One of his most favorite places One piece are the series’ many emotionally charged flashbacks. Eiichiro Oda’s pirate manga is generally light-hearted, with fun characters, but the series can also get extremely dark at times.
Somehow, Oda manages to continue writing characters with tragic backstories that tie into the series’ deeper mysteries and main plot in devastating ways. No matter how major or minor the characters are, their stories can still tug at the heartstrings. However, while each of the flashbacks are great in their own way, some are better than others, especially when it comes to the depth of emotion they evoke.
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10 Señor Pink
One of One pieceHis greatest achievements are taking a middle-aged man dressed in a baby costume and making fans really care about his life. Senor Pink was a man whose wife went into a catatonic state after they had a fight and the only way to get her reaction after that was to wear his dead son’s hood. This backstory really came out of nowhere in the middle of Dressrosa’s arc, and while it’s certainly tragic, it’s unfortunately at the bottom of this list because it’s so self-contained and doesn’t really have a wider impact on the story like a lot of the other stories do.
9 Fishman Island
The first flashback after the time skip focused more on the history of tensions between One Piece’s Fishermen and people, but it was no less exciting or heartbreaking for it. Seeing how the Fishermen were constantly mistreated and how the hatred between their species led to a vicious cycle of violence and the death of Queen Otohime is both powerful and connected to the themes of the arc. The parallels between Fisher Tiger’s death and the symbolic progress made through the blood transfusion at the end of the arc make the flashback resonate long after its conclusion. However, this flashback lacks the focus on individual characters that makes so many of the other flashbacks on this list that much more impressive.
8 Guano
This flashback suffers from many of the same problems as the Fishman Island flashback, but it makes up for it with how centrally it ties into the series’ overall mysteries. This makes it a joy to read, even before the most thrilling sequence of Gol D. Rogers’ crew laughing on Laugh Tale Island. However, Oden’s return to Wano and the humiliation and suffering he receives at the hands of Orochi and Kaido make it just as tragic as many of the other flashbacks on this list. Despite how little time he appears, his final words are at once epic, tragic and funny all at once, a perfect encapsulation of what One piece may be at her best.
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7 Skype
The Skypiea arc is often considered separate from the rest of the series, given how little it ties into the overall story of One Piece. His flashback could suffer from a similar problem, being set hundreds of years in the past, being the oldest chronologically. But the friendship between Calgara and Noland, and the tragic lengths they both go to try and maintain it, makes this flashback compelling and touching, despite that fact. While they never meet again in life, his dramatic end One Piece’s The Skypiea arc gives their story an emotional sense of closure that is one of the series’ most iconic moments.
6 Sanji
Sanji is unique among the Straw Hats in that he has received two amazing flashbacks exploring his past and motivations. But while the later revelation of his abusive upbringing at the hands of his father and brothers is incredibly good, it can’t top his initial flashback. Up to this point, the One Piece flashbacks have been okay, but nothing too special. Sanji’s flashback raised the bar, proving that Oda could write a backstory that explained a character’s motivations and packed an emotional punch. Seeing One Piece’s Sanji slowly starves himself and then seeing the sacrifice Zeff made for him is one of the most brutal parts of the manga. This was the moment that foreshadowed the much more tragic and masterful stories to come.
5 Nami
This may be a controversial statement, given that many fans believe that this is the best flashback of the series. The tragic death of Nami’s mother Bellamy and her being forced to work for her killer later on may seem simplistic compared to the more complex stories Oda would create for his later characters. But that simplicity is part of what makes Nami’s past so tragic One piece and which makes Arlong Park’s conclusion so satisfying. Eventually Oda would reveal that Arlong’s actions had their own tragic roots in a cycle of racial violence, but that doesn’t diminish the sheer evil of his actions or the emotional impact they had.
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4 Helicopter
As a young reindeer, Chopper was ostracized by his own kind for being different after eating the Human Fruit. Luckily for him, he was taken in by the mad doctor Hiriluk, who became a loving father figure to him. However, Hiriluk was dying of a fatal disease that he could not cure. To heal Hiriluk Chopper collects rare ingredients beaten up by his fellow reindeer in the process and brews them into a potion he believes will cure the disease. However, it actually creates a deadly poison. Hiriluk drinks Chopper’s creation anyway, knowing that what matters more than living is being remembered by those you leave behind.
3 Law
Although Trafalgar Law is not officially a straw hat, its history is just as tragic. After killing his family of doctors to prevent the spread of a plague, Law came under the protection of Donquixote Doflamingo, joining his pirate family. Knowing that his life would be shortened by the plague his parents were trying to cure, Law had a negative outlook on life until he grew closer to Doflamingo’s brother Corazon, who was secretly a spy for the navy. However, the two betrayed both the navy and Doflamingo by embarking on a futile search for a cure for Lo’s disease. Eventually, they succeeded with Law eating the Op Op fruit which let him heal himself. But for their betrayal, Doflamingo murdered his own brother while Law hid behind him, his tears silenced by the powers of Corazon’s seemingly useless Devil Fruit. This is a background with tragic depth that matches any of the Straw Hats, even if it doesn’t make it to the top of this list.
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2 Stream
One of the backstories that didn’t make this list is that of Laboon the whale, apparently abandoned by her pirate friends after they entered the long line. However, Brook’s story reveals that these pirates did not truly abandon Laboon, but met a much worse fate. Brook was a member of Laboon’s pirate crew One piece, and as this crew continued along the Grand Line, it suffered great tragedies that eventually culminated in the poisoning of the entire crew after a violent battle. While they knew they had no hope of survival, Brook had eaten the Revive Revive Fruit that would bring him back to life. So the crew decided to play one last song and record it for Laboon in case Brook ever got around to it. As they played their song, one by one they died, eventually leaving Brook to play alone, weeping for his fallen comrades in one of One pieceits saddest scenes, even if the song itself is a source of great joy.
1 Robin
Robin’s backstory is one of the most important in the series. It shows the destructive power of the military and hints at some of the central mysteries of the series. But what does that do? One pieceHis best flashback is how devastating it is to Robin. She loses her entire adoptive family, her hometown, and her new boyfriend Saul in one fell swoop and is forced into a life of constant abuse and mistrust. The awful misery of her past in turn makes her cry out that she really wants to live even louder and easily earns this flashback the top spot on this list.
With Kuma’s tragic backstory teased One pieceHis last few chapters, he could easily get a spot on this list in the future. Indeed, as the series continues, there will likely be no shortage of emotional flashbacks. But every news One piece Historical stories cannot diminish the greatness of these flashbacks, which will still contain some of the most tragic anime moments of all time.
