In One Piece, characters usually do not die. Oda, the author of One Piece, does not like to kill characters but rather likes to give fake deaths. Giving a character a good dying moment exalts its character development to its peak. Especially, if he already fulfilled his missions in the story. However, in One Piece, Oda does not frequently give it, and it makes the story a bit less serious. Here, I am giving you 8 one piece characters who should have died in order to stay at their peak character moments.
1. Pell – Arabasta
Pell the Falcon who is one of the two head guards in the Arabasta kingdom is the most obvious character in this list. In the final phase of the Arabasta arc, after the defeat of Crocodile, the only remaining problem was to get rid of the nuclear bomb. The bomb could destroy the whole city together with everybody there. What Pell did was more than just bravery; it was heroic.
However, surprisingly, that nuclear bomb did not kill Pell, or to say more properly, Oda did not kill Pell. Some may be happy about it, but it did kill the heroic action of Pell away. Now, the question is, what did Pell do after surviving a bomb that could have had some impact on the story? The answer is nothing. And it is another reason why he should have died.
2. Usopp – Enies Lobby
When there is a conversation about Usopp, what you can hear from the fandom is usually: “Wait for Elbaf”. The majority of One Piece fans are waiting for Elbaf so that Usopp will have some character moments. And the reason why people think so is because of what Usopp said in Little Garden, where two giants were fighting.
On the other hand, what they forgot is that he already lived his peak character moments way in the back. In the Water 7 arc, Usopp turned his back to his captain and crewmates just for a freaking ship. Going Merry was a ship full of memories of the crew, but it is not more valuable than the crew itself. It is also contradictory to what he said to Robin: “Believe in Luffy”.
To put it aside, Usopp was unbelievably brave when it came to saving Robin. In the Enies Lobby, when Sanji boosted him, he lived his peak character moment. It is the reason why I think Usopp should have died there because, after Enies Lobby, he did not have any memorable character moments. Remember Usopp’s dream? It was to be the brave warrior of the Sea. He could achieve his dream by sacrificing himself and saving the crew from the marines. Thus, he would both fulfill his dream and be among the best one piece characters ever.
3. Germa 66 – Whole Cake Island
You might not be investing in this much but hear me out. The whole Germa family did terrible things to Sanji (Except Reiju). However, in return Sanji saved them. The role of the Germa family is very low in One Piece, and it is disgraceful for Big Mom to try to get their clon technology through marriage when she can just have it by power.
Later on, they helped Sanji to run away from Big Mom’s children. And that should have been their final destination. They were against the army of Big Mom. They should have been a piece of cake for Big Mom’s army, but surprisingly, they managed to escape. Of course, it is up to the Charlotte family to decide what to do with them. However, in a scenario in which they die while helping Sanji would pay off what they have done to him. It is even under question whether they will have some contribution to the story in the future or not.
4. Smoker – Punk Hazard
Remember the times when Smoker was a huge threat to the crew? Smoker was the first marine that showed us how the marines should act. People usually consider him “Luffy’s Garp”. Several times, he almost succeeded to kill Luffy. When it was Smoker vs Luffy, Luffy always needed someone to save him.
However, after the time skip, we did not see much from Smoker. The crew was already at a much higher level than Smoker. After the Wano arc, they are unreachable for Smoker. It would have been nice to know what he is doing, but I offer you a better case.
Smoker’s journey should have ended in Punk Hazard. To be fair, I would rather see him much in the story, but considering that he did not show up once, after the Punk Hazard arc, it would have been better to have him dead. One Piece characters usually have a good backstory through which we know what drove them to be what they are now. Unfortunately, we have not seen one for Smoker. It is a truth that in the Punk Hazard arc, there were so many unnecessary characters and scenes. That arc would have been much better if it had included more Smoker scenes, a Smoker flashback, and a legendary death for CHAD marine.
5. Spandam – Enies Lobby
Let me introduce you to the least favorable character. He was the head of an intelligence agency, CP9, and was incredibly arrogant. He has a strong sense of entitlement, believing that he is entitled to anything he wants simply because of his position of power.
Being one of the most cowardly people in the series makes him a must-die character. He truly deserves to be dead. In the final scenes of Enies Lobby, Robin showed him the pain of his life. He was finally dead, or that was what we thought. In the cover story about CP9, we saw him bandaged and alive, unfortunately. It would have been better if died in Enies Lobby since he was one of the boring and necessary characters.
6. Trafalgar D. Water Law – Dressrossa
One of the most popular one piece characters ever written. He has been with the Strawhats for years. He also has one of the best and saddest flashbacks in one piece. The reason why he made an alliance with Luffy is to fulfill his objective and get his revenge on Doflamingo.
He did his best, but unfortunately, he could not stand against Doflamingo. Doflamingo shot him several times, and Law died… Or this is what I think would be interesting. You may call me crazy for this, but I have some solid reasons. One of the reasons is that his story does not progress much after Dressrossa. Well, he is getting into some action with THAT person after Wano, but I am not going to spoil you. The second reason is that he got ridiculously powerful in Wano which is weird. I can easily say that Dressrossa Law and Wano Law are not the same persons.
As a final note, what I would like to point out is that death literally would fit Law very well. Whether it is Dressrossa, Wano, or another place. There are tons of characters in one piece whose death I would not give a shit. However, Law is out of that group. Moreover, he might have reached the meaning of D…
7. Bon Clay – Impel Down
Bon Kurei is one of the favorite characters of one piece fans. When we met him for the first time, he was a fun character. We then learned that he is an Okama. When the crew was about to leave Arabasta, the navy was there to capture them. However, Bon Kurei stepped ahead, sacrificed himself, and save the crew.
In Impel Down, he did the same thing and save Luffy. He treated Luffy the same way a Strawhat would treat, maybe more. He once again helped Luffy to escape safely.
However, I would like to remind you that he was a villain before. He was working for Crocodile and is one of the causes of the Civil war in Alabasta which killed thousands of people. When looking from this perspective, I think he is a fairly overrated character. However, this is not why I think he should have died. When we saw him last time on anime, Magellan was also there. Many people thought of him as dead. However, being alive after that a little shadows his heroic actions.
8. Red Scabbards – Wano
Samurais are cool people. Especially, after seeing how cool Zoro is all the time, Wano was the arc that got me excited from Thriller Bark. Right before the raid on Onigashima started, we got flashbacks of the Red Scabbards. It was a sad flashback.
On the roof of Onigashima, the battle between Kaido and Red Sabbards took place. Everything was resolved in about 5 minutes. They did their best against Kaido, but it was not enough. It would not be nice to spoil you about what happened in the manga, therefore I am not going to go into what happened in the manga. However, in a battle against two sea emperors and thousands of beasts pirates, it should not be weird that they all died.
They, especially, Kinemon raised and took care of Momonosuke. Momonosuke is now a grown-up man, at least physically. However, he is not mentally grown yet. He needs something to push him forward. Do you remember when all the Samurai sunk their ships indicating that they do not have a plan to return back? Death is an honor for them. In short, their death would fit their character development, and could better describe the brutality of the war against the two emperors.
