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)
To say the Author Eiichiro Oda is “fond of” tragic backstory and “quite good” at writing them would be an understatement. The man is an absolute master, every canonical story arcs has several Dark and Troubled Past stories to tell. Not only are they informative and emotional but also filled to the brim with Chekhov's Gun. He also has a knack for taking otherwise “mundane” backstory mold and drawing them into originality. Warning: Spoilers may be unmarked.
Super Rookies Era
- Romance Dawn arc:
- Luffy's backstory Part 1, the climax of which provided the current Tear Jerker’s picture of the manga.
- Coby's. Though short and mostly played for laughs, it provided the starting point for his Character Development much later.
- Zoro's past, following the otherwise generic "my best friend/rival died" past but adding in the mix that his friend didn't die honorably; she died falling down the stairs. No epic sword fight, no sacrifice, she was just tired and slipped down some stairs. First "recruitment backstory".
- Orange Town arc:
- Buggy’s "tragic" past was mostly played for laughs. But the crew that he and Shanks started their careers with would be important hundreds of chapters later.
- Chouchou's past played homage to Hachikō. It’s a simple but both tearjerking and heartwarming story about the Undying Loyalty of a Canine Companion.
- Syrup Village arc:
- Usopp's past.
- Also Captain Morgan (a minor antagonist of previous arc)'s backstory was revealed, retroactively adding depth to his character.
- Baratie arc: Sanji's backstory took the standard "stranded on an island with an enemy" story and turn them into something unique. Everyone knows being stranded on an island sucks, but this is hardly an island: it's a mushroom rock that's too far above sea water to fish and incapable of sustaining any life...because it's a ROCK. Not to mention, he realizes that the only other person on this island has a big ol' bag of, what he thinks is, food, much bigger than the one he gave to Sanji. However, it turns out that other guy just had a bunch of money and absolutely NO food, and that instead of keeping any for himself, gave all the food he recovered to Sanji and broke off and ate his own leg to survive. And on top of all that, the food that Sanji got was barely enought to last 20 days (though it lasted 25 days). It took eight-five days for a ship to find them. One can only imagine how hellish the last 60 days (two months) must have been. No wonder Sanji considers wasting food to be a horrible offense. And it's an epilogue to an even greater tragic backstory...
- Arlong Park arc: Nami and Nojiko are war orphans adopted by a Marine, Bellmere. They had a poor but happy life, until Arlong took over the village and forced everyone to pay high taxes to live. Bellemere used all her money for Nami and Nojiko and didn't have any for herself so Arlong killed her right in front of her two daughters. Nami was then beaten up and forced into working with Arlong pirates as their navigator. She secretly made a deal to buy back the village from Arlong at the price of 100 million Beri, and spent the next 8 years stealing from pirates, trying to save up that money. Her backstory arguably set the formula for "recruitment backstory" which almost all of the Straw Hat’s later followed: Tragic backstory was caused by the current arc villain, after which Luffy was so pumped up and delivered a well-deserved beatdown to the Arc Villain.
- Loguetown arc: Roger’s execution, which is the backstory of the whole series, is revealed in depth here. Notable in that though this is an execution, it’s hardly portrayed as "tragic". In fact the one detail we’re meant to take away as Roger’s smile before his death and how Luffy mirrors him in that regard.
- Reverse Mountain arc: Laboon the Whale's story was told, as he's "abandoned" by a pirate crew that found him several years ago and never returned for him, leading to Laboon injuring himself in despair. It will be important much later.
- Little Garden arc:
- Dorry and Brogy’s past was told. Though not particularly tragic, it did break his crew and led to two of his men tricked into servitude later.
- Drum Kingdom arc:
- Chopper's tragic backstory was told.
- Alabasta arc:
- There's one for Vivi, Kohza and the entire Alabasta Kingdom. In short: Crocodile needed a beatdown.
- Also Robin provided a very brief, very neutral version of her backstory to the Straw Hat when they snuck abroad their ship. Some tantalizing hints to her full backstory were dropped during the conversation with Cobra as well.
- Jaya arc:
- Montblanc Cricket's backstory revealed that he was the descendant of "Noland the Liar" and he was locked into a battle with his own ancestor’s legacy ever since. A "fictional" version of Noland's Tragic Past was also told.
- Skypiea arc:
- Noland’s "real" tragic past was told. Also the backstory of the Shandoran and Skypean’s Forever War, and Sky Knight Gan Fall’s personal history were told, leading up to his overthrowal by Enel.
- Long Ring Long Island arc: Aokiji drops some vague hints about Robin's past. Namely, every organization associated with her was eventually destroyed.
- Water 7 arc: Franky, Iceburg, Kokoro and Tom's mutual history was told. It is simultaneously awesome, tearjerking and heartwarming. Tom, Iceburg and Franky's mentor and Kokoro's friend was convicted by the World Government judges due to him building Oro Jackson, the ship Roger would use to conquer the world. After Tom appealed to them to build the Sea Train, the World Government granted him a temporary amnesty and decided to pardon him if he successfully built it. Several years later, Spandam, a Cipher Pol agent was envious of how popular Tom was getting in the Government circles, and planned to sabotage him. He did this by tricking Franky and using his battle ships to attack the inauguration, which Tom took it upon himself to spare Franky. This resulted in a vicious fight between him and Iceburg as Franky broke from the group and founded his own gang, and Kokoro becoming The Alcoholic in despair of Tom's execution.
- Enies Lobby arc:
- Robin's long Mysterious Past was revealed in detail. It's arguably one of the most tragic backstories revealed thus far and is the most important to the entire series Myth Arc bar none. To put it shortly, Robin didn't have a father and her mother left when she was 2, leaving her in her aunt's care, who constantly neglects and makes her do housework. She had no friends and was bullied by other kids due to her strange Devil Fruit. She finds solace in the island's library where everyone treat her nicely, and studies hard to become one of them, even learned the Poneglyph — a forbidden language that could decipher messages hidden from the world. She makes her first friend with Saul, a giant who drifted to the island, However just a few days after, Saul reveals to her that the island is going to be destroyed by the Marines in order to eliminate the scholars who could uncover the hidden history of the world. Amidst the burning town, Robin sees her mother again in the first time after years, only to see her dying in front of her. Saul dies trying to protect her, the evacuation ships that contain every civilian explodes, Robin ends up escaping alone on a small boat, leaving behind the corpses of everyone she loved. For over 20 years, Robin has been chased down to every corner of the world, demonized and betrayed by everyone she trusts, until she meets the Straw Hats.
- Thriller Bark arc:
- Moria saw his entire crew being decimated by Kaido and lost all hope in the living, thus turned into manipulating corpses and ghosts to do his bidding. However this doesn't excuse his actions and he still remains a lazy and despicable man.
- Brook saw his entire crew dying one by one, then died, then woke up as a skeleton and spent over 50 years alone on a corpse-filled ship. He had no food, no drink, not even the warmth of sunlight. It's implied that Brook had turned insane from the trauma and loneliness, almost gave up countless times, but held back because he promised Laboon he would return. His story was so good that it brought Franky and Brook himself to tears. It also fired off the Chekhov's Gun set hundreds of chapter earlier.
- Sabaody Archipelago Arc: In what could only be described as the dark and troubled Past of an entire species, the history of racism against Fishman and Merfolk was revealed. It retroactively provided a backstory for Arlong, Hachi and every villainous Fishmen the Straw Hats encountered.
- Amazon Lily Arc: The story of Hancock and her sisters was not a pretty one. They were kidnapped and sold into slavery by Celestial Dragons.
- Marineford arc: Ace's past isn't very heartwarming, putting aside all the time he spent with Luffy and Sabo. Ace's father was none other than Gold Roger, the Pirate King. Now normally, being related to such a powerful and important figure would be a cause for joy, right? Not. In the eyes of many who actually met Roger (and didn't antagonize him), he was a great man. But the truth of the matter is that hiding his identity as Ace's father was imperative, seeing as his enemies basically amounted to the entire world. For years, Ace was tortured with the fact that in the eyes of the world, he wasn't supposed to exist, that the world would be better off without him, making him far more jaded than a child should and causing him to despise his father for the rest of his life. Most of all, the only reason he bothered to continue living was to find out whether or not he deserved to be born, just because the blood of a Pirate King ran through his veins. Living only stopped being so painful when Luffy and Sabo, and eventually the Whitebeard Pirates, came into his life.
- Post-War Arc:
- Luffy's story is expanded: Turns out he did feel sad about not having parents, as he was so lonely that he would do anything to be Ace and Sabo's friends, even withstanding a week-long torture instead of telling on them. This touched Ace and Sabo and he was allowed to join their group. The three had a happy childhood despite living in a heap of trash, until the Gray Terminal incident happened. Shortly after, he and Ace witnessed Sabo being allegedly killed by a Celestial Dragon.
- Sabo, Luffy’s other elder brother, not only was the White Sheep of the nobility of the Goa Kingdom, but his parents viewed him as nothing more than a tool to rank up their status and didn’t even try to hide their disdain and arrogance towards the poor people of the Grey Terminal. He grew so disgusted by the corruption in the nobility that he even admitted he was ashamed of being a Blue Blood. So much so, that he ran away from his home and lived in the Grey Terminal, until he met Ace and later Luffy. Their happiness is cut short by his parents attempting to have him back. After he discovered the nobility’s plan to blaze to the ground the Grey Terminal before the arrival of a Celestial Dragon, he tried to alert Luffy and Ace of the danger, but he failed due to circumstances (luckily both of them survived the ordeal). He finally had enough and decided to set off to the sea with to finally be free, only for his boat being blown up by the Celestial Dragon out of spite. He was rescued by Dragon (Luffy’s father and leader of the Revolutionary Army), but the incident gave him a big amnesia, with no memory of his past beyond his desire to never return to his home. He got his memories back several years later, after he learned the news of Ace’s death and Luffy’s uncertain fate, and the shock was traumatic enough for him to send him into a 3 days coma. For this reason, he became very protective towards his surviving brother, Luffy.
New World Era
- Fish-Man Island arc:
- The History of racism against Fishman and Merfolk was told again, this time from a more personal perspective of Jinbei, a Fishman who at one time and another support both Otohime and Fisher Tiger, the two major equal right leaders.
- An SBS revealed more of Arlong's personal background: He was abandoned by his father in the lawless Fish-Man District. Years later said father showed up only to ditch Shyarly, another child of his, and left Arlong to raise up his half-sister alone. At present time, it is implied those two have cut off contact due to Arlong's obsessive hatred for humans.
- Koala was sold into slavery, where she saw other kids her age being killed for crying. This traumatized her so much that after escaping, she absolutely refuses to cry and upholds a stiff smile at all costs, even as she passed out from pain. Her past is so messed that even Arlong is disgusted.
- Subverted for Hody Jones. Despite waging a war against Fishmen and humans, when personally asked about the reason while Fukaboshi thought Hody is acting out due to past misfortunes, Hody frankly states that humans haven't done anything to him personally, but he hates humans due to the Fishman District's own prejudice.
- Dressrosa arc:
- The Riku Royal Family’s story was told fairly early in the arc, a story about how Doflamingo backstabbed King Riku despite the latter coughing all his money by controlling him and his army, using them to kill hundreds of people, and swooped in to "save" them from the controlled people. This incident led to the Riku Family being hated throughout Dressrosa down to his innocent granddaughter who the public wanted dead just for existing, as well as her mother Scarlett getting killed due to Diamante wanting to inflame hatred.
- Law. His past is up there with Robin's for how bad it is. Law was born in the country of Flevance, a beautiful and prosperous country known for its Amber Lead. It was discovered early that the metal is actually a slow yet fatal poison but the government stayed silent for profit, so by the time everyone found out about its side effects, the entire country had succumbed into lead poisoning. As an attempt to cover up corruption, the government spread a rumor about "White Lead disease" being contagious and quarantined the country. Citizens wanted to live and tried to break out, which caused a war and ended up resulting in a genocide. Law's parents were shot dead, his friends at school and church were rounded up and killed, his little sister was burned alive, and Law himself escaped by hiding among the corpses being carted out of the quarantine zone. Law then joined Doflamingo's crew because he wanted to kill as much as possible before dying, but he was scooped out by Corazon, who wanted to save him from a life of darkness. Despite their initially rocky relationship, Corazon's kindness ended up moving Law. But just as Law seemingly found a new family, Corazon was discovered to be a spy and then killed by Doflamingo in an attempt to protect Law, leaving the boy once again alone in the world.
- The Donquixote's backstory was very dark and tragic but with a unique twist. Doflamingo was a Celestial Dragon whose father wanted to come down to the common world and live as humble humans. Given the world's burning hatred for Celestial Dragons, this did not turn out well. Their whole family was hunted down, starved, tortured and burned alive. Doflamingo ended up killing his father and became a pirate under the guidance of Trebol, while his brother Rocinante ran away and was found by the Marines. It is noteworthy that while both brothers experienced the same trauma, only one turned into a monster. Perhaps the only time in the series that Oda took the Nature side in the Nature vs. Nurture debate. note
- Whole Cake Island arc:
- The abovementioned "stranded on an island" example turns out to actually mark the rough end to Sanji's horrible past. He was born part of the Vinsmoke family, a family of assassins whose head, Sanji's father Vinsmoke Judge, leads a massive army with ambitions of reconquering North Blue. To that end, Judge had his children genetically modified and subjected to Training from Hell, to draw out their hidden potential and turn them into Super Soldiers. However, unlike his siblings, Sanji failed to make any progress, instead remaining a regular human being, causing his father and brothers to brutally abuse him mentally and physically while his sister just laughed (Though to be fair, she had no choice but to do so to avoid being bullied herself). Eventually, Judge got too fed up with Sanji's lack of progress to bother continuing to raise him, and instead faked his son's death before locking him in a dark room and forcing him to wear an iron mask. Keep in mind that this happened before that aforementioned traumatic example with Zeff! No wonder Sanji hates his family's guts.
- The reason why Katakuri wears that scarf is to hide his hideous mouth, which was what made him and by extension his sister Brulee targets of bullying since childhood. Katakuri had no problem fending off the bullies by himself but Brulee couldn't and ended up getting a permanent scar on her face.
- Lola's, but more importantly her twin sister Chiffon's Dark and Troubled Past was revealed during the Straw Hats meeting with Bege. Basically, Lola ran away from the wedding with the Giant Prince, Chiffon was forced to take her place but couldn’t fool them. This lead to Elbaf and the Giant army virtually out of Big Mom's reach and Chiffon was severely mistreated by her as a result. Lola seemed fairly oblivious to her mother nature and the trouble she caused her sister; to the point she asked Nami to tell Big Mom that she’s still OK.
- Linlin herself had a disturbing history. Having been abandoned by her parents at a young age, she was adopted by mother Carmel, who was actually a child trafficker wanting to take advantage of her power. Since birth Linlin had no control over her power and often fell into a berserk state regarding food, whether if she's left hungry for too long or if she was too excited. At her 12th birthday party, Linlin was presented with a table full of her favorite sweets, causing her to fall delirious from excitement and ended up eating her adoptive mother as well as all her friends.
- Wano arc:
- Everyone in the 9 Scabbards fits this trope by default due to the tragedy that befalls Oden and their country. However even before it happens, some of them already come from dark backgrounds. Kiku and her brother Izo had a debauched father, whose arrest tore their family apart, and left the siblings on the streets, Kawamatsu who was discriminated and almost killed for being a Fishman, and Kanjuro saw his parents being killed on stage due to the Kurozumi persecution which prompted him to work for Orochi as a spy to exert revenge on the country.
- Hiyori, Momonosuke's sister, basically lived in poverty for most of her childhood, then saw her mom being burned to death, while her brother and everyone she knew disappeared into thin air. The trauma caused her to go mute for an extended period.
- Yamato, Kaido's child, was physically abused, made to wear explosive handcuffs so that they can't leave the island, and was locked up and starved several times by their own father.
- Orochi watched his parents getting killed, and was persecuted and hunted down by ruthless vigilantes for his grandfather's crimes. The fear and anxiety from those early years eventually grew and turned into hatred, which extended to all Wano citizens even if they had nothing to do with him.
- King whose race was exterminated by Celestial Dragons for fun, and getting acquainted with Kaido who similarly wants to burn their world down.
- Egghead arc: Bartholomew Kuma's entire life is nothing but just a long line of tragedy and suffering. Born a Buccaneer, Kuma and his parents were captured by the World Government and turned into slaves when he was just four years old. His mother was subsequently worked to death and his father was shot in front of him not long after by a Celestial Dragon just for making too much noise while trying to cheer Kuma up. He was later forced to partake in a "Native-Hunting Competition" as one of the "rabbits," where the Celestial Dragons hunted him, his fellow slaves, and the natives on the island they were on for sport. It was there he met Emporio Ivankov and Ginny, and with some quick thinking from the three of them, they managed to escape alongside hundreds of slaves. After returning to his homeland, Kuma lived out several years of happiness alongside Ginny. The two fell in love, but Kuma declined to marry her out of fear that she would be persecuted for marrying a Buccaneer. That didn't stop the two from remaining close, and after reuniting with Ivankov and meeting Dragon, they ended up joining the Revolutionary Army together. However, about fourteen years prior to the current storyline, Ginny was kidnapped after her unit was hit with a surprise attack, and forced to become a Celestial Dragon's wife. She was only freed after she contracted an incurable disease that ultimately killed her, but not before she made it back to her home and gave birth to her daughter, who Kuma adopted: Jewelry Bonney. Kuma raised Bonney in her place and lived happily with her for several years, up until it was revealed Bonney had inherited Ginny's disease, forcing them to live in isolation while he desperately searched for a cure. He tried to make a deal with Vegapunk, but Saturn amended the deal so that Kuma would lose his free will in exchange for Bonney being cured.
