Highlights
- Rob Lucci is considered one of the best villains in the One Piece series and made a significant impact during the Water 7 Saga.
- Oda had not decided on Lucci being the villain at first, but ultimately chose him because he looked like a weird guy with a talking pigeon on his shoulder.
- Lucci's role in One Piece continues beyond the Water 7 Saga, as he reappears as a recurring villain and is currently a major character in the Egghead Island Arc, where he is fought by Zoro.
Rob Lucci is a major character in One Piece that fans are very familiar with. When it comes to the villains that Oda has created in the One Piece world, Lucci stands out as one of the very best ones, and even decades after the arc that he featured in, he's remembered as an incredible antagonist.
Rob Lucci made his introduction in the Water 7 Saga and was introduced on the island of Water 7 Itself. Given that he is one of the very best antagonists in the entire series, a lot of the fans find it interesting to know Oda's thought process behind making him as big a villain as he was. Luckily, Oda has already revealed his reasoning to the fans and it is certainly very intriguing.
Rob Lucci's Role In The Water 7 Saga
The Water Seven Saga of One Piece immediately follows the Sky Island Saga. After the Straw Hat Pirates' adventure in the sky islands, the crew returned to the Blue Sea, and the next place that they headed to was Long Ring Long Island. From there onwards, it was all rather straightforward to Water 7. Water 7 is the island of shipbuilders and quite a lot of the famous shipwrights in the world of One Piece live here. In fact, it would not be a stretch to say that the very best shipbuilders of the One Piece world are located on this island. This place is where Pirates and Marines alike buy new ships or get their vessels repaired.
With the Going Merry having taken quite a lot of damage over time, this place was perfect for the Straw Hats to visit. This island would give them the perfect opportunity to repair her, however, little did they know that this island would test the integrity of the crew itself. With things such as Robin's disappearance and Usopp and Luffy breaking into a fight, the crew was the weakest ever since its creation. As the story went on, CP9, a secret intelligence agency of the World Government, was then introduced to the fans and it was soon revealed that one of the shipbuilders, Rob Lucci, was the leader of this group and had successfully infiltrated the shipbuilders' company, Galley-La, years ago. Lucci served as an incredible villain for the entire saga and the main antagonist for Luffy to take on.
Oda's Plan For Water 7
When speaking of the Water 7 arc and his plan for it, Oda has gone into great detail as to what his plan was when crafting this arc. According to Oda himself, Water 7 was the arc for the Straw Hat Pirates to get a shipwright for their crew, as well as to say farewell to the Going Merry. Before writing the Water Seven Saga, these were the only two events that Oda had pre-determined. Regardless of whatever happened in this arc, these two were key objectives for him to fulfill and everything else was completely unplanned for him. In his mind, at the end of the arc, Franky would join the Straw Hat Pirates and, at the same time, Luffy and the crew would say goodbye to the Merry as she plummeted to her death.
Everything else, including the introduction of the CP9, Robin being taken to Enies Lobby, and all the other major events in this particular saga were not planned by Oda beforehand. Oftentimes, a writer often plants some seeds and observes how they grow, and takes the story from there accordingly. Oda did something similar with the Water Seven Saga and it is safe to say that this arc turned out to be absolutely phenomenal.
Even years after the conclusion of this saga, it is widely believed by many to be the best that One Piece has ever produced. At the very least, it is held in very high regard among all the fans. Every major event, from Usopp leaving the crew to Robin being rescued, the villains being introduced, and the farewell of the Going Merry, was absolutely phenomenally written.
Why Rob Lucci Was Made A Major Villain
Rob Lucci, in particular, is one major character that fans were introduced to at the very beginning of the Water 7 Saga. During the time of his introduction, he was revealed to be a shipwright of the Galley-La Company. He worked directly under Iceberg and, just like all the other shipwrights in this company, he was absolutely phenomenal at what he did. To showcase the depth of the world of One Piece properly, Oda made the Galley-La company as realistic as he possibly could, giving it quite a number of shipwrights and, at the same time, even minor characters who would appear here and there across the arc.
With the worldbuilding for this arc having been completed, it was time for Oda to decide who would be the villain of the arc. While many fans might assume that Oda had already decided on Rob Lucci being the main villain, that couldn't be further from the truth. According to Oda himself, he had not decided on who the villain would be before starting this arc. However, after he crafted all the characters, he wondered as to who the villain should be. He ended up choosing Rob Lucci because, according to him, he looked like a weird guy with a pigeon. That's the only reason why Oda went with Lucci as a villain and it is perfectly fitting with his personality. While one would assume that Oda had some major reason for making Lucci a villain, it was as simple as him being a weird guy with a talking pigeon on his shoulder, named Hattori. This information was revealed in One Piece Log 22.
Lucci's Role In The Future
Of course, even Oda probably did not know that Lucci would go on to become one of the most popular characters in One Piece. Not only did he raise the tension in the Water 7 arc through the roof, especially during the night when the truth about Iceberg's assassination was revealed, but, at the same time, he also kept the fans on the edge of their seats during the Enies Lobby arc. Lucci gave Luffy one of the toughest fights that he has ever fought in his life. Not just that, but his entire personality, including his sense of justice, which Oda calls Dark Justice, made him a phenomenal villain. Essentially, Lucci only enjoyed killing in life, and if serving the World Government gave him an excuse to wipe out those whom he considered trash, then he would gladly follow those above him.
Lucci's role in One Piece did not end with the Water Seven saga. In fact, he is a recurring villain in the series. After the timeskip, it is revealed to the fans that Lucci was promoted to CP0, the strongest intelligence agency within the World Government. Lucci made his reintroduction in Dressrosa, and currently, in the Egghead Island Arc, he is a major character. Once again, Lucci is a villain for the Straw Hat Pirates to deal with. This time, however, it is Zoro who is fighting against him and fans will surely get to see his character take interesting twists and turns as the Egghead arc continues.
One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1092, is set to be September 18, 2023.