One Piece/Tropes T-Z

Trope list for One Piece; T-Z
"Sentoumaru: STRAW HAT ISN'T SOME PIECE OF TRASH LIKE YOU!!!"
 * Take Me Instead!: Both offer themselves up to, resulting in one of the most powerful scenes of the series.
 * Take My Hand: Robin does this a lot with her powers whenever characters fall overboard or from other precarious places., and Luffy reaches out towards in the anime's 10th opening.
 * Talking Animal: Chopper, of course. Justified in that he was a normal reindeer with a blue nose before he ate the human-human fruit.
 * Talking to Himself: During the reunion arc, Nami and Usopp are hassled by the fake Straw Hats, all are voiced by the same voice actors of the real Straw Hats though their voices are changed around (fake Luffy's voice is Sanji's, fake Nami is Chopper's, etc)
 * Talk to the Fist: In chapter 670, Clown begins to outline either his plan or the origins of Slime. Luffy simply jumps up into his face and grabs him.
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Robin.
 * Boa Hancock, too.
 * Tank Goodness: Franky brings one out to help fight off Hody Jones army.
 * Tattooed Crook: Nami; Ace; Franky (among others)
 * Taught By Experience: The farther the Strawhat Pirates have gone into the Grand Line, the more skilled, inventive and more powerful the group became. Unfortunately before the Time Skip, the curve went up a bit too steeply.
 * Tautological Templar: The world government. Though if you've read/watched past the Enies Lobby arc, you probably already knew that.
 * Team Dad: Franky, according to Word of God.
 * Team Mom: Nami frequently comes across as this, although Word of God places Robin in this role.
 * Team Pet:
 * The World Government considers Chopper this for the Straw Hat Pirates, and give him a miniscule bounty to match: 50 beli.
 * Tears From a Stone: During, water ends up splashing the Going Merry's figurehead, and makes it (Fittingly enough) look like it's crying.
 * Tear Off Your Face: This happens to Franky. Since he's a cyborg, the whole thing is played for laughs.
 * Tears of Joy: Sanji when he finally met the mermaids here
 * Also Luffy and Usopp after
 * Brook cried when Luffy told him that
 * But....he's a skeleton...he doesn't have any tear ducts. YOHOHOHOHO!! SKULL JOKE!!
 * Luffy, Usopp and Chopper do that to anything mecha-related (e.g. laser beam, rockets, Humongous Mecha, etc.).
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Happens when Zoro and Sanji have to work together. Also, when.
 * Technicolor Toxin: Most of the toxin and venoms show onscreen are purple, including Magellan's venom, Musshuru's Spores and Crocodile's Hook. But there's also green poison (the Daft Green trees in the tenth movie) and oddly colored toxins like the MH 5 and Magellan's strongest attack.
 * Tempting Fate: After Franky recharges on cola and lets out the biggest SUUUUUUUUUPER thus far, the first words out of Fukuru's mouth are "You gonna hit me with another one of your weak punches(chapapa)?"
 * Tender Tears: Vivi and Franky. Both are highly emphatic and cry easily.
 * Terrible Trio: Toei is doing their darnedest to turn Foxy, Hamburg, and Porche into this in the anime... and have largely succeeded.
 * Also, Buggy is this to a degree in the manga.
 * Thanatos Gambit: Roger turned himself in to the World Government, and then reversed their intended effect of his execution with his last words. What was intended to be a lesson to all pirates ended up causing an Age of Piracy, arguably making the entire series a Thanatos Gambit.
 * decided to turn his death into one by confirming the treasure is real, erasing doubts of its falsehood and starting the whole thing all over again.
 * Thanks for the Mammary:
 * The Government: The World Government, obviously.
 * Theme Naming: The Seven Warlords of the Sea are all named after animals, many women are named after birds, and everyone on Amazon Lily is named after a flower.
 * There's also Gold Roger and Rouge, both named after the Jolly Roger (or the French version jolie rouge, in Rouge's case).
 * Gold Rogers and Silvers Rayleigh also count.
 * It isn't just characters: the art books and data books also have their own naming themes going on. Color Walk 3, 4, and 5 are named after animals that "rule" their respective habitat (Lion, Eagle, Shark), while the data books are Color Coded for Your Convenience (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green).
 * There Can Be Only One: In chapter 634,
 * There Was a Door: Garp went of his way to smash through the wall of the home the Straw Hats were in simply to punch Luffy in the head. When his own subordinates ask why he would not simply go through the door, he simply said "It was cooler". At least he was polite enough to help repair the wall.
 * He ended up doing more harm than good.
 * Third Time's the Charm: Luffy's fights against Crocodile. He lost the first two, and took him down in round 3.
 * This Cannot Be!: Don Krieg doesn't take too well to getting beaten by Luffy and in response repeatedly shrieks that no one can defeat him.
 * This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Luffy takes this attitude during Zoro's duel with Mihawk. When Johnny and Yosaku attempt to intervene, Luffy holds them back and tells them to wait until the end, despite obviously wanting to help Zoro himself.
 * This Is Sparta: I am WHITEBEARD!
 * This Is Unforgivable!: If Luffy sees you betraying your own Nakama, you better start praying.
 * Subverted when Boa Hancock petrifies her subjects, which made Luffy initially very angry. But when Hancock reversed the process and Luffy learned her Dark and Troubled Past, and the effect it had on her, he instantly forgave her.
 * Similarly averted when Franky found out that the Straw Hats pulled this exact trope on the Franky Family and even said the words "This is unforgivable, Straw Hat!", almost turning into a Cycle of Revenge. However, a series of circumstances allowed the Straw Hats and the Franky Family to work together,
 * This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman: Who knew that Usopp's natural negativity would be the one thing that made him immune to Perona's negative ghosts? She went horohorohOLY CRAP!!!
 * This Means War: Luffy has declared War twice in his time as a pirate.
 * First was as part of his You Are Not Alone movement for Robin by declaring war against the World Government so they would be labeled as the same.
 * The second was after the Fishmen Civil War
 * Those Two Guys: Coby and Helmeppo; Johnny and Yosaku; Jango and Fullbody...
 * Through a Face Full of Fur: Yup, Chopper can do this.
 * Throw the Dog a Bone: Sanji finally meets beautiful mermaids. And they like him.
 * Time Skip: In the manga, the first chapter ends with one, starting from when Luffy was seven, then jumping 10 years.
 * . Notably, that's more than twice the length of time that passed in the main plot which was told over the course of 13 years.
 * Title Drop: Since the name of the manga is also the name of the ultimate treasure, this happens every so often.
 * : We have . In some ways, we could consider   in a platonic sense, seeing what the former went through in order to rescue the latter.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Usopp jumped off the ship... while they were in the sea of clouds. Needless to say, he almost went splat.
 * Though, one should remember it was a sea of clouds that was capable of supporting their ship.
 * Actually Luffy, Brook, and Chopper have their moments. If they see the other drowning, they will jump in to save them, despite the fact they know they can't swim.
 * Also, Gedatsu deserves a mention here. He's so forgetful that at one point, he was thinking something at one of the Strawhats only to realize that he was thinking it and that his mouth was closed. He has also forgotten to breathe, which could've led to this trope being literal, had it continued.
 * The World Nobles count, to an extent. They are utterly incapable of understanding that their downright reprehensible behavior tends to make them universally despised, and the "common" people absolutely will kill them if given half a chance to do so. One even had the nerve to insult a group of former-slave Fishmen on their island when they were armed, and he was alone, injured, and had no way of contacting the Admirals that normally keep people from delivering their long-deserved comeuppance. Would have undoubtedly gotten the dumbass killed, had Queen Otohime herself not stepped in.
 * Did Demelo Black, who only had a 26-million-beli bounty, really think he could impersonate the 400-million-beli-bounty Luffy and NOT have Sentoumaru come with TWO Pacifistas to kick his ass?
 * The World Nobles count, to an extent. They are utterly incapable of understanding that their downright reprehensible behavior tends to make them universally despised, and the "common" people absolutely will kill them if given half a chance to do so. One even had the nerve to insult a group of former-slave Fishmen on their island when they were armed, and he was alone, injured, and had no way of contacting the Admirals that normally keep people from delivering their long-deserved comeuppance. Would have undoubtedly gotten the dumbass killed, had Queen Otohime herself not stepped in.
 * Did Demelo Black, who only had a 26-million-beli bounty, really think he could impersonate the 400-million-beli-bounty Luffy and NOT have Sentoumaru come with TWO Pacifistas to kick his ass?

"Zoro: Yeah, but...didn't it feel weird down there?
 * Took a Level In Badass: Usopp. He got upset when it became clear that he was a weakling in a World of Badass. Cue his ascent to utter badassery as, capable of defeating experienced Devil-fruit users and making hordes of marines wet their collective pants.
 * Then there's Coby and Helmeppo. Hard to believe that the former was a chubby cry baby and was much shorter than we see him now, and the other was a Smug Snake idiot son, of one of the story's earliest (and perhaps most inefficient) Big Bad.
 * And after the two year skip, all of the Strawhats took a level in badass..
 * Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: In one of the side cover stories in the manga, this happened to Buggy when a mother bird ate him.
 * Traintop Battle: Franky's fight with CP9 member Nero atop the Puffing Tom.
 * Tranquil Fury: As long as Luffy is shouting and occasionally laughing while fighting you, you still have a chance. Once he stops doing these things, however, there is nothing on earth or heaven that can save you. Ask Arlong, Bellamy, and countless others.
 * Transformation Sequence: Wax-Wax Armor!
 * Transvestite: Mr. 2 Bon Clay and the natives of Kamabakka Kingdom.
 * Treasure Map: Sometimes comes up, thought not as often as you'd think for pirates.
 * Treachery Cover-Up: When news got out that Crocodile had his sandy ass handed to him, the World Government credited the defeat to Smoker. Who, by the way, was less than happy about it.
 * Troubled Backstory Flashback: Most of the Straw Hat crew's flashback depict a (relatively) happier time before everything goes to hell. The post-Paramount War flashbacks for  might very well be there just to wrench the stake further into the gaping wound in most fans hearts.
 * Trouser Space: You would think that Spandam might be a little hesitant to take blueprints that Franky probably kept in his speedo.
 * Word of God says that Franky keeps his tools in his speedo.
 * In the G-8 filler arc, Luffy pulled the octoballoon from the end of Skypiea from his trousers.
 * In the G-8 filler arc, Luffy pulled the octoballoon from the end of Skypiea from his trousers.

Luffy: Down where?"

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 * Trust Me, I'm A Doctor: Trafalgar Law tends to announce his profession with such a line. Though, it doesn't help that, in addition to being a doctor, he's a pirate. And, OH YEAH, his moniker is "Surgeon of Death," so you might not want to trust this guy too much.
 * Turns out he's actually pretty good at his trade.
 * Tunnel King: Miss Merry Christmas
 * Daruma
 * Tyke Bomb: All of CP9 apparently, but Rob Lucci was the the most infamous.
 * Averted in the case of Luffy and Ace who were trained from young ages by their grandfather to become strong sailors in the Marines... only to become two of the world's most wanted pirates.
 * Ubermensch: Blackbeard.
 * Unexplained Recovery: It's amazing what kind of things that people in this series go through, yet still live to tell the tale. For instance: Pell carrying a bomb out of the clock tower, seemingly getting blown up when it goes off, and still ends coming back just fine.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: Shiki at the start of One Piece Film Strong World. Granted he was already a prick to begin with, but . Big mistake.
 * Done much earlier by Don Krieg, who attacks the restaurant that just saved both his and his crews' lives.
 * The Longarm Tribesmen
 * Unholy Nuke: God Eneru with his infamous, island-annihilating Raigou.
 * Universal Poison: Averted with Magellan. His Doku-Doku no Mi gives him command over all poisons, running the gamut from minor irritants to paralytic agents to full-on stone-melting corrosives. Even with antidotes for some individual poisons, once he hits you with lethal doses of about a dozen different poisons you're beyond the help of medical science. Luffy found out the hard way that Magellan's poison wasn't just a Standard Status Effect he could Determinator his way through.
 * Unobtainium: Seastone.
 * The Un-Reveal: Happens whenever information about One Piece or the Will of D is about to be revealed. When Usopp asks Silvers Rayleigh what's on Raftel, . Later, Whitebeard flashes back to a conversation he had with Roger concerning the true nature of the Will of D,.
 * Unscaled Merfolk
 * Unskilled but Strong: Luffy's defeat of Sandersonia and Marigold falls into this. Luffy couldn't get past the Boa sisters' Haki abilities until he went to Gear 2nd and became faster than Sandersonia could follow even while reading him and stronger than Marigold's defenses could handle.
 * Unsound Effect: When Wapol's crew is stared down by a bunch of Lapins, the sound effect is LAPIN.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Numerous times by most of the Straw Hats, but the most hilarious is when Sanji finds out that  and  . He becomes so angry he starts burning - literally.
 * Sanji again anytime he remembers the "Hell" he went through the past two years, even enough to set his whole body on fire instantly.
 * Unusual Eyebrows: Sanji.
 * Unwanted Harem: Luffy has an entire ISLAND'S worth in the Kuja Amazons, who immediately take a liking to him after he does the gorgon sisters one of the biggest favours they could ever ask for.
 * Not to mention Boa Hancock and "Iron Mace" Alvida. Although, the harem may be less "Unwanted" and more "Undetected".
 * Unwitting Pawn: Both the Whitebeard Pirates and the World Government are patsies for, the man who single-handedly caused what is confirmed to have been the biggest battle in recorded history, got what he wanted, and escaped scot free.
 * Upperclass Twit: The Celestial Dragons. They're the descendants of the people who created the World Government, so they feel that they don't have to do anything. That includes not breathing the same air everyone else is breathing.
 * Use Your Head: Luffy has done this at least twice. One time, he used his head to stretch back and hit Captain Kuro;knocking him out. Another was in Skypeia when he used gomu-gomu bell, which is him using his head as a weapon.
 * Verbal Tic: Too many characters to list, and the unique laughs for characters are practically a whole subtrope.
 * Victoria's Secret Compartment: While heading toward Enies Lobby, the group overhears a Den Den Mushi chiming, and Nami tugs down the front of her shirt. Sadly, we don't see her take it out.
 * In the Seventh Movie Nico Robin is shown pulling a small paper from her ample bosom, complete with a Gainaxing effect.
 * Victory Pose: Franky.
 * Viking Funeral:.
 * Villain Ball: The World Government is a Well-Intentioned Extremist government and 9/10 of their acts are to protect the citizens and the World peace with a Kick the Dog moment... then they decide to start a war with Whitebeard, one of the Emperors . The results were... mixed.
 * Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Remember those Pacifistas that utterly demolished the Straw Hats and a large chunk of Whitebeard's forces? Remember when defeating the first one left the entire Straw Hat crew completely drained and vulnerable? After the time skip, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji are all capable of effortlessly bringing them down.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Crocodile and Moria had really epic ones. Also Spandam, though his multi-stage breakdown was pathetic rather than frightening.
 * Let's face it. Every enemy Luffy initially fights goes through one. He has that effect on them.
 * Villainous Crossdresser: Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, who later does a Heel Face Turn.
 * Villainous Harlequin: Buggy the Clown
 * Villainous Rescue: Granted, they were already in an Enemy Mine situation, but it's still surprising when chapter 578 comes around and  of all people steps in to save Luffy.
 * Villains Out Shopping: The post-Paramount War chapter covers place some of the more serious and/or villain characters into lighthearted scenarios, such as Magellan fishing with Hannyabal, Impel Down sadist Sadie-chan eating out with the head guard Domino, Mihawk eating takoyaki with Jinbe, and Akainu tending to a bonsai tree.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: Crocodile, of course. He was seen as the hero of the people pretty much up to when he created a sandstorm that was supposed to Kill'Em All.
 * Violence Is the Only Option: For Luffy, the only way to deal with the current arc's Big Bad is to kick their ass.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Zoro and Sanji, obviously. When they meet up again after not seeing other for two years, the first thing they do is insult each other. Making it seem more like they had been apart for two minutes than two years.
 * Vocal Dissonance: Noticeable with characters like Chopper in his combat forms, Miss Monday, and Fukuro.
 * Vocal Evolution: If you compare the acting from the very start of the anime, to now... well, it speaks for itself.
 * Volleying Insults: Sanji and Zoro
 * Wacky Wayside Tribe: Filler uses this now and again, to give a side-voyage for the anime while the manga gets ahead. In canon, the just-introduced Kuja Tribe on the island of Amazon Lily already appears to fit the trope to a T.
 * Subverted. The leader of the Kuja, Empress Boa Hancock, turns out to be a Warlord of the Sea and a plot coupon to help Luffy infiltrate Impel Down. The Amazons have since become another one of Luffy's allies, especially since Hancock has developed an intense crush on Luffy.
 * Wake Up Call Boss: Aokiji. He took down Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro faster than any one before.
 * Also, Mihawk and Crocodile. They both took down Zoro and Luffy (Respectively) in seconds the minute they actually starting fighting back.
 * Wanted Poster: Considered De facto Power Levels on the Grand Line by the general public. The higher a person's bounty, the stronger and/or more dangerous to the world s/he is.
 * War Arc: The Whitebeard War had an entire saga named after it, but most of the major fighting occurred in the Battle of Marineford arc. Its participants included the Whitebeard Pirate Crew, the Marines, the Seven Warlords of the Sea and Luffy.
 * Wave Motion Gun: The Thousand Sunny's Gaon Cannon. Not every day you see one of these things on a pirate sloop.
 * Weak but Skilled: Usopp and Nami in particular, using gadgets and tactics in their battles. Robin should also count as far as Devil Fruit powers go, since she isn't physically any stronger than a normal person, but her power lets her use leverage and devestating creativity against her foes.
 * Weak-Willed: Luffy is highly susceptible to hypnosis. He can even be affected by hypnosis that isn't even aimed at him. He also repeatedly fell victim to Miss Goldenweek's Colors Trap.
 * Weapon of Mass Destruction: Pluton, Poseidon and Uranus.
 * Weapon Tombstone:
 * Webcomic Time: One Piece began on August 4, 1997, and to date, on-screen action covers less than a year of story.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Marines down to a T. Aokiji, Smoker and Hannyabal for example are basically good persons who want to protect the innocent from pirates while others like Akainu and Sengoku are far more brutal and merciless in their quest for peace . Luffy is the same, ready to help others at the drop of a hat but though nothing of letting some of the most degenerated individuals in the planet free as long it saved Ace and acting with what he believes is right, regardless of morality, factions or consequences.
 * There's also Ohm, who just wants to save everybody from fighting and ruining the inherent happiness they were born with...by killing everybody so they can no longer suffer.
 * Wham! Episode: Chapter 513/Episode 405. That is all.
 * Chapter 550 with its shocking revelation.
 * We could honestly just call the the entire Whitebeard vs. Marine thing a WHAM ARC, with the number of things that keep popping up and changing the tide of the battle. One Piece might go from being a Crap Saccharine World to just a Crapsack World.
 * And 577, aptly named "One Outrageous Development After Another,"
 * Wham! Line: Two in rapid succession.
 * Wham! Line: Two in rapid succession.

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 * Another one:

"Luffy: What was it just now?! Where was Robin speaking from?!
 * What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: The Buster Call attack. The last one had a battleship fire at another, still fully-manned battleship... just to get Luffy.
 * And before that, in Robin's flashback, they fire on a passenger ship full of innocents just in case a archeologist hid on board.
 * What Does This Button Do?: While running from angry locals after landing on a winter island, Franky comes across a large button with a skull on it. Thinking that it's a pirate symbol, he presses it. As you might have guessed, that's not what the skull was a symbol for.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Sanji makes cooking look epic.
 * What If: The question poised for the 9th One Piece movie: Episode of Chopper, which panned out a little differently than from the original story.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Hannyabal gives one to Luffy in Impel Down, pointing out that many of the prisoners his group has freed deserve to be locked away, as they would otherwise be terrorizing innocent people. Case in point: . Luffy's response? Basically, he didn't care. Your Mileage May Vary (his brother's life was at stake, not to mention his own), but for many this was a shocking turn for Luffy. Possibly done to create a parallel between Luffy and Blackbeard.
 * Though in Luffy's case, it should be noted that he did not originally want to free . It was Emporio Ivankov who conviced him to do it.
 * Incidentally, Sengoku gives (or rather wants to give) one in 581.
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer:Every Devil Fruit users' power is a "hammer" as the power never grows stronger or weaker. The users must think of ways to use this power in new ways. Special mention goes to Luffy because while he is an idiot, he comes up with surprisingly creative ways to use his "hammer".
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Nico Robin's mother Nico Olivia.
 * The White Prince: Helmeppo
 * Who Watches the Watchmen?: Who governs the World Government?
 * The Idiot Ball/Villain Ball
 * The Gorosei, but there is no real oversight at any level. They are free to do what they want.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: In the Skypeia arc this took three whole episodes and it was of the tale of the ancient past, anyway, and in the Enies Lobby arc, it took two episodes and a double-bill special flashback.
 * Widget Series
 * Wingding Eyes: Happens every so often. At first, it was just with Nami and her eyes becoming the the Beli sign. Now, it has included sparkles, hearts and, at one point, takoyaki.
 * Winged Humanoid: The apparent application of Devil Fruit.
 * The inhabitants of Merveille have feathers growing out of their forearms, though they themselves don't know why or how.
 * Not to mention the Skypeians and Shandians, despite the latter having lived on the ground before getting shot up into the sky. They're small and seem to be purely cosmetic, though.
 * With Friends Like These...: Usually, the only time that Zoro and Sanji are not fighting each other is when there's something or someone that has gotten in the way of them fighting each other.
 * A Wizard Did It: The majority of the Devil Fruit powers seem to violate major, established laws of physics and causality, but that's okay because they're magical. Also it's cool.
 * Wolverine Claws: Captain Kuro
 * Women Drivers: Averted with Nami in Skypeia. She picks up a waver and ends up getting the hang of it within minutes. This is after Conis told her that it usually takes someone about ten years to master using it.
 * The World Is Just Awesome: When the Going Merry goes up Reverse Mountain.
 * Diving to Fishman Island, and seeing the giant Yarikiman Mangrove roots from underwater.
 * World of Badass: One Piece is capable of, among other things, making chefs, carpenters, and even crossdressing queer ballerinas absolutely, unarguably, BADASS. That last one manages to pull off arguably one of most badass scenes of all in a World of Badass.
 * World of Ham: Played for Laughs and drama
 * World's Strongest Man: Whitebeard has been called this many times before, and with good reason.
 * The World Tree: The Tree of Knowledge from Robin's past.
 * Also: Adam, the invincible tree.
 * A Worldwide Punomenon:
 * The Zoro/Kaku fight in Enies Lobby is brimming with all kinds of weird puns.
 * At the beginning of the Sabaody Arcapelago arc, when Duval's crew attacks the Thousand Sunny, they keep talking about keeping their flying fish in formation. The problem is, in Japanese, the word for "formation" is hentai, which also means "pervert". Naturally, Franky answers to this.
 * The Worf Effect: In full swing during the Marineford arc. Whitebeard, Jozu, and Marco easily repel the initial moves of Aokiji, Mihawk, and Kizaru respectively. The latter three all curb-stomped the Straw Hats. Three out of Seven Warlords quickly bring down Oars, Jr., whose ancestor's reanimated corpse defeated the Straw Hats and then some.
 * All the giants present in Marineford serve as prime examples for this, serving as fist-fodder for Oars Jr., Whitebeard and Luffy, in that order.
 * CP9 did this to the Galley La foremen hardcore
 * The Demon Guards from the Impel Down arc seem to exist solely for the purpose of being clobbered by Luffy, Crocodile, or Jinbe every time they show up, the second time off-panel.
 * And after the timeskip, the Pacifistas have become textbook examples.
 * At least the older models.
 * The New Fishman Pirates were used like this to show just how strong the entire crew has gotten in the last two years.
 * Worth Living For: The crew is.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Sanji. He won't do it even when that girl is trying to kill him.
 * Wretched Hive: The Sabaody Archipelego. With all of the bounty hunters, human shops, ship-coating ripoff bars, Celestial Dragons who come by every so often, the auctions of people/mermaids and the marine base being right next door, it's a wonder that any pirate rookies who get there ever make it through to the New World.
 * Written by the Winners: Donquixote Doflamingo basically says that whoever wins the war between the marines and the pirates becomes justice.
 * Averted with the poneglyphs. Which, according to Professor Clover, were probably written by the losers of the war that happened during the Void Century.
 * That's probably more played straight, considering the World Government have successfully wiped out nearly everyone capable of reading them.
 * Xanatos Gambit: Sir Crocodile, Sengoku, and especially...
 * Blackbeard. Doesn't matter if Luffy escapes and Ace shows up; he'll just capture the latter instead. Doesn't matter if he loses his Warlord status; he only wanted it to get into Impel Down anyway. Doesn't matter if Magellan curb-stomps him and his entire crew; he's convinced someone to bring him the antidote. Doesn't matter if Shanks stops him from sinking Marineford; he got what he wanted and said what he needed to say. ("Dear Everybody: You're FUCKED.")
 * It's important to remember just how completely insane Blackbeard's gambit was based soley on how lucky he got. The astronomical number of factors that could have killed his entire plan is just dizzying. First of all, if Luffy hadn't been in Impel Down around the same time as him, then Magellan wouldn't have been inconvenienced enough to release Shilew; which would've resulted in him being hopelessly curbstomped by Magellan, with no one to help him. Luffy even getting into the prison relied on the actions of both Kuma and Hancock; two people he no control whatsoever over. Taking Ace instead of Luffy was the entire reason he was able to get past the Impel Down phase of his plan, since it's made quite obvious that he wouldn't stand a lick of a chance against Whitebeard under normal circumstances. The war resulting from Ace's execution weakened Whitebeard just barely enough so he make the kill.
 * He is convinced that it is fate.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess: Blackbeard's proven highly adept at improvisation. He initially targets Luffy as his ticket into the Warlords, but goes for Ace when the opportunity comes along. Faced with a probable enemy right on the gates of Impel Down, Blackbeard up and recruits him.
 * X Marks the Hero: After the time-skip, we see that now has an X shaped scar on his chest.
 * Year Zero: Many characters refer to the current era as having begun with Roger's death, and with the newest era beginning with 's death. Though the official Year Zero appears to be the creation of the World Government / end of the Blank Century eight hundred years prior.
 * Yellow Brick Road: ...As defined by the specific compass the crew happens to have.
 * You Are Already Dead: Brook's signature attack.
 * You Are Not Alone: Robin's Rescue Arc.
 * You Are Number Six: The male agents of Baroque Works.
 * Oddly enough, Mr. 6 is not actually present in the series, though we do get 0 through 5, 7 through 9, 11 and 13.
 * You Didn't Ask: The reason Luffy never told anyone about his strange family tree and about why Ace is his older brother.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Buggy, Tashigi, Vivi, Ms. Doublefinger, Franky, Iceburg, Ivankov... did we miss anybody?
 * Yes. You missed Nami's even hotter older sister Nojiko.
 * Strangely, Zoro (with his green hair) is the only one in the series whose hair color is ever treated as abnormal.
 * You Have Failed Me: The fate of any Baroque Works agent who fails their mission. Mr. 3 got better.
 * You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With:.
 * Up until the crew met Akoji, none of the Strawhats fully understood just how powerful the Marine's top people could be and how far Luffy and others had to go before even remotely standing a chance against one third of the "Greatest Military Powers".
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Baroque Works and the Black Cat Pirates have poor employee benefit packages.
 * You Rebel Pirate Scum: Quoted mostly by members of CP9, but a common sentiment among World Government personnel.
 * You're Not My Type: Played for Laughs in Fishman Island. Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi says this is the reason that she won't marry Vander Decken. Considering that he's been using his devil fruit power to throw an object he can at her (from literally anywhere) for ten years, forcing her to hide away in her castle out of fear, practically everyone is surprised this is her main concern.
 * Once you consider that "not her type" could possibly mean "someone who would rather kill the person I love than see them married to someone else", it does sort of make sense.
 * Your Size May Vary: Various examples.
 * The first time Urouge bulks up he utterly dwarfs Hawkins, yet shrinks down a bit for subsequent appearances.
 * On one volume cover Mr. 2 is shown to be a little taller than Crocodile, who's over eight feet tall, but isn't shown to be anywhere near that height in the manga itself.
 * Then there's the infamous "Giant Warlords" spread, where Mihawk and Hancock, both confirmed to be no taller than six and a half feet, utterly dwarf a marine soldier talkng to them.
 * Even Gecko Moria, who is over 22 feet tall, suffered from this. When he first appeared, he looked more like a giant than an abnormally large human.
 * It didn't help that the minions that he first appeared next too are like 1 foot tall so perspective was shot to hell and back.
 * Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The Revolutionary Army.
 * You Shall Not Pass: Done by Ivankov and Inazuma to delay Magellan. Hannyabal invokes this when confronting Luffy, while standing on a bridge, swinging a flaming staff. Then.
 * This exact line was later used again by Vice Admiral John Giant on
 * And now
 * Lampshaded by Rob Lucci:
 * And now
 * Lampshaded by Rob Lucci:

Lucci: Behind this door.

Luffy rushes the door; Lucci intercepts him.

Lucci: "I can't let you pass." At least let me say that."


 * Zany Scheme: Silvers Rayleigh had one that eventually lead into the two year time skip.
 * Zerg Rush: Don Krieg's pirates claim they're the strongest in the East Blue. Luffy informs them that they aren't strong, "There's just so many of you."
 * Also a key element to Enies Lobby's defense is its 10,000 man garrison.
 * Zombie Gait: Averted; most of the zombies are of average speed and intelligence, have distinct personalities, and can even disobey their masters in some instances. Justified by the fact that these zombies actually have "souls"... just not their own.
 * The aversion is lampshaded when Nami, Usopp and Chopper openly expect the zombies to be slow as per cliche, and then are shocked when the zombies dash at them.
 * ... only to have to stop moments later to catch their breath.