What is the best moment in all of One Piece?
Is it Robin’s desperate, I want to Live?
And does that moment rank above or below when Luffy absolutely destroyed this celestial
dragon?
Or could both of those even fall behind this island-shaking clash between Whitebeard and
Roger?
Let’s find out as I take on the impossible challenge of ranking the twenty-three best
moments in all of One Piece
Starting with a moment that literally saved Sanji’s life.
In chapter 58, Sanji and his mentor Zeff were stranded on this deserted island.
Now, at this time the young cook hates this old man because Zeff’s crew basically killed
Snaji’s former crewmates.
Seventy days later Sanji is starving and about to die, so he plans to steal Zeff’s remaining
food.
However, he quickly learns that all Zeff has is treasure, and then he is stunned when he
sees THIS.
This brutal scene makes Sanji cry like a little baby, and he realizes that Zeff literally
cut off AND ate his own leg JUST so Sanji would have more food to eat.
And while this might be an unexpected moment to make this list, just wait until you see
which shocking moment I ranked inside my top three.
However, a character eating their own leg is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes
to the Straw Hat’s heart-breaking backstories.
And that is absolutely true for Brook’s flashback.
Which - let me tell you - this moment absolutely ruined me.
His crew is dying from a deadly disease, and the music loving crew join together in one
last tear-jerking encore.
And as Brook’s crewmates dropped one by one, I was literally crying my eyes out.
What a moment of utter sadness.
What’s crazy about this story though is that it can make you feel pure sadness but
also absolute joy.
And no scene captures the joy of the story as much as this epic panel right here.
Just looking at it makes me smile.
That’s because we’ve just witnessed the former pirate king’s epic journey to reach
the end of the Grand Line.
And as we are all on the edge of our seats wondering if we will see what the One Piece
treasure actually is, we only get to see their legendary reaction.
Everyone laughs.
But not just any laugh, a true feeling of absolute joy.
Which only makes me even more curious about what this treasure really is.
And if this moment is only at number 21, just wait until you see what is coming next…
Because here we have one of the most jaw dropping moments in the story.
Luffy has battled his way through HUNDREDS of enemies on Enies Lobby as he tries to rescue
Robin.
And everything was going smoothly until he was stopped by this guy.
And this government secret agent was basically UNTOUCHABLE at this point until Luffy revealed
this.
Wow, this absolutely blew my mind.
For the first time in the story, Luffy showed an actual power up, and he immediately demolished
the government agent with his new super-charged speed and strength.
While this was an incredibly hyped moment in Luffy’s journey, perhaps no event was
more important to him than the next one.
That’s because all the way back in chapter one, Shanks gave Luffy his famous straw hat,
which inspired him to become a great pirate.
And it’s a simple moment that I think a lot of us take for granted, but without it
Luffy may never have gotten as far as he has in the story.
But we absolutely cannot talk about inspiration without remembering this man’s epic finale.
Because in this climactic moment of Dr. Hiriluk’s life, I was completely torn up inside.
Young Chopper had mistakenly made a deadly soup which was eaten by his only friend.
I mean how terrible is that?
But instead of making Chopper guilty for killing him, Hiriluk confronted the evil ruler of
their island and delivered the most epic speech in the entire story.
Then of course he did this.
And wow, this was heartbreaking in so many ways.
For Chopper to lose the only person who really cared about him, and for myself to see just
how far this man would go to care for his friend.
*Sniff, and wipe eye.* Hey, I’m not crying, that’s just a little water on the camera…
However, that moment isn’t even close to the best moments that we’ll discuss later,
but first we have a scene that shows Luffy’s incredible faith in his crew.
When Sanji abandoned the crew to go to whole cake island, Luffy said uh-uh, I’m not losing
my favorite cook.
So he chased him down and finally caught up to him right here.
But Sanji genuinely thought he was doing what was best for the crew and tried to trick Luffy
into leaving, even going so far as to beat his captain like he was tenderizing a hunk
of meat.
And oh my god, this moment made me so mad that Sanji would go this far.
Yeah, Nami, hit him again!
But of course even after his beating, Luffy continued to believe in Sanji and eventually
brought him back to the crew.
Which just goes to show just how much Luffy loves his crew.
Now, while that moment threatened to break the bonds of the straw hat crew, this next
moment literally shook the world to its core.
That’s because in Marineford we experienced the heart-breaking loss of Luffy’s brother.
And I never for a single moment thought we would lose the world’s strongest man, Whitebeard,
as well.
But after tanking HUNDREDS of bullets, cannon balls, sword attacks, and even having half
his face blown off, Whitebeard stood tall and proclaimed that the One Piece is real.
This moment made me shiver with its epicness, and it reminded us that Luffy still had a
long way to go to reach his goals.
But from that scene of pure sadness we shift to what is maybe the greatest adrenaline rush
in the entire story.
We’re in Sabaody.
Luffy’s friend has just been shot by this world noble.
And Luffy is PISSED.
He walks towards the celestial dragon, dodging bullets, and absolutely smashes this guy into
the next dimension.
And we HATED this guy, so it was so, so satisfying to see him CRUSHED like that.
But now before you go out and punch your most hated enemy, make sure to subscribe to the
channel for more one piece content just like this.
But has your favorite moment shown up in the ranking yet?
If not it might be just up ahead, because this next moment, and character, is certainly
one I will never forget.
And that’s because there is almost no character we fell in love with faster than Corazon.
After just a few chapters I went from hating him for kicking Law to loving him for taking
care of the sick and dying young doctor.
But the moment I cried my eyes out was when he let himself be killed just to give Law
a chance to live.
And he even stayed alive long enough to hide Law’s heartbreaking cries.
And while this was one of the most impactful deaths in the entire story, even it was not
as incredible as this moment right here.
That’s because after Zoro was sliced up like a cucumber, he holds up his sword and
shouts that he will NEVER.
LOSE.
AGAIN.
And at the same time, he doubles down on his loyalty to Luffy and the crew.
Man, I love Zoro.
But while that moment showed Zoro just how far he has to go, this next moment showed
Luffy that he was nowhere near strong enough to fulfill his dreams.
In Marineford after he struggled SO much to save his brother, they could almost taste
freedom.
Until this happened.
And let me tell you, when I saw this for the first time it was like I had my own massive
hole in my chest.
I was shocked and in physical pain.
And as Luffy held his dying brother, it literally broke his mind.
And it broke me too.
It just shows that the deeper the bonds of brotherhood, the more heartbreaking it is
when those bonds are broken.
Which is exactly the same heartbreak I felt during this next moment.
That’s because when Luffy decided the crew needed a new ship, his best friend, Usopp,
felt MASSIVELY betrayed.
Usopp and the ship were so connected that it felt like Luffy was choosing to get rid
of Usopp as well.And the argument got SO heated that the two eventually had to square off
in a duel.
And this was SO hard to watch.
Despite Usopp’s tricks, I knew all along that he stood NO CHANCE of beating Luffy,
and our favorite sniper temporarily left the crew.
Gosh, this was tough.
Kinda like having to say goodbye to a favorite pet.
Which is absolutely insane that this moment didn’t make the top ten, but just wait until
you see the legendary, and actually surprising, moments that are coming up at the end of this
video.
Kicking it off with one of the coolest scenes in the entire story.
And if there is ever a moment that captures the themes of the story it is this legendary
moment right here.
People’s Dreams Don’t Ever End.
Which is true even in death.
And there is one death in particular that impacted ALL of the straw hats more than any
other.
Do you know which moment I’m talking about?
It is of course the funeral of the Going Merry.
And boy did I NEVER EXPECT cry over a ship, but that is exactly what happened when the
crew put their first vessel to rest.
A true friend and crewmate was lost but never forgotten.
However, this moment was nowhere near as shocking as this next one.
And let me tell you that after all the death and destruction that took place on the back
of this giant elephant, I never expected that the animal minks were actually protecting
this samurai all this time.
But when they said RAIZO IS SAFE, I literally just had to sit and stare because my brain
could not process what I was seeing.
I mean, this cat and dog sacrificed an arm and a leg, plus their whole country was almost
wiped out.
I truly thought that Raizo was not here, so this moment hit me like almost no other one
in the story.
And like I know friendship is kind of a meme in anime, but there has never been a display
of loyalty more powerful than this one.
Actually, let me take that back because this next one is also god-tier levels of loyalty.
That’s because this samurai survived an ENTIRE HOUR in a ridiculously hot pot of boiling
oil WHILE literally carrying his entire crew on his back To top it all off, Oden died with
a smile showing us that this was truly a man who gave everything of himself to protect
his friends, family, and country.
And while Oden’s death was expected, I don’t think anyone knew just how heroic his end
would be.
But an even more unexpected twist came way earlier in the story.
In chapter 216, Vivi made the shocking choice to NOT.
JOIN.
the.
crew.
And oh wow let me tell you there is not a single character in the entire story that
the fanbase desperately wants to rejoin the crew.
People love Vivi.
I mean she traveled with the straw hats for so long, but in the end she left us a bit
blue with this heart-felt speech and this legendary scene where the crew show off their
X’s.
*hold up your arm* Vivi for nakama.
Now, while Vivi chose to stay behind, when another character finally joined the crew
it made for one of the most emotional moments in the story.
And in my opinion it is the first truly gut-punching scene in the entire story.
For over seventy chapters, Nami was smart, strong willed, and didn’t let anyone boss
her around.
But that all changed in the Arlong Park arc.
In chapter 81 Nami had just lost EVERYTHING.
Years of work to collect treasure to free her village was stolen in an instant and she
was powerless to free herself from these fishmen.
So when she finally broke down and cried out to Luffy for help, it made me want to suit
up and go fight Arlong myself.
Whew, man, going through all of these moments is like a roller coaster over here.
But we still have the most impactful moments still to come.
At number four, is the moment that changed the entire final saga of the story.
This was Chapter 1044 in the manga - the awakening of Gear 5 Luffy.
And let me just say that this moment got my heart pounding like almost no other.
I had waited YEARS for Luffy’s Gear 5 transformation, but I could never imagine that it would turn
out like this.
And I LOVED IT.
It was perfectly on brand for Luffy, and even though I had SO MANY questions about his new
powers, this moment combined some of the pre-time skip wackiness with insanely cool new powers
for a truly epic moment in the story.
Though even Gear 5 did not make me jump out of my seat like this next one.
And that’s because I have never been more surprised at a single moment in One Piece
than when Charlotte Katakuri stabbed himself during his fight with Luffy.
And you may be surprised this moment is ranked so high, but to me, it was just so completely
unexpected that I will never forget the absolute mind-boggling shock of this moment.
Because after Luffy was tricked and nearly knocked out by Katakuri’s sister, the mochi
man could have easily finished the fight.
Instead, he chose to even the playing field by literally stabbing a hole through his stomach.
No other villain in the story has EVER done that, and it is one of the reasons Katakuri
is a fan favorite.
And the number two most insanely impactful moment is likely many people’s favorite
scene.
A moment of such excitement, relief, and pure desperation when Robin finally told the crew:
I want to Live.
Even though Robin betrayed the crew and nearly got them killed, they never gave up on her.
They chased her across two islands, beat up some secret agents, and even declared war
on the world government to show her that NOTHING would stand in the way of saving her life.
Which means that at number one is the most legendary, epic, absolute pure moment of insane
greatness in the story, which is Zoro’s Nothing Happened.
And to be honest, what more do I need to say?
Zoro is the peak of awesome and nothing surpasses this moment for me.
But this moment might have also been foreshadowing for Zoro’s ultimate powerup later on in
the story.
Because an unbreakable will is what led him to eventually unlock conquerors haki during
his fight with this god-like figure right here.
And this was such a legendary moment that I had to include it in my ranking of the top
conquerors haki moments in the story, which you can watch right here.
Shanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.