Tier Ranking the Emotional Trauma Oda Has Caused Me | One Piece 

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Perhaps the real One Piece is the trauma we gained along the way

The biggest trauma Oda'd caused me was an entire month of me instinctively looking up "one piece new chapter" and then nothing popping up

Couple of moments that were missing in the list:- 1. Senor Pink's flashback - It was powerful and it affected so many many many people at the time. 2. Luffy ringing the bell - Not an emotional trauma moment, but the ringing of the bell and Cricket's reaction to it, understanding that his ancestor didn't lie and the island was knocked up to the sky. That moment is so brilliant and makes Skypiea a top tier arc for me

One thing missing here I feel like was Franky’s backstory and Tom’s sacrifice. Those hit really hard, especially with what Franky says later to Robin “Your existence is not a sin”

Merphy not being able to remember short names like Ulti, while still remembering that she's a pachycephalosaurus will never get old 😂

She went for the Emotional Damage tier list before the best jokes tier list, clearly this proves that One Piece is not a comedy but a tear factory in manga form.

Was completely with you on Ace's death till I remembered that his final words were "Thank you for loving me.". Thanks to that alone I'd put it in the I'm still not okay category. That line hit me so freaking hard, emphasizing how the only thing Ace ever really wanted was to feel loved/wanted. Making it so that even though they failed to save Ace that it was debatably all worth it because at least he was able to feel that in his final moments rather than just dying in a lonely, cold execution.

The "Punk Hazard Kids scene" is specifically Mocha, one of the kids, sacrificing herself by swallowing all of the drugs so that none of the other kids can get to it, knowing full well that she might die. It's an incredibly heroic sacrifice from a literal child nonetheless. Surprising that you didn't quite remember this one.

Lol merphy really hit us with a “tear list”

That Dadan moment gets me still because half of what she was saying was "why did you have me raise them all these years if it was just gonna end like this?"

Honestly the scene where Jimbei helps Luffy realize he still has his crew is still the most emotional to me.

I’d put the death of the Merry in I’m still not okay. Seeing the klabautermon try so hard to fix the ship, telling Ice Berg that it wants to set sail again to help the strawhats was moving enough. But the scene where the merry apologized for not being able to continue to travel with the strawhats, and wished that it could carry them even farther broke me. The last thing the Merry said was “Thank you for caring about me”, very similar to Ace’s “Thank you for loving me” and that was very touching as well. I really hope that Laugh tale is under Enies Lobby, like that one theory suggested, and that the Merry really did carry the strawhats to their final destination.

I really teared up at Law and Sengoku's conversation in Dressrosa when Sengoku said "Let's us both live and remember him, that will be enough" and Law hid his eyes because of emotions. This scene isn't on the tier list and I noticed it tends to be overlooked by the fandom, sadly :(

Merry's death will always, always make me tear up uncontrollably. For me, it goes without a doubt in the "I'm still not okay" tier, alongside Robin's "I wanna live" and Brook's "a quartet... A trio... A duo... A solo"

The scenes that still mess me up and make me cry: Chopper's scene when he goes to get the mushroom and when he comes back all broken holding the mushroom gets me. Also I can't get through Bink's song without crying thanks to the scene with Brook singing on the ship counting down the rest of his crew. Another scene that gets me is when Luffy is dealing with Ace's death and Jinbei says "What do you still have?" and Luffy breaks down crying over his friends, and then his friends' reaction for not being there for Luffy in the time he needed them. Cora crying over Law and saying that he wasn't hurt because he realized Law was hurting more killed me too.

There are so many moments that could be more than one. For example: Bon Clays sacrifice at the end of Impel Down was sad, but we skipped Bon Clay's dedication to Luffy in the middle of the arc. After Ivankov "heals" Luffy and gives him a slim chance of survival Bon Clay stands outside of the cell yelling "Hang in there" for 10 straight hours until he's literally screaming up blood. That scene hits me pretty hard.

The biggest emotional moment in Drum Island for me isn't the Hirilluk speech, it's right before: when Chopper finds out the mushroom he fed to Hirilluk is poisonous, and cries because he thought the skull and crossbones symbol was a pirate flag. The poor baby is SO HEARTBROKEN!

I always feel the Noland is under-rated. Not the flashback, but the payoff. Robin revealing to Wyper that a descendant of Noland is still searching for them, validating his and his ancestors' goal, and that the culmination of a 400 year old promise of friendship is within arm's reach. Wyper's realization of that, spontaneously weeping before launching his final attack, *sigh* Love it

The part that always gets me is when Sabo is reading the paper about Ace,s death and you see him slowly get his memories back and he starts to break down,that part always makes me cry.

When Pudding left Sanji and swiped some of his memories after their kiss. That wrecked me. Also, Pudding’s flashback really got to me. The fact that she found someone that loved her for exactly who she was after being being isolated just because of her eye. The fact that they couldn’t be together. Sanji doesn’t know how she feels. I’m tearing up just thinking about it.

"Only by while wearing these is when I see you smile" - Senior Pink about his late wife and how she would only smile during her mental condition while he was wearing a baby outfit that reminded them of their deceased son. Its not as emotional as Aces death but man the feels

We need a class action law suit against Oda for emotional damage

Ryunosuke scene is a little bit darker when you realize that kanjuro was mocking momonosuke by drawing a pathetic pink dragon that can't fly and naming him ryuNOSUKE. I love how oda masked early signs of kanjuro betrayal with humor ( like when he made a stair for the people trying to kill our alies at dressrosa or when he made kinemon fall from zou to delay his encounter with the minks and possibly create a fight between the strawhats and minks)

In Luffy’s flashback, when he is captured and Ace asks why he never gave them up, and Luffy says because he has no one else… God.

This is one time where I believe the One Piece anime shines really well, because the Japanese voice actors really put their all into their performances. Ace’s death is very effective in the show, very sad, as well as Cora’s sacrifice. As for the manga, I think one of the most emotional moments for me is when Luffy tells Sanji that he can’t become King of the Pirates without him. The implication that Luffy will refuse to even progress on his journey without his friend, added by Sanji’s reaction to this statement, made this stand out to me.

Oda himself said that the most emotional he has been was when drawing Vivi screaming for everyone to stop fighting.

What makes Ace's death still not okay for me is just constantly being reminded of his potential, of his dreams. He keeps coming up in the story so long after his death because of how he influenced the people around him, how he talked about his brother of example - the promises he made, the adventures he still wanted to live. We keep getting reminded of the fact that Ace wasn't even close to his prime yet, he still had so much life left to live ... that just keeps on devastating me.

Brooks back story hits hard in the anime, when everything in his ship is so alive and loud, then it just cuts to the reality with no sound

I think the 'Raizo is safe' is a moment that could have been included, that was really emotional! Senor Pink's flashback was also really good!

Ah yes, classic Merphy somehow remembering Ulti is a "Pachycephalosaurus" but not her name lol Robin's "I want to live" moment still wrecks me to this day. And now that she has friends she can trust, every time she smiles and/or takes part in crew shenanigans makes my heart melt of joy.

Man, I know this is a unpopular opinion, but Amazon Lily as a whole was really emotional to me. The boa sisters backstory and how it ties with Fishman Island is really good.

Someone else already mentioned this, but I am so appalled by the fact that these two scenes are missing that I also have to comment it myself: Señor Pink‘s backstory was along the most gutwrenchingly painful things I have ever seen and “Raizo is safe” was one of the most powerful moments in the entire series in my opinion.

The most emotional moment in drum island is actually when chopper asks what Luffy is and sanji says, he's a monster. Validating choppers life and changing him opinion of them from when they called chopper a monster like everyone else

Im shocked and appalled that you would disregard the pain and suffering and struggle that Ryunosuke went through for us. We didnt have much time with him, but he was the most lovable dragon in the entire series.

The Dadan scene is one of my favorite in the series. She may not be might my favorite character but I like her growth as parental figure. What really sells the scene for me is the voice acting . I tear up every time I hear it; how vividly the pain in her voice is portrayed. One of the most underrated moments in the anime imo.

That trauma run when you get to water 7 through until the time skip is nothing short of brutal when layed out in order. Oda needs more hugs.

The fact that you put Bellmere and Whitebeard right next to each other put me in tears. Perfect Pops and Mom in the series, both dying for their adopted children who you couldn’t tell them they weren’t their own.

The reason why ace’s death always gets to me is that he always believed that his life was worthless and as he was dying he realized how many people love him and are willing to sacrifice their lives for him. Also his dying words being « thank you for loving me » after his flashback made me a mess 😭

Ussopp vs Luffy is such a timeless moment. Not just the fight but the arguing before. It’s like your sick to your stomach seeing the two of them fight. Felt very real and with reason. Idk how it was below the episode 1 scene.

The Chopper Cherry Blossoms had me in tears. Poor little guy got to see his mentors lifes work in action after his death, and his little crying wrecked me.

Just wanted to mention, the Orange town dog and Fry's dog in Futuram are both based on the real life story of Hachikō, who even got his own movie.

I think a lot of people's attachment to Drum Island specifically comes from the anime. Between the music, the voice acting, and the colors, it really truly amplifies the original story in a way that the anime doesn't always succeed at doing.

I feel like, for anyone who has an older brother, just thinking about Ace is tears every single time. Just thinking that we'll never see Ace outside of a flashback again just hurts me.

Dude, I agree with the Corazón scene so hard, I still haven't recovered from that. Like, I can literally feel tears coming to my eyes just thinking of him, what Oda did there was straight up evil 😭

I think the fact that Nami refusing to betray her loyalty to Luffy and her family, even when faced with death by Ulti, and the parallels to Bellemere make it something I can't help but cry at

Sanji having three "I was a mess" moments just goes to show how well all of that was set up and paid off. Wholecake Island is truly underrated for that stuff.

The thing about Brook’s backstory that really gets me is that, right after he tells the crew his story, he says that he’s so happy to be alive. That just really resonates with me.

Pound's sacrifice for his daughter Chiffon who didnt even know he existed was so emotional. It was undercut by a cover story but in the moment it was amazing

A friend who was watching/reading One Piece but already new about some things that where going to happen asked me "Am I really going to cry over the ship?". I replied "You see, that moment will hit you on the feels because it will happen after two very emotionally charged arcs, and then you'll realize it's NOT JUST A SHIP, IT'S THEIR NAKAMA, AND IT CAME TO SAVE THEM!!" (and then I broke down again 😭).

I think the Hiyori scene is the reveal of the effect the SMILE fruits had on the people of Wano. It's when the crew is shocked that O-Toko and the folk are laughing at Yasuie's death and she reveals that Orochi has robbed them the ability to grief.

The most emotional moment for me was Dadan's scene. She's hurt and crying and then it pans out to show Garp and Makino crying, and Makino says Luffy is in the most pain. Honorable mention to the transition in the anime between Luffy starting his journey and him screaming over Ace's death.

brook's backstory was honestly the most emotional part of one piece for me, however it wasn't about laboon, but rather about the crew's final song as everyone slowly died.

Nami asking for help is the one that hits me the hardest. I have literally seen that scene well over a hundred times, from rereads, watching the anime, watching reactions, watching highlights. etc. I cry every single time.

Ngl, at first Sanji's farewell from Zeff and the Baratie was nice/cute, but it suddenly became a whole new meaning in WCI where I bawled my eyes out saying "thanks Zeff for all you did for Sanji!" 😭😭😭 Like Zeff wasn't the warmest person also, quite a ruthless pirate captain, yet he did more for a boy he didn't even know for less than 10 minutes than his biological father his whole life before.

One that devastates me still is Sanji finding out he was the only one who had food while stranded on the island with Zeph. Another is Luffy carrying Nami and Sanji up the ice cliff to get them help and wrecking his fingers. Also, where was the death of the Going Merry? Was it on this list? It should be. I never thought I would cry about a boat, but that ship made me cry.

For me one that broke me was the kyros scene in dressrosa. He witnessed his wife Scarlett getting gunned down by Diamante, holding her as she died. Because he was a toy, he couldn’t feel the warmth of her body nor could he cry any tears 😭

I believe the Dandan scene wasn´t there to make you feel emotions for her. It shines a light on how Garp deals with his guilt. He could easily stop her, but lets her beat him up as some sort of self-punishment. To me that really hit hard😢

Im a 33 year old man, listening to this at work and have been teared up the entire time and tears have fallen twice...through just listening to someone talk about moments! Oda you are too good at your job sir

What hit me hard about sabos "death" in that flashback, was the fact that we thought luffy had lost two of his brothers.

The scene that hits me hardest is the Merry Go’s funeral. How much love the crew have for the ship and how much love she has for them. It re-contextualises so many small moments before this of her supporting the crew and being a member of the crew too. Not only was her spirit manifested to fix herself, not only did she pull herself out of the ocean to save them at enies lobby but also as they say their farewells and set her ablaze we get to hear her voice thanking them for their love and the adventures.

Merphy: "How 'bout we do something chill today" Also Merphy: *proceeds to do a tier list of emotionally traumatic scenes in One Piece. Never change Merphy, never change.

Excellent “Tear” list. I think my top 5 are; -Robin’s backstory, -Goodbye Merry, -The Crew’s Separation, -Brook’s Backstory -I Want to Live!

The Dadan scene is IMO the most underrated scene of One Piece. Not because of Dadan, but I like what it tells about Garp. I think he knew he'll get his ass kicked, and that's what he seeks. Like it was a way to make the guilt quiet (or maybe he thinks that compared to Luffy, he did not have suffered enough), even though he helped (a little), in his own way. Compared to Ace's scene, I find this scene more impactful because unlike Ace, Garp didn't do anything to be in this situation. (in the first place when he chases Black Beard against the orders of White Beard, and then again when he reacts to Akainu's provocation) Garp is a victim of his family's choices.

Emotional moments not on the tier list but are still very good -Vivi screaming stop fighting over and over, i think this might have been one of if not the first scene in the show that made tears well up for me -Ussop chastising himself after getting mugged by the Franky family, not one I hear talked about but it hit me hard -Not exactly a tear jerker scene but Moriah's reaction to Luffy thinking he stands a chance against Kaido has always stuck with me -Senor pink ofc -Big Mom's flashback left me in shock and made me a lot more sympathetic towards her -Soul Pocus / Pudding ripping Sanji's memories after kissing him is the only time I have ever cried over a piece of media, I'm not much of a crier

Two things, 1. Anime watchers might have cried over Luffy vs Sanji, because the emotion were emphasized by the Memories song. It's the first ending song, and after few years OP stopped ending song -- so when they played this song, all the emotions doubled or tripled. 2. Episode 877 - Pudding kissing Sanji, and erasing his memories is one of the episode that made me cry. I still cry when I watch the episode. The background music (opera) was god-tier. It wasn't included in your list, but it's a very sad moment.

For me, just looking at the screen shot of Robin’s “I want to live!” moment gets my tearing up and holding in sobbing.

You actually made me tear up saying something I've seen *so* few people comment on regarding Sanji's departure from Baratie. If this was solely just leaving his father/owner Zeff, then its a solid moment but others that came immediately before and after would eclipse it easily. That bit with him and Luffy talking so casually about "silly dumb dreams" with dad looking over both of them on top of it? That is THE moment that made One Piece a lifestyle for me, especially as a person with the triple threat of social anxiety, potential neurodivergence and trust issues from a far less than stable or ideal home life situation. I'll never forget taking away the feeling of "can it be that easy (to share something cool with someone else)" flipping through the old WSJ English releases in Barnes & Noble back then and just immediately wanting to try.

34:10 I'm pretty sure that the Hiyori scene is when she reveals that people who have eaten a failed smile fruit cannot display any emotions other than laughter, hence why the people of Ebisu were "laughing" at Yasuie's death.

The scene of Yasu's death and Toko and the townspeople of Leftovers still hurts. I can physically feel their anger and sadness even past the laughter and just hearing what Orochi did to them... Wano is strong with emotions.🥺😭

I am surprised more people don't get emotional for Baby 5. I mean her mother didn't even give her a real name and the scene where she points her gun at her head and is happy to die as long as she is helping someone else hit me harder than most I guess.

“I’m breaking my own rules but I don’t care because this one got me” A line straight out of One Piece

You definitely need to re-read the part of Punk Hazard with Mocha (the girl who was subjected to Caesar's giantification experiments). She was holding the candy/drugs to keep the other kids from taking them, taking hits from them due to their withdrawal/addiction. Then finally her eating the entire supply so they couldn't.

I think the thing that escalates the brook backstory emotions is watching the anime with the music just pulling every emotion to greater heights.

Corazone smiling making the peace sign and saying i love you will always break me deep down

i know a lot of people tend to forget the earlier moments in the series unless they're like Nami's plea for help, but Hiriluk's goodbye will always be one of my favorites. just a normal, run-of-the-mill guy who wants to help those in need, proudly facing his own death with a smile. and his final words still to this day hit me hard. everyone remembers his speech about when a person truly dies (that being when they are forgotten) but not everyone remembers what he says right afterwards: "Soon, a monster will come here. Please, don't hurt him. He's my son." this one little sentence hidden in his final speech is what made me start crying. he truly had no regrets about dying, and only wished for his son to carry on his dream of becoming the best doctor in the world also, with the Sabo flashback: i always interpreted that flashback as Luffy himself trying to find a way to grieve for Ace, but his mind kept sending him back into the despair of losing his SECOND brother. it makes sense that after losing Ace like that, he would do everything he could to think of something else (denial) but his subconscious probably sent him memories of when he lost his first brother, and THAT is what hit me in the gut real hard. i know its just a headcanon, but the flashback starts RIGHT after luffy screams into the sky in grief, and when it ends we come back to luffy still on the ground crying. so to me, it always felt like he was trying to find SOME way to understand and accept the loss of his only other sibling.

I dont know why but Scarlett's death in the arms of Kyros is still something that hurts me to think about to this day She didnt even know who he was and him asking the heavens if that was their goodbye??????? I just get teary eyes writing this, its just so painfil

Wonderful tier list, the only two scenes that are missing are Señor Pink's flashback and Zou's "Raizo's safe" moment, I think, maybe I'm missing something else. EDIT: Also, there's that Skypeia moment when Cricket hears the sound of the golden bell when Luffy rings it and he sees Luffy's huge shadow in the sky.

The tier list would be impossibly long if we included every emotional beat, but the Arlong Park scene where the villagers rush past Nami to their death after giving her as much time as she needed wrecks me to this day. Oda sensei is an emotional sadist, and no one better stop him.

It's always interesting to me how Oda has placed many different human experiences for the audience to latch on to. Everyone is going to have their own life experiences that cause them to attach strongly to some scenes over others, and that doesn't make them better or worse, it's just different paths for everyone :)

the Sanji goodbye scene, as a guy it really hit me, the whole "men don't cry" thing but everyone is actually crying, that trope always gets me, of course men cry, and I was crying with all of them haha

I believe the reason people react to Hiriluk differently depends if you watch the anime verse read the manga. The anime makes Hiriluk far more endearing and likable than the manga. His speech also hits better in the anime, the voice actor does a really good job and the sound makes it more impactful.

I did form a connect to Sabo immediately during Luffy's backstory, because that backstory in of itself just contextualized so much with how Luffy acts and how he thinks. Just the blow after blow getting a visual on the pain Luffy endures for his family, to *losing* his family, to newely dying to save his brother only to then lose his brother because of his own actions, to then get the revelation that this isnt the first time Luffy's had to deal with this. The entire scene of "Promise me you wont die, Ace." Just gets to me... and then the pure unbridled emotion with Sabo's reintroduction

All this just light up how much an excellent of a writer Oda is. Sometimes we tend to understimate the storytelling part of a comic, but Oda is just wow

Luffy crying with Ace in his Arms lives rent free in my mind. Ace to this day is still my Favorite character! As an older brother myself, I connected with Ace's personality so much and Goda went and hit me with an emotional moment I'll never forget.

To this day, I still haven't started reading Thriller Bark because of that damn Viking funeral for the Merry. I don't get emotional very easy, but that moment, THAT MOMENT, it broke me. I needed to take a break, and it's still going. I'll keep reading one day, probably I'll take advantage of the live action series to refuel my passion for One Piece and get me back to the manga, but I promise I'll catch up someday

"I dont remember this man's name " I start shaking. "But it still goes at the top " I clench my fist in the air for victory. Yasuie's moment was one of the most underrated moments in all of Wano for how amazing it was.

If you weren't feeling depressed watch this yessir lmao but for real a moment that's always stuck out to me is Luffy in massive grief over losing Ace but Jinbei snapping him out of it with reminding him of who he has still in the world that need him his friends that moment always makes me cry just thinking about it 😭

I'm surprised it's not on this list but one of the scenes that get me uggly sobbing everytime is koala's first time crying during fisher tiger's flashback. The emotions I feel everytime i watch or read that scene. Dadan's reaction to ace's death also gets me really hard :')

Can I be honest? Maybe I'm a masochist but I love all the emotional trauma Oda has put us through. There are just moments that crying helps to get out and helps to bring me at peace.. I wouldn't have it any other way.. thank you Oda. Regardless enjoyed this list Merphy

so sad that the "Haizo is alive and safe" scene hasn't rank here, I cry every time 😭

Going Merry's goodbye is at the top for me. I always cry everytime I watch it. Sanji's tears when he heard Pudding hits me hard.

How could you forget Ryonosuke's name!? He carried our heroes to Zou! Unbelievable.

Merphy: puts Yasue's death in Still not over it due to one of the reason being revelation of smile fruits Also Merphy: puts Hiyori explaining about smile fruits in dry because she does not remember it 😂😂😂

Love hearing your reactions and commiserating over all the emotional moments. I did notice that you didn't have the moment from Drum Island that messed me up the most, which was when Luffy was climbing the mountain to bring Nami and eventually Sanji to the doctor. Just the pain and resolve in that scene is something I still think about and dwell on still.

sanji's farewell to zeff and the baratie crew had my eyes bawling.

I will never forget the first time I saw Robins "I want to Live!" Moment, I was 18 at the time and ugly cried harder than I did when my grandma died and I loved my grandma!

I think that final scene with the Going Merry is the most emotional for me. I got teary eyed at several moments but that was one of a handful that actually had me crying. Everyone who asks if OP is good gets "It made me cry over a boat"

Totally agree with your 3 most heart breaking scenes. Law, Robin and Brook... their stories are just on another level of sadness and emotions

The punk hazard scene, I think you are not fully remembering. This was when mocha self sacrificed. She was cured of the addiction but the other kids were violently chasing her trying to get the candy, and to spare them, she ate ALL the candies knowing it would kill her.