Controversial Characters who should have died for real or stayed dead

[Buusatan94]

It's a known fact Oda loves to fake deaths and to reveal that characters thought to be dead are in fact alive, one of the many things that have hurt the manga's story over the years with it contributing to the loss of any sense of danger or threat or stakes, and which makes it very hard to believe it or care when a character dies for real.

Of all these death fakeouts, which ones are the ones that really should have been true? Which OP characters should have died for real?

Pell comes to mind immediately, even if I am a bit more sympathetic towards his survival given the rumors about the reasons for his survival are true.

Pound, Saul, Bentham, Kin'emon at Wano, Oden's father (another damning factor for Wano, even more with him having done nothing to help his country and family against Orochi and Kaido), the victims of Shinokuni at Punk Hazard (one of the worst cases of fake deaths in the manga and that's saying a lot) also come to mind. Oh and the Sun Pirates and Germa 66 at the end of WCI arc as well.

 

[Loki D. Terror]

Kinnemon by far imo. Then pound , saul , pell.

 

[Welkin]

I think Pell is the fakeout death that people complain about the most which is semi understandable if you read the chapter or watch the episode where it happened. I rewatched it recently and it literally looked like a nuke dropped lol

Kinemon's fakeout death is probably the one that bothers me the most. It's just too stupid to even be slightly believable. "Oh I've been cut in half this whole time and never mentioned it or realized it myself"

Some of these hardly count as fakeout deaths to me though. The Sun Pirates and Germa were on the backfoot against the Big Mom Pirates but we never actually saw them die or anything of that nature. To me it's believable enough that a crew filled with Fishmen and scientifically enhanced super soldiers were able to make an escape from an enemy crew filled with devil fruit eaters

A prime example of a fakeout death that comes from WCI would have to be something like Pound. We literally see Oven jumping up and getting ready to cut Pound's head off with a blade the size of his entire body. There's no world where he should survive that realistically

The Shinokuni victims were all irrelevant but I have to admit that their survival harmed the narrative because it ruined their sacrifice. Members of G5 laid down their lives to protect their fellow Marines as well as Tashigi and it pretty much meant nothing by the end

 

[MonochromeYoru]

The will of P pantheon

 

[ShinichiMugi]

The Marine soldiers who sacrificied themselves in Punk Hazard for Tashigi and the others with the Shinokuni.
That weapons was pumped a lot by Cesar,but it sucked!

 

[Yoho]

Pell

He adds nothing to the story at this point and the fact that not only did he survive but the worst he got was a broken arm🤨

 

[JackieDaytona3019]

Pound, Pell, & Pagaya.
I do feel that Kin’emom was set up plot wise to die, then Oda changed course at the last minute for some reason. Probably due to guilt over over killing a character he liked or due to his rising popularity.

 

[Juanpiz]

One of the Main characters

 

[Levi]

Luffy

 

[Brush D. Teeth]

The Admiral allegedly killed by Rocks.

 

[Higuma]

Saul’s fake death is the worst of them all. It had enormous meaning in the story. The guy fails on Robin’s island while trying to desert the Marines because he feels incapable of carrying out a Buster Call, and ironically ends up on the very island where the Buster Call is going to take place. As if, despite trying to flee, the Buster Call were a curse that follows you wherever you go, or as if he were destined to die no matter what, while helping Robin survive in one final gesture.
His death, and the subsequent hunt for Robin, made the taboo surrounding the Void Century and Robin’s life as a child in hiding believable. Seeing him alive again is therefore a massive waste and harms the original story. On top of that, doing something as major as bringing a character back to life just to replay a similar scene as a reference, make the characters hug and cry, is ridiculous, and bordering on morally obscene

 

[barai]

I wonder if Oda will soft retcon Pell's, by making his near "death" from the bomb allow him to become an Awakened Zoan.

 

[JackieDaytona3019]

Saul’s fake death is the worst of them all. It had enormous meaning in the story. The guy fails on Robin’s island while trying to desert the Marines because he feels incapable of carrying out a Buster Call, and ironically ends up on the very island where the Buster Call is going to take place. As if, despite trying to flee, the Buster Call were a curse that follows you wherever you go, or as if he were destined to die no matter what, fatally, while helping Robin survive in one final gesture.
His death, and the subsequent hunt for Robin, made the taboo surrounding the Void Century and Robin’s life as a child in hiding believable. Seeing him alive again is therefore a massive waste and harms the original story. On top of that, doing something as major as bringing a character back to life just to replay a similar scene as a reference, make the characters hug and cry, is ridiculous, and bordering on morally obscene

Since Kuzan didn’t kill the Straw Hats when he froze them, I never thought that Saul had died that day. So I can’t agree with this.

 

[thedarkdragon11]

Pell, Pound, Perospero, Kin'emon, the Vegapunks, Saul...

 

[Cruxroux]

Pell, Pound, Perospero, Kin'emon, the Vegapunks, Saul...

Vegapunk death is as shittiest as it can get.
Entire arc to get him out. Only to realise they all exist anyway.

 

[Buusatan94]

Sukiyaki being alive was just so bad, the man had let Orochi and Kaido take control of and oppress his country, people and family and did nothing to help and hid instead.

 

[Monster Zoro's Tesla Supplier]

Saul’s fake death is the worst of them all. It had enormous meaning in the story. The guy fails on Robin’s island while trying to desert the Marines because he feels incapable of carrying out a Buster Call, and ironically ends up on the very island where the Buster Call is going to take place. As if, despite trying to flee, the Buster Call were a curse that follows you wherever you go, or as if he were destined to die no matter what, while helping Robin survive in one final gesture.
His death, and the subsequent hunt for Robin, made the taboo surrounding the Void Century and Robin’s life as a child in hiding believable. Seeing him alive again is therefore a massive waste and harms the original story. On top of that, doing something as major as bringing a character back to life just to replay a similar scene as a reference, make the characters hug and cry, is ridiculous, and bordering on morally obscene

I can excuse it as it at least doesn't really lessen the impact of her entire home island being eradicated and wiped off the map. It's only one dude who lived besides her and it's a giant who wasn't at all native to the island nor did he really know most of the people there.