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Discover 4 One Piece villains whose backstories justify their crimes and 4 others whose deeds can’t be defended.
One Piece features a diverse cast of villains who contribute to its fascinating narrative. With each one of them having different motivations and roles, the range of their crimes also differs greatly. Along with the layered protagonists, these antagonists are filled with complexities resulting from their upbringing.
Hence, while some crimes of villains can be understandable because of their pasts, others simply go too far to forgive.
4 One Piece Villains Whose Backstories Justify Their Crimes
Antagonists can never be completely pardoned since they have negatively affected a person or a group of people. Nevertheless, their drastic actions can also be a result of their environment, where they are pushed into being despicable. Here are 4 villains in One Piece whose crimes can be justified because of their backstories.
1) Senor Pink
Considered by most of the fandom as the most tragic villain in One Piece, Senor Pink was a sympathetic member of the Donquixote Pirates. Once a happy man living with his wife and child, he hid his profession as a pirate from them.
However, when away on duty, his son ended up dying. To make things worse, his wife, who hated pirates, found her husband’s secret. When attempting to run away, she met with an accident and fell into a vegetative state. To make up for his wrongdoings, Senor Pink can be seen wearing baby clothes throughout the series, the only thing that makes his wife smile.
While his backstory doesn’t erase his crimes in the Donquixote Pirates, they are a poignant explanation of the loyalty he has for others. Even when surrounded by women, Pink refuses to betray his wife. When battling Franky, he respected the cyborg’s goals and even let him go.
2) Bartholomew Kuma
The most recent backstory we got to experience in the One Piece manga’s Egghead Arc was Kuma’s. As a slave to the World Government and former Warlord of the Sea, Kuma had gotten in the way of the Straw Hats multiple times. Pacifistas resembling him were infamous in the series for their large-scale destruction capabilities.
However, we find that the reason Kuma did this was to treat his adoptive daughter’s illness. Since Vegapunk was the only one who could help Bonney survive, Kuma made a deal with the World Government. This involved losing his sense of self and being made into a cyborg in exchange for Bonney’s treatment.
Happily willing to give up his life for this, fans watched tearfully as the kind father began losing his identity. This just went to show how the feared character’s actions were not out of his free will and were caused by higher powers.
3) Arlong
Arlong is one of the earliest villains we meet in One Piece, responsible for causing harm to Nami. At the time, we believed that he was an evil character, but the reason behind this was provided later.
As a representative of the Fish-Men, Arlong had faced systemic oppression his entire life. He had witnessed his mentor, Fisher Tiger’s death and was also forcefully imprisoned by humans. This caused him to develop a brutal view of the world.
However, he cannot be forgiven for taking advantage of Nami and killing her foster mother.
4) Baby 5
Baby 5 is yet another member of the Donquixote Pirates who had a heart-wrenching past. Her personality and actions in the series were mainly driven by the need for validation in the series. Hence, this allowed Doflamingo to take advantage of her.
Ever since being a child, Baby 5 was always seen as “unnecessary.” She was abandoned by her mother and grew up desperate for acceptance. Finally, she found a place for herself among other Pirates. Her fear of rejection also drove her to go along with their crimes.
Thankfully, after meeting Sai and finding happiness, she assists the Straw Hats towards the end of the Dressrosa Arc.
4 One Piece Villains Who Cannot Be Defended
Most villains in One Piece have layered development, showcasing the exact reason why they turned to evil. While we have seen those whose actions were not bad enough to be unforgivable, there are others who simply cannot be defended. Here are 4 One Piece villains whose crimes can’t be overlooked.
1) Kaido
The captain of the Beasts Pirates, Kaido, is the main antagonist of the Wano Arc in One Piece. As a child in the Vodka Kingdom, he was born into a harsh environment filled with crime and battle. This motivated him to become extremely strong himself.
After his time spent in the Rocks Pirates and their loss at God Valley, he went on to create his own crew. This led to a series of events displaying his cruelty. Kaido enjoys fighting but also doesn’t care about the weak. He turned Wano into a wasteland after killing Oden and was the head of the SMILE fruit operation.
While he did endure hardship, it does not serve as a reason for his disregarding the lives of others and his own crew members.
2) Donquixote Doflamingo
Doflamingo is a unique case in One Piece because he never truly seemed to have an innocent side to him. Being the child of a family of abandoned nobles, Doflamingo and his family suffered at the hands of heavy persecution.
Promising to pay back all those who insulted him, he killed his own father to become a World Noble again. Upon being rejected, his fury only grew larger. Doflamingo took over Dressrosa, enslaved citizens and was Caesar’s main collaborator for the SMILE fruit project.
To the very end, he never regrets his actions and enjoys seeing others suffer. This lack of remorse makes him a completely unjustifiable character in One Piece.
3) Blackbeard
Ever since he was a child, Blackbeard had always been obsessed with the Dark-Dark Fruit. To find it, he tricked his way into the Whitebeard Pirates and killed Thatch to obtain it. Since this point, he has never looked back and kept committing one crime after the next.
He broke into Impel Down, killed Whitebeard, and even laid waste to islands such as Hachinosu. Blackbeard does not seem to have a defining moment that changed him and was always opportunistic. He is driven by his selfish goals and would betray anyone to achieve them.
While there are still a lot of mysterious things about him which will probably be revealed later in the series, we don’t see any way he can be redeemed at this point.
4) Caesar Clown
Caesar Clown is one of the most hated villains in One Piece, and for good reason. He created the chemical for SMILE fruits, collaborating with Doflamingo and Kaido. Having taken over Punk Hazard, he released poisonous gases that destroyed the entire environment and were fatal to people.
Caesar is arrogant, cruel, and evil to his core. He loves tricking people and kidnaps children to perform sick experiments on them. The entire existence of his character is to show the maniacal nature of a scientist who cares about himself more than others. Rather than having a sad backstory, he only keeps committing more evil deeds in One Piece.
While Caesar Clown has become more of a comic relief character in recent episodes, he can still never be defended for his crimes.
Conclusion
Eiichiro Oda has shown his masterful writing ability by creating a wide array of complex villains in One Piece. Some of them have been shaped by their tragic circumstances while others are evil down to their very core. Regardless of their justifiability, they all play a vital role in shaping the series.
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