The Straw Hats have changed. A LOT.
We’ve had Usopp on his journey to become a brave Warrior of the Sea,
Chopper embracing his inner monster, and even Robin finding a family with her
new nakama. But while these are more well known pieces of character development, some
of the Straw Hats’ growth has been SO SUBTLE that many fans don’t even fully understand the
MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS in all of One Piece. And the perfect example here is our favorite
swordsman, Zoro. On the surface, you might think he hasn’t changed much, but you’d be dead wrong.
I mean, ever since he and his childhood friend, Kuina, promised to become the world’s strongest
swordsman/woman, he’s been dead set on achieving that goal HIS ENTIRE LIFE. So, yeah, that goal
hasn’t changed at all. But what you may not know is that since the first time we met him until
now, Zoro has almost completely changed his inner motivations. Don’t believe me? Well, let’s
start at the beginning because when we first meet Zoro back in chapter 3, he is basically the
stereotypical swordsman type character. He’s powerful, confident, and basically a loner.
He loves nothing more than fighting, drinking, sleeping, and working out, and he really only
joins Luffy’s crew so that he can progress his own dream of becoming the World’s Strongest Swordsman.
And honestly, Zoro is one of a few Straw Hats who represent more of a perfect “Ideal” than an actual
real person or character. He’s a macho man who is also extremely cool, and this is reflected in
his early designs with his intimidating bandana, memorable sash, plus his unique three-sword
style of fighting. Without a doubt, Zoro is AND remains to this day, one of the coolest
characters in all of anime. We can also say that Zoro is basically the only straw hat who
didn’t need to make some life-changing decision or be metaphorically “saved” to join the crew.
All he needed was for Luffy to literally untie him from this post. Which was the start of
the greatest partnership the world has ever seen since the former pirate king, Roger, set
out with his right hand man, Silvers Rayleigh. So yeah, that’s all the basics and probably
what you already knew about Zoro. But what you may not realize is that while he didn’t need
to change to join the crew, Zoro’s adventure with the straw hats actually changed him THE MOST out
of almost ANY. OTHER. CREWMATE. And his journey to change kicked off when he was EMBARRASSED
by the World’s ACTUAL strongest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk during the Baratie arc. And up to
this point, Luffy and Zoro had seemed basically unbeatable as they took down small time pirates
left and right. Zoro even believed he did stand a chance against Mihawk - which is just so hilarious
looking back on it - so being humbled like he was truly showed Zoro EXACTLY how far he had to
go to become the world’s strongest swordsman. Now, I said before that Zoro really only
joined Luffy to pursue his own goals, but that all started to change during the Arlong
Park arc when Zoro saw Luffy’s willingness to die for his friends. Because in the end
Luffy didn’t NEED to go save Nami. In fact, there was plenty of reason to just leave
her alone since they betrayed the crew and everything, but because Luffy
tried so hard to save his friend, Zoro actually started to believe that
Luffy was a captain worthy of following. Of course, these were very important
character moments for Zoro, but you might be surprised to hear that out of all
the crew, it is Zoro who first shows signs of unlocking the secret power of the one piece
world. That is of course haki. For example, during his fight with this Blade man, Zoro
is able to hear the “breath of all things”, which might have been his first step in awakening
Observation Haki. And what’s even crazier is that this was basically confirmed later in the skypeia
arc when he took down this winged swordsman by sensing him through a solid wall. So yeah, even
though Luffy is supposed to be the haki prodigy, it was actually Zoro showing us
the first signs of haki all along. But of course, that’s not his only development
because the next MAJOR character moment for Zoro came during the heartbreaking Water 7 duel
between Luffy and Usopp. Because throughout all the tension between the beloved
captain and sniper, Zoro was one of the few who put his foot down and said that
if Usopp was going to disrespect the crew, then he needed to leave. In fact, he delivered
one of the most impactful lines of all when he said that Luffy protecting the honor of the crew
is the “Burden of being the captain.” This moment also showed us that Zoro now felt that his own
personal honor was tied to that of the crew, which demonstrates that he sees himself as less
of an individual and more a part of the group. And this idea was fully cemented in the next
arc, when we had ONE OF THE. GREATESTS. MOMENTS. in all of One Piece. Because first, he got a
RIDICULOUS katana upgrade when he was given the sword of the legendary Wano Samurai, Ryuma.
But on top of that, we had THIS! And damn, if you thought Zoro was only living for
himself, then this moment grabbed that idea, crushed it into a tiny ball, lit it on fire,
and then blasted it into space. Seriously, this famous moment truly proved that Zoro 100% put
Luffy’s life above his own. But more than that, he believed so strongly in Luffy’s dream that he was
willing to give up his own dream in order to help Luffy achieve his. Which is an UNTHINKABLE CHANGE
from Zoro’s mindset when he first joined Luffy. And to cap it all off, Zoro doubled down
on this idea by begging Mihawk to train him during the timeskip, which is another
HUGE moment of humility from Zoro. And if you don’t quite understand why, it is simply
because once again he is showing that he is willing to lay down his own pride in order
to get stronger for his crew. And honestly, Zoro changing from being an individual chasing
his dream to someone that will put the dreams of the crew before his own is one of the most
profound character arcs in the entire story. After the timeskip though, Zoro’s development has
been more on the power side as he’s continued to learn the different forms of haki. Design wise he
somehow lost or chose to close one of his eyes, which we still don’t know much about.
On top of that though, his growth came to a massive climax during Wano when
he gained the legendary sword Enma, which helped him master the
ultimate haki, Advanced Conquerors. Which all that combined, leaves Zoro
as one of the most powerful characters in the entire story, and certainly one
of coolest characters in all of anime. And on the same level as Zoro, when our next
straw hat was introduced she was IMMEDIATELY an ABSOLUTE 10 out of 10 in terms of awesome
characters. Because with her sick western, cowgirl outfits and terrifying devil fruit
powers Nico Robin instantly became one of the most exciting characters in the
entire story during the Alabasta saga. However, we soon learned the heartbreaking
truth that beneath her harsh exterior was a girl who had been abused and abandoned her
entire life. Because as we later learned, Nico Robin was left behind by her
parents, neglected by her relatives, and then later LOST EVERYONE that she loved
during the tragedy of Ohara. Which led her to a SOUL-CRUSHING twenty years of survival on
the run from the government. Which brings us to the Straw Hats meeting her in Alabasta, where she
was already a master of her Hana Hana devil fruit that allows her to sprout extra body parts and
use them in combat. And honestly, it still gives me chills every time Robin literally SNAPS
someone's back using her Clutch technique. But her devil fruit is not even her most
important ability because while in Alabasta we learned that Robin could read the legendary
Poneglyphs, which are these giant stones that tell the history of the Void Century. And
this ties into her true dream to learn the true history that she inherited from her
mom and the beloved scholars at Ohara. And that’s exactly why she snuck onto the Straw
Hats ship at the end of the Alabasta arc. Now, even though Luffy let her join the Straw
Hats, Robin had a long way to go before she fully embraced being part of the crew. Part
of that was because after her traumatic childhood she didn’t see herself as worthy
of friends. In fact, during the Skypiea arc, she basically only referred to the crew by
their titles, such as calling Luffy simply the “Captain” or Nami as the “Navigator”. And
this showed us she didn’t really see herself as part of the group yet, but that all changed in
a MASSIVE WAY during the Water 7 and Enies Lobby arcs. Because as we saw first hand, Robin is STILL
being hunted by the World Government. In fact, this admiral almost took out the entire crew
because she was traveling with them. Then she was kidnapped by the World Government Secret
agents, CP9. And as we later learned, she was willing to sacrifice herself so the rest of the
crew could go free. Which, on the surface, at least shows that she cares about the others, but
deep down it highlights an even bigger problem. Because let’s go back to this moment in Alabasta.
Because here, Luffy had just been THRASHED by the Warlord Crocodile and had to be saved by
Robin. And even though Luffy eventually defeated Crocodile, I think Robin still didn’t truly
believe and trust in the abilities of the Straw Hats. She felt that in the end they would abandon
her just like everyone else in her life did. Which is why THIS MOMENT was SO POWERFUL and
remains many fans' ABSOLUTE FAVORITE moments in the entire story. Here, Robin finally accepted
that the crew would never abandon her. And she embraced their will to save her for the first
time. And wow, what a change! Because while Robin had gone along quietly with the government
agents up to this point, NOW she fought and clawed the whole way, even literally biting the
ground to keep from being taken away. And man, how awesome was this? She was fighting for her
friends, just like they were fighting for her. Which takes us to Post-Enies Lobby,
and really the rest of the story, where Robin finally believes in her own
self-worth and that of the crew. We can even see this reflected in the way she dresses as
before this point she mostly wore pretty sharp, intimidating clothing and after this she
is much more relaxed and casual and we even see her enjoying her coffee and
reading while traveling with the crew. Unfortunately, though there hasn’t been A TON of
development for Robin since then. She got to train with the Revolutionary Army during the time skip
and learned Fish Man Karate along with improved control of her devil fruit. In fact, after the
time-skip she can now make giant versions of her limbs to stomp opponents, grow wings to fly, and
even create full body clones to use for spying. But believe me when I say that Robin has THE
MOST MOUTHWATERING FUTURE of any character in the story. Because with her knowledge of the
poneglyphs, she is basically the most important person in order to find the One Piece. So she
is sure to play a major role in the final saga. And if that wasn’t enough, we might even get to
learn the secrets her parents died protecting, see her prove her worth to this
guy, and at the very end of the story witness her final confrontation
with taking down the world government. And wow, that was a lot of discussion
about two of the most in-depth straw hats, so let’s move on to a crewmate who is a little
more straight forward. That’s because Franky was, is, and will always be SUUUUPPPEERRR!
That’s right, our favorite cyborg is a man who hasn’t changed a whole lot since
we first met him back on Water 7. Sure, I mean he’s gone from a mostly-human cyborg to a
mostly-cyborg human, but he can still shoot fire, launch missiles, blast bullets, and most
importantly change his hair. The only major difference from when we first met him to now is
that now everything is just stronger. Oh yeah, and he’s got this super cool mech and
some other cool toys like this motorcycle. Just because he hasn’t changed much doesn’t mean
he isn’t awesome though. Because one of Franky’s greatest character traits is that he breaks the
stereotype of a typical macho man. I mean sure, he’s loud, buff, and loves building weapons, but
we’ve also seen him cry, embrace his weird side, and most importantly, Franky openly shows
affection for his friends and family. And most of these traits were already part of
his character when we met him, but the one thing Franky is still chasing is to have one
of his own ships and travel the entire world. You see this all ties back to his tragic past.
Because as a child, Franky’s inventions were part of the reason his father-figure was killed.
That’s because a young Franky used to just build the biggest, most destructive weapons
that he could just because he thought it was cool. But he learned the hard way that those
weapons can be used against innocent people, and since then he has learned to take
responsibility for the things that he creates. Which is why Franky’s future character arc
involves possibly the most dangerous weapon on the planet. That’s because Franky
was entrusted with the blue-prints for a weapon that could counter one of the all
powerful Ancient Weapons. And while we now know that particular ancient weapon is hiding
underneath Wano, someday Franky may have to decide whether it is right or not to build a
weapon capable of destroying entire islands. But while Franky is going to have to face that
major decision someday, Usopp started out with a much scarier decision. Because as we all know,
Usopp was a MASSIVE scaredy cat, so his decision to leave his home island after the Straw Hats
helped save his village is already a HUGE step on his character journey. And out of all the Straw
Hats, Usopp is easily THE MOST RELATABLE. That’s because he isn’t a super human fighter with
devil fruit or other crazy abilities. Nope, he is just a boy with a slingshot who dreams
of becoming a brave warrior of the sea. Just like many of us, I might add. And it is his
progress towards this goal that makes Usopp one of the Straw Hats with the most noticeable
character development in the entire story. Because Usopp went from this to this.
And this moment after the timeskip is super important because his visual
changes really highlight his growth as a character. Early in the story
he always wore these large overalls, but post-timeskip he is much more confident
in showing off his new manly buffness. On top of the visual changes, we saw time
and time again that Usopp had to confront his crippling fears and overcome his weaknesses to
help the crew. For example, he sacrificed himself for the crew during his fight on Alabasta. In
fact, in each and every arc it seemed like Usopp got beaten up so badly, yet he continued
to do his best to keep up with the crew. However, beneath the surface,
Usopp was about to break. Because for the entire pre-timeskip journey, Usopp
was not only fighting to keep up with the crew, but also fighting to convince himself he
deserved to EVEN BE A PART of the crew. And this all came to a head during the Water 7 arc
because when Luffy decided to get a new ship, Usopp’s heart broke. Because to him Luffy’s
choice to move on to a better ship was also a stab in his own heart because he thought maybe
Luffy would get rid of him someday as well. So of course, Usopp and Luffy had their fateful
duel, and Usopp left the crew. Which was just SO, SO heartbreaking on so many levels and the first real moment in the entire story where
the crew was on the verge of breaking. However, Usopp’s departure cleared the way
for Sogeking, also known as King of Snipers, to join the crew during their attempts to rescue
Robin. And while using this alter ego character, Usopp showed everyone EXACTLY why he is
such an important part of the crew. First, with his upgraded Kabuto slingshot, he landed
the MOST EPIC SNIPE in the entire story, when he saved Robin from being dragged
across the bridge AND THEN just when Luffy was about to be defeated
by this government secret agent, Usopp’s inspiring speech gave Luffy the
final push he needed to finish the fight. So yeah, in many ways Usopp is irreplaceable
because of his unshakeable desire to help the crew and his unique skills that literally
no one else in the crew can provide. And speaking of those skills, we have not
yet mentioned Usopp’s other main ability which is his skills as a tinkerer. You see,
because Usopp is SO CLEVER at making things, he has upgraded his own slingshot many times,
going from launching rocks and eggs with this to shooting off fire balls, plant-based
projectiles, and even terror-inducing special bullets. On top of that, he has also
upgraded Nami’s Clima-Tact multiple times taking it from a basic staff with a few tricks
to a full on weather controlling superstaff. And for Usopp there is a clear path ahead in
the story. Clearly, he’s already become a brave warrior of the seas, but deep down I think Usopp
still needs to convince himself that he is truly brave. And there is no more perfect place to do
that than the island of Elbaf, home of the giants, where Usopp is sure to play a large role
due to his former interactions with giants. Now, while Usopp may one day lie his
way to be the king of the giants, there is one straw hat who can literally become
a giant. That is of course, Tony Tony Chopper, whose early struggles with accepting
his complicated identity are a vital part of his character development. Because
when we first meet Chopper on Drum Island, he has gone through an incredibly tragic past.
First, he was cast out by his herd of reindeer because he ate a devil fruit that turned him
into a human. Then he was thrown out by the humans like he was some kind of monster. But after
befriending this quack doctor, Chopper then went on to accidentally poison the only friend he ever
had, leaving him alone and isolated once again. And while he was eventually
taken in by another old doctor, his whole past has understandably left
Chopper with conflicted feelings about himself. But that’s of course
when the Straw Hats come along, and Luffy basically drags Chopper out of his
hole so he can join the crew. However, Chopper’s character arc isn’t done yet because deep inside
he still views himself as some kind of monster. I mean, sure, he’s got some weird forms
such as his human form which looks like an oddly shaped human and this form called,
Guard Point, in which Chopper becomes a big fluffy ball. But underneath all
of his other pre-timeskip forms, Chopper is hiding a dark secret. Because with
his medical skills, Chopper invented a drug that boosts his own power. The danger is that if he
takes too many of these bite-sized drugs though, Chopper becomes a nearly unstoppable,
mindless giant. And in this form, he gains incredible size and power, but the downside
is that he literally cannot control himself. And honestly, from a character perspective,
this is just the perfect embodiment of Chopper’s inner conflict. Deep
down there was a monster hiding, and Chopper could not control it
when his friends needed him most. That’s not to say Chopper has a sad ending
though because after the time skip Chopper has both learned to control his monster point AND most
importantly he has accepted who he is. In his own mind, he IS A MONSTER, but one that he will gladly
embrace as long as he can protect his friends. And whew, that was a deep dive into Chopper’s
inner psyche, but it is honestly one of the most powerful character arcs from the early parts
of the story. That’s not the only change Chopper went through though because this adorable reindeer
had many other negative traits that he has since grown out of. For example, Chopper has always been
a bit of a coward - which makes sense since he is the youngest straw hat - but he was also easily
tricked and incredibly naive to the point that he would basically believe anything that people
would tell him. After the timeskip though, Chopper has gotten a bit wiser, and while he can still be
fooled, he is much harsher with people who do bad things. For example, when this evil scientist
used drugs to run experiments on children, Chopper went ballistic and wanted to curse the
gassy scientist with the worst fate imaginable. However, that brings us to the next
part of Chopper’s character which is his incredible skills as a doctor. And
while he’s always been a top tier healer, Chopper has gotten much closer to his dream
of being able to cure any disease thanks to his new experiences traveling with the
crew. This includes visiting isolated islands to learn herbal healing, working with
scientists to invent new types of medicine, and of course spending countless hours
healing the crew from their injuries. Of course, he’s also gotten much stronger because
in addition to learning to control Monster Point, Chopper can now combine forms like Arms
and Jump point to create Kung-Fu Point. And while we saw another side to Chopper
when he met the animal minks on Zou, and he flexed his doctor magic by
healing the ice-oni plague in Wano, the only thing that’s really left to see with
Chopper’s story is what kinds of conditions he will need to heal in the future. For
example, many people expect Luffy to come down with a life-threatening illness
much like the former Pirate King did, so we’ll have to see if Chopper can cure
something like that before the end of the story. His whole character arc started back
when Luffy saved Chopper though, but there has been no clearer moment of Luffy
saving someone than when he freed Nami from her slavery during the Arlong Park arc. And those two
major themes are what Nami’s story is all about: Slavery and Freedom. She was locked into slavery
as a child and forced to draw maps for Arlong, yet at the same time she embodies freedom
because the navigational maps allowed her to freely sail the seas. So by the time Luffy
came around and literally freed her from Arlong, she was all set and ready to bring
her maps - and freedom - to the world. However, Nami has faced many obstacles along the
way. With the first and most noticeable being that she is a weak fighter. And sure, she is clever,
and can trick people better than almost anyone, but when it comes down to a straight up fight, she
is almost always at a disadvantage. Which is why the development of her Clima Tact weapon is so, so
crucial to her story. Because with its evolution from basically no more than a party trick to a
full fledged weapon of destruction, Nami can now utilize her knowledge of weather science to defeat
enemies that are way, way stronger than herself. Which is exactly what we’ve seen in Alabasta,
then Enies Lobby, and all the way up through Wano where she has come through in the clutch
to defeat strong opponents and save her friends. Speaking of saving people though, Nami had
a similar major character arc during the adventure in Fishman Island. That’s because it
was here that she came face to face with the exact opposite of the slavery she experienced
growing up. Instead of a group of evil fishman enslaving a group of humans, here we got
to see just that humans have forced the entire fishmen race to live under the ocean.
But during this arc we could see that Nami eventually made complete peace with the fishmen
people for what was done to her in the past. And honestly, that’s been most of her
character development so far. Obviously, there have been other things such as design
changes, but you might actually be surprised to hear that there may be more in store for
Nami’s future than you might think. Because similar to Nami, Sanji had a pretty straight
forward character arc during the East Blue, and we all thought that was his one Sanji-centric
arc. But fast forward to post-timeskip and Sanji got ANOTHER focused arc during Whole Cake
Island. And Nami’s past is just as hidden as Sanji’s was. For example, we don’t know
basically anything about Nami’s biological parents or the island where she was born. So it
is still possible Nami’s secret past plays more of a role in the future as she continues her
dream of drawing a map of the entire world. And Similar to Nami, our favorite musical
skeleton’s dream also involves sailing all the way around the world. Because when we first met
Brook in the spooky fog of the Florian Triangle, we soon learned that he was a long lost friend
of this giant whale who the Straw Hats met right at the start of the Grand Line. And Brook wants
nothing more than to be reunited with Laboon, which will likely only happen once the Straw
Hats make it all the way around the world. Let’s start at the beginning though because
when the Straw Hats first encountered Brook he was trapped in more ways than one. Obviously,
he was physically trapped because his shadow had been stolen by a nearby Warlord, but he was also
mentally and emotionally trapped by the death of his beloved crew and his isolation for the past
fifty years. So when the Straw Hats arrived and brought some much needed light to this skeleton’s
depressing life, it freed Brook in more ways than one. And he was literally the perfect addition to
the crew because of his musical talents because in case you forgot, a musician was one of the very
first things Luffy wanted as part of his crew However, Brook isn’t JUST carried by the crew
because he is actually a strong sword fighter. Of course we simply must talk about his devil fruit
which allowed his soul to return to his body, but after the timeskip he even learned
how to master his full devil fruit’s capabilities. In fact, he can now let his
soul roam freely to do some secret scouting, and his devil fruit also adds an icy
chill that can coat his sword or the environment. That’s not all though because
he can even use his tremendous soul powers to overwhelm the souls of weaker beings,
such as the Homies from Whole Cake Island. Just like many of the other older
characters on the crew though, he hasn’t needed a ton of personal development.
He was already a soldier and a pirate in the past, so he knows how to be part of a team, and his goal
simply involves seeing an old friend again. That’s not to say he won’t play a big role in the future
though since music and whales have significant ties to the One Piece treasure. There’s also the
legitimate question of if Brook can ever die, so we have to ask how he might feel if he ever
faces the reality of losing a crew for the second time - whether from battle, disease, or old age.
Plus let me just throw out I would love to see some adventure in an underworld type location,
where Brooks’ devil fruit could truly shine. On the downside though, one of Brook’s
least appealing traits is his pervertedness, which is shared by this next Straw Hat. That
is of course, Vinsmoke Sanji, whose growth in this particular area still leaves a lot to be
desired. At least he’s not nearly dying from blood loss at the sight of a pretty girl like
he used to, but still, Sanji is still way over the top in his obsession with pretty women for
many fans. That is basically the one downside to Sanji’s character though because starting
when we first meet him, the Straw Hat’s chef is EXTREMELY kind towards anyone who deserves
it, and oftentimes even those who don’t. He is willing to sacrifice himself for others, and
besides the lewdness, he is a mature person. That’s not even considering his exceptional
fighting and tactical abilities. In fact, one of the best things about his addition to the
crew is that he will do things that no other straw hat would even think of, such as sneak off to
fulfill some secret mission while the rest of the crew is in danger. And this can be both good and
bad, but on the whole, it has helped the crew out of many impossible situations such as when they
needed to escape the buster call on Enies Lobby. But of course we do have to talk about Sanji’s
OTHER. MAJOR. FLAW. Which is of course his twisted sense of chivalry. Specifically, I’m
talking about his refusal to hit a woman, which, while that is admirable on the surface, really
just puts the rest of his friends in danger, like we saw perfectly illustrated during
the fight against the government secret agents in Enies Lobby. Instead of fighting this
bubbly woman and getting the key to save Robin, Sanji instead let himself be defeated which
meant Nami had to step up and take his place. So to summarize, Sanji was not willing to fight
one, clearly evil woman, but he would instead put his own female friend in even bigger danger…
So yeah, there’s a lot of positives about his attitude towards women, but early in the
story it really did more harm than good. Of course that CHANGES in a big way later
on, but before we get to that we have to recognize that over time Sanji has had to
let go of his need to always be the hero. This characteristic has been a part of his
character FOREVER as he even stayed to help his mentor Zeff because he felt he owed
a debt to the old pirate cook. However, things started to change when Luffy took down
the pirate threatening his floating restaurant home and Sanji joined the crew, but as we’ll
see, it wasn’t fully resolved until WAY LATER. I’m talking like 800 chapters later because
when Sanji left the crew during the Zou arc, he was doing so out of a twisted sense of
responsibility and personal conflict. First, the Emperor Big Mom was threatening Zeff, and
Sanji felt responsible to save the old cook. Which is great, but Sanji still showed his fatal
flaw because he felt that he needed to do this on his own. He even went so far as to crush Luffy
to try to get Luffy to give up on rescuing him. Eventually though, that all changed when Sanji
accepted that he didn’t have to do it on his own, and - just like Nami and Robin - he realized that
Luffy would never give up on trying to help him. Now, we haven’t even mentioned his
traumatic childhood at all. But, whew, talk about family drama. Because after the only
person who cared about him died, he was abused, bullied, and abandoned because he had too much
human emotion. Even after all that though, when Sanji finally came face to face with his family
as an adult, he showed them that he was proud of who he was and despite EVERYTHING they did to him
- beating him up, locking him in a dungeon with this horrific mask, and even disowning him - that
he still wouldn’t let them be killed. This was a HUGE moment for Sanji, and it showed them just how
strong, mature, AND HUMAN that he truly was. Just kinda throw that point back in their faces. But at
this point he recognized that he could fully rely on his crew, and that showed up in an even BIGGER
way during the climactic battles of the Wano arc. Because just like in Enies Lobby, Sanji came
face to face with a woman that he simply refused to kick. However, instead of breaking his
personal code or allowing himself to be defeated, Sanji called out to Robin for help because he
trusted she could do what he cannot. And man, that was a powerful moment for Sanji fans, but it
was actually not the only important development that Straw Hat’s chef got in Wano. That’s because
we haven’t even mentioned Sanji’s powers yet, but by this point you should know that Sanji fights
with his legs only. And throughout the story, he’s learned powers to enhance this fighting style
such as Diable Jambe - which literally sets his leg on fire - and haki to improve his fighting.
But it wasn’t until Wano that we learned the true secret to Sanji’s strength. You see, Sanji and his
siblings were genetically modified to be stronger, but what we didn’t know was that Sanji’s DNA was
mixed with a special race known as the Lunarians. These Lunarians are basically gods, with extremely
powerful bodies as well as access to fire powers. So that explains the fiery kicks, but on top of
the genetic modifications Sanji’s technologically advanced family also developed the Raid Suits
to further enhance these powers. And for a while Sanji did use his raid suit to increase his speed,
strength, and gain invisibility but by the end of the arc Sanji rejected the technology and decided
to fight just using his own personal strength. What’s funny about all this development though is
that the more Sanji learns to rely on his friends and not just himself, the more success he tends
to have with women. In fact, both of these women had basically fallen in love with him by the
end of the Whole Cake Island and Wano arcs. And while Sanji has had the most development of
any Straw Hat, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to come. Of course he needs to fulfill his dream
by finding the mythical All Blue, but there may also be a situation where he needs to question his
chivalry once again. For example, what if he is in a scenario where refusing to fight one woman
will result in another woman’s death? I don’t know yet what he would do, and that’s a bit of
development that could still happen in the future. Which now brings us to the most recent
Straw Hat member, the Knight of the Sea, Jinbe. And while Jinbe basically has the least
evolution among the straw hats, that doesn’t mean he didn’t change dramatically in order to
join the crew. Because when we first met Jinbe, he was a former Warlord who was locked up
with Luffy’s childhood friend, Ace. And throughout this introduction, his jailbreak
with Luffy, and all the events at Marineford, we got to see first hand just how AWESOME Jinbe
is as a person and as a character. He is powerful, loyal, extremely brave, and willing to lay
everything on the line to help his friends. But while we all wanted Jinbe to join, and
Luffy even officially asked him at the end of the fishman island arc, the former captain
of the Sun Pirates didn’t join the crew until halfway through Wano. So very much a long coming
addition, but since Jinbe is already so powerful, mature, and skilled, the only thing
he really needed from Luffy was for the straw hat captain to save his people from
themselves. And that’s exactly what happened, as Luffy defeated the New Fishman Pirates,
and the arc ended with this hugely symbolic scene of Jinbe offering his blood to help save
Luffy’s life. And Jinbe throughout all of this, Jinbe is basically a parallel to Nami because
whereas Nami was enslaved by Fishmen growing up, Jinbe’s entire people have been forced
to live at the bottom of the ocean so that they aren’t subject to racism and
persecution by humans on the surface. Now, while Jinbe has tirelessly worked
to improve human-fishmen relations, his life with humans has been stained with blood.
In fact, during his time with the Sun pirates, Jinbe followed the legendary fish
man, Fisher Tiger. During this time, he witnessed firsthand the cruelty of humans,
who eventually killed his captain. Yet, instead of wanting revenge, Jinbe just wanted
to save his people. And this loyalty was so great that he eventually joined the world
government as a warlord so that they would offer some protection for the entire fishman
Kingdom. Some serious sacrifice right there. But once Luffy saved his kingdom, and
Jinbe took care of his obligations, the expert helmsman finally joined up with
the crew. And at this point, I don’t think anyone would argue that there is a more loyal
member of the crew than he is. Of course, he is working towards the day when his
people can once again live on the surface, and he will be a big part of bringing
that symbolic dawn to the world. Which brings us to Luffy, and if you listen to
some internet trolls, you may have heard that Luffy has ABSOLUTELY ZERO character development
all throughout the story. And in some ways they are right. Luffy has always represented freedom.
He’s fearless, trustworthy, and will ALWAYS Try to help his friends, so he hasn’t needed to change in
those areas at all. Similar to Zoro, he is kind of this unrealistic ideal in that sense. However,
Luffy has had to grow A TON in other areas. With the most clear area for growth being
“HOW TO BE A BETTER CAPTAIN”. Because as we’ve seen countless times throughout the
story, Luffy’s first instinct is to solve most problems with his fists, but that has
gotten the crew into trouble more times than not. Even in the recent arcs, Luffy will still
cause MASSIVE PROBLEMS by barging into a fight instead of stopping to think through a
situation. A perfect example is Luffy’s first clash with Kaido in Wano. Because after
the blue dragon blasted through a mountain, Luffy assumed that his friends had been killed
and charged right in to challenge the Emperor. This of course led to a MASSIVE DEFEAT and
Luffy was then thrown in jail. However, if he had instead just gone to check on his friends
he would have seen they were perfectly okay. So even in these later parts of the story,
Luffy has some growing to do. That’s not to say he hasn’t grown through because there
have been moments throughout the story where he’s had to learn a harsh lesson in leadership.
The earliest of these being this scene from Drum Island. Because here the crew is just arriving
on the island with Nami suffering from a deadly illness. And when the island’s citizens
start shooting at the crew, Luffy wants to jump straight into a fight. However, the Alabasta
princess Vivi makes him stop because she realizes that if they fight then they probably won’t get
Nami the help she needs. Luffy of course quickly understands this as well, and bows his head to
ask for help for his navigator. And this is the first clear example of Luffy having a LONG WAY
to go in terms of effectively leading his crew. And yet another example of his developing
leadership is this bar scene in Jaya when Luffy, Zoro, and Nami were mocked and had food
thrown all over them. Now, LET ME TELL YOU, child Luffy, or heck, even East Blue Luffy,
would have jumped straight into a fight and wiped out all these weak pirates. But with his
growth in maturity, Luffy now understands what Shanks tried to teach him back in chapter one,
which is that some fights are just not worth it. Which Luffy makes it even more difficult when
their was one fight that he just couldn’t avoid. And this was without a doubt the HARDEST CHOICE
he’s EVER HAD TO MAKE. And that is when Usopp disrespect him and the crew, Luffy understood
that he simply MUST stick up for himself, which ends up in one of the most heartbreaking scenes
in all of One Piece. Because as we all know, Luffy beat down Usopp and then the crew left their
friend behind. This moment certainly wasn’t easy for Luffy. In fact, it was ridiculously
painful, as we see in this moment here, but as Zoro points out, making these
kinds of difficult choices are the burden of the captain and he can never doubt
himself or the crew will fall behind him. Now of course, Usopp would later rejoin the crew,
but at this point we simply have to mention how ridiculously powerful Luffy has become after
all this time. But it wasn’t until Enies Lobby and the fight against the World Government that
Luffy unveiled his first major power up with his Gear 2 technique. Now of course this ability
vastly increases Luffy’s speed and strength, but as we’ll see later on it is also the
first step in making his powers more serious and deadly. And to cap it all off, he shows
this serious side of his nature right after the Gear 2 moment by declaring war on the world
government, which was the first major step as a player on the world’s political stage. And this
conflict ended with another major step as he unleashed his giant-sized Gear 3 attacks to help
take down his first major world government foe. However, there was no greater world stage than
Marineford, and it was during this epic conflict, and the chapters leading up to it, that
Luffy fully realized that he was helplessly overmatched when it came to fighting against the
world’s strongest foes. I mean he was literally powerless in Sabaody, nearly died in Impel
Down, and then, the most agonizing moment, he lost his childhood friend at
the hands of the marine admiral. Man, such a cruel series of lessons to learn, but ones that were definitely necessary
for Luffy to achieve his dreams. Which brings us to the time skip, where Luffy
truly evolved into a powerhouse fighter. Of course, he learned haki and developed his Gear 4
forms, but he also gained the confidence to truly declare himself as a force in the New World. First
he claimed Fishman Island as his territory. Then he continued to take down Warlord in Dressrosa,
which was just the first step in challenging the Emperors of the Sea. He also learned the true
path to finding the One Piece was to collect the Road Poneglyphs, so that became a priority for
all future arcs. We also saw the evolution of his Gear 4 forms with Bound man, Tank man, and
Snake man. And this continued his trend of his forms getting more and more serious looking.
I mean seriously, if you compare this to how his fights looked early in the series, there
is no doubt that Luffy looks more hard core. But Whole Cake Island also showed us
the power of advanced forms of haki with Advanced Observation. But that was
just the first step because in Wano he took that to a whole new level with Advanced
Armament and Advanced Conquerors. However, nothing quite compares to Luffy awakening his
devil fruit with his Gear 5 transformation. And if you remember how I mentioned Luffy’s
forms getting more and more serious. Well, this is a 100% complete reversal because with Gear
5, Luffy unlocked the most wacky fighting style anime has ever seen. And while we don’t fully
understand the limits of this power quite yet, it essentially is pure freedom for Luffy
to fight however his imagination allows. Which brings us to Luffy taking down the Emperor
Kaido and becoming a fully acknowledged Yonk in his own right. However, Luffy’s still not done
growing yet because with all of the power ups, growth as a captain, and his presence on the
world stage, he still needs to learn how to can defeat the world government and free the
world from their evil rule. And to do that he is surely going to need to take down the
evil ruler, Imu, whose name will certainly be added to the LONG LIST of characters Luffy has
defeated. And if you want to see EXACTLY all of the characters that the Straw Hat captain has
taken down, from his clashes with Emperors all the way to characters you forgot even existed,
then you can watch this video right here. Shanks for watching and I’ll
see you in the next one.
