One Piece battles have a huge flaw no one talks about enough

The story of One Piece takes place on a planet similar to real-life Earth but with the only landmass consisting of the Red Line continent and a multitude of different islands scattered across the immense Blue Sea. Marines, members of the Revolutionary Army, World Government executives, and pirates of all sorts collide in a fierce struggle to seize control of this world.

As a pirate-themed tale set in a globe dominated by vast oceans, One Piece should have sea battles as a core part of its narrative. Yet, the majority of the plot unfolds on land, to the point where the Straw Hat crew’s grand voyage feels more like an island-hopping expedition than a world exploration.

Focusing more on the Grand Line’s perils would be a good start, but One Piece truly needs large-scale naval battles. The series mostly features small skirmishes, lacking a true showdown at sea. A full-blown naval conflict would provide the epic pirate-style warfare that many fans crave, and that the story certainly deserves.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1144.

One Piece’s lack of epic naval battles is disappointing

The battle of Edd War

The most iconic naval battle in One Piece happened in the Edd War, a piece of sea in the New World, where the Roger Pirates faced off against the Golden Lion Pirates. Three years before the beginning of the Golden Age of Piracy, “Golden Lion” Shiki gathered a huge fleet to challenge Gol D. Roger’s formidable crew.

Roger fired his ship’s cannon at one of the countless vessels in Shiki’s armada, igniting the clash between the two opposing forces. Though vastly outnumbered – one single ship pitted against a seemingly endless fleet – Roger, Rayleigh, and their comrades stood firm, beating back their enemies.

Then, a sudden change in the weather granted the Roger Pirates a fateful edge, which they capitalized on to sink half of Shiki’s ships. With the battle’s outcome decided, the Golden Lion Pirates were forced to accept defeat and escape.

Naval warfare doesn't seem to be the franchise's forte

Garp chasing the Straw Hat Pirates (Image via Toei Animation)

Despite the armaments mounted on their ships, from the humble Going Merry to the more technologically advanced Thousand Sunny, the Straw Hat Pirates rarely engage in naval warfare. When chased by the Marines or other enemies, they prioritize escape over open confrontation, a habit that contributes to the surprising shortage of sea battles in the series.

No naval showdown in One Piece holds a candle to the one in Edd War. This showdown remains unmatched, standing in a league of its own especially as most of the sea battles featured in the series are mere skirmishes – like Sanji, Nami, Chopper, and Brook’s brief fight against a ship of the Big Mom Pirates – or don’t really involve any proper sea warfare.

Some of the most captivating naval battles unfolded in Sabaody, where the Straw Hat Pirates faced Duval’s group, and in Water Seven, Garp’s entertaining attempt to capture the Straw Hats added a memorable twist to the story.

Marineford could have been the stage for an epic naval battle (Image via Toei Animation)

Other standout moments include Zeff’s boarding of the ship where Sanji was working, the Arlong Pirates’ brutal assault on a weak Marine officer’s ship, and the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance’s raid on Onigashima’s outer defenses.

One Piece features entire story arcs set on ships, such as Baratie and Thriller Bark, but their development made them feel like actual islands. Likewise, while some battles took place aboard ships, the vessels served only as the background for the fighters involved, and, once again, didn’t have much of a different feel than a static location.

In this sense, the Summit War in Marineford represented a major missed opportunity. This could have been the ideal stage for a thrilling naval showdown between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines, yet it ended up being a land-based conflict, with sea warfare present but relegated to play a background role.

When fighters are stronger than ships, staging naval battles isn't easy

It would be awesome to see the Straw Hats in a full-blown naval battle (Image via Toei Animation)

Admittedly, it would be amazing to see the Straw Hats commanding their ship in a full-fledged naval battle like 17th-century pirates, or, within One Piece’s context, echoing the memorable deeds of the Roger Pirates. The Grand Line’s unpredictable, ever-changing weather would add another interesting layer to the fighting, allowing less-combat focused characters such as Nami to shine in an action sequence with their knowledge and peculiar skills.

A storm once aided the Roger Pirates in inflicting a crushing defeat on the Golden Lion Pirates, and history could repeat itself with Nami using her meteorology-based techniques to manipulate the weather and provide her comrades a similar advantage. There have been some brief instances when the Straw Hats engaged in similar situations, but none really led to a decisive showdown.

However, as One Piece author Eiichiro Oda stated, staging a convincing naval battle is difficult when almost every main character in the series can repel or neutralize cannonballs, and even destroy entire ships with ease. A single Haki-enhanced slash from Zoro possesses enough force to destroy an entire fleet, and Luffy’s Bajrang Gun could unleash even greater havoc.

The sheer raw power of some characters makes naval battles awkward (Image via Shueisha)

With the sheer raw power that many One Piece characters have at their disposal, it’s hard for Oda to write naval battles that wouldn’t feel awkwardly forced. It is not even a matter of power creep – the newly-added powers that make the previously established ones obsolete – as One Piece’s power scaling has been clear and consistent since the story’s beginning.

After only 50 chapter into a manga that, at the time of this article’s writing, spans 1143 installments, fans were already introduced to Dracule Mihawk, a character strong enough to destroy entire ships with one single hit. What’s more, it was implied that this was only a glimpse of his true power, cementing the notion that ships were nothing to the One Piece world’s big shots.

As the World’s Strongest Swordsman, Mihawk is positioned as an endgame character in One Piece, but even exponentially weaker individuals such as Arlong were shown to overcome and destroy ships in the story’s early narrative. Essentially, ships were obsolete from day one.

Devil Fruits become a double-edged weapon when out at sea (Image via Toei Animation)

There are situations where ships could be useful, but in most cases, it makes more sense for the fighters on board to employ their own abilities, as these are generally stronger – if not much stronger – than cannons and other armaments.

On paper, it seems plausible to empower ships by infusing them with Haki, yet there’s no evidence of any character doing so. It could be that the stamina cost is so high that it outweighs the benefits, prompting Haki users to focus their efforts on enhancing their own bodies and personal weapons instead.

Within the context of the series, a naval battle forces all contenders on the back foot, as if a ship gets damaged, the occupants might sink into the sea and drown. Devil Fruit users can’t swim at all, which makes them completely helpless in similar situations. While they could use their supernatural abilities to defend their ship, they also must be careful to ensure they don’t destroy it accidentally.

The risk of falling into the sea is too high. With the large amount of Devil Fruit users in most organizations and pirate crews, it appears clear how conventional naval battles would become hard to handle for Oda.

Red Hair Pirates vs Kid Pirates wasn't a proper naval battle (Image via Toei Animation)

In fact, the author has often transcended the traditional notion of ship to let his imagination run wild with mesmerizing ideas such as ships that can sail underwater, become islands, or fly high in the sky, not to mention the memorable sea train.

Nevertheless, the author hasn’t entirely abandoned incorporating seafaring showdowns into the narrative, as evidenced by some recent battles. For instance, the Kid Pirates dared to challenge the Red Hair Pirates and their modest fleet to a naval battle, while the Blackbeard Pirates ambushed the Heart Pirates right in the middle of the sea.

However, neither battle truly revolved around the ships. Shanks attacked Eustass Kid, taking him out with a single hit that swiftly ended their confrontation. As for Law’s hopeless struggle against Blackbeard, the fight continued and concluded on a nearby island.

So, fans can only hope that the series will deliver at least one grand, all-out naval showdown in the future, if anything to fully nail the story’s pirate vibe.

One Piece battles have a huge flaw no one talks about enough

One Piece’s lack of epic naval battles is disappointing

The battle of Edd War

Naval warfare doesn't seem to be the franchise's forte

When fighters are stronger than ships, staging naval battles isn't easy

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