One Piece characters that should stay dead

Summary

• Retaining character deaths is critical to maintaining plot impact and character development.
• Characters such as Edward Newgate have significant narrative significance through their demise.
• Ignoring character deaths can undermine the emotional depth and continuity of a story.

Spoilers ahead for One Piece

Something recently entered One PieceJaguar D. Saul, an ally of Robin who was believed to have been killed years ago, was found to have survived and has simply been unable to contact Nico Robin during her long run from the World Government. This became somewhat controversial for fans.

Some argued against Saul's survival, believing it undermined Robin's backstory. Others advocated it, believing that the scope of the tragedy in Robin's backstory expanded far beyond Saul, and that he still advanced the plot and its emotional beats by surviving. This list will look at a few others One Piece characters who seem to have passed on and should remain deceased for the sake of the plot.

5 Wine smoke Sora

Sanji's mother

The Vinsmoke family controls Germa 66, a military organization that uses fascist imagery and seeks to use scientific advances to conquer North Blue, presumably expanding further once that goal is achieved. Judge, the current head of the Vinsmoke family, sought to turn his sons into insensitive superhuman weapons to further this goal. His wife, Sorawho bore their boys, were opposed to this ambition.

Nonetheless, Judge forced prenatal surgery on Sora that would ultimately result in his sons gaining increased physical strength. Sora took an antidote that was probably meant to reverse the effects of the surgery. However, it only affected her third son, Sanji, who was mercilessly bullied by his brothers as a result. Even more unfortunate, Sora became very ill as a result of the drug and passed away when Sanji was a child.

Judge took advantage of her death to fully condition his other children to become brutal weapons, enabling their bullying of Sanji, which he classed as a failure. Sanji took solace in his cooking skills, which his mother loved. With the help of his older sister Reiju, Sanji escaped and eventually met Zeff, his mentor in cooking and combat, whom he believed to be his true father.

Sora's death and what it means for Sanji reflects a larger theme of inherited will. Even when Sanji's powers are activated years later than his brothers, he feels the need to retain his humanity, in part to honor his mother's memory. Also, most of the characters from Sanji's past that he cherishes are still alive. Retconting Sora's death would do an immediate disservice to him and his background.

4 Donquixote Mjösgård

The One Good World Noble

Mjösgård was a world noble and a member of the Donquixote family, the same family that left Dressrosa to rule as world noble. While one descendant, Donquixote Homing, abdicated his position – resulting in the two separate paths taken by his sons Doflamingo and Rosinante – Mjosgard, along with his father, Shivercalero, retained his status and enjoyed its excesses until 10 years ago .

Mjosgård lost his Fish-Man slaves due to a pardon granted to them by Jimbei when he joined the Seven Warlords of the Sea. This prompted a deeply entitled Mjosgard to travel to Fish-Man Island to recapture them. But Mjosgård was uneducated in the dangers of the world and was attacked by his former slaves. Otohime, the queen of the Ryuguriket, stopped them from killing him and decided to get him medical treatment and send him back to Mary Geoise. While it took Mjosgard a while to really come around, Otohime's kindness transformed him into a completely different person.

Mjosgård, like Homing before him, declared himself a man rather than a god and stopped owning slaves altogether. But his new behavior did not come without consequences. He was alienated by his other world nobles, who negatively compared him to other members of his family. Once he accompanied the Ryugu Kingdom's royal family to Levely, they were accosted by Charlos, a world noble not unlike Mjosgård himself was all those years ago. However, Mjosgard prevented Charlos from capturing Shirahoshi, Otohime's daughter, and even allowed pirates to attack the World Noble, a deeply serious crime.

As a consequence, he was executed and crucified by Figarland Garling, the captain of the Knights of God and a future member of the Five Elders. Mjosgård's death established that if they act against the collective agenda, even world nobles can be dealt with. While this death wouldn't be completely nullified at this moment, it would deeply mitigate the effects of the first World Noble canonically shown to be murdered, something needed in contrast to their supposedly pristine status.

3 Ashura Doji

Loyal in the end

The nine red skis were containers of Kozuki Oden. The young Daimyo's charismatic personality and strength were enough to attract a motley crew of retainers to him. One such figure was a dangerous outlaw known as Ashura Dojiwho eventually accepted Odin's superior strength and served as his retainer. However, Ashura lost hope in Odin's cause with the death of his master, the disappearance of some of the Skies (which in time traveled to the future with the powers of Odin's deceased wife, Hiyori), and the senseless deaths of his comrades who did not believe they would return.

As a result, Ashura reverted to banditry, founded the Atama Thieves and took up the alias Shutenmaru. After Yasuie, a former Daimyo loyal to the Kozuki clan, gave his life in an attempt to aid their efforts, Ashura rejoined the Nine Red Skies. Unfortunately, they were betrayed by Kanjuro, one of their own, who was secretly a member of the rival Kurozumi clan, planted by Orochi. Kanjuro manipulated the pod by using the powers of his Devil Fruit to create an illusion of Odin. Ashura immediately became suspicious of the fake Odin, correctly guessed it was a fake, and kept him away for the sake of his comrades, even though he died in the process. In the end, Ashura proved himself loyal to Odin in the end, and was more than willing to give up his life for the cause he was once believed to have abandoned, and regretting his death would weaken the character arc that led to it.

2 Edward Newgate

Roger's rival

Edward “Whitebeard” Newgate was a pirate captain who was given the rank of Emperor, meaning pirates the World Government considered particularly threatening. He was especially a rival and friend of the late Gol D. Roger, with whom he shared a mutual respect. Despite this fact, Newgate had few ambitions in the way of power. He saw fit to “rule” territories as a means of protecting them, taking crewmates as his “sons” and ultimately providing financial support to his home island of Sphinx, which had no government protection and saw increased crime when Newgate was a child.

Nevertheless, he still amassed a large following, with several pirate captains pledging their crews as subordinates. His crew waged an all-out war against the government, intent on rescuing Ace. Unfortunately this failed. Newgate and Ace both died, and the crew's territories were taken by Blackbeard, who was actually Marshall D. Teach, a treacherous former subordinate of Whitebeard.

Whitebeard's death is how Blackbeard establishes control, as many important parts of Whitebeard are taken and shaped by Blackbeard for his own nefarious purposes. A surviving Newgate would likely deny most of the efforts Teach made to claim his territories, and also make him too afraid to actively pursue control. This is likely why Blackbeard was extra certain that Newgate was dead and had the majority of his subordinates fill their former captain with bullets.

1 Jaygarcia Saturnus

A withered elder

Jaygarcia Saturnus is one of the five elders first introduced to the audience by name. With his fellow elders, he is seen throughout the story of One Pieceshown as part of the public face of the World Government. In fact, they are all subordinate to Imu, with specific polities that they are each in charge of as the designated “Warrior Gods”. Saturn is the warrior god of science and defense, and he accompanies Kizaru, in secret, to the attack on Egghead.

Saturn, like his counterparts, is shown to be a deeply arrogant figure. Although he is more cultured and refined than most World Nobles, he is no less condescending to those who rank below him, tending to see them as little more than insects. He is also shown to physically attack his own subordinates if they do something that displeases him.

Due to his personal failure to let Luffy escape, Imu killed Saturnus, causing him to wither away as a dark energy escaped his body. He is quickly replaced by Figarland Garling. In the end, Saturn's death shows just how disposable the five elders are to Imu, and allows the mysterious figure to let his mask slip a little more, showing just how truly cruel the creature is, even to one of its supposed closest confidantes.