Will One Piece’s iconic villain Rob Lucci become a good guy? Explored

Rob Lucci is a formidable fighter and iconic villain in One Piece. Portrayed as a sadistic, emotionless, and almost sociopathic individual, Lucci firmly enforces Absolute Justice, believing that anyone or anything that opposes the World Government and the Celestial Dragons must be crushed. He also despises the weak and considers being weak as sinful as being a criminal.

From his appearance in Water Seven and Enies Lobby to his return to Egghead, Lucci is shown to be a ruthless killer. In this sense, he is one of the most purely evil characters in One Piece. He has no particular motive for his acts of evil other than his bloodthirst. Therefore, fans were quite surprised when the recent One Piece chapters revealed an unexpected side of Lucci’s character.

When Saint Mars approached Egghead’s laboratory with aggressive intentions, Lucci begged him to spare and, if possible, rescue his colleague Kaku, who was trapped in the same place. Unable to move due to the injuries that Roronoa Zoro had inflicted on him, Lucci still cared for Kaku, showing that he was not heartless. This incident was not the only scene that hinted at Lucci’s previously unimaginable redemption.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1128.

One Piece may be setting Lucci and Kaku’s unexpected heel-face turn

The comradeship between the two CP0 elites

Kaku and Rob Lucci as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

In One Piece, Lucci was established as a superhuman killing machine. He joined the ranks of the World Government to satisfy his murderous impulses and rarely displayed any real human emotion except for arrogance. The moment Lucci expressed concern for Kaku’s well-being was the first time he showed genuine empathy towards another human being.

Granted, Kaku is probably the closest thing Lucci has to a friend. Since the days when both were CP9 agents, Kaku has respected Lucci, acting as a sort of right-hand man for him.

After the time skip, Lucci and Kaku were the only two former CP9 agents that the World Government deemed strong enough to become CP0 masked agents, the organization elite. The others were only allowed into CP0 as regular unmasked agents. Also, Kaku was the only former CP9 member who achieved Devil Fruit Awakening, just like Lucci.

Lucci only respects strength. Kaku is a loyal comrade and the only comrade who can, at least to some extent, keep up with his ever-growing power, explaining why Lucci has a soft spot for him. Eventually, Lucci and Kaku formed a trio with Stussy, another CP0 masked agent. The World Government sent the three of them on Egghead, tasked with killing Dr Vegapunk.

Lucci, Kaku, and Stussy’s epilogue on Egghead

Lucci injures Stussy in One Piece chapter 1091 (Image via Shueisha)

By the time the Egghead Incident came to an end, its developments had caused the CP0 trio to remain divided. Humbled and critically injured by Roronoa Zoro during their 1v1 fight, Lucci was lying outside Egghead’s laboratory. Meanwhile, Kaku was inside the laboratory with Stussy, whose nasty wound from Lucci had somehow been treated.

Not long before, Lucci had brutally injured Stussy, taking revenge on her for her earlier betrayal. The previous day, during the fight between Kaku and Zoro, Stussy had revealed her true colors, betraying her comrades. She suddenly hit Kaku from behind, knocking him unconscious with a vampire-like bite.

This betrayal left Lucci in a state of complete bewilderment. Shocked, enraged, and confused by what had just happened, Lucci attacked Stussy. He didn’t even activate his Zoan powers, let alone his Awakened form, and instead charged at her blindly in anger. Taking advantage of this reckless move, Stussy skillfully dodged Lucci’s attack and flanked him. She then touched him with her Seastone lipstick.

Kaku and Stussy’s conversation in One Piece chapter 1119 (Image via Shueisha)

Upon contact with Seastone, which weakens all Devil Fruit users, Lucci loses all of his strength instantly. This allowed Stussy to bite him with her vampire-like teeth, incapacitating him just as she had done to Kaku. She then contacted Dr Vegapunk, telling him she had neutralized her CP0 colleagues.

A mole within CP0, Stussy was working for Vegapunk, who created her as the clone of the former Rocks Pirate member Miss Buckingham Stussy. Ever since the CP0 elites were sent to kill Vegapunk, Stussy had been waiting for the right moment to betray her colleagues.

Later, Lucci attacked Vegapunk to complete his original mission. Stussy tried to protect the scientist but couldn’t stop Lucci’s attack. All she could do was act as a human shield for Vegapunk, which caused her to suffer a grievous wound.

As Sanji used Vegapunk’s special gun to trap Kaku inside a huge bubble, Zoro stopped Lucci from doing further damage. The two began a fast-paced fight that would eventually lead to Lucci’s crushing defeat.

Lucci and Kaku as seen in One Piece chapter 1125 (Image via Shueisha)

After being treated for her injury, Stussy freed Kaku from the bubble. With tears in her eyes, Stussy said she had come to see him and Lucci as true friends and apologized for deceiving them. Kaku denied their friendship, but he was crying as well. Kaku then told Stussy to run away, as he wouldn’t be able to stop Lucci from killing her for betraying them.

Sometime later, after the conclusion of the Egghead Incident, Kaku and Lucci returned to the World Government ships. Stussy was not with them. When asked about Stussy’s fate, Lucci bluntly said that he had killed her. This would imply that, after regaining the strength to move, Lucci went to the laboratory and killed Stussy as Kaku predicted.

However, that’s probably not the case. Had that happened, it would be seen. Lucci mercilessly killing Stussy with Kaku barely holding back his tears would have been a great scene, but that wasn’t shown. The first rule of fiction is “show, don’t tell.” If there’s no corpse, nobody was killed.

Lucci and Kaku’s potential redemption in One Piece

Lucci’s words in One Piece chapter 1125 (Image via Shueisha)

As Stussy told Kaku, her life is now meaningless. Her betrayal has broken their bond between comrades, and her creator, Vegapunk, has died. Most likely, Lucci has decided to let Stussy go, allowing her to escape so that she can make up her mind. He then lied about Stussy’s fate so she could go missing without being pursued by the World Government, who would otherwise prosecute her for treason and defection.

Perhaps Lucci didn’t want to spare Stussy but was asked to do so by Kaku and honored the request out of respect. It’s easy to imagine Lucci telling Stussy she was dead to him, but that he would let her go on the condition that it would be the last time they ever met, as he would attack and kill her on sight if they met again.

Of course, there’s the possibility that Kaku allowed Stussy to flee and then told Lucci he had killed her. There’s also the possibility that Lucci genuinely believes he killed Stussy, as Kaku told him that she died as a result of the wound he had inflicted on her when she tried to protect Vegapunk.

Lucci worries for Kaku in One Piece chapter 1111 (Image via Shueisha)

Assuming Lucci did have a change of heart, the trigger was his conversation with Saint Mars. When Lucci asked Mars to spare Kaku, the Gorosei told him he wasn’t sure he could fulfill his request, as he couldn’t distinguish a single insect when annihilating countless others.

This made Lucci realize that, despite their prominent role as CP0 elites, they are mere pawns in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons. If anything, what Mars said outright implies that they see them as insects, no more or less than they do with their enemies. For Lucci, who has devoted his life to the World Government, these words may have acted as a wake-up call, causing him to rethink his approach.

As for Kaku, he has never been particularly evil, let alone sadistic, despite working as an assassin. Unlike Lucci, he limited himself to carrying out missions and performing tasks without exceeding personal grudges or unnecessary cruelty.

Lucci speaks with Mars in One Piece chapter 1111 (Image via Shueisha)

Away from his work, Kaku is an affable and enjoyable person. Granted, at times Kaku has been ruthless. He has also explicitly declared that he, like Lucci, supports the Celestial Dragons and considers them divine beings with the right to claim whatever they want from humans.

Lucci and Kaku are well aware of the World Government’s ideals and know how despicable the Celestial Dragons are. Yet, for all these years, they have felt they were on the right side. Still, what happened in Egghead seems like a turning point.

Lucci may have accepted being a pawn as long as that allowed him to kill people without being prosecuted. However, he now understood that the World Government doesn’t just see him and Kaku as pawns but as worthless insects.

Granted, Lucci has been a murderous sociopath since childhood, but the World Government brainwashed him to put this attitude at their service. He won’t become a cheerful friend to Luffy and the others, but he can redeem himself by realizing he can’t waste his life being the lapdog of the Celestial Dragons.

Lucci having a change of heart would be a great development (Image via Toei Animation)

Lucci is no stranger to doubting the World Government’s demeanor. When he, Kaku, and Stussy were sent to Egghead for their mission, Lucci questioned their orders to kill Vegapunk. Over time, Lucci and his right-hand man, Kaku, may become morally grey characters. Although no longer antagonistic, they won’t be entirely good either.

It wouldn’t be a full-blown redemption but rather the result of character development. If the situation called for it, they could occasionally help the Straw Hats. After all, they already allied themselves with Luffy and Zoro when they joined forces against the Seraphim cyborgs.

The former CP9 agents – Blueno, Fukuro, Jabra, Kalifa, and Kumadori – seem like minor characters at this point, but the same process may apply. When the World Government was ready to blame them for the Enies Lobby fiasco, they raised money for Lucci’s medical care.

This probably explains why Lucci was so shocked when Stussy betrayed him and Kaku. Remembering what the former CP9 agents had done for him during the time skip, he believed that anyone could turn their back on him, but his comrades would always remain loyal, which is what matters.

Will One Piece’s iconic villain Rob Lucci become a good guy? Explored

One Piece may be setting Lucci and Kaku’s unexpected heel-face turn

The comradeship between the two CP0 elites

Lucci, Kaku, and Stussy’s epilogue on Egghead

Lucci and Kaku’s potential redemption in One Piece

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