This article contains spoilers for the Final Saga of One Piece.
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Death is a rare concept inOne Piece. Often being reserved for the most severe and emotional of circumstances, throughout most of the series, characters just don’t seem to die, even when they probably should. For this reason, the series has earned a reputation for never being able to kill off important characters, a fact that many fans of the series resent.
However, much like the Marineford Arc before it, with the Final War Arc fast approaching, some fans believe that now may be the time for another serious character death inOne Piece. With predictions ranging from old mentors, long-time villains, and even members of the Straw Hat Crew, fans are almost certain that not every character is making it out of the war alive. Although it’s a bit morbid to theorize about, here are some of the characters that fans are almost certain will die before the end ofOne Piece.
Death And One Piece Didn’t Mix Well In The Past
Ace And Whitebeard’s Deaths Changed This For The Series
At least in the beginning ofOne Piece, death has always been a difficult topic to deal with, at least outside of backstories. Generally, with the story being fairly light-hearted, good and moral characters are usually given a happy ending. Manycharacters that should have diedare shown surviving the most ridiculous of circumstances, with the primary example being Pell, who survived a nearly point-blank explosion from a bomb large enough to level a city.
Thank you… for loving me! - Ace’s final words
Much later in the series, duringthe Marineford Arc ofOne Piece, the series dealt with its first major character deaths, killing off both Ace and Whitebeard. Since the series hardly went this far before, seeing something like this was incredibly shocking for the audience, making the war a truly desperate circumstance. After the arc finished, Ace and Whitebeard’s deaths became one of the most memorable and important parts of the battle.
Fans Believe Some Important Characters Will Die In The Final Saga
Shanks Is One Of The Primary Candidates
Although, since this time, deaths have been far more common inOne Piece, as of now, there hasn’t been a death that reaches the same level asAce’s death during Marineford. However, following this trend of having a major character death during the large war arcs, fans believe that the approaching Final War Arc is where this next emotional death will occur. In fact, some fans are convinced that multiple characters will die in the final battle, making it one of the darkest arcs inOne Piecehistory.
One major character that fans believe will die inthe Final War Arc ofOne Pieceis Luffy’s idol, Shanks. As of now, Shanks has been built up to be a fairly important character in Luffy’s life, despite not seeing him since he was a child. However, since Luffy is supposed to return the Straw Hat to Shanks and many believe Oda has no intention of removing Luffy’s most iconic feature, fans have predicted that Shanks will die soon after seeing Luffy again, leaving the Straw Hat with Luffy permanently.
Blackbeard May Die After His Battle Against Luffy
He May Be The First Devil Fruit User To Drown In The Sea
Another character fans think isn’t going to make it through the war isthe Emperor of the Sea, Blackbeard. Although it seems fairly certain that Blackbeard will be defeated, some fans think that Blackbeard is going to meet his ultimate fate after his eventual loss. Mainly, there are theories that explore the idea of Blackbeard being the first Devil Fruit user to die from drowning, which would be an ironic fate since he relies on his Devil Fruits so much.
Now don’t go trampling on a man’s dream! - Blackbeard
Finally, there are some fans who thinka Straw Hat will diebefore the series ends, with Zoro or Usopp being one of the most popular choices. However, as of now, there is no way of knowing which characters will live and which will die, meaning that any predictions so far are purely up to speculation. In the end, fans will have to wait for when the Final War arc ofOne Piecedoes come to pass to see if the series will provide fans with another pivotal character death.
One Piece
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One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga’s popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
