities until he went to Gear 2nd and became faster than Sandersonia could follow even while reading him and stronger than Marigold's defenses could handle.
• Unsound Effect: When Wapol's crew is stared down by a bunch of Lapins, the sound effect is LAPIN.
• Unstoppable Rage: Numerous times by most of the Straw Hats, but the most hilarious is when Sanji finds out that Absalom is about to marry Nami and has seen her naked. He becomes so angry he starts burning — literally.
  • Sanji again anytime he remembers the "Hell" he went through the past two years, even enough to set his whole body on fire instantly.
• Unusual Eyebrows: Sanji.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Brook is a living skeleton with an afro. Yet people on Sabaody and Fish-Man Island don't seem to think this is anything to get freaked out about.
• Unwanted Harem: Luffy has an entire ISLAND'S worth in the Kuja Amazons, who immediately take a liking to him after he does the gorgon sisters one of the biggest favours they could ever ask for.
  • Not to mention Boa Hancock and "Iron Mace" Alvida. Although, the harem may be less "Unwanted" and more "Undetected".
• Unwitting Pawn: Both the Whitebeard Pirates and the World Government are patsies for Blackbeard, the man who single-handedly caused what is confirmed to have been the biggest battle in recorded history, got what he wanted, and escaped scot free.
• Up Through the Ranks: Implied by a colorspread page showing a shot of many of the current (and some ex) high ranking Marines' younger selves as foot soldiers.
• Upper-Class Twit: The Celestial Dragons. They're the descendants of the people who created the World Government, so they feel that they don't have to do anything. That includes not breathing the same air everyone else is breathing.
• Use Your Head: Luffy's Gum-Gum Bell attack involves Luffy using his head to attack his opponent.

V

• Variant Power Copying:
  • In Thriller Bark arc, by virtue of merging the gigantic zombie Oars' shadow with his own, Gekko Moria the shadow-man can manipulate Oars' shadow to shape-shift his body (think shadow puppets, but in reverse), including copying the moves of Luffy, the Rubber Man.
  • In Fish-Man Island arc, Luffy, with his Haki and Gear Second, can emulate his brother Ace's signature Fire Fist attack (called Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk) even though Ace is a flame user and Luffy isn't.
• Verbal Tic: Too many characters to list, and the unique laughs for characters are practically a whole subtrope.
• Vetinari Job Security: Iceberg has this.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: While heading toward Enies Lobby, the group overhears a Den Den Mushi chiming, and Nami tugs down the front of her shirt. Sadly, we don't see her take it out.
  • In the Seventh Movie Nico Robin is shown pulling a small paper from her ample bosom, complete with a jiggle effect.
• Victory Pose: Franky.
• Viking Funeral: The Straw Hat Pirates do this for the Going Merry, their first ship.
• Villain Ball: The World Government is a Well-Intentioned Extremist government and 9/10 of their acts are to protect the citizens and the World peace with a Kick the Dog moment... then they decide to start a war with Whitebeard, one of the Emperors to take down the last vestige of Roger and to show they are not afraid of pirates. The results were... mixed.
• Villain Episode: Cover arc Buggy's Crew: After the Battle!, Jango's Dance Paradise (showing how did the Black Cat pirate become a Marine), Hatchan's Sea-Floor Stroll, Wapol's Omnivorous Hurrah, Gedatsu's Accidental Blue-Sea Life, Miss Goldenweek's Operation: "Meet Baroque Works" (showing how did the Baroque Works agents end up in Impel Down), 'Eneru's Great Space Operations, and CP9 Independent Report''.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Remember those Pacifistas that utterly demolished the Straw Hats and a large chunk of Whitebeard's forces? Remember when defeating the first one left the entire Straw Hat crew completely drained and vulnerable? After the time skip, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji are all capable of effortlessly bringing them down. Though it's stated that there are newer models.
• Villain Has a Point: The Marines (and by extension, the World Government) are one of the antagonist factions against the protagonist, and the likes of Akainu or Spandam in their ranks certainly doesn't help to give a good impression of them. But then we get to see the shenanigans REAL pirates of the New World do, such as Jack "The Drought", and suddenly the Marines' Knight Templar tendencies sound a bit more reasonable.
• Villain of Another Story: Many pirates could be considered this due to Protagonist-Centered Morality. A few examples:
  • Trafalgar Law, right now he's an ally of the main characters and got an almost protagonistic role, but he was part of Doflamingo's crew, a ruthless pirate on his own right and after the time skip he took out the hearts of 100 pirates (thanks to his powers this is non lethal, but still a pretty evil move) as a tribute to become a Shichibukai
  • Duval. He initially hold a grudge against the Straw Hats because of a misunderstanding, but the Straw Hats fixed the problem (more or less) and now Duval is an ally. In his hometown he was an underground boss, and he still keeps his henchmen.
• Villainous Breakdown: Crocodile and Moria had really epic ones. Also Spandam, though his multi-stage breakdown was pathetic rather than frightening.
  • Let's face it. Every enemy Luffy initially fights goes through one. He has that effect on them.
• Villainous Crossdresser: Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, who later does a Heel–Face Turn.
• Villainous Harlequin: Buggy the Clown
• Villainous Rescue: Granted, they were already in an Enemy Mine situation, but it's still surprising when Chapter 578 comes around and CROCODILE of all people steps in to save Luffy.
• Villain Respect: Five examples over the course of the story, all toward Luffy. Mihawk, remarks positively on Luffy's determination and drive to become Pirate King (note that while Mihawk isn't a villain in the correct sense of the term, he is a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, which technically makes him an enemy to all pirates, including the Straw Hats.) Eneru compliments Luffy's drive to become Pirate King, the "ruler of the entire blue ocean;" Rob Lucci compliments Luffy's leadership skills in stark contrast to Spandam; Blackbeard encourages him to pursue his dreams no matter what and after watching Luffy's awakening and his Gear 5, Kaido recognizes the aura as that of Joyboy and declares him his greatest rival.
• Villains Out Shopping: The post-Paramount War chapter covers place some of the more serious and/or villain characters into lighthearted scenarios, such as Magellan fishing with Hannyabal, Impel Down sadist Sadie-chan eating out with the head guard Domino, Mihawk eating takoyaki with Jimbei, and Akainu tending to a bonsai tree.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Crocodile, of course. He was seen as the hero of the people pretty much up to when he created a sandstorm that was supposed to kill them all.
  • Also Caesar Clown, or 'The Master' from Punk Hazard. The few people on the island see him as their kind saviour when he really doesn't give a damn about any of them, and is completely willing to sacrifice their lives or kill them outright for his dangerous and insane experiments. He also is experimenting with turning children into giant soldiers, knowing they will die from it within a few years, while the children see him as the helpful doctor who's going to cure their "disease" and return them home.
  • And another example from the Seven Warlords, Doflamingo, the beloved king of Dressrosa
• Violence is the Only Option: For Luffy, the only way to deal with the current arc's Big Bad is to kick their ass.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Zoro and Sanji, obviously. When they meet up again after not seeing other for two years, the first thing they do is insult each other. Making it seem more like they had been apart for two minutes than two years.
• Vocal Dissonance: Noticeable with characters like Chopper in his combat forms, Miss Monday, and Fukuro.
  • Pica is a notable example as characters lampshade how ridiculous his voice sounds coming from a man of his size and build.
• Vocal Evolution: If you compare the acting from the very start of the anime, to now... well, it speaks for itself.
• Voices Are Mental: People hit by Law's "Freaky Friday" Flip powers retain their voices, despite their new bodies.
• Volleying Insults: Sanji and Zoro.

W

• Wacky Wayside Tribe: Filler uses this now and again, to give a side-voyage for the anime while the manga gets ahead. In canon, the just-introduced Kuja Tribe on the island of Amazon Lily already appears to fit the trope to a T.
  • Subverted. The leader of the Kuja, Empress Boa Hancock, turns out to be a Warlord of the Sea and a plot coupon to help Luffy infiltrate Impel Down. The Amazons have since become another one of Luffy's allies, especially since Hancock has developed an intense crush on Luffy.
  • Skypiea was considered such for a while due to its irrelevance towards the series main plot before it became clear that there was really a massive amount of Foreshadowing in it, including but not limited to Haki, Poseidon, Blackbeard's rise to power, Doflamingo's "New Age" and Rogers' crew having uncovered the true history.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Quite a few qualify, by order of appearance:
  • Mihawk, who took down Zoro easily with a penknife.
  • Don Krieg. While previous villains were either completely outmatched by Luffy (Alvida and Morgan) or ultimately only caused a few cuts during the fight (Buggy and Kuro) Krieg was the first antagonist to genuinely be a threat to Luffy's life.
  • Smoker, the third strongest person in the East Blue and the first seriously powerful Marine the Straw Hats meet, stomped Luffy and Sanji (only Luffy in the anime) due to his logia ability.
  • Crocodile, who took down Luffy in seconds the minute he actually starts fighting back. Twice.
  • Aokiji He took down Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro faster than any one before and at the same time.
  • Doflamingo Post-Timeskip. He was able to effortlessly swat any and everyone, Luffy and Law included, away from him like flies. It took an organ destroying attack on behalf of Law and Luffy's Gear 4 to actually hurt him.
  • Doflamingo is immediately followed by Charlotte Cracker, who shows the massive difference in ability between the crew of a Yonko and a Warlord. Whereas Luffy quickly overpowered the Big Bad Doflamingo after going Gear Fourth, the same ability is easily nullified by Cracker and he's not even the biggest threat on the island, he's just a dragon. Compare to Doflamingo's three Dragons (Pica, Trebol, and Diamente) who were all defeated in one attack by Luffy's friends.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Several examples. Ace, Smoker and Hannyabel just to name a few.
• "Wanted!" Poster: Considered De facto Power Levels on the Grand Line by the general public. The higher a person's bounty, the stronger and/or more dangerous to the world s/he is.
• War Arc: The Whitebeard War had an entire saga named after it, but most of the major fighting occurred in the Battle of Marineford arc. Its participants included the Whitebeard Pirate Crew, the Marines, the Seven Warlords of the Sea and Luffy.
• Warrior Undead:
  • Brook (or Brooke) is a skeletal pirate with a cane sword and a massive afro. He later gains the ability to use ice by channeling his Ghostly Chill. He's also a Skeletal Musician.
  • The same arc that introduced Brook also features the zombie troopers, who work under Gecko Moriah. Most notable among them is the zombie samurai Ryuuma, who in life was known for his legendary story about slaying a dragon.
• Was Once a Man: The sentient toys on Dressrosa were once humans but turned because of a Devil Fruit power. Generally speaking those close to the victim not only don't recognize or believe the victim, they forget the victim even existed.
• Watching Troy Burn:
  • Robin, the sole survivor of Ohara, watched it burn to the ground as she sailed away by herself on a small boat, trying to laugh to keep her spirits up as her friend Saul had taught her before dissolving into sobs.
  • Law saw the dead bodies of his family and friends in Flevance, and watched his family's house burn down with his ill little sister still inside. Flevance was destroyed and everyone living there was killed, with Law only surviving because he hid among the corpses as they were carted away.
• Water Torture: In Momo's flashback in Dressrosa arc, he saw Doflamingo dunking one of his peons' head into a drum of water for failing him.
• Waterfall into the Abyss: During the Enies Lobby arc, the main judicial building Robin is being held in is on, Enies Lobby, is an island hanging in the middle of an abyss by a narrow section of land far too frail to actually support it. The abyss is in the middle of the ocean, which drains eternally into this bottomless pit, as seen in the page picture.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Thousand Sunny's Gaon Cannon. Not every day you see one of these things on a pirate sloop.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: Usopp, Sanji, and Franky were notorious troublemakers in their respective home towns. When Usopp left the entire town was thrown out of sorts by the absence of his pranks and we see that some had even taking to using him as an impromptu alarm clock. Sanji is outright attacked on his way out the door by people who are tearfully bidding goodbye seconds later. When Franky was leaving members of the crowd watching called for him to return soon.
• Weak Boss, Strong Underlings:
  • Spandam, leader of the secret government agency Cipher Pol 9. While his subordinates are all trained assassins and spies with superpowers, he himself is weaker than even a common low-rank Marine troop; Spandam's power level is 9, whereas Kalifa (the weakest CP9 agent) has a power level of 630, and Lucci (the strongest agent) has a power level of 4,000. He does have the "elephant sword" Funkfreed, but what should be a potentially powerful weapon is little more than trash in his hands, which Franky demonstrates.
  • While Admirals are the opposite of this trope, they still have someone above them, the Celestial Dragons. If a Dragon is attacked, an Admiral has to intervene. The Admirals are the real threat, the Celestial Dragons themselves are even weaker than Spandam.
  • Buggy the Clown is one of the first arc villains in the series, whom Luffy defeats somewhat easily early on. Buggy continues to serve as a recurring minor antagonist despite how weak he is, but after breaking out of Impel Down with Luffy's help, he manages to gain the loyalty of some of the other escapees by virtue of having once served on Pirate King Gol D. Roger's crew. Because of his underlings' strength, Buggy becomes a Warlord of the Sea over the course of the Time Skip, and later, one of the new Four Emperors after the dissolution of the Warlord system and the defeat of Big Mom and Kaido who's also managed to recruit former Warlords Mihawk and Crocodile into his crew. At the same time, Buggy decides to avert this by training.
  • Despite his Mythical Zoan fruit, Kurozumi Orochi is this. On paper, he is the Shogun of Wano and an equal to Kaido. In practice, despite his impressive durability, he has no skills whatsoever, and his personal guard, as well as the Beast Pirates, are stronger than him, and Kaido gets rid of him easily once he has no more use for him.
• Weak, but Skilled: Usopp and Nami in particular, using gadgets and tactics in their battles. Robin should also count as far as Devil Fruit powers go, since she isn't physically any stronger than a normal person, but her power lets her use leverage and devestating creativity against her foes.
• Weak-Willed: Luffy is highly susceptible to hypnosis. He can even be affected by hypnosis that isn't even aimed at him. He also repeatedly fell victim to Miss Goldenweek's Colors Trap.
• Weapon of Mass Destruction: Pluton, Poseidon and Uranus. Poseidon doubles as a Person of Mass Destruction.
• Weapons of Their Trade: The shipwrights of Galley-La Company primarily wield saws, wooden logs and other woodworking/shipbuilding tools to defend themselves from pirates.
• Weapon Tombstone: Ace's dagger and Whitebeard's bisento.
• Webcomic Time:
  • One Piece began on August 4, 1997, and the final chapter of the first half of the series was released on August 30, 2010. It took thirteen years to cover less than a year in-universe.
  • The Dressrosa arc began publication on March 4, 2013 and ended in September 28, 2015. It took two and a half years to cover one day in-universe.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Marines down to a T. Aokiji, Smoker and Hannyabal for example are basically good persons who want to protect the innocent from pirates while others like Akainu and Sengoku are far more brutal and merciless in their quest for peace but Sengoku was outraged that the escape of the prisoners from Level Six was covered to the point of resigning and Akainu was ready to tackle Whitebeard for the Marines and continue after being pummeled half to death so the "peace of the world" can reign . Luffy is the same, ready to help others at the drop of a hat but thought nothing of letting some of the most degenerated individuals in the planet free as long it saved Ace and acting with what he believes is right, regardless of morality, factions or consequences.
  • There's also Ohm, who just wants to save everybody from fighting and ruining the inherent happiness they were born with...by killing everybody so they can no longer suffer.
• Wham Episode: Has its own page.
• Wham Line: Has its own page.
• Whammy Bid: In the Sabaody Archipelago arc, a friend of the crew is captured and auctioned as a slave with a starting bid of 70 million Berries. The crew is confident that they can buy her back because they have 200 million Berries, but before they even get to speak, a Celestial Dragon buys her for 500 million, crushing their hopes.
• Wham Shot: Oda loves this trope, and would mark such moments with the onomatopoeia Don! or Dodon! on-panel. The sheer amount of such panels cheapens the trope, but that still don't stop them from being awesome, heartwarming, tearjerking, revelatory, or anything in-between.
• What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: The Buster Call attack. The last one had a battleship fire at another, still fully-manned battleship... just to get Luffy.
  • And before that, in Robin's flashback, they fire on a passenger ship full of innocents just in case a archeologist hid on board.
  • Coby called everyone present out on this at the end of the war when the Marines were fighting against fleeing and deranged pirates while injured soldiers could still be saved.
• What Are Records?: Oda started writing the manga in 1997 — over twenty years ago! Millennials are thus rather confused by Den Den Mushi; snails which act as organic rotary phones, which were phased out in The '80s.
• What Does This Button Do?: While running from angry locals after landing on a winter island, Franky comes across a large button with a skull on it. Thinking that it's a pirate symbol, he presses it. As you might have guessed, that's not what the skull was a symbol for.
• What If?:
  • The question poised for the 9th One Piece movie: Episode of Chopper, which panned out a little differently than from the original story.
  • Episode of Luffy tells of a different path the story could have gone in the Whitebeard War, with the major difference being Luffy and Ace being saved by Sabo and fighting alongside them.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Hannyabal gives one to Luffy in Impel Down, pointing out that many of the prisoners his group has freed deserve to be locked away, as they would otherwise be terrorizing innocent people. Case in point: Crocodile. In response, Luffy continued to insist that Hannyabal get out of the way. Opinions vary (his brother's life was at stake, not to mention his own), but for many this was a shocking turn for Luffy. Possibly done to create a parallel between Luffy and Blackbeard.
  • Though in Luffy's case, it should be noted that he did not originally want to free Crocodile. It was Emporio Ivankov who convinced him to do it.
  • Incidentally, Sengoku gives (or rather wants to give) one in 581. When he finds out the World Government is going to cover up the escape of a ton of Level 6 prisoners rather than warn the public and admit their failure, he rightly shouts "Are you fucking kidding me?!"
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Every Devil Fruit users' power is a "hammer" as the power never grows stronger or weaker. The users must think of ways to use this power in new ways. Special mention goes to Luffy because while he is an idiot, he comes up with surprisingly creative ways to use his "hammer".
• Who Watches the Watchmen?: Who governs the World Government?
  • The Five Elder Stars, but there is no real oversight at any level. They are free to do what they want.
  • Turns out, there is an individual who is the boss of the Five Elder Stars, and most of the instructions the World Government executes comes from him via the Stars.
• Whole Episode Flashback: In the Skypeia arc this took three whole episodes and it was of the tale of the ancient past, anyway, and in the Enies Lobby arc, it took two episodes and a double-bill special flashback.
• The Whole World Is Watching:
  • The public execution of Portgas D Ace is intended to be broadcast to as many places as possible with reporters ready to relay everything that happens as it happens to show the world the end of the bloodline of the King of the Pirates, Gold Roger, with the death of his son, Ace. Things do not go as planned due to, among other things, the arrival of Ace's sworn brother Luffy. One of Luffy's allies steals one of the cameras and has it on so he can mug for it when the cameras were supposed to be turned off during the battle to stop the execution. This does cause Ace's death to be broadcast, but also sees sent to the world the death of Ace's captain, Whitebeard, the chaos wrought by traitorous Warlord of the Sea Blackbeard, and Whitebeard's dying words, which proclaim Roger's legendary treasure the One Piece, does exist.
  • In the aftermath of the Dressrosa arc, Navy Admiral Fujitora orders a broadcast set up to reach as far as they can get. This extends to the three islands nearest Dressrosa itself. As part of that broadcast he announces the defeat of the arc's Big Bad and how he was defeated by Luffy and his allies. He goes on to say that because said big bad, Donquixote Doflamingo, was ruling Dressrosa and was able to cause the damage he did because of the legal immunity granted him as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the ultimate fault for the whole incident lies with none other than the World Government that gave Doflamingo his power. He goes on to enter a Pose of Supplication with his men and apologize to Dressrosa's true king for all that had happened. Word and recordings of this broadcast soon spread and Fujitora's superiors are livid, not least because it makes the Navy and World Government look bad due a pirate saving the day instead of them. Fujitora later shows he did this precisely to avoid the Government from changing the story of what happened as, in a previous arc, the Government gave the credit for saving the desert kingdom of Alabasta to the Navy rather than admit a pirate, again Luffy, showed them up.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: A major point of contention between Garp and his grandsons is their decisions to become pirates instead of Marines like he wished. Ultimately, however, that was only out of the desire to protect them. Regardless of the fact that they are world-class criminals, he has always been proud of them, knowing that he raised them to be good people.
• Widely-Spaced Jail Bars: In one episode, some characters are caught in a net. In closeup shots the net has a very fine mesh, but in distance shots the mesh is drawn wide enough that the characters could potentially fall right through. This demonstrates that it's done for the visual necessity of drawing the trap in a way that doesn't obscure the characters.
• Wild Card: Many examples:
  • The Straw Hats themselves are one of the best examples in fiction. They serve as such extreme Spanners in the Works because they cannot be easily predicted; they honestly don't give a shit about breaking the unspoken rules between pirates, tipping the fragile balance between the world powers, or playing the heroes or villains. They only care about each other, their friends/allies, and accomplishing their dreams, and they do the things they do on the whims of their adventure-loving captain.
  • Nico Robin was one during the Alabasta arc, as she was The Dragon to the Big Bad who sometimes followed his orders precisely, but other times rescued his enemies behind his back. Near the end of the arc, it's revealed that she was only working for him in the first place to accomplish her own personal goal, and she gets a Heel–Face Turn at the end of the arc and joins the Straw Hats.
  • After CP9 is betrayed by the government following Enies Lobby, they become this as well, although it appears that, post-Time Skip, they have moved up to join CP0.
  • Trafalgar Law is another great example. He's initially introduced as a rival pirate and Friendly Enemy to Luffy, but then shows up and saves him and Jimbei at the battle of Marineford by first helping them escape and then healing them; despite this, he claims that he is not Luffy's friend and does not reveal his reason for helping him. During the timeskip, he apparently sent the hearts of 100 pirates to the World Government in order to become a Warlord of the Sea, and is working for the Big Bad of the arc when he meets Luffy again; however, less than ten chapters later, he ditches both of these positions in order to ally with Luffy and crew to take down one of the Four Emperors. He's shaped up to be one of the most unpredictable characters in the entire series.
  • Post-Timeskip, we also have Kuzan (former Admiral Aokiji), who is no longer with the Marines, implied to have connections to the underworld, but saves his friend Smoker from being killed by Doflamingo.
• Windmill Scenery: Luffy's hometown is named Foosha Village and is located in a grassland with numerous windmills.
• Wingding Eyes: Happens every so often. At first, it was just with Nami and her eyes becoming the the Beli sign. Now, it has included sparkles, hearts and, at one point, takoyaki.
• Winged Humanoid: The apparent application of Lafitte's Devil Fruit.
  • The inhabitants of Merveille have feathers growing out of their forearms, though they themselves don't know why or how. After Shiki's defeat and the return of their island to the sea, they discover that they can indeed fly.
  • Not to mention the Skypeians, Bilkans, and Shandians, despite all of them originally coming from the moon. They're small and seem to be purely cosmetic, though.
  • Nico Robin can also use her Devil Fruit power to pull this off... but only for about 2 minutes, and it's apparently very exhausting (since it consists of pulling together about a coupla' hundred arms in the shape of a pair of wings and then FLAPPING them), so she very rarely uses it. Thriller Bark, when caught on a collapsing bridge, was the first time.
• With Friends Like These...: Usually, the only time that Zoro and Sanji are not fighting each other is when there's something or someone that has gotten in the way of them fighting each other.
• Withholding the Big Good: The closest thing that the show has to a Big Good, Whitebeard, only shows up after the end of Jaya arc (around 200+ chapters in). He's one of the "Four Emperors", the 4 strongest pirate crews that are among the biggest threat to the World Government; he's also the World's Strongest Man. He only gets to showcase his capabilities much later, in the Battle of Marineford, where he and his crew comes to rescue one of their commanders, Ace, from execution; he alone causes more damage to the Marine troops and the Marineford building itself than any of his crew or allies combined. However, Whitebeard gets killed by the whole Blackbeard Pirates gunning at him at once, and the battle gets stopped by Shanks, another of the 4 Emperors, who becomes the "new" Big Good of the story.
• A Wizard Did It: The majority of the Devil Fruit powers seem to violate major, established laws of physics and causality, but that's okay because they're magical. Also it's cool.
• Wolverine Claws: Captain Kuro
• Women Are Wiser: Played straight with the female members in the Straw Hat crew. Although at times, they might be Not So Above It All (primarily Nami), they're still much more rational than their fellow male counterparts.
  • Averted for the women in Kuja island though. They're just as barbaric and savage as several other islands. Just like the male Marines, they also gawk at Hancock and forgive her for evil acts simply because she's beautiful. When Luffy gets angry at Hancock, they cheer for his execution, despite the fact that he got angry because Hancock turned her own citizens to stone over an honest mistake.
• Women Drivers: Averted with Nami in Skypeia. She picks up a waver and ends up getting the hang of it within minutes. This is after Conis told her that it usually takes someone about ten years to master using it.
• Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Luffy keeps trying to attack Aokiji to keep him from arresting Robin, despite Aokiji repeatedly telling him he has no interest in bringing Robin in.
• Worldbuilding: It's a Long Runner that takes place in a Constructed World!
• The World Is Just Awesome: When the Going Merry goes up Reverse Mountain.
  • Diving to Fish-Man Island, and seeing the giant Yarikiman Mangrove roots from underwater.
• World of Badass: One Piece is capable of, among other things, making chefs, carpenters, and even crossdressing ballerinas absolutely, unarguably, BADASS. That last one manages to pull off arguably one of most badass scenes of all in a World of Badass.
• World of Buxom: It didn't really start out this way. But as things have progressed the chests of the two female crew members, Nami and Robin, have gotten more emphasis and female characters tend to be a bit bigger in the chests than they used to be. On the other hand, there's also many female characters whose whole bodies are large enough to make their large breasts seem normal.
• World of Ham: Played for Laughs and drama
• World of Pun
  • Attack names (most of Zoro's sword moves, notably, also resemble types of sushi when written), character names, and in the seventh movie over half the lines of the plot-central prophecy were puns.
  • The Zoro/Kaku fight in Enies Lobby is brimming with all kinds of weird puns.
  • At the beginning of the Sabaody Arcapelago arc, when Duval's crew attacks the Thousand Sunny, they keep talking about keeping their flying fish in formation. The problem is, in Japanese, the word for "formation" is hentai, which also means "pervert". Naturally, Franky answers to this.
• World of Technicolor Hair: Unusual hair colors are extremely common throughout the series, such as green (Zoro, Fukurou, Monet), blue (Buggy, Vivi, Franky), purple (Cracker, Tama, Orochi), pink (Kumadori, Bonney, Shirahoshi), orange (Nami, Kaku, Sadi), and red (Shanks, Kid, Ichiji). Some characters even have hair that is naturally two different colors (Inazuma's is half-white, half-orange. Giolla's is half-orange, half-yellow. Moscato's is half-pink, half-blue).
• World's Strongest Man:
  • Edward Newgate is called "the World's Strongest Man" by many characters and, during the Paramount War, a lot of strong fighter are easily takedown by him.
  • Kaido holds the title of "World's Strongest Creature" and, following Whitebeard's death, he's generally referred as the strongest man alive until Luffy defeats him.
• The World Tree: The Tree of Knowledge from Robin's past.
  • Also: Adam, the nearly-invincible tree.
• The Worf Effect: In full swing during the Marineford arc. Whitebeard, Jozu, and Marco easily repel the initial moves of Aokiji, Mihawk, and Kizaru respectively. The latter three all curb-stomped the Straw Hats. Three out of Seven Warlords quickly bring down Oars, Jr., whose ancestor's reanimated corpse nearly defeated the Straw Hats.
  • All the giants present in Marineford serve as prime examples for this, serving as fist-fodder for Oars Jr., Whitebeard and Luffy, in that order.
  • CP9 did this to the Galley La foremen hardcore.
  • The Demon Guards from the Impel Down arc seem to exist solely for the purpose of being clobbered by Luffy, Crocodile, or Jimbei every time they show up, the second time off-panel.
  • And after the timeskip, the Pacifistas have become textbook examples.
    • At least the older models.
  • The New Fish-Man Pirates were used like this to show just how strong the entire crew has gotten in the last two years.
  • Wano Country is a nation with no affiliation with World Government, and not even the Marines want to have anything to do since their Samurais are so powerful. And how to show the power of a Wano citizen? Have a local bandit leader deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle to Jack "The Drought".
  • So, Kid and Law just brought down Big Mom, and have been declared as Luffy's equals, eh? The Four Emperors are looking pretty weak now - wait, did Shanks one-shot Kid and sent his crew to the sea, and did Blackbeard beat Law and destroy his ship as well??
• Worst Wedding Ever: While likewise an attempted Nasty Party since it was a ruse to kill Sanji's family, the Germa 66. The wedding between Sanji and Pudding ends up ruined when Luffy and his allies crash the event in an attempted assassination on Big Mom. Ironically it's not so much Pudding, the bride, who's mad about it, nor Sanji (who was forced into it via an Arranged Marriage by his father) but Big Mom since the whole ceremony she had planned went down the toilet once Luffy showed up. Not to mention not being able to eat the initial wedding cake prepared for the event (It was destroyed by Luffy), having her precious photo of her mentor, Caramel, destroyed and, oh yeah, the top of the tower that the event took place on being blown up and sent plummeting into most of her kingdom below by an unintentional bomb disguised as a wedding gift.
• Worth Living For: The crew is.
  • Robin was on the verge of giving up on her life until Luffy came along. Her time with the Straw Hats was the happiest she had ever been, and they literally are the only people in the world she cares about. But even then, she still believed that despite their kindness, they would still eventually abandon her because her enemies amounted to the entire world. It was only when they declared war on the world itself in her name that she realized that she had finally found her place.
  • Ace's angst over his bloodline was so great that the only reason he bothered to keep on living was to find out whether or not he deserved to be born. It only stopped being so painful when his brothers, and eventually, the Whitebeard Pirates, came into his life. :All of this only serves to make his death more tragic.
  • Luffy's Heroic BSoD after Ace's death was so bad that he was on the verge of crossing the Despair Event Horizon. When he was at his absolute lowest, the only reason he chose to keep on living was the realization that he still had his crew.
• Worthless Treasure Twist:
  • Man-stuck-in-a-chest Gaimonspent at least twenty years obsessing over a few treasure chests sitting on the top of a small peak he can't climb up. Luffy offers to go up and fetch them, but when he does refuses to give the chests to Gaimon. Gaimon realizes that the treasure he has been looking forward to is already gone, but soon decides that at least he can get on with his life, and really enjoy the island he's been trapped on.
  • In one TV special, the Straw Hat Pirates help the guest find her father's treasure in hope of sharing it. Unfortunately (especially for Nami), it was a gigantic pearl, so they couldn't take any of it. Besides, the true value of the pearl is that it is a token of her father's drive for adventure.
  • The treasure called 'One Piece' itself is considered a rumor until Whitebeard confirms its existence with his dying breath, though what exactly the treasure is remains a mystery. In addition, Luffy, when given a chance to not only learn that it exists but exactly what it is, vehemently insists on being left ignorant about the One Piece. To Luffy, One Piece isn't the treasure, the act of trying to find it is.Oda himself confirms that One Piece is something material, but is equally vague on whether it's anything resembling conventional treasure.
  • The self-proclaimed "Son of Whitebeard" Edward "Whitebeard Jr." Weevil has been hunting crews affiliated with the Whitebeard Pirates to find Whitebeard's treasure. But according to Marco (1st Division Leader), there isn't one. Whitebeard always put his share of loot into his hometown.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • There was a moment where the Marines went out and killed every pregnant woman and child aged 1 and less when they suspect Roger may have fathered a child.
  • The Tenryuubitos aren't shy from hurting children who they deem are being 'disrespectful'.
  • The Giant Lords of Elbaf had no compunction at killing a certain girl at the young age of 5 years old. Considering the girl was Charlotte Linlin and she was able to massacre adult giants and demolish their village, they might have a point.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Sanji. He won't do it even when that girl is trying to kill him.
• Wretched Hive:
  • The Sabaody Archipelago. With all of the bounty hunters, human shops, ship-coating ripoff bars, Celestial Dragons who come by every so often, the auctions of people/mermaids and the Marine base being right next door, it's a wonder that any pirate rookies who get there ever make it through to the New World.
  • Mock Town is a deconstruction. Sure pirates run roughshod all over but they refrain from attacking the townsfolk, if only to have people who can sell them food and booze. Also, since pirates spend money like water Mock Town's economy is booming.
  • The Fish-man District. Most Fish-men are violent compared to Merfolk, to the point that Fisher Tiger became the leader simply by beating up everyone else. The frequent kidnappings of Fish-men by human pirates didn't help, as it slowly built up a society of seething misanthropy. Hody's Irrational Hatred of humanity was created solely by growing up in this area, even though humans never directly harmed him. The District is closed down by the end of the Fish-Man Island arc.
  • The "Pirate Island" Hachinosu gets bonus points for literalness (hachinosu is Japanese for "beehive"). It's said to be a pirate's paradise and is where Blackbeard has made his home. It's also where the Rocks Pirates, one of the most dangerous and violent crews of all time, were founded. In the English translation, it's called "Fullalead", which should be obvious what it means.
  • In SBS Vol. 104, Oda finally explains Eustass Kid's home island. It turns out, it's not a place one would want to live in. Why? Because it is an unnamed island unaffiliated with the World Government, making it a lawless place taken over by gangs instead of Kings or Queens. The place was divided into four districts and each one was under the rule of a local gang; Kid was the leader of one gang district while his 3 current crewmen (Killer, Wire, and Heat) were leaders of the other three.
• Wowing Cthulhu: At the end of the Fish-Man Island Arc, the Sea Kings catch the boat before hits the island and are notably impressed by the great effort Luffy put up, even saying they were glad they got there when they did or else he would have completely destroyed it.
• Written by the Winners:
  • Donquixote Doflamingo basically says that whoever wins the war between the Marines and the pirates becomes justice.
  • Averted with the poneglyphs. Which, according to Professor Clover, were probably written by the losers of the war that happened during the Void Century, though also played straight in the sense that the World Government has successfully wiped out nearly everyone capable of reading them.

X

• Xanatos Gambit: Blackbeard. Doesn't matter if Luffy escapes and Ace shows up; he'll just capture the latter instead. Doesn't matter if he loses his Warlord status; he only wanted it to get into Impel Down anyway. Doesn't matter if Magellan curb-stomps him and his entire crew; he's convinced someone to bring him the antidote. Doesn't matter if Shanks stops him from sinking Marineford; he got what he wanted (dead Whitebeard, earthquake powers) and said what he needed to say. ("Dear Everybody: You're FUCKED.")
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Blackbeard's proven highly adept at improvisation. He initially targets Luffy as his ticket into the Warlords, but goes for Ace when the opportunity comes along. Faced with a probable enemy right on the gates of Impel Down, Blackbeard up and recruits him.
• "X" Marks the Hero: After the time-skip, we see that Luffy now has an X shaped scar on his chest.
• "X" Marks the Spot: The islands surrounding Laugh Tale where the titular One Piece is are set up in the shape of an X.
• X-Ray of Pain:
  • During Usopp and Chopper's fight with Mr. 4 and Ms. Merry Christmas, Mr. 4 swings his bat at Usopp after the latter gets grabbed by Ms. Merry Christmas. An X-ray of Usopp's nose breaking is shown.
  • During the fight against the giant zombie Oars, the Straw Hats' doctor Chopper devises a strategy for the team to break Oars' spine to incapacitate him. After most of their moves are complete, the final blow from Luffy (from above) shatters Oars' spine, as seen with an X-ray.

Y

• Year Zero: Many characters refer to the current era as having begun with Roger's death, and with the newest era beginning with Whitebeard's death. Though the official Year Zero appears to be the creation of the World Government / end of the Blank Century eight hundred years prior.
• Yellow Brick Road: ...As defined by the specific compass the crew happens to have.
• You Are Already Dead: Brook's signature attack.
• You Are Not Alone: Robin's Rescue Arc.
  • After Luffy's [Heroic BSoD he suffered from Ace's death, he finally comes out of it when he is reminded he still has his crew who still need him and he needs them.
• You're Not My Father: In a heated argument about Doflamingo's faked resignation, Rebecca shouts at her Parental Substitute the Toy Soldier that he isn't her father, only to immediately regret what she said. Irony is that Rebecca didn't know that the Toy Soldier/Kyros is actually her father.
• You Are Number 6: The male agents of Baroque Works.
  • Oddly enough, Mr. 6 is not actually present in the series, though we do get 0 through 5, 7 through 9, 11 and 13.
• You Are Worth Hell: The Straw Hats to Robin during the Enies Lobby.
  • Whitebeard & Crew and Luffy to Ace during the Impel Down/Marineford Arc.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: Roger suggesting that people go and try to find his treasure is a good one. Hiruluk saying he will be remembered is another. The newest one so far is when right before Whitebeard dies, he says that One Piece is still out there. Thus pretty much creating the "silver" age of piracy.
• You Didn't Ask: The reason Luffy never told anyone about his strange family tree and about why Ace is his older brother. Though to be fair, he himself didn't know he even had a father until Garp told him and everyone else, so he couldn't have told them about that.
• You Have Failed Me: The fate of any Baroque Works agent who fails their mission. Mr. 3 got better.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: The Imposter Straw Hats had no idea that the people they were after for humiliating them were members of the real Straw Hats, included Luffy. Their reaction to learning Luffy's true identity wasn't subtle, that's for sure.
  • Up until the crew met Aokiji, none of the Straw Hats except Robin fully understood just how powerful the Marines' top people could be and how far Luffy and others had to go before even remotely standing a chance against one third of the "Greatest Military Powers".
  • Caesar Clown said it as part of his Hannibal Lecture to Luffy : Because Caesar has connections with Doflamingo, who himself has connections with one of the Four Emperors, laying a hand on Caesar would be, in his opinion, suicidal. Luffy kicks his ass anyway.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Baroque Works and the Black Cat Pirates have poor employee benefit packages.
  • You Just Told Me: This is how Rob Lucci confirms his theory that Iceberg hid the Pluton blueprint by giving it to Franky, by guessing it out loud and watching Iceberg's reaction.
• You Rebel Scum!: Quoted mostly by members of CP9, but a common sentiment among World Government personnel.
• You're Not My Type: Played for Laughs in Fish-Man Island. Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi says this is the reason that she won't marry Vander Decken. Considering that he's been using his Devil Fruit power to throw any object he can at her (from literally anywhere) for ten years, forcing her to hide away in her castle out of fear, practically everyone is surprised this is her main concern.
  • Once you consider that "not her type" could possibly mean "someone who would rather kill the person I love than see them married to someone else", it does sort of make sense.
  • Used when Lola proposes to Franky. Turns out he's just too super for her.
• Your Size May Vary: Various examples.
  • The first time Urouge bulks up he utterly dwarfs Hawkins, yet shrinks down a bit for subsequent appearances.
  • Then there's the infamous "Giant Warlords" spread, where Mihawk and Hancock, both confirmed to be no taller than six and a half feet, utterly dwarf a Marine soldier talking to them.
  • Even Gecko Moria, who is over 22 feet tall, suffered from this. When he first appeared, he looked more like a giant than an abnormally large human.
    • It didn't help that the minions that he first appeared next too are like 1 foot tall so perspective was shot to hell and back.
  • Luffy. At the start of the series, his height was somewhat average, at least among civilians (he was and is always shorter than his opponents, but that's probably to make him kicking their asses even more impressive). Nowadays, Art Evolution has made him a midget, who is dwarfed by most civilians and ridiculously dwarfed by his opponents. He even seems a head shorter than Nami, despite that he is supposed to be 5'8, and Nami is 5'6.
  • Nami herself often seems way too tall for only being 5'6 (actually, she's the shortest human character in the series with a confirmed height) with her very long legs and relatively oblong body. It's especially noteworthy after the Time Skip where she's usually drawn as a Statuesque Stunner, regularly towering over civilians and Mooks. A good example would be her first scene after the time skip when she is at a bar, and she is noteworthily taller than the bartender, another customer and even makes a bar stool look like it's the height of a regular stool.
  • Luffy's iconic Straw Hat, through the many Art Evolution phases Oda went and experimented on, our hero's hat has gone from fedora sized to sombrero sized, though it's not an increasing constant, it may get smaller or bigger depending on the arc.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Done by Ivankov and Inazuma to delay Magellan. Hannyabal invokes this when confronting Luffy, while standing on a bridge, swinging a flaming staff. Then Blackbeard comes along and renders it a moot point.
  • This exact line was later used again by Vice Admiral John Giant on Whitebeard, who subverted it by launching John across the island.
  • And now Garp has done this to stop Luffy from getting to Ace! Yet again subverted, because in the end he throws the fight.
  • Lampshaded by Rob Lucci:
    Luffy: What was it just now?! Where was Robin speaking from?!
    Lucci: Behind this door.
    Luffy rushes the door; Lucci intercepts him.
    Lucci: "I can't let you pass." At least let me say that.
    • That particular instance is an unusual example in that both sides are trying to get past the other (to rescue Robin/kill the rest of the Straw Hats) and their goals require the other guy to be defeated, not just passed.
  • Franky attempts to stop the Puffing Tom from taking Tom to Enies Lobby and says this.

Z

• Zany Scheme: Silvers Rayleigh had one that eventually led into the two year time skip.
• Zerg Rush: Don Krieg's pirates claim they're the strongest in the East Blue due to being a fleet of 50 ship and 5,000 men. Luffy informs them that they aren't strong, "There's just so many of you."
  • Also a key element to Enies Lobby's defense is its 10,000 man garrison.
  • The tactic is also downright useless in both halves of the Grand Line. Case and point: the armada of Don Krieg. With fifty ships and five thousand men, East Blue calls it an invasion force. The Grand Line calls it target practice. And this is in the first half, which is nominally called by everyone as Paradise.
    • In the New World, it's useless because many of the most powerful captains have an ability called Haki of the Conquering King, where one can impose their will upon others, and, if their will is weak enough, knock them out. During the Fish-Man Island arc, Luffy used this ability to knockout 50,000 Mooks (which is ten times the size of Don Krieg's armada) in one blast — and the only reason he didn't knock out the other 50,000 is because his crew needed someone to fight.
  • Finally useful and the tactic that allows Big Mom to defeat and capture Nami and Luffy, though they almost succeeded in wiping Big Mom's army.
• Zombie Gait: Averted; most of the zombies are of average speed and intelligence, have distinct personalities, and can even disobey their masters in some instances. Justified by the fact that these zombies actually have "souls"... just not their own.
  • The aversion is lampshaded when Nami, Usopp, and Chopper openly expect the zombies to be slow as per cliche, and then are shocked when the zombies dash at them.
    • ... only to have to stop moments later to catch their breath.

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