One Piece Whole Cake Island Arc / Tropes W to Z

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Tropes A to C | Tropes D to G | Tropes H To J | Tropes K to N | Tropes O To R | Tropes S To V | Tropes W to Z

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W

• Weaksauce Weakness:
  • Cracker's biscuit creations are pretty tough, unless they got soaked with water, then they can be easily eaten.
  • According to Bege, Big Mom's skin is nigh impenetrable... except for when something wrong happened at a photo of someone she cherishes (called "Mother Carmel"), in which she bleeds much more easily. Why that happens has not been explained.
• Wedding Smashers:
  • One of the main goals of the Sanji retrieval team is to retrieve back Sanji which entails crashing his forced wedding and fighting Big Mom's forces. Although they're able to technically accomplish this to a certain degree as well as complete their other goals before the wedding proper, certain developments force them to stay in order to crash the wedding.
  • It's eventually discovered that Big Mom's ultimate scheme is to betray and massacre the Vinsmokes during the wedding ceremony in order to steal their cloning technology. Despite Sanji's disdain for most his family, he still opts to stay and save them from this fate. As such, Luffy decides to aid him in this course of action to fight against Big Mom and save the Vinsmokes during the wedding.
  • In the midst of all of Big Mom's plans for the wedding, it's also discovered that Capone Bege himself has his own agenda. Having as of the tea party earned the combatant title of Rook within Big Mom's forces, he had been given full authority over the security detail of the event. Since he and his men would be the ones on guard duty, that would mean there would be no one to get in the way of his plan. That plan being to take out Big Mom herself during the wedding. When Luffy and his friends learn of this from Jimbei, the Fishman proposes that they ally themselves with Bege in order to increase their numbers as both of their groups would be opposing Big Mom during the wedding. Luffy sees Jimbei's point and decides to meet up with Bege to see if they can come into an alliance against Big Mom at the wedding.
• We Have Reserves: Germa 66 has a secret cloning lab that allows the Vinsmokes to always have a fresh batch of loyal soldiers ready to fight and die for them. This being the Vinsmokes, they don't really care about the well-being of their armies. It's because of these implications that Sanji, upon being shown the cloning lab, is sent this close to a panic attack.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 850 reveals that Pudding, the adorable Nice Girl who was Sanji's one ray of hope until then, was really a massive Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and Evil All Along.
  • Chapter 852 reveals that the Vinsmoke quadruplets were experimented on by their own father in utero to turn them into efficient yet utterly remorseless warriors that will lead Germa to its greatest victories, causing Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji to grow up into monstrous Jerkasses. Sanji was intended to be like his brothers, but he was restored to normal by his mother, Sora, who secretly ingested a dangerous gene modification-reversing drug in a desperate attempt to save her unborn sons, of which only Sanji came out successful. Had Sora not intervened, Sanji would've come out as bad as his brothers. After this chapter came out, the Vinsmoke boys got presented as Tragic Villains who were unable to become good people thanks to their father.
  • Chapter 857, Jimbei reveals that Bege is planning on taking down Big Mom from the inside and suggest that Luffy actually form an alliance with him due to Bege already having a plan to do so. Luffy actually agrees to meet with him.
  • Chapter 862 has Sanji complimenting Pudding's Third Eye once it's revealed, making Pudding shed Broken Tears from the sheer kindness and have flashbacks of her Start of Darkness — as a child, she was viciously bullied for having three eyes and seen as a monster, so she became a "monster" just to spite her tormentors.
  • Chapter 867, it is revealed that Mother Carmel was not the kind-hearted person that she appeared to be, in reality being an orphan trader who was planning to sell Big Mom as her biggest payoff.
  • Chapter 868, in one chapter, the situation completely switches for the Straw Hats and their allies. Despite Bege's plan to make Big Mom scream working, the assassination itself ends up failing due to Big Mom's scream unexpectedly destroying his missiles. Even worse, the escape mirror is broken by Big Mom's scream, leaving them trapped on the venue surrounded by the Big Mom Pirates.
  • Chapter 883 reveals what the stoic and deadly Katakuri is like when he's alone — a happy pirate who sings and chomps down food in a way that would make Luffy proud. Not only that, he has a fanged mouth that he keeps hidden with his scarf at all times.
  • Chapter 893 reveals more about Katakuri — as a child, he was bullied and shunned for having a fanged mouth, and people would run away whenever the "pelican eel" arrived. This made him feel so insecure that he went great lengths to hide everything about himself that he deems a "flaw", including his mouth and gluttonous eating habits. His snack times were a way for him to wind down from maintaining his public facade all the time — otherwise he would either snap from the pressure, or eventually slip up while everyone's watching.
  • Chapter 900. The Straw Hats look ready to depart from Big Mom's territory with the unexpected arrival of the Sun Pirates carving a path for their escape and the Germa fleet seeking revenge against Big Mom's children. However, things begin to fall apart once Oven uses his ability to boil the sea and defeat the Sun Pirates, followed by the Germa 66 children getting Gatling gunned by candy-jacketed bullets designed specifically against them, and Judge looking overwhelmed by two silhouetted combatants of Big Mom. And for the coup de grace? The Thousand Sunny, with Luffy, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Brook, Carrot & Jimbei on board without room to escape, appearing to get blown up by cannon fire from Big Mom's singing ship, last mentioned in story since Chapter 807. With the chapter's final panel showing the Straw Hat's Jolly Roger flag floating in the sea in tatters. Hoo Boy.
• Wham Shot:
  • In Chapter 850, when the kind-hearted Pudding reveals she was Evil All Along, the panel zooms in on her Nightmare Face, which also shows her exposed Third Eye revealing that she's the then-unnamed three-eyed girl sitting with Big Mom in the Fishman Island arc. Combined with a Slasher Smile and the way she trash-talks Sanji (unwittingly within earshot), it makes the scene as creepy as it sounds.
  • In Chapter 883, after Luffy eats his way out of the suffocating pile of mochi, he goes on a rampage looking for Katakuri, and smashes Katakuri's "shrine" hideout to bits... and then we see Katakuri lying down, relaxing, and singing while chomping down sweets and tea. Not to mention, Katakuri's mouth is full of sharp, boar-like fangs.
  • In Chapter 893, after Katakuri is cruelly humiliated by his little sister, Flampe, he has a traumatic flashback where it's shown that, as a child, he was bullied and shunned for having a fanged mouth, and would be called a "pelican eel" because of it.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Charlotte Snack, the dethroned fourth Sweet Commander, was beaten as of late. Much like Luffy bulked himself up by using Charlotte Cracker's soldiers and used them to become strong enough to bring him down, Urouge apparently turned the tide against Charlotte Snack with his own abilities. As for what happened to Snack following their defeat, that is a mystery for a good chunk of the arc. However, he is shown to be alive and turns up at the gathering of the family at Cacao Island waiting for Luffy to exit the mirror into their ambush. Even so, text box introducing him shows that he's now the "former" Sweets Commander, meaning he lost his rank, presumably after his loss against Urouge.
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • When he was little, Sanji would frequently cook for commoners and (literal) rats when his family wasn't looking. Though he had the choice not to do it and despite knowing he'll be bullied again, he still did it.
  • It's revealed that Reiju secretly tended to Sanji's wounds after he was bullied by their brothers when they were kids, despite knowing she'll be punished for helping a "weakling" and abused as well if they find out — that's her reason for faking her smiles and laughing along with their bullying. She's also the only one who didn't criticize Sanji whenever he cooked meals.
  • Earlier, when Reiju offers the perks that come with being a Vinsmoke, including "pleasure maidens" (which unsurprisingly made Sanji go gaga) and a Happily Married life with Pudding, Sanji turns it all down because to him, his friends are more important than riches and status.
  • Sanji again had a moment of this trope during the Vinsmoke family's Darkest Hour — he did have the option of leaving them to die, giving them a Karmic Death for all the abuse they heaped on him for years in his childhood... except for the fact that his sister, Reiju, the only one who showed Sanji compassion despite him being a "dud" and helped him run away from home, was going to be killed, too. And even then, he could have chosen to save just Reiju and abandon both his asshole father and brothers... but as it turns out, Sanji's too compassionate to let even them die. So he chose a better outcome — save his entire family, and make the ones who abused him indebted to someone they continuously dismissed as a weakling. The result was Judge and the other Vinsmoke boys helping the Straw Hat-Firetank Pirate Alliance escape Big Mom's wrath.
  • Behind closed doors, Katakuri is really like Luffy — he chomps down on sweets and guzzles down black tea like no tomorrow. He sees it as a Guilty Pleasure, though, and is so ashamed of it that he kills anyone who sees him during downtime.
• When Trees Attack: Thanks to her Soul-Soul powers, Big Mom was capable of creating an entire forest of living trees called the Seducing Woods, whose job it is to trap any intruders who enter the forest by changing up the path, thus keeping them from finding a way out.
• White Sheep:
  • Despite being a pirate, Sanji is this for his biological family. He was bullied as a child due to his weakness^note Despite receiving the same genetic enhancements as his siblings, he failed to develop it due to his mother, Sora, secretly taking a gene surgery-reversing drug to save her quadruplet sons from becoming Judge's weapons and willingness to cook for commoners (and actual rats), and his own father didn't give a crap about him. This is what caused Sanji to escape, and eventually meet "Red Leg" Zeff.
  • Later, Sanji's sister, Reiju, is also revealed to be one, although "Grey Sheep" is more appropriate with her since, as she points out herself, she did get involved with their evil deeds even if she didn't like it.
  • Twin sisters, Lola and Chiffon, are this to the Charlotte family. Lola ran away from an important political marriage that would have secured an alliance with the giants, and helped Big Mom become Pirate King. Chiffon, after suffering years of abuse at the hands of Big Mom for looking like her runaway twin, decides to cut all ties with her mother and help Bege assassinate her.
  • Praline is this as well, being more loyal to her husband Aladdin than her own mother and was willing to leave Totto Land with the Sun Pirates despite knowing the horrific consequences of such an act. She later cements her heroic status by helping the Straw Hats and the Firetank Pirates escape undetected... by singing to the scout sea slugs that were supposed to look for intruders.
• Who Needs Enemies?: When Luffy and his friends learn of Capone Bege's scheme to take out Big Mom during the wedding, Jimbei proposes they ally with the mafioso pirate. Luffy sees Jimbei's point and agrees to meet up with Bege to see if they can come to an alliance of defeating Big Mom. However, both have different (but not opposing) goals from each other.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: When Vinsmoke Niji sees the army Big Mom is sending out against Luffy, he comments that Luffy couldn't be dumb enough to remain where the Vinsmokes left him with an army like that coming. Shows how little he knows about Luffy.
• Why Won't You Die?: Katakuri ask this of Luffy in the second half of their fight, citing he keeps beating him up but refuses to stay down much to his frustration since he thinks there's nothing Luffy can do but avoid his attacks.
• Wicked Witch: Brulee, one of the daughters of Big Mom, has this motif what with her crooked nose, clothing and hatred of beautiful faces, as well as Magic Mirror powers. Also a Shout-Out to the Evil Queen from Snow White. Even her Evil Laugh, "Wiwiwiwi," sounds like a high-pitched cackle in the anime.
• Willfully Weak: Sanji is powerful enough that he could choose to beat his male family members into the ground for the hell they gave him as a kid, but he chose to submit to their wishes because it would result in Zeff and, by extension, Baratie and the Straw Hats being harmed.
• Wolfpack Boss: Cracker is essentially one with the Animated Armors he can create with his Devil Fruit abilities. Individually, each armor is strong enough to go toe to toe with a Luffy using Gear Second and Third attacks, more so when their limbs are multiplied. The actual Cracker himself is strong enough to damage Luffy in Gear Fourth. When Cracker is aided by a group of his armors though, he is extremely formidable. With his armors supporting him in ways such as providing a defensive phalanx to cover him while he attacks whenever an opening appears, his position as one of Big Mom's top commanders is truly justified.
• Worf Had the Flu:
  • Luffy, off the heels of the fight with Cracker, and receiving a beating from Sanji, is suddenly met by the army of the Charlotte Family, who want to avenge Cracker. Surprisingly, Luffy somehow dispatches half of the armed forces during the afternoon, but is eventually overwhelmed by some of the bigger names eg. Opera, Mont-d'Or, et al. and Nami is captured. It apparently went both ways as because of Lola's Vivre Card, the Chess Barbarian Army weren't able to fight as effectively as they could have.
  • This likewise contributes to the fight against Big Mom due to the above events. Luffy and his allies only get a short amount of time to rest before enacting the assassination plan. So when forced to confront Big Mom directly, Luffy can't sustain Gear Fourth due to his Haki still recovering.
• Worthy Opponent: Katakuri sees Luffy as this after seeing him endure for so long against his attacks and improve his Observation Haki while doing so. When Flampe interferes in the fight by hitting Luffy with a blowdart that impaired his movements allowing him to wound Luffy when Luffy wasn't focused on him, he's actually furious with her for doing so, and wounds himself in the same area he struck Luffy as compensation for Flampe's actions. Once the two knock out Flampe and her men with their Conqueror's Haki, Luffy and Katakuri acknowledge each others strength and prepare to finish their fight. When the fight concludes, this exchange follows:
  Katakuri: (exhausted) Someday...will you...come back here...to defeat Big Mom?
  Luffy: (similarly exhausted) Of course! I am the man...who will be the Pirate King!
  Katakuri: (smirk) You're looking...pretty far into the future...!! (collapses)
  • And to top it off, Luffy covers Katakuri's mouth with his hat, hiding his shame in the process. One of the rare times Luffy shows respect to his opponent.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • At least Niji, who throws a plate at Cosette's face when he doesn't like her food, and later is implied (and confirmed) to be the one who beat her bloody to the point of unconsciousness. Sanji, who is the inverse, is outraged by this.
  • Oven didn't hesitate to try beat up Chiffon and kill her for supporting Bege's betrayal and assassination plan, and when he hears Bege is near by, he instead holds her hostage so he could make Bege surrender and then kill two traitors with one stone. Fortunately, both Sanji, and then Bege (through a bluff) manage to save Chiffon
• Would Hurt a Child: During negotiations between the Fire Tank pirates and the Straw Hats, Caesar Clown threatens to hurt Bege's infant son Pez if he doesn't uphold his end of the bargain. It's when both Bege and Chiffon look angrier than usual.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Zeff is shown instilling this policy into a young Sanji, saying he wouldn't hire female cooks because then he'd have to treat them harshly and men not harming women is a universal rule "from even before the time of dinosaurs". Zeff also says that if Sanji ever does that, he'll cut his own throat. It's understandable why Sanji, already being a failure in the eyes of his biological father and owing to Zeff a lot for his life, would never lift a finger against a woman since then. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well, since in previous arcs, Sanji was literally unable to attack women when his or his friends' lives were on the line.

X

• X-Ray Sparks: Subverted in Chapter 890. When Nami's second attempt at luring Zeus to her side fails, he seemingly zaps her with a thunderbolt that shows her skeleton, but it was actually Brook who took the bullet unscathed; he has no flesh, so thunder does no serious damage to him.

Y

• Yank the Dog's Chain: Oda did this hard to Sanji. Why? Because, Pudding, whom Sanji is set off to marry and whom he believes to be his ray of hope given his situation, is Evil All Along. He comes to know this when he was serving his best dishes to her, and overheard her gloating to a battered Reiju discussing all her plans.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After Sanji learns from Reiju what really killed their mother when they were young, he starts blaming himself thinking her death was his fault. To cheer him up, Reiju tells Sanji that she never once saw him as a failure, and his kindness is a constant reminder that Sora's Heroic Sacrifice had not been in vain.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One:
  • Big Mom's scheme to lure the Germa 66 into her clutches by a feigned alliance worked... but things start falling apart thanks to the Straw Hat's interventions.
  • From the other side, Bege is able to successfully make Big Mom vulnerable to assassination, but underestimates just how difficult the actual killing part will go.
• "You!" Exclamation: In Chapter 858, Luffy does this when he meets Caesar Clown again and sees through his extremely shoddy Paper-Thin Disguise.
• You Have Failed Me: Big Mom's wonderful personality has left most of her children who work under her feeling utterly terrified of being punished by her. When Opera and Smoothie hear about the library prison escape that was caused by Jimbei, they both decide not to tell Big Mom so the wedding plans wouldn't be derailed. In Opera's case, his attempt to save face by lying about killing Luffy and Nami leaves his brother Mont-d'Or very suspicious, and when Mont-d'Or sees both Luffy and Nami alive several chapters later, he is furious.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Big Mom joins forces with Germa 66 to form an alliance via an Arranged Marriage between Sanji and Pudding. However, it's later revealed that as soon as Sanji's marriage is complete, Big Mom intends to kill the Vinsmokes in one fell swoop and steal their cloning technologies, as she deems them no longer useful to her plans.
• You're Not My Father:
  • When Pound pleads Cracker to spare him on the grounds that, as his stepfather, Pound could be considered Cracker's family, Cracker simply rebuffs him saying that even if it's true, he doesn't consider Pound his father per his mother's reasoning. That also goes toward all 42 of her ex-husbands.
  • Sanji is unwilling to forgive Judge and refuses to acknowledge his relation to him the moment they first meet again. While he does eventually rescue Judge from Big Mom's wrath, Sanji still considers Zeff his true father.
  • Chiffon no longer sees Big Mom as her mother because of the constant abuse she suffered at her hands for looking like her runaway twin, Lola. She doesn't feel anything when Bege decides to assassinate her during Sanji's wedding, and supports it, because Lola is also in danger of being killed by Big Mom's assassins. When Big Mom is going through another of her hunger tantrums, she doesn't care what happens to her or the country.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Luffy and company manage to accomplish the main objectives that they had came to the Whole Cake Island in the first place: reunite with Sanji and get rubbings of the Poneglyphs that Big Mom has. Furthermore, none of their enemies are at all wise to what they've done, thinking that everything's under control and going all according to plan. As such, all that Luffy and company have to do is simply slip away from Big Mom's territory and they're completely scot-free... except some new developments arise. Apart from the threat of the Baratie staff being killed still looming, it turns out that Big Mom plans to slaughter the Vinsmokes at the wedding ceremony in order to steal their cloning technology. Despite his feelings against most of his family, Sanji still wants to save them thus Luffy decides to stay to help Sanji in this task.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Lola believes Big Mom wouldn't try kill her for running away just because they're family. She might be right, but that doesn't mean Big Mom doesn't want her dead for defying her... or take her rage against her out on Lola's twin sister.

Z

• Zerg Rush: Big Mom's armies defeat both Luffy and Nami through sheer numbers and firepower. It's also mentioned that defeating a Sweet Commander is an automatic instigator for the lot of her forces to descend on the offending culprit(s), which is what happened when Snack was beaten and Cracker was beaten.

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