Highlights
- Oda's story in One Piece is considered the best but not without flaws. Some characters like Kuina and Tashigi had wasted potential and were not fully developed.
- Charlotte Smoothie, despite having a high bounty, had minimal impact on the story and could have been cut without changing anything.
- Characters like Carrot, Basil Hawkins, Jack, and Big Mom had great potential, but Oda failed to fully utilize and develop them in the story.
Oda is a phenomenal writer and certainly one who doesn't make too many mistakes in his story. It is one of the reasons why his story is considered to be arguably the very best piece of fiction to have ever been written. That said, Oda isn't infallible.
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In One Piece, there are countless characters who were, for one reason or another, not developed as well as one would have liked or, completely ignored in the story. These are characters with a tremendous basis to go off of, however, with the end product ultimately missing.
7 Kuina
A Genius Swordswoman
The case of Kuina is very unique. She is certainly not a character who could have played an active role in the present timeline in One Piece, given that she died before the story even began. Yet, the way Oda wrote her in the flashback almost makes it too sad that a character such as her ended up dying.
This is especially true because One Piece certainly needs more amazing female characters. Kuina was an absolute genius of the sword. She could very well have become the greatest swordswoman in the entire world and she could even defeat adults twice her size effortlessly. Even Zoro, a very skilled swordsman, lost to her 2001 times, and wasn't even able to defeat her even once. For a character such as her to simply die by slipping and falling down stairs is almost laughable and certainly wasted potential.
6 Charlotte Smoothie
An Elite Pirate Of The Big Mom Crew
Charlotte Smoothie is a member of the Big Mom Pirates and one of the Sweet Three Generals of the crew. With a bounty of 932 million berries, one would expect a lot from Smoothie.
However, what is bizarre is the fact that Smoothie has barely played any role in the story. In fact, cutting her entirely out of the story wouldn't change anything, neither in the Whole Cake Island arc nor in the Wano arc.
5 Tashigi
A Marine Swordswoman
Tashigi is a wonderful character with quite an incredible basis written by Oda. She is a very skilled swordswoman who aims to collect all the swords in the world from people who don't deserve them, that is, the evil pirates of the world. She is also a very honorable character and has her own sense of justice.
She's quite strong, however, for a character such as her, Oda should certainly have put in more effort. Many a time, Tashigi simply feels like she doesn't have enough in her to actually put her words into action and, whenever her resolve is tested, she fails. That certainly makes for an interesting story, especially when it is done once or twice. However, what is sickening is the fact that she hasn't shown any growth in that department over the years.
4 Carrot
A Prodigy Of The Mink Tribe
Carrot is a member of the Mink Tribe and the current leader of the Mokomo Dukedom. Fans know her to be a very powerful rabbit Mink, despite not being that old. She is certainly a prodigy in the One Piece world, however, it is sad for the fans to see that this character was largely wasted, especially in Wano.
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In the Whole Cake Island arc, Carrot was absolutely phenomenal and written into the plot beautifully. However, in Wano, her character was absolutely nonexistent. She didn't play much of a role in the war on Onigashima and in the end, was randomly made the ruler of the Mokomo Dukedom.
3 Basil Hawkins
A Member Of The Worst Generation
Hawkins is a member of the Worst Generation who fans are very familiar with, especially because he played a major role in the Wano arc of the story. For a Worst Generation pirate with a 320 million berry bounty, fans expected quite a lot.
Instead, they got a Headliner who couldn't make any sort of big impression in the story. In the end, he was embarrassed by Killer and his fate remains unknown since then.
2 Jack
An All Star Of The Beasts Pirates
Jack the Drought is one of the All Stars of the Beast Pirates and certainly a character whom Oda wasted in many ways. Jack was a formidable enemy when he was introduced in Zou. However, in Wano, his character was reduced so much that he wasn't even a threat anymore.
Every single battle that he fought, he lost. His character wasn't just about the battles, however. He had a deep history with the Minks and, had he been focused on more, this would have made an incredible plot point in the story moving forward. Sadly, his entire potential was wasted.
1 Big Mom
A Yonko Of The New World
Out of all the characters with tremendous potential in One Piece, Big Mom was the one that Oda failed the most. Big Mom didn't have wasted potential in the sense that she wasn't strong. Every single fan of One Piece knows that Big Mom was tremendously powerful.
However, the way that Oda used the character in Wano certainly felt as if it was wasted. Big Mom had a lot of potential and even her dreams were interesting to quite a degree. Despite being one of the Yonko, she was used as a secondary villain in Wano and, in her fight against Kid and Law, it was clear to the fans that Oda was desperately trying to cut her out of the story. In fact, Big Mom even forgot to use all of her powers in the fight against Kid and Law and ended up losing, despite having a great basis to go off of.
One Piece (1999)
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Number of Episodes
- 1082+
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll , Netflix , Hulu