One Piece once shied away from showing character deaths, except in flashbacks. People were salty about Pell shrugging off his seemingly fatal injury, feeling it was a cop-out. Turns out, Oda was just saving the first big death for Ace, and things have only gotten deadlier since.
Despite the increasing number of fatalities in One Piece, the Straw Hat Pirates have been unaffected, with each member of the crew surviving, so long as the Going Merry ship isn’t counted. That might not be true by the end of the series, especially the final chapter, as Oda will have the chance to take off the gloves and take out some of his beloved characters, putting their stories to rest.
How Long Will Brook’s Second Life Last?
Brook crouches on icy floor after attacking during One Piece’s Wano Country arc.Image via Toei Animation
Brook is the oldest member of the Straw Hat Pirates, owing to his Yomi Yomi no Mi, which allowed his soul to return to his body after death, even after it had already decomposed into a skeleton. This transformed Brook into an impossible life form, whose undead state is played for laughs.
The question that fans are left with is, how long will Brook’s second life last? Has the Yomi Yomi no Mi made him immortal, or will he succumb when he reaches the natural end of his previous lifespan? Considering he’s currently 90 years old, it might mean he doesn’t have much time left. As the eldest of the Straw Hats, and a member of the previous generation of pirates, if anyone has to sacrifice themselves to save the rest of the crew, it’s Brook, so long as he accomplishes his dream of meeting Laboon first.
Zoro Has More Death Flags Than Any Other Straw Hat
Roronoa Zoro smirks with a twig in his mouth in One Piece’s Wano ArcImage via Toei Animation
Roronoa Zoro has had more death flags than any other Straw Hat Pirates. He’s usually the most wounded character in each arc; he took the full brunt of Luffy’s damage that had been pulled out by Kuma during Thriller Bark, and he’s carrying around a cursed sword that’s said to bring a terrible fate to its wielder. Oh yeah, and he SAW THE GRIM REAPER during Wano. That last one is a pretty big death flag.
The question of how Zorro will die is also easy to answer — he’ll be taken out by someone who wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world. Once Zorro defeats Mihawk, he’ll have that title, and people from all over the world will want it. A climactic battle in the final chapter against a challenger, possibly Tashigi, would be a fitting end to Zoro’s story. Having reached the ceiling of his potential, he can bestow the title on someone else.
CBR Exclusive · One Piece Quiz WHICH ONE PIECE LEGEND ARE YOU? Set sail — Quiz sequence initiated ⚓ The Grand Line stretches endlessly before you. Across its treacherous waters, legends are born — forged in Devil Fruit power, unbreakable will, and the fierce loyalty of a crew that would sail into any storm. Twenty questions. One legendary result. Your adventure begins now. 🌊
🍖Luffy
⚔️Zoro
🗺️Nami
📖Robin
🍳Sanji
01
The Going Merry is ready to leave port. What’s your first move? 🚢 How you set sail says everything about who you are at sea.
02
A Marine warship is blocking your route. You: 🏴☠️ Crisis response reveals your true pirate nature.
03
You find a Devil Fruit on the table. What do you hope it is? 🍈 The fruit you crave is the power you were always meant to have.
04
What is your one, unshakeable dream? 🌟 Every great pirate sails for something deeper than treasure.
05
The Thousand Sunny docks at a new island. First stop? 🏝️ What you do first in port reveals your deepest priorities.
06
Your greatest weapon aboard the ship? ✨ Every Straw Hat has one thing that makes them irreplaceable.
07
What’s your natural role when things get tense? 🪝 The pressure moment is where your true function reveals itself.
08
Honest confession — what is actually your biggest flaw? 😬 Even the greatest pirates have one thing they’re still working on.
09
A crewmate is in serious danger. You: 💪 How you protect the people you sail with is who you truly are.
10
Halfway across the Grand Line. What keeps you going? 🌟 Not the crew’s reason. Yours. The private one.
11
You lost the fight. The crew is watching. Now what? 😳 How you rise after falling is what separates legends from passengers.
12
Your bounty poster just went up. What’s on it? 💰 The World Government describes you the way your enemies see you.
13
Free day on a peaceful island. What actually happens? 🌴 How you rest is a window into what drives you when no one’s watching.
14
What does your crew actually say about you behind your back? 📋 The people who sail with you see the version you can’t.
15
Which Haki do you feel most aligned with? 🔮 The Haki you master reflects the deepest truth of who you are.
16
What does it truly mean to you to be a pirate? 🌊 Not Garp’s definition. Not the Marines’. Yours.
17
In a hundred years, what will they say about you? 🎬 The Void Century has room for one more name. What does yours mean?
18
A Warlord of the Sea is blocking the path forward. You: 👀 Warlords don’t intimidate legends. They reveal them.
19
The crew celebrates a big victory. Your contribution? 🎉 How you celebrate says as much as how you fight.
20
You reach Laugh Tale. The One Piece is real. What do you do? 🔥 Twenty questions. One truth. No turning back now.
⚓ The Grand Line has made its judgement ⚓ YOUR ONE PIECE LEGEND
Your scores are revealed below! The character with the highest number is your One Piece counterpart. Read their profile to discover your true pirate destiny. 🌊
🍖 Luffy
⚔️ Zoro
🗺️ Nami
📖 Robin
🍳 Sanji
You don’t understand the word impossible — not because you’re naive, but because you genuinely never accepted that it applied to you. You charge into every situation with the full force of your personality, your body, and your heart, and somehow the universe rearranges itself to accommodate you. You don’t lead through command; you lead through being so completely, recklessly yourself that everyone around you becomes a better version of who they were. You eat too much, feel too loudly, and care too deeply. The world calls it recklessness. Your crew calls it home. 🍖
You have made exactly one promise and you have organised your entire existence around keeping it. Stoic to a fault, terrifying in combat, and somehow always facing the wrong direction — you are the immovable foundation that the whole crew leans against when everything else shakes. You don’t ask for recognition. You don’t need it. The work is its own reward. The sword is the path and the path is the sword. You will lose a thousand times before you reach the top, and you will get back up every single time. That is not stubbornness. That is who you are. ⚔️
You are sharper than anyone in the room and you know it — but you also know exactly when not to show it. Pragmatic, resourceful, and carrying more than you ever show on your face, you are the reason the ship reaches anywhere at all. Every route was planned by you. Every impossible weather reading, every near-catastrophe avoided — that was you. The world tried to take everything from you once, and you built something extraordinary out of the wreckage. You love the people you’ve chosen fiercely, quietly, and without much ceremony. The map isn’t finished. You’ll get there. 🗺️
You spent so long being hunted for what you know that you forgot — briefly, painfully — that you were also worth loving for who you are. You carry the weight of erased history in your memory and the quiet certainty of someone who has survived what should have been unsurvivable. Calm where others panic, perceptive where others miss everything, and in possession of a dark humour that still catches people off guard. You don’t trust easily, and when you do, it is the most complete and devastating loyalty imaginable. You want to know the truth. You deserve to live to read it. 📖
You have principles carved so deep they function like a skeleton — invisible, structural, and the thing holding everything else upright. You cook for people because food is love expressed at its most honest. You fight for the crew because protecting them is the most natural thing in the world. You are elegant, occasionally absurd, capable of extraordinary tenderness and absolutely terrifying combat in the same five-minute span. You came from darkness and chose light so deliberately and so completely that it became your defining act. The sea called and you answered. All Blue is out there. You’ll find it. 🍳
Luffy’s Story Will End Like It Began
The Straw Hat Pirate most likely to die by the end of One Piece is Monkey D. Luffy. The reason is that it will be a fitting end to the story, with Luffy repeating Gol D. Roger’s fate from years earlier. It’s easy to imagine a final chapter where Luffy has found the One Piece and becomes Pirate King, only to be captured (or willingly hand himself over) to the Marines, and, with his final words, kick off a whole new era of piracy.
Obviously, there are still a lot of questions regarding the One Piece that need answering. Maybe at the end of the story, the true nature of the One Piece will be revealed, and it’s something that can no longer be found. An ending where Luffy reveals there’s another treasure out there, inspiring the next generation of pirates, is about as perfect an ending as One Piece could have. The only question is whether Oda can resist calling the next treasure Two Piece.
