'One Piece' Just Dropped Its Darkest Moments Yet

One Piece has waded into some dark territory over the years, but the series shared its bleakest moment yet this week. Not long ago, the new chapter of One Piece went out to the world, and one of its aside panels revealed a truly horrifying moment.

For fans caught up with One Piece, they will know how chapter 918 kicks off. It follows Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro as they flee Bakura Village with O-Tama in tow. After taking down Holdem, Luffy escapes the sanctioned city with all of its stowed food.

As the chapter comes to an end, fans are left watching Luffy as he does something Shanks would be proud of. The Straw Hat captain brings all of the food taken from Bakura's nobles down to the poor in the outlying areas. The arrival is welcomed with shock and joy, but if you look closely at the spread, fans will find some dark stuff.

As you can see above, there is a dark panel tucked into the bottom-corner of the spread. Fans an see an older woman kneeling down in a patchwork kimono crying. A knife can be seen held in one of her hands while her wailing child sits in her other. The woman is poised to kill her baby as a mercy, preventing them from living a harsh life that would end far too early. There is also an older man shown praying before a noose as he was preparing to kill himself before Luffy arrived to their town with newfound hope.

There is also a dark detail to be found in the spread's main image. If you look at the bottom of the panel showing Luffy's arrival, a skull can be seen cracked on the dry ground. The ominous image is a reminder that death favors no one in Wano, and it seems Luffy will be the one to swat the Grim Reaper away from its would-be victims now as he's taken them under his care.

So, did you see this dark moment coming? How can One Piece top this moment? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold.