These One Piece villains were surprisingly helpful in life-or-death situations.
Usually, One Piece does not leave much room for moral nuance. The heroes are nearly flawless paragons of virtue save for a few personality quirks, and the villains are amoral monsters deliberately designed to be as detestable as possible. There have only been a few exceptions to this rule, all of which the characters themselves are quick to point out.
Given the series’ tendencies, the number of times the villains have saved the heroes is legitimately surprising. Although their actions are not always motivated by benevolence, it still guarantees the Straw Hats’ survival in their continued quest to find Laugh Tale and to achieve their dreams.
10. Hancock
Hancock was a member of the Seven Warlords and main antagonist of the Amazon Lily arc. At first, she treated Luffy with extreme prejudice, even attempting to have her personal bodyguards murder him a brutal arena.
However, it did not take long for Luffy to accidentally seduce Hancock, which procured her loyalty for the coming years. It immediately proved useful since Luffy needed her marine connections in order to infiltrate Impel Down and free Ace.
9. Galdino
Also known as Mr. Three, Galdino was a cunning agent of Baroque Works. He resented Luffy for his role in imprisoning him, yet they collaborated to conduct the biggest breakout in One Piece history. Given the noxious properties of Magellan’s venom, Luffy could not safely fight him with his bare hands.
Luckily, Galdino crafted a pair of wax fists so that Luffy could repel the warden without injuring himself in the process. Luffy may not have knocked Magellan unconscious, but he purchased the escapees the time they needed to hijack a boat and set sail to their next destination – Marineford.
8. Crocodile
Crocodile may have entered the battle for Marineford with the intention to attack Whitebeard, but he turned out to be a useful ally. His battle against Doflamingo awed marines, especially given his refusal to partner with him. Perhaps Crocodile’s most impressive moment was when he held his own against Akainu.
Even stalling the admiral was a major boon to the heroes’ efforts. It illustrated the prison did not weaken him and that he would not become irrelevant as the series continued. Even Daz Bonez, Crocodile’s metallic second-in-command, contributed to the war effort as seen when absorbing Mihawk’s shockwave on the Whitebeard Pirates’ behalf.
7. Gecko Moria
Gecko Moria is hardly a good person, though he was at least a loyal friend. This was seen when mounting an attack against Blackbeard’s fortress all for the sake of getting Absalom back.
Given how Moria had been disgraced by Kaido, a pirate equal to Blackbeard in international prestige, he took an incredible risk through his invasion. Not only were Blackbeard’s forces more than a match for his zombies, Moria himself was coerced into joining them. Between him and Aokiji, it’s dubious whether the Blackbeard Pirates will betray one another once the tide of battle turns against them.
6. Wadatsumi
Wadatsumi is a massive creature and former servant to the New Fish-Man Pirates. His fate was left ambiguous after Hody Jones’ defeat up until the events of Whole Cake Island. As the Straw Hats made their daring getaway, Wadatsumi emerged from the seas to stop Big Mom’s encroaching fleet.
While he was more than a match for the armada itself, Charlotte Oven boiled the water Wadatsumi inhabited. His purpose complete, Wadatsumi returned to the depths and mended his injuries. Despite low intelligence, he displayed more character growth than most of Luffy’s previous foes.
5. Kaido
When Kaido announced his plans to Onigashima, Orochi attempted to insert himself into the situation and talk down to the King Of Beasts. The villains had a flagrant conflict of interest since Orochi wanted to rule the Flower Capital while Kaido sought to replace it.
Kaido beheading Orochi was conducive to the samurai’s efforts since it demoralized the enemy and caused further division within their ranks. Orochi may have survived the attack, but he was much less of a nuisance since he could not use his admittedly impressive Devil Fruit to fight in the coming war directly.
4. Buggy
Buggy the Clown had a surprisingly involved role in the battle for Marineford. He kept Mihawk’s attention for a time, using his Chop-Chop Fruit to survive what should have been fatal incisions.
More importantly, Buggy used his Devil Fruit to “fly” an injured Luffy to safety as they were aggressively being pursued by Akainu. Although later offered the position of Warlord, Buggy resumed his campaign against the World Government when founding the Cross Guild. It placed bounties on the marines in a system that parodied what the World Government did to pirates for centuries.
3. Kuma
Kuma was a Warlord who nearly eradicated the Straw Hats at Thriller Bark. When Luffy punched Charloss, he reappeared at Sabaody for a brutal reckoning that could have meant the end of the crew. While Kuma posed as a servant to the marines, he was actually a member of the Revolutionary Army.
Luffy thought he was killing his crew with every swing of his arm, when in reality, he whisked them to safety. The World Government took notice of his betrayal and removed even more of his humanity until only a shell remained.
2. Kizaru
When the Sun Pirates clashed with the marines, Arlong ravaged their forces with brutal relish. It took Kizaru’s personal appearance to finally capture the villain and send him to the darkest reaches of Impel Down. Given that Kizaru is a loyal World Government operative, one might assume that his victory is a bad thing.
However, since Arlong actively exacerbated racial tensions between fish-men and humans, his absence was a major boon that dissuaded other Sun Pirates from joining him. By the time of his release, only three former colleagues respected Arlong enough to follow him into the East Blue.
1. Big Mom
Despite being an avowed enemy of the Straw Hat Pirates, Big Mom was almost as much of an asset as she was a hindrance to Wano arc. This was first seen when attacking Udon, forcing Queen to leave and giving Luffy the window he needed to take the fortress for the samurai.
During the battle for Onigashima itself, Tama told Big Mom about how the Beast Pirates abused her village and made them suffer. This infuriated the Emperor so much that she lashed out at Ulti, who had been on the verge of finishing off Nami and Usopp. Given prior injuries, Big Mom’s intervention saved their lives.
Src: cbr.com
