Short Summary
Clockwise from top left: Kizaru, Aokiji, Akainu, Whitebeard, Luffy, and Ace.
Pirates are evil!!? The Marines are righteous!!? These terms have always changed throughout the course of history...!!! Kids who have never seen peace and kids who have never seen war have different values!!! Those who stand at the top determine what's wrong and what's right! This very place is neutral ground!!! Justice will prevail, you say!? But of course it will!!! Whoever wins this war becomes justice!!!
— Donquixote Doflamingo, Chapter 556
Having failed to reach Ace in time, Luffy manages to successfully break out of Impel Down to follow him to Marineford where Ace awaits execution. Likewise, Ace's captain, Whitebeard and an entire army of pirates arrive to wage war to get Ace back. But the Marines have brought their own heavy hitters to the fray and when all's said and done, the world will be forever changed by the war's conclusion.
Main Summary
Marineford Arc has the following tropes
- All for Nothing:
- The entire arc, combined with the previous Impel Down arc. Luffy breaks into Impel Down to rescue his brother Ace, who was sentenced to Death. He fights his way down to the bottom level, surviving only due to luck and Heroic Willpower, only to find that Ace has already been removed for execution. Luffy then starts a Prison Riot to escape, letting hundreds of the world's worst convicts out in the process, and travels to Marineford. Fighting past thousands of soldiers, including the Admirals (the Marine's top fighters), Luffy manages to free Ace from his Power Limiter handcuffs, and they begin to leave. Until Ace turns around in response to Akainu's taunts, gets into a fight, loses, and dies to protect Luffy.
If Luffy's reaction isn't sad enough, the realization that the past 51 chapters were all for naught makes it so much worse. - The Marines don't get off that easily either, as they suffer massive casualities; lose Sengoku, Garp, and Aokiji all via resignation; fail to recapture the worst criminals from the Grand Line who escaped from Impel Down; and have to deal with a level of piracy worse than ever. They may have gotten Whitebeard and killed off Gol D. Roger's bloodline, but their victory is hollow.
- The entire arc, combined with the previous Impel Down arc. Luffy breaks into Impel Down to rescue his brother Ace, who was sentenced to Death. He fights his way down to the bottom level, surviving only due to luck and Heroic Willpower, only to find that Ace has already been removed for execution. Luffy then starts a Prison Riot to escape, letting hundreds of the world's worst convicts out in the process, and travels to Marineford. Fighting past thousands of soldiers, including the Admirals (the Marine's top fighters), Luffy manages to free Ace from his Power Limiter handcuffs, and they begin to leave. Until Ace turns around in response to Akainu's taunts, gets into a fight, loses, and dies to protect Luffy.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever:
- The Giant Squad on the Marines' side and Oars Jr. on the Pirates'.
- Sengoku is also this when he reveals his Devil Fruit powers.
- Attention Whore: Buggy. He steals the visual Transponder Snail as the war rages on to essentially make a promotional video of himself.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Luffy and Ace. Sadly, it doesn't last long.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Ace is successfully executed and Blackbeard gains Whitebeard's power.
- Badass in Distress: Ace for the majority of the arc.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Why Oars Jr. is so desperate to save Ace, as Ace was the one who made him a hat to protect him from the elements.
- Berserk Button:
- Not a good idea to diss Whitebeard when Ace is nearby. This was actually foreshadowed in Ace's cover story.
- Killing any of Whitebeard's sons is a big no-no.
- Don't make boasts about sinking Marineford near Sengoku...
- Big Bad Ensemble: Akainu and Blackbeard. Also most of the Warlords (all of them are there, including former ones, but some (Jimbei and Crocodile) are fighting on the pirates' side) and the Admirals.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Amusingly enough, Buggy — when the prospect of having an army of dangerous convicts sinks in, he immediately decides that he can aim higher, and swears to go after Whitebeard's head. He even steals the visual Transponder Snail and hogs the the spotlight, preventing the public from watching the battle taking place.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: A whole arc of it.
- Big Damn Heroes: This arc has several moments with various characters. Notables include:
- Luffy unintentionally using his Conqueror's Haki Just in Time to stop Ace's execution.
- Trafalgar Law, who shows up near the end of the battle to rescue Luffy, and successfully escapes with Luffy and Jimbei while also performing life-saving emergency surgery on both of them.
- Red-Haired Shanks and his crew, who come in to stop the war when things start to get out of hand at the end.
- Big "NO!": In the English Dub, Marco screams out to Ace after Akainu lands his killing blow.Marco: ACE! NOOO!!!!!
- Bowdlerize: Zigzagged. In the manga, Akainu manages to horribly burn the left side of Whitebeard's face. In the anime, this is changed to him singeing his mustache and instead burning a hole in Whitebeard's body.
- Broken Tears: Everyone, everyone, cries once they see Ace dead on the floor. Luffy is consumed by grief that he stops moving.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Mr. 3! He manages to disguise himself as one of the executioners, and when Luffy reaches Ace on the platform, Mr. 3 uses his wax to first protect the three of them from Sengoku, then make a key to unlock Ace's cuffs (just like he did in Alabasta to free the Straw Hats from a cage).
- The Chessmaster: Sengoku and Blackbeard.
- Conveniently Timed Distraction: Two in a row:
- When Admiral Akainu delivers a devastating blow to Whitebeard, Marco sees this and rushes towards his captain. Kizaru uses this moment to shoot Marco from behind with two lasers, and then Vice Admiral Onigumo seizes him and places seastone handcuffs on him, which disables his Devil Fruit power. Kizaru then takes the opportunity to attack Marco again.
- This in turn gets the attention of Jozu, who is fighting Admiral Aokiji. While Jozu is distracted, Aokiji freezes his entire body, leaving him frozen for the rest of the war.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Oars Jr. vs. three Warlords (Kuma, Doflamingo, and Moria). Result: Oars Jr. gets curb-stomped. Worse, any of the three Warlords could've handled Oars Jr. by themselves, their attacks together are all critical, and their alliance is incidental. Moria is even annoyed with Doflamingo for attacking him because he wanted his corpse intact.
- And later, Jimbei vs. Moria: The latter gets taken down in a single punch. The anime even amusingly lampshades the ease with which Moria goes down with a line from Jimbei telling his fallen opponent to train harder before fighting, highlighting Moria's Badass Decay.
- Buggy vs. Mihawk. To be fair, Buggy doesn't intentionally go after him and is literally dragged into it. Also, his Split-Split Fruit actually prevents him from being harmed by Mihawk's slashes...at least directly. Buggy gets annoyed at Mihawk for slashing him and fires one of his Muggy Balls at him, but the latter responds by slashing it, and sending it back.
- Luffy vs. Koby, which is over almost instantly. It becomes very clear the distance Koby has to climb to reach Luffy's level.
- Luffy vs. the Three Admirals. It's very clear Luffy has no chance, but he just intends to distract them rather than fight them. He's shocked to realize he can't even do that.
- Whitebeard to every single Marine he encounters who is lower-ranked than an Admiral. He clears out a group of Marines with bazookas and swords with a single punch; Lonz goes down literally in one shockwave punch; and he takes down John Giant in two moves. He even takes down Admiral Akainu in three brutal moves after the latter pisses him off by murdering Ace. Oh, and to top it off, he even defeats Blackbeard in single combat, even as he's near-death!
- Akainu easily dominates and murders Ace during their fight at Marineford thanks to Akainu's magma powers being superior to Ace's fire powers.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Although he's taken out about as easily as the rest of Whitebeard's opponents after Whitebeard decides to avenge Ace's death, Akainu manages to burn off half of Whitebeard's face in the process and manages to quickly recover not long after.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Due to a combination of the wounds he suffered in the previous arc and the damage he accumulated in this one Luffy ends up collapsing from the pain. He asks Ivankov to give him another injection of his Healing Hormone but he is reluctant to do so since even the first dose back at Impel Down should have carved out years of Luffy's lifespan. However after an impassioned plea Ivankov reluctantly decides to dose him but notes that Luffy's wounds haven't healed, he just can't feel them.
- Dawn of an Era:
- Everyone realizes this with Whitebeard's death. Blackbeard, however, makes an addendum to that with this line:"THIS IS MY ERA!"
- Whitebeard himself recognizes this, shouting out to the retreating pirates to keep moving forward because..."The era is changing!"
- Everyone realizes this with Whitebeard's death. Blackbeard, however, makes an addendum to that with this line:
- Death Wail: With his brother freshly dead at his knees, all Luffy can do is tremble and weep uncontrollably.
- Deconstructed Trope: Luffy's Determinator traits. He has more determination and guts to save Ace than anyone there, but the enemies he faces are just too damn strong, even for him.
- Defiant to the End: Whitebeard is last seen dying while standing up and, though fatally wounded up front, his back is shown shockingly remaining without a single scratch, representing how he never ran from a fight. His last breath beforehand, acknowledging the One Piece's existence, shocks everyone listening.
- Dented Iron: Whitebeard might be the World's Strongest Man, but he's still an old man whose body has been worn down by age and illness. This leads to him being forced to take most of the hits thrown at him, leading to his Rasputinian Death.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Ace to Luffy.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Right off the bat, Luffy talks to Whitebeard the same way he would talk to anyone else he perceives will be in his way: very rudely. He even announces that he'll beat him to become Pirate King. Nearly everyone is shocked. Whitebeard himself, however, takes it in stride and is even mildly impressed.
- Dirty Coward: Blackbeard, who, upon realizing he can't beat Whitebeard by himself even with the latter's weakened state, orders his crew to gang up on and kill him.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- At Marineford, Akainu decides to punish a deserting captain who was only trying to save his own life and see his family again by murdering him. He also decides to execute Koby for trying to prevent any more needless bloodshed at Marineford after Whitebeard's death.
- Later, Akainu specifically targets both Luffy and Ace not because of them being pirates but solely because they were the sons of the Revolutionary Army's leader and Gol D. Roger respectively. He even targets Luffy over the likes of the more dangerous Blackbeard.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: Parodied. Buggy steals the camera, and has the escaped Impel Down prisoners film him for a good chunk of the war.
- Downer Ending: The biggest one of any One Piece arc. To sum it up, Luffy fails to save Ace. Ace and Whitebeard die, and Blackbeard manages to take Whitebeard's power from his body and claim it as his own.
- Driving Question: Ultimately, it's revealed that what Ace has wanted his whole life — the reason he's continued living — is to find the answer to this one question: Did he deserve to be born?
- Due to the Dead: Invoked by Shanks after he ends the war, telling the Marines that he won't allow them to parade around Ace and Whitebeard's dead bodies. While some of the more Knight Templar Marines protest this Sengoku agrees and the pirates take their bodies with them for a proper funeral.
- End of an Age: Several people state before the war even begins that, regardless of which side wins, this will be the result.
- Foreshadowing:
- Trafalgar Law goes out of his way to come to Marineford to rescue Luffy for unexplained reasons, and escapes with him and Jimbei. Law and Luffy will later ally in the New World.
- When the Marines discover Buggy's Back Story as one of the Roger Pirates, the other prison escapees treat him like some kind of badass. Buggy himself starts to openly fantasize of his infamy growing to the point he'll become a Warlord, even an Emperor. After the Time Skip, we start to hear more of Buggy's rise to power...
- When the Supernovas remaining in Shabody are shown reacting to the war, Jewelry Bonney is visibly driven to tears by what she saw in the broadcast. It would take hundreds of chapters to give deeper meaning to this: this was the first time in years she saw her beloved father, Bartholomew Kuma, who had just become a Full-Conversion Cyborg at this point in the story, undergoing a Death of Personality in the process.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: Twofold. At the beginning of the war, many a New World pirate captain come out to support Whitebeard and get Ace back. And later, when Luffy unleashes his Haki across the island and stuns everyone with it, the pirates (up to and including Whitebeard and Crocodile) all focus on helping Luffy reach the scaffold and get to Ace.
- Go Out with a Smile: Ace dies with a smile in Luffy's arms, happy that Luffy, Whitebeard, and his crew cared for him.
- Go Through Me: When the Marines still refuse to back down from murdering the pirates, even as scores of their own are succumbing to their wounds and they already got Ace and Whitebeard, Shanks and his crew arrive on the scene saying that they've come to end the war. Shanks says that if the Navy still wants to fight they will have to go through him first. Considering that the Marine's have barely survived fighting one Emperor on their own turf they wisely decide to forgo fighting Shanks thus ending the war.
- Heroic BSoD: Seeing Ace dying from Akainu's attack, Luffy is so utterly devastated that he starts bawling nonstop until he falls unconscious and becomes unresponsive to the outside world. Unfortunately since they are still in a battlefield Luffy's life is in danger forcing his new allies to save him.
- Heroic RRoD: Deconstructed during the arc with Luffy who gets thoroughly pasted by the strong enemies he fights at Marineford and eventually collapses from the sheer exhaustion and needs another dose of Ivankov's Healing Hormone just so he can keep moving. While it keeps him up and running for a while eventually even that runs its course and Luffy can't move anymore... just as Akainu is bearing down on him forcing Ace to save him.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Whitebeard fully intends to sacrifice himself to keep the Marines at bay, though thanks to Blackbeard, this isn't how he actually ends up dying.
- Ace for Luffy, when Akainu tries to kill Luffy in front of him.
- History Repeats: Once again, the Marines attempt to strike a blow against piracy by executing one of the most prominent pirates alive with the whole world watching. And once again, all their efforts are rendered meaningless by the last words of a dying man, instead causing piracy to become even more popular than ever before.
- Hope Spot: Luffy manages to reach Ace and free him, and it seems like they'll be able to escape. Unfortunately, Akainu provokes Ace into a fight, forcing Ace to protect Luffy at the cost of his own life.
- I Let You Win: Garp, who can't bring himself to stop Luffy as he races up to Ace.
- I Shall Taunt You: After the Whitebeard pirates save Ace and start to flee Marineford Akainu proceeds to call the Whitebeard pirates cowards and their pops a loser who could never surpass Gold Roger. Unfortunately for the heroes this hits Ace's well known Berserk Button who proceeds to turn around and attack Akainu for daring to insult Whitebeard. This turns out to be the last mistake Ace ever makes as Akainu's lava abilities overpower his fire and Ace ends up sacrificing himself when Akainu aims a killing shot for the weakened Luffy.
- Irony: The last time Luffy met Smoker and Tashigi, they allied themselves with him to stop Crocodile. Now, Luffy has allied himself with Crocodile to fight the Marines, including Smoker and Tashigi.
- Let Me at Him!: After Akainu kills Ace, Sengoku has to pin Garp down. Garp admits that if he's not restrained, he'll murder Akainu.
- Manly Tears:
- Garp and Whitebeard both begin to weep as Ace dies.
- All of the Whitebeard Pirates do this after Blackbeard kills their "Pops".
- Mêlée à Trois: The Whitebeard Pirates and their allies are attacking Marine Headquarters, where the Admirals, Seven Warlords, and most of their Marine forces seek to execute Ace. Luffy shows up with Impel Down convicts, along with Crocodile and Jimbei, to rescue Ace. Then it gets confusing:
- While Luffy and Whitebeard agree they won't work against each other since they have the same goal, they initially aren't necessarily planning on working together, either. This later changes, though, when it looks like Luffy (of all people) has the best chance of freeing Ace.
- Hancock attacks everyone around her except for Luffy. She justifies this by stating that she only agreed to fight against Whitebeard, not to work with the Marines.
- Crocodile also attempts to attack Whitebeard, but also helps save Ace from his execution, and later even helps protect Luffy and Jimbei from Akainu.
- Doflamingo has some sort of ulterior motive throughout the war while causing much destruction.
- Things go wrong when Blackbeard shows up, steals Whitebeard's powers, attacks both sides with it, and announces his intention to destroy the world.
- And finally, Shanks and his crew show up to end the war, promising to fight anybody from any faction who still wants to continue the battle.
- Meta Twist: Given the plot of previous major arcs, one would expect that, in spite of all of the struggles he endures, Luffy and the other heroes will successfully rescue Ace in the end. You would be very wrong.
- My Skull Runneth Over: Koby starts awakening to his Observation Haki in this arc, an awful time to do so as he quickly becomes overwhelmed by the pain and suffering he begins feeling from both sides until eventually he risks execution just to beg for the fighting to stop.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: When various characters say that this war is the End of an Age, they aren't kidding.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Many, many Marines, including Sengoku and Aokiji, when Luffy unintentionally unleashes his Conqueror's Haki, which then ups the priority of his death to be equal to that of Ace's own execution. The Marines are absolutely terrified of his potential (along with his parentage) to the point that they are willing to do just about anything to make sure he doesn't make it out of the war alive.
- When Whitebeard finally decides to jump into the fray even with the stab wound he's received, Sengoku screams at his men to beware that the World's Strongest Man has begun his onslaught.
- Blackbeard, while initially overconfident that he'll defeat Whitebeard even in his weakened state, is himself easily taken down, and fears for his very life when it seems that Whitebeard will kill him.
- Sengoku again when he realizes Whitebeard is about to loudly reveal that the One Piece is real, with the entire world watching.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Luffy spends quite a bit of this arc needing to be rescued by his allies. While Mihawk notes that Luffy does have the uncanny ability to make anyone into an ally, the arc really hammers home how much Luffy is in over his head, and this ability is how he even makes it out (barely) alive. It's what motivates Luffy to take up training in the following arc.
- Pinned to the Ground: After Akainu killed Ace, Sengoku slams Garp head-first into the ground holding him in place to keep him from killing Akainu.
- Protectorate: After Ace and Whitebeard are killed the remaining Whitebeard pirates vow to protect a catatonic Luffy instead reasoning that they would never be able to show their faces in the afterlife to their pops and brother again if they failed this task.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The Marines may have technically won the war, but they've lost so much in the process that the conflict has no winners besides Blackbeard.
- Rescue Arc: One that ends in very horrific failure.
- The Reveal:
- Ace and Luffy aren't biologically related, and Ace is the son of Gol D. Roger. The reason this isn't quite a Ass Pull despite having little-to-no foreshadowing is because this reveal, along with the accompanying flashbacks, pretty much explains everything that's happened up to that point. In fact, Luffy's always known this; he's just never said so because nobody bothered to ask.
- The full extent of Blackbeard's plan up to this point is revealed here, including alterations he made due to the actions of others:
- 1. Wait in Whitebeard's crew until the right devil fruit appears, and kill, if needed, whoever is holding it.
- 2. Kill someone the government wants, and that Whitebeard would protect. He originally aimed for Luffy, since Ace would have asked his father to launch a war to rescue Luffy. But since Ace went after Blackbeard, he alters his plan to handing in Ace instead, knowing Whitebeard will go to war for him.
- 2a. Luffy's defeat of Crocodile also helps Blackbeard by creating an opening in the Seven Warlords of the Sea that the government offers to him due to him handing in Ace. This gives him access to knowledge of the navy's plan to lure out Whitebeard.
- 3. After the warlords are summoned to Marineford, he finds out that Luffy broke into Impel Down and is causing problems for the staff. He then sneaks off to Impel down to take advantage of the chaos, breaking out some prisoners from level 6. This conveniently keeps him out of the battle between Whitebeard and the marines.
- 4. Whitebeard shows up, already 1 foot in the grave due to his illness. He takes further damage from the marine's plans, and just after Whitebeard has died, he shows up to take Whitebeard's power.
- 5. Blackbeard ends this with 2 devil powers and a crew containing some of the most dangerous people in history.
- Ace and Luffy aren't biologically related, and Ace is the son of Gol D. Roger. The reason this isn't quite a
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Koby and Helmeppo realize they're vastly out of their depth as soon as the fighting starts, and while they do instinctively try to run away, they run into Sakazuki executing another marine for trying to do the same and realize they can't.
- Warlord of the Sea, and the greatest swordsman in the world, Dracule Mihawk, immediately turns to leave once the Red-Hair Pirates arrive on the scene. He was willing to battle the World's Strongest Man, the Emperor Whitebeard, but he draws the line at facing Shanks in battle.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: For all the build-up of Whitebeard's war with the World Government and Luffy breaking out of Impel Down, Ace is ultimately killed and Whitebeard defeated.
- Shout-Out:
- There's a guy in the Whitebeard Pirates who looks like Jack Sparrow.
- There's another Whitebeard Pirates commander who looks like He-Man.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Arguably the biggest theme of the arc. The reason why Ace's execution and Luffy's death are so important to the Marines is because their fathers are both the most notorious world-class criminals in history: the "Pirate King" Gol D. Roger and "The Revolutionary" Monkey D. Dragon respectively. In the eyes of the world at large, their first and greatest crimes were not anything they have done as pirates, but instead, the sin of being born. As Ace is dying in Luffy's arms, he admits that all he ever really wanted was to know if he deserved to be born, just because he has the blood of the Pirate King in his veins.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Completely pulverized to the point of deconstruction.
- Spanner in the Works: Luffy and Buggy have both disrupted the Marines' plans in their unique ways.
- It is noteworthy to mention that despite Luffy's perceived lack of combat prowess in comparison to the other fighters in the war, he remarkably succeeds in altering the course of the battle in favor of the Whitebeard Pirates through various means. Regrettably, Ace's actions ultimately nullify the progress made by Luffy, rendering his valiant efforts futile.
- Thanks to Buggy and his convict followers stealing the visual Transponder Snail to bring all attention to himself, the Marines have lost control over the information being transmitted back to Sabaody, leading to certain secrets being revealed. During Blackbeard's public betrayal at Marineford, Whitebeard claimed that One Piece does exist, and both of these moments are seen by "the whole world" as well.
- Spoiler Title: Chapter 574 is titled "The Death of Portgas D. Ace".
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: A literal example with Buggy and his convict followers: a war is taking place that has guys like the Seven Warlords, the Whitebeard Pirates and their New World allies, the Admirals, a Giant Squad, and Luffy running around kicking ass, but Buggy steals the visual Transponder Snail to bring all attention to himself.
- Third Party Stops Attack: Shanks stops Sakazuki's attempt to kill Koby, blocking his magma fist with a sword.
- Tranquil Fury: You thought Whitebeard on a rampage was bad? Just watch what he does after watching Akainu murder Ace.
- A Truce While We Gawk: A few times throughout the arc, but the single most critical would be Koby's desperate plea to stop the fighting. Everybody — the Marines, the Whitebeard Pirates, Blackbeard, and Law (who is attempting to escape with Luffy) — stops to stare at him and hear what he has to say.
- Tomato Surprise: Ace is really the son of Gold Roger, and is thus not Luffy's biological brother. Though this is not the case for Luffy himself, as he's always known who Ace's father is.
- Underestimating Badassery: Rather notable in that it's both greatly averted but also played straight at the same time with Luffy during the entire Whitebeard War Saga. While he is indeed out of his depth like many believe, he is still the reason the war to save Ace is almost a success:
- When Luffy finds out that his brother is on death row, he decides to save him, even though his brother is part of the pirate crew of the World's Strongest Man, Whitebeard. Whitebeard is sure to try to rescue him already and has much better resources to do so. Everyone warns Luffy that he will be in over his head if he interferes, and they are correct. Throughout the battle, Luffy is repeatedly and easily defeated by almost every named villain he encounters, and he needs help from members of Whitebeard's crew or allies he made in Impel Down to get out of trouble.
- However, he strengthens their forces by adding a group of dangerous criminals, a Revolutionary leader, and two former Warlords to his ranks. This move causes trouble for the Marines, with Fleet Admiral Sengoku cautioning against allowing Luffy to take control of the situation due to his impulsive nature.
- When Ace's execution is imminent, Luffy's unleashed Conqueror's Haki unintentionally saves him, incapacitating the executioners and several strong pirates and Marines. Despite being weaker than both sides, Luffy's potential becomes clear to many, including Whitebeard, who trusts him with rescuing Ace. This makes Luffy a bigger target.
- In the end, Luffy succeeds in freeing and saving Ace. The mission's failure is not Luffy's fault; Admiral Akainu exploits Ace's weakness, causing him to stay and fight instead of escaping, fatally wounding him. Luffy tries to save Ace but is also targeted by Akainu just as his Heroic Second Wind runs out. Ace ultimately sacrifices himself to save his brother, dying in Luffy's arms.
- Unexpected Character: Nobody, in-universe or out, expected Trafalgar Law (along with the rest of his crew) to show up at Marineford in the first place...much less for the sole purpose of saving Luffy. What's more, Law doesn't offer up much of a reason for why he did so — firmly cementing his status as a Wild Card in the story — and we don't get any hints into his true motivation for it until almost 200 chapters later in the Dressrosa arc.
- The Unreveal: As Whitebeard dies, he thinks back on one his his last conversations with Roger, where Whitbeard asks "What does the D. stand for?" While Roger does indeed tell him, the flashback cuts off before we can get the explanation.
- Unwitting Pawn: Both the Whitebeard pirates and the World Government are used by Blackbeard, who single-handedly causes the biggest battle in recorded history, gets what he wants, and escapes scot-free.
- Villainous Rescue: In the last stages of the war, the Blackbeard Pirates appearnote , with six new members freshly recruited from Impel Down. They kill Whitebeard together as Blackbeard steals his Devil Fruit power, and the crew leaves when Shanks arrives to put an end to the war.
- War Arc: The Paramount War consists of the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies vs. the Marines.
- War Is Hell: Big time, especially from Koby.
- Wham Episode: Without a doubt the biggest one in the series so far. Not only is Ace's true heritage revealed (which kicks off the war to begin with), but both Ace and Whitebeard die, finally breaking through the series' notoriously thick Plot Armor, which shakes the very foundation of the world of One Piece and sets the stage for the New World.
- Wham Line:
- One that reveals everything...Sengoku: The truth is...Portgas D. Ace: your father is Gold Roger!
- ...and one that changes everything.The title of Chapter 574: The Death of Portgas D. Ace
- Not to mention how Whitebeard's dying words leave a serious impact for what's to come in the story, and Sengoku was not prepared for it:Whitebeard: THE ONE PIECE!!! THE ONE PIECE IS REAL!!!
- One that reveals everything...
- What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Koby calls everyone present out on this at the end of the war when the Marines are ordered to still continue to fight against fleeing and demoralized pirates instead of helping injured soldiers who can still be saved.
- Wild Card: This arc and the following Post-War arc place Trafalgar Law solidly within this trope (where he actually remains later, even after we learn more about him). At Sabaody, he gave no reason to believe that he's anything other than an Affably Ambiguously Evil Friendly Enemy to Luffy (or, at best, a friendly rival with emphasis on rival). But here, he shows up at Marineford seemingly for the sole purpose of rescuing Luffy. He doesn't even give a solid motivation for why he did so, instead offering to make up an excuse if that would make the others feel better.
- Worth Living For: After being freed, Ace resolves to keep on living, having finally realized that he is truly loved. It only serves to make his death all the more tragic.
- Worthy Opponent: Whitebeard to Sengoku. The latter gets pissed when Blackbeard steals Whitebeard's Devil Fruit ability and declares that his era has come. Garp similarly says Whitebeard would be turning in his grave if he could see what's become of his powers.
- You Are Worth Hell: Luffy and the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates when it comes to saving Ace (in fact, Luffy has almost LITERALLY gone through hell for him). As Ace sees his brother and crew fighting to rescue him, he can't stop crying because he's so happy to know that he's truly loved.
- You Never Asked: The reason why Luffy has never told anyone that he and Ace aren't biologically related.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Whitebeard's crew against Akainu to prevent him from chasing Luffy. Even Crocodile helps out!
Story impact
- Ace's father is revealed to be Gol D. Roger.
- It is revealed to the world that Luffy is Dragon's son and Garp's grandson.
- Ace dies, leading Luffy to realize he's too weak for the New World and that he needs more training.
- Marshall D. Teach is revealed to have recruited five new members into his crew from Level 6 of Impel Down: Sanjuan Wolf, Catarina Devon, Vasco Shot, Avalo Pizarro and Shiryu.
- Whitebeard is killed but not before, in his dying breath, he confirms to the world the existence of One Piece and brings a new status quo.
- Blackbeard steals the Gura Gura no Mi's powers from Whitebeard's dead body by unknown means, thus becoming the first man ever to obtain the power of two Devil Fruits.
- It is insinuated that Ivankov had a past relationship with Bartholomew Kuma. It is revealed the two were former slaves who later joined the Revolutionary Army.
- Jewelry Bonney is upset, seemingly about Whitebeard being killed by Blackbeard while ordering her men that they are sailing to the New World to hunt "him" down. However, later revealed during the Egghead Arc, she is actually hunting down Vegapunk for turning Kuma, her foster father, into a mindless cyborg.
