One Piece: Each Straw Hat's Greatest Moment

Ever since the start of One Piece, the Straw Hat Pirates have been on countless adventures to new and fantastical places that changed the way that fans and the characters themselves understand the world. During these adventures, they have also come face to face with world-changing mysteries and fought incredibly powerful opponents with powers that seem to defy reality!

In doing so, there have been some incredibly iconic, and often emotional, moments in the arcs of each of the members of the crew that have firmly cemented themselves within the memories of fans. Oftentimes, these moments are synonymous with the characters themselves, so in this article, let’s take a look at the best moments of each of the members of the Straw Hat Pirates in One Piece.

Brook Steals Big Mom’s Poneglyphs

Story Arc: Wholecake Island

As soon as Brook was introduced into the story, he quickly became a fan-favorite due to his hilarious personality. Though his inclusion into the crew was short-lived before they all got disbanded at the Sabaody Archipelago, the post-timeskip saw his role increase greatly for both the crew as well as the overall story. This was never more true than in Wholecake Island.

In this arc, Brook was notably tasked with collecting the etchings of Big Mom’s Road Poneglyph from her treasure room while everyone else was distracted. Though he had some help from Pedro, Brook was largely his own when he had to collect the rubbings, which everyone thought he failed to do. However, much to everyone’s surprise, Brook had actually managed to do this and kept the Poneglyph rubbings in his skull!

Nami Asks Luffy To Help Her

Story Arc: Arlong Park

As the second-ever member of the Straw Hat crew, Nami holds a special relationship with Luffy. Despite her help against Buggy during the Orange Town arc, the initial part of Nami’s story revolved around her betraying the rest of her crew due to the debts she owed to the Arlong Pirates, who got her as their official navigator. However, it was eventually revealed that Arlong never actually intended to let her or her village go free.

Confused and devastated, Nami began to break down, cutting the part of her arm where the tattoo was that showed her as a part of the Arlong Pirates. Eventually, Luffy stops her, prompting Name to turn to the one person she can at that moment, asking him for help, leading to one of the most iconic scenes of the entire series. While this moment may not be as flashy or action-packed as others, it goes to not only show how great of a person Luffy is, but also humanizes Nami way more than any other moment she has!

Franky Burns The Pluton Blueprints

Story Arc: Enies Lobby-Water 7

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Franky was introduced as a villain in the Water 7 arc, where he initially a lot of riches from the Straw Hats. However, he eventually became one of them, filling the much-needed role of shipwright tasked with always keeping the ship in the best state possible. Throughout the story, Franky has had many notable moments, such as building the Thousand Sunny and his amazing fight against Señor Pink.

However, his best moment must go to the time when he burnt the blueprints for Pluton in front of CP9. The context is what makes this moment amazing though, since the World Government knew of the Ancient Weapons and needed their own to stand a chance should Pluton ever be found. After locating the blueprints the ancient shipwrights of Water 7 used to make the ship, they were horrified to find them in Franky’s possession, who proceeded to burn them, singlehandedly stopping the World Government’s ambitions for such a powerful weapon!

Jinbei’s Speech To Luffy

Story Arc: Post-Marineford

Jinbei was the last of the original 7 Warlords of the Sea to be shown and the one responsible for unleashing Arlong into the East Blue. Due to this, his reputation was always built as an extremely dangerous character, so fans were quite shocked when they came across Jinbei, who turned out to be one of the kindest and most helpful characters in the entire series.

There are quite a few moments that make Jinbei an amazing character, but perhaps the greatest is the speech he gives to Luffy after the events of Marineford. With Luffy at the lowest point he has been at, Jinbei reminds him to focus on those things he still has rather than the ones he has lost. It’s safe to say that without Jinbei, Luffy wouldn’t have come back from such a dark place!

Robin Unlocks A Demonic Power

Story Arc: Wano

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Robin’s famous ‘I want to live’ moment during the Enies Lobby arc still remains the most iconic one for the character and shows how her mindset and line of thinking have changed over the years. However, her brand new Demonio Fleurs ability that she showcased in the Wano arc stands out as her best, especially since it signifies one of the few times that Robin really shone with her offensive abilities.

Since she is the archaeologist of the crew whose expertise has to do with research and knowledge of history, the Wano arc made her one of the most important characters. It was also a great showing for Sanji, who put his trust in Robin to take care of the powerful villain Black Maria, which Robin was able to do by unlocking an uncharacteristic and absolutely incredible ability that seemingly transformed her into a giant demon!

Chopper Saves Everyone At Onigashima

Story Arc: Wano

The resident doctor of the Straw Hat crew, this adorable little reindeer is more concerned with fixing people rather than hurting them. Although he is no slouch from a combat perspective, as he has shown multiple times in the series, especially when his Monster Point fought very well against both Big Mom and Queen, Chopper’s talents as a medical professional are the things that have made him an indispensable member of the crew and one of the best doctors in the world!

Although quite a few arcs have called for his medical knowledge in saving many people or preventing his crewmates from bleeding out, his best moment was when he saved everyone at Onighashima from Queen’s Ice Oni virus. This moment was even commemorated by Zoro as Chopper was able to string together a miraculous cure in a very short period of time, saving friends and foes alike, all while being partially infected himself!

Usopp Awaken’s Observation Haki

Story Arc: Dressrosa

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In a crew as stacked with powerhouses as the Straw Hats, it’s pretty easy for many to forget about Usopp. However, had it not been for him, the heroes would have lost in Dressrosa! Despite Elbaf being the arc where Usopp is rumored to have a great deal of importance, Dressrosa already showed Usopp’s integral spot in the crew, where he almost singlehandedly took down Doflamingo’s entire empire!

At one point, things were looking dire for the heroes as Sugar awoke and was closing in on the powerless Luffy and Law. This is when, from miles away and from a lower level, Usopp awoke his latent Observation Haki, allowing him to accurately snipe her from this distance by shooting a makeshift bullt of his face, sending her into shock and saving the day. Usopp more than lived up to his ‘God’ moniker!

Sanji Thanks Enel

Story Arc: Skypiea

Many fans believe that Sanji is the best-written Straw Hat pirate of them all, and it is pretty tough to argue against that. This is because the Wholecake Island arc showed his backstory and explained why he is the way he is. This backstory is one of the saddest in the entire series but it also puts Sanji’s entire journey into perspective, and while he has many incredible moments, such as his fight with Queen and when he explains how there are things that Usopp can do that he can’t, his iconic pose in the Skypiea arc takes the cake.

After running up on Enel with Usopp in the hopes of helping Luffy in the battle, they come across the most powerful enemy they had ever faced up to that point. When Enel casts a massive bolt of lightning onto Sanji, many were expecting him to die. However, fans were instead treated to one of the coolest moments in One Piece history, when Sanji stands amidst the smoke, charred and bruised, and proceeds to thank Enel for lighting his cigarette!

Zoro Takes Luffy’s Pain

Story Arc: Thriller Bark

Although every single member of the Straw Hat crew is incredibly loyal to Luffy, Zoro shares a particularly close bond with him as the very first person to ever join his crew. Due to this, Zoro has put Luffy’s dream of becoming the Pirate King right next to his own of becoming the world’s greatest swordsman, and sees it as his duty to make sure his captain becomes the King of the Pirates. As such, his loyalty to Luffy was tested toward the end of the Thriller Bark arc when Kuma arrived.

After relentlessly fighting for ages, Luffy undergoes a ton of pain that almost killed him. Here, Kuma says that he could take this pain away, but it would still need a place to go, upon which Zoro offers his own body as the place for the pain to reside, which is so great that even a little bit causes him intense tremors. After hearing about this, Sanji goes to find Zoro standing alone, having taken all of his own pain as well as that of Luffy, nearly dying from the ordeal but still standing strong. As a mirror to Sanji’s greatest moment, upon asking what happened between him and Kuma, Zoro brushes it off by saying nothing at all.

Luffy Awakens Nika

Story Arc: Wano

As the series kept going, fans slowly pieced together clues that hinted that Luffy was special. In the Wano arc, Luffy fought against one of the Emperors of the Sea for the first time but was defeated 4 times due to Kaido’s far superior strength, which is something that fans likened to plot armor. Upon the last defeat, Luffy seemingly died. However, what this ended up doing was sending his Devil Fruit into its awakening, revealing to the world that the Gomu Gomu no Mi was actually the Mythical Zoan Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika!

This reveal shattered the foundations of everything the fans had been following since the One Piece story began, as Luffy’s fun and silly Devil Fruit had, in truth, always been a fruit that gave the user godlike abilities and was the same one to have spread laughter and freedom across the world all those centuries ago. After finally awakening the true power of his Devil Fruit, Luffy proceeded to defeat Kaido very easily, showing exactly why the Nika fruit was the one Joyboy used in the Void Century!

One Piece can be streamed on Crunchyroll.