 Yes, there is a lot of tragedy in One Piece and every major arc does tend to really pull on those heartstrings through some of those amazing acts and figures. But the greatest One Piece-based tragedy of all is currently playing out in real time with you not pressing the subscribe button for the Grand Line Review and thus missing out on regular One Piece content being uploaded straight into your YouTube feed. Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece and today we are going to be turning our sights into the far, well, maybe not so far but future of the current arc in the series and more specifically to discuss the potential and or inevitability of death that may occur as a result of Wano. And I've explored a lot of potential in this area in my chapter reviews but I thought it would be a good idea to collate all of that into one topic. Which, yes, means anime only watches, this is your warning. I will be discussing incredibly key developments in the manga that take place during Act Three of Wano and if you don't want to be spoiled then look, I completely understand and please do feel free to come back to this video another time. However, for everyone else we are going to rather swiftly proceed. So death is one of those things that gets talked about quite commonly in the One Piece fan base which is very interesting actually given how profoundly uncommon death actually is in the series. Although I guess that's why it's such an enduringly fascinating topic though because when it does happen outside of a flashback it is generally a pretty massive event. And ever since the times of Marineford which saw the departure of one port-gasty ace Oda has been much less timid about including death in his arcs. And despite clear examples that prove that statement otherwise like pound miraculously surviving because we do still have cases like Pedro whose noble sacrifice gave Holcake Island a whole new level of weight to it. And given that we are now in what is increasingly looking like the largest arc in the series dealing with the climax of the entire new world era. I think that we would be pretty naive to believe that we are going to make it out of this without at least one similar act. And there are several key candidates to explore when it comes to death and I want to stress that this does not have to be purely on the protagonistic side of things although most of them will be. But before we hop into that properly though I would be remiss not to mention that Wano has already had what would be by any other arc standard considered as a healthy dose of tragedy. And by that I mean Odin in the flashback Yasuo in the Monday and assumedly but not at all confirmed Lady Toki. And that would generally be enough to form the heart and soul going forward into a grand satisfying action conclusion. But with the sheer scope of Wano I'm just not too sure about that especially if this mega arc does adhere to what is widely speculated to be a five act structure which is the traditional method of Kabuki plays a concept that Wano seems to strongly parallel. And the thing about that is though that another common feature of said plays is that act three is usually characterized by sped up action leading to a great moment of tragedy. And that's why Odin's flashback sits kind of weirdly with me because you could theoretically attribute his death as that moment of tragedy. However, it occurred right at the beginning because act three is still well and truly ongoing. And I think that very much opens up the potential for another incredibly tragic event to occur to cap things off here under the assumption that it is of course a five act structure. If not, then act three is just going to be wildly huge because it's already close to equaling at two size and well, we still have an awful lot left to deal with. But enough of that speculation let's move on to other speculation because like I said, we have a whole host of candidates who could be issued their death orders at the hands of Etra Oda. And I'm going to start with a fairly standard thought being Jinbei. And Jinbei is a strange existence. He's been an unofficial straw ever since he entered Fishman Island really. And even after officially joining on Holkake Island he was removed from the story temporarily. And even after officially, officially joining on Wano Oda has now very purposely decided not to add the final stamp of approval in the form of a crude toast, not yet anyway. And as time goes on, I'm becoming less and less old on the idea of Jinbei perishing tragically on Wano because he just seems so perfectly set up to become one of if not to the very final straw hat. At this point, losing him would leave a pretty big like whale shark sized gaping hole in my heart. But I have to admit maybe that would be Oda's intended purpose. I mean, there is of course very little point in killing a character who we have no emotional attachment to whatsoever. And my investment in Jinbei is pretty paramount at this stage. So that would be a pretty grand tragedy. And it would explain why Oda has not gone so far as to conduct the toast yet. I mean, Luffy's reasoning of waiting until everyone can celebrate together is pretty sound in what that is. Narratively though, it's just a storytelling delay. And as much as this does sometimes in fact often burn me, I have to assume that it was done intentionally. And those intentions may very well be to kill the whale shark because after the toast has happened and Jinbei is fully ticked, there is no way he is dying. Not before the very end of the series anyway because all of our straw hats have something of an immunity from death except for brook, I suppose. But then again, he died before he joined the crew. So that only goes on to emphasize my point. But that's enough Jinbei for now. I do think there's potential. However, at this stage, I also suspect that there are much more likely candidates. One of which that I've only just begun to think about is Genomon. And the more I consider it, the more I begin to see just how much this guy is made for potential tragedy. I mean, Kinemon was portrayed as more or less a joke for the majority of his tenure in the series. You know, the perverted samurai with a low brow sense of humor, all Kinemon and all that. But as Wano has unfolded, Kinemon has undoubtedly become the center of emotional focus here. He is the arc specific character who gets saddled with conveying the grand expressions to the audience. Through Kinemon, we feel the sheer drive and desperation to defeat Kaido at all costs. Much more so the Momonosuke or the rest of the vassals. Kinemon is the leader and oftentimes it falls to the leader to make a grand act of sacrifice for the good of those who are following them. Just like Odin did. And I have no doubt that Kinemon would use his life in an instant if it would signal the change in tide of this battle. And not only that, but I also suspect he's the best possible vassal to do so because we as an audience have a very long standing connection with him. I mean, we've known him for almost a decade now. So I think that losing him would affect us far more than we anticipate at this stage. Plus the fact that he's just such a goofy character would only make that hit ever so much harder because he had been portrayed as so likable and recently very empathetic. So I quite legitimately fear for Mr. Kinemon because I can see him very much following in Odin's footsteps and leaving an extra degree of inherited will with Momonosuke, thus maybe giving the kid that final push he needs. To a lesser degree, I'd also like to bring up the possibility of Dendro as well though. Although I don't think he'd be anywhere near as good a choice as Kinemon, but he still would be quite effective in his own right because he and Kinemon were the OG members of the Kozuki Odin's stalking crew. So Dendro has every right to be that center of emotional focus as well. It's just that we haven't spent as much time with him as we have with Kinemon. But in terms of character framework, he has almost everything that Kinemon has. A primarily goofy exterior with some great emotional depth and easily generated empathy. But the big impact that Dendro would have though would not be on Momonosuke, but on Hiyori, which I find to be a very interesting idea which would in the same vein provide Hiyori with an extra boost of inherited will to rise up and become whatever future figure it is that she is destined to be. And that might be even more important than Momonosuke because Hiyori was extraordinarily young when Odin died. I think she was six at the time actually. So maybe just a bit more tragedy is needed in order to forge her character. And one last thing about Dendro, there would be another tragic layer within him because he was one of the vassals who has had to live throughout the last 20 years rather than being time-skipped like Kinemon. So his passing may very well be a great culmination to an incredibly difficult journey. Let's step away from that for a bit now though because I did say before that these deaths don't necessarily need to be amongst our protagonists and I think that there is a pretty decent chance that Big Mom, Kaido or both will meet their ultimate end on Wano. In terms of Kaido, we still know criminally little about him as a character but death is intrinsically linked to what he represents in one piece. I guess more accurately, he's seemingly strict immunity to death. And I know that in recent times, we have seen a grander spectrum of Kaido's emotions which include happiness very surprisingly but even then as it stands, he still seems like an especially tortured soul. And with all of that in mind, I could very easily see his character arc ending in death and furthermore, I can see us as an audience being affected by it in a very, very surprisingly emotionally punchy way. Once we learn more about his backstory and how he came to be, I suspect that at the very least, I will be empathizing with him on a similar level to that of Big Mom. After seeing her flashback, I really do feel sad for her twisted existence and hunger demons aside, I really don't think it's her fault that she traveled down the path of being a villain. Under the right guidance basically, meaning not Streuson, I think that things would have turned out very differently. And that brings us to Charlotte Linlin and the possibility that she may die, which I currently find to be a much more depressing idea than that of Kaido. And it's because as undeniably evil as she is, what Big Mom represents is this weird brand of innocent evil. She's a twisted child and I can imagine that in her final moments, we'd see a glimpse of all of the orphans and Mother Carmel and it will be a real tearjerker if she does perish, that is. But the greater reasoning to which I point to the potential death of these two emperors is because it's a very difficult thing to see how the story proceeds without putting a full stop on these characters. I mean, imagine for a moment that Luffy and his allies do defeat Kaido and Big Mom on Wano, so what? They're still the two most powerful figures in the world and they will pursue Luffy endlessly for revenge, which is what Big Mom is already doing. They are unrelenting forces that will never be stopped so long as they are living and or mentally sound. So death almost seems like the only real option. Although in Big Mom's case, it might be possible for her to revert back to a permanent stage of amnesia or even become one with the Olin personality and then perhaps forgive the Straw Hats and maybe even become an ally of them. Kaido though, he is a, he's a much tougher nut to crack without a bit of the old death. More tragedy now and I will briefly mention the possibility of a Marco related sacrifice. This fan favorite has very recently made his presence known on Wano and while I think that Marco would be one of the more unlikely candidates to fulfill a tragedy quota, I will admit that he is quite well positioned for it. A remnant of a former emperor following in the footsteps of his former captain and sacrificing himself to ensure the dawn of a new age like the blazing Phoenix he is. It's not an unlovely idea at all. Plus that also does bring up the idea that Marco is indeed a Phoenix, which gives Oda a very usable out given that these creatures are famously known for their ability to engage in rebirth. So in that way, Marco can both die and then have his devil fruit take effect in a similar manner to that of Brooke and perhaps Marco will indeed be reborn into this world. Finally though, I've already mentioned her but I'm going to do it again because we still have not resolved the existence that is Toki. The woman who has time traveled all the way from the void century is in desperate need of some expansion because she spent all of Odin's flashback very much on the sidelines, which is fine because we were focusing on him. But this could very much be the key to another Wano related catastrophe because let's say that we get a second flashback only this time we focus on seeing the events of the past from Toki's perspective which culminates in her death. And at that point we would have both Odin and Toki in mind going forward as well as Yasuo actually and that seems pretty damn solid for the largest Megarock in one piece. The tragedy of a couple rather than having a singular emotional focal point. And look, I don't know, I just think that Wano really calls for that extra amped up piece of heart because this time around I'm not so sure that we're going to cut the climax with what we currently have. But what do you guys think? Please do leave your thoughts in the comments below or even join my Discord server. And if you'd like to see more videos like this then please do go and check out some of my other content or even subscribe to the channel. More glorious one piece business uploaded straight until YouTube feeds. But for now, this has been the ground line review and I'll see you next time.