The One Piece manga has introduced dozens of incredible characters over the years, and unsurprisingly, most of them are well-loved in the fandom. The story begins with Luffy setting sail to claim the legendary treasure of One Piece as well as the title of Pirate King that comes with it. From a small village in the East Blue to the New World, the young pirate has covered more than half of the world during the 28 years of the manga’s serialization. In each island he enters, he meets new people and forms new bonds with them. Of course, wherever Luffy goes, trouble always follows him one step behind, including pirates and Marine officers.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Whether it’s the crew members of the Straw Hat Pirates or even minor characters such as Shanks, who don’t often appear in the series, each one of them leaves a deep impression on the viewers. While One Piece has a long list of famous characters, these three may not deserve so much hype, at least not yet. Although the characters mentioned below aren’t necessarily underwhelming, they might not fully live up to the immense reputation the fandom has built around them.
3) Dracule Mihawk
For someone who has the title of the World’s Strongest Swordsman, Mihawk has been gatekeeping his powers for longer than necessary. Narratively, there’s no denying his ability, but sometimes a title and power aren’t enough to make a character intriguing. Mihawk had a chance to do something incredible in Marineford, but he didn’t. While his laid-back attitude could be because he wasn’t interested in the war, the underwhelming performance also doesn’t give viewers any reason to hype him up.
Although he was the first Warlord to be introduced in the series, his character is still limited to someone who is meant to be defeated by Zoro. Because of his first fight with Zoro, expectations around Mihawk were high, but after waiting almost 28 years, he still hasn’t done anything to prove his title. As the final war approaches, we will definitely see more from him, but his one-dimensional personality doesn’t really make him stand out compared to other characters such as Shanks, Roger, and even Oden. It’s possible that Oda could be keeping him on the sidelines and will focus on him more, but there’s a lot more we need to see from Mihawk for him to be more captivating.
2) Monkey D. Garp
As a Marine Hero, Garp is one of the most powerful characters in the series. But despite his power, he still refuses to make a drastic change in the horrible way the Marines operate. Unlike Admiral Fujitora, who wishes to change the system by being on top, Garp shrugs off the responsibility by refusing to be promoted. His duality of not liking the Celestial Dragons while also working for a military organization that serves them makes his actions confusing.
Garp has been nurturing the future generation of the Marines, and he has saved many people during his career. However, someone as powerful as him doesn’t live up to expectations since he could’ve been directly involved in changing the world at least a little bit. Compared to him, his son Dragon should be considered the true hero, who has served in the Navy and created the Revolutionary Army since he couldn’t stomach their atrocious actions.
1) Sakazuki
There’s nothing more annoying than a character who stubbornly believes they are right without stopping to think about the innocent lives being trampled on. Sakazuki, famously known as Akainu, is now a Fleet Admiral, and he watches over the Marines with an iron rod. He blindly follows the orders of the Five Elders, and his distorted sense of justice makes him completely unlikable. Akainu’s powers were revealed during the Summit War Saga, and while he is clearly powerful, he is often mistaken for the strongest in the verse.
While that may have been true more than a decade ago, the Final Saga has introduced so many characters who can stop him now. Although it’s true that Akainu is a more complex character than the series initially portrayed him to be, his rigidity and his belief that his actions are just make him one of the most dangerous antagonists in the show. The concept of right and wrong is heavily distorted in the world of One Piece, so it’s impossible to paint everything as black and white. There’s always a debate about his actions in the Summit War, where he killed the Navy soldiers who tried to flee the war, as well as his attempt to kill Koby. However, no matter how you look at it, his actions are extremely cruel and unbefitting of someone in his position.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Focus Features.
