One Piece Shares Heartbreaking Otama Scene

One Piece‘s Wano Country arc has been a huge hit with fans as the anime now crossed its monumental 900th episode mark, and the series itself celebrating by cluing fans in on just how messed up the Wano region actually has been thanks to Kaido and his factories. Fans were given a bit of perspective on this with the introduction of the plucky young girl Otama as it was revealed that she’s been starving for several days and made herself sick with polluted river water, but the latest episode of the series revealed just how bad her situation really was.

While Otama’s spunky personality and big smile seemed to imply that she was okay, Episode 900 of the series broke fans’ hearts completely when she couldn’t help but break down in tears after finally trying soup for the first time.

Episode 900 of the series sees Otama get fully healed after she’s been sick for the last few episodes. Although Otsuru was able to cure her, the poison is still within her so she can no longer drink the polluted river water and survive. But when Otsuru finds out Otama is hungry, Otama tries to refuse the food she’s served. Thinking about how Otsuru and Okiku might be going without a meal, Otama refused several times.

Even when she finally gave in, she couldn’t bring herself to eat the soup Otsuru served her over the guilt she’s feeling. She finally gives in when Otsuru offers it as a birthday present, and Otama can’t help but cry happy tears over how good this soup tastes. It’s here that Luffy and the others realize that she’s never had soup before, and Luffy remembers being chastised by Otama’s master over eating her last bowl of rice. It’s here that he and Zoro learn about Wano.

Kaido’s factories have polluted the region to such an extent that the people are starving, but his forces are able to live and eat on the one region that’s still untainted by pollution. Because of their selfishness, kids like Otama had been going hungry. It’s why Otama attached herself to Ace so much because he represented a hope that he troubled life would soon ease, but after his death, she began to lose hope.

But the end of Episode 900 sees things getting even worse for Otama as she’s soon kidnapped by a speedy member of Kaido’s Smile Fruit enhanced cronies. Luffy and the others are giving chase, but this poor girl has been through so much in her short life.

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. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.