Tear Jerker / One Piece (2023)

♫ I've always been taught to be brave and strong
To see the hope when all feels wrong
I've always been taught not be afraid
And look the price, the price I pay! ♫

— AURORA, "My Sails Are Set"

Yes, this live-action version of One Piece manages to be just as emotionally devastating as its manga and anime counterparts.

This page has been made compliant with the Spoiler policy that includes not putting spoilers on Moments pages, including Tear Jerker.

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Series

In General:

• Like the manga, each of the Straw Hats had a rough childhood:
  • Luffy has no family besides Garp, who put him through hellish training; he also feels responsible for Shanks losing his arm.
  • Zoro lost his childhood friend and rival to an accident before either could achieve their dream.
  • Nami saw her adoptive mother killed and her village became overrun by racist Fishmen, forcing her to be a part of their pirate crew to save her home.
  • Usopp grew up without his father and his mother died of illness when he was a kid.
  • Sanji was left stranded with Zeff on a rocky summit for 85 days with just a small amount of food. Zeff amputated and ate his own leg and gave Sanji all the food they had.

Individual Episodes:

Episode 1: Romance Dawn

• Helmeppo gets a very small one - after Morgan backhands him, he scrambles to his feet and looks visibly hurt as Morgan praises Zoro and says he'd make a good Marine.

Episode 3: Tell No Tales

• Usopp's Crying Wolf antics come back to bite him when no one believes his story that Kaya's staff are pirates, but unlike the manga Luffy and Zoro are incapacitated, Nami is unaware of the danger as of yet, and the Usopp Pirates aren't in this continuity, meaning that Usopp is truly alone.
  Usopp: (quietly breaking down) The pirates are here... they really are... why won't anyone believe me?
  • To make matters worse, he's given a Hope Spot when Koby and the Marines find him and follow him to the mansion...but without any proof that the butler is actually a reportedly-dead pirate, they just end up taking Luffy and leaving.
• Usopp in the original manga and anime was delighted to hear Luffy knew his dad, Yasopp, and a bit of his pirate life. But in this version Usopp is visibly hurt when Luffy gushes about his time with him, as it's a reminder that he never came back and had to deal with his mother's death by himself, and now Usopp has confirmation his dad was having a great time while this was happening with another kid besides his own, who sees him as a hero.
• Unlike the manga, Merry doesn't survive Kuro's attack. As a result, the Going Merry was named as Due to the Dead.

Episode 5: Eat at Baratie!

• Episode 5 begins with a younger Luffy building a raft and showing it to Garp. Angry that Luffy is still thinking of being a pirate, Garp tears the raft apart and tells him that he will be a Marine whether he likes it or not. Throughout all of it, Luffy is yelling and begging for his grandfather not to destroy his ship. The finale's following line then implies that Luffy's Training from Hell isn't quite as Played for Laughs as it was in the Enies Lobby Arc.
  Garp: Your training begins today.
  • Luffy picking up his torn up flag after Garp has destroyed his raft.
• Luffy encourages Sanji to follow his dream and maybe leave the Baratie, saying he shouldn't let an old man like Zeff push him around. Unbeknownst to Sanji, Luffy is very much speaking from his own experience with his grandfather. Unlike other times Luffy tells others to pursue their dreams, he's noticeably somber.
• Nami, panicking before Zoro's duel with Mihawk, desperately begs him not to fight because he's her friend. Chafed from her perceived lack of faith in his strength, he retorts that she had earlier said "You don't have any friends." The palpable pain on Nami's face at this rejection looks like she would've preferred being slapped.
  • Then just as Zoro accepts his defeat and a slash from Mihawk's sword, Nami is grasping Usopp's hand as her only comfort.

Episode 6: The Chef and the Chore Boy

• As the crew quickly get Zoro onto the Going Merry to treat him, Luffy stands there looking at his friend in shock. He starts unknowningly blocking out Usopp and Nami's voices, with Nami being forced to yell to snap Luffy out of it.
  • Luffy runs to find a doctor on board, and runs to the kitchen to find Zeff and Sanji. The way he yells for help and panically retells what happened to Zoro shows how truly scared he is of losing his friend. Zeff has to tell him to slow down and take a breath.
  • While Luffy is confident that Zoro will wake up, it's clear he's doing whatever he can to stop himself from spiraling into guilt from rambling to Sanji and to cleaning Zoro's blades. Luffy can't even muster up his desire to eat because he's so distraught over possibly losing a friend.
• Mixed with Heartwarming, but Sanji's farewell to Zeff is this. It's clear Zeff cares a great deal for Sanji and wants the best for him, and Sanji wants to do right by Zeff, but both know that Sanji has to leave to pursue his dreams to make something of his life. The two shed many a manly tear as Sanji says his goodbyes, setting sail knowing that he may never see Zeff again.
  • The argument between them before Sanji leaves is much the same. While it starts as vitriolic as usual, it becomes clear how much of it is Zeff's Tough Love toward Sanji, pushing him to pursue the dream that Zeff himself couldn't attain, the dream that drove him to rescue him as a kid to begin with.
    Zeff: I did not save your life so you could waste it here at Baratie... [...] If [your dream] means that much to you, go find it.
    Sanji: Look, do you want me to quit?! Is that what you want?!
    Zeff: Quittin' is stayin' here! Don't you get it? It's one thing to have a dream, it's another to go after it!

Episode 7: The Girl with the Sawfish Tattoo

• It's brief and directed towards a less-than-sympathetic character, but Nezumi's condescension toward Arlong's intelligence and trying to tokenize Jimbei shows how apathetic the World Government is to the Fishmen.
• The Strawhats' reactions upon hearing Nami and Nojiko's past. Nojiko is still traumatized from witnessing Belle-Mère's death, Sanji's already in tears and Usopp is just shocked and confused about Nami's decision to join Arlong after all that. Luffy himself just quietly leaves with a cold, stern look to sit outside and Zoro follows him. Although it's obvious hearing their story shook them to their core as well and only strengthened their resolve to help her.
• The ending of Episode 7 is certainly the saddest the show has gotten yet. Nami was despised by her village and especially her sister Nojiko for joining Arlong right after he killed their mother Belle-Mère. And unlike the manga, Nami never confided her reasons to Nojiko and the village, so there is no Open Secret about Nami's true intentions; they actually believe she betrayed them for Arlong and truly hate her. Nami is only forced to come clean when Nojiko finds the hiding place for the money she intended to pay Arlong for the village's freedom, which just so happened to be next to their mother's grave. All Nojiko can do is ask why Nami didn't tell her the truth, expressing that she genuinely hated her sister for seemingly turning her back on their mother and their village.
  • After the money is taken by the Marines, we get Nami racing to the Village only to collapse midway, knowing she can't stop Arlong from destroying her home. In anger, she slowly starts repeating Arlong's name before taking a knife and stabbing her arm repeatedly, intending to rip the tattoo apart before being stopped by Luffy. When he refuses to leave her, Nami's tough act slowly but surely falls away, sounding as if she's on the edge of breaking completely.
    "Luffy... help me..."

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