Why Horror Is Such An Underrated Aspect Of One Piece

In the last few episodes of One piece, Luffy and Zoro encountered Basil Hawkins, a fellow member of the Worst Generation and now a "Headliner" for Kaido's Beast Pirates.Hawkins, at least by himself, doesn't really seem like much of a physical threat.For the most part, he looks like he'd be happier buying leather bracelets and complaining about post 2007 Lamb of God albums than sailing the Grand Line.So when Zoro attacks him, for a second, it looks like Hawkins's head has been cleaved so hard that part of his skull was sent to another dimension.

But then, using his Straw-Straw Fruit ability, he's able to transfer his wound to one of his crew members by way of the little straw dolls that he's created.And the fear and nervousness among his underlings is palpable.Working for Hawkins must be Great.You get status, notoriety, and a lifetime supply of, umm, straw.But it also means that there is no chance of you not going down before your boss.Ten of you will be slain at random before Hawkins even takes a scratch That's a little terrifying.

And then, when it becomes clear that operation "nameless henchmen" isn't gonna work, Hawkins summons a giant straw entity with nails for fingers and an eerie cackle.And while I'm finally getting the Venn Diagram of One piece villains and Batman: Arkham Asylum Scarecrow boss battles that I've always wanted, I also realized that, dang, One piece does horror pretty well.

For the most part, One piece It's adventure on the high seas, and even when it's not especially light in tone, it feels like it's moving. Meanwhile, horror is usually about the inability to move.It's all claustrophobia and being trapped or menaced by some kind of evil. And the transitions between these two seemingly unrelated genres always make me remember a documentary about the making of the film JAWS where director Steven Spielberg talked about working through the score with composer John Williams.He wanted what he referred to as "pirate music" during a scene where Quint, Brody and Hooper pursue the massive shark, Elmer P. Jaws.

Now, this choice, on the surface, feels a little jarring because it's so nakedly exhilirating when compared to the methodical "dun dun dun dun" of the rest of the music.But it's a twist in tone that works, and suddenly and seamlessly, the horror film about a big fish that hates the Fourth of July becomes an adventure film about three dudes yelling at each other about barrels and boat engines, mainly due to the devotedness of the cast, the music, and Spielberg's skilled directorial hand.

It's wonderful, and I think One piece does this in reverse: it's normally such a spirited action-packed journey, but its extensions into horror feel utterly natural due to the worldbuilding and the atmosphere. One piece does this a lot, going back all the way to the Syrup Village arc when Captain Kuro used his claws to indiscriminately attack his own men because he was moving too fast to control just where he was slashing.In fact, much of the East Blue saga is marked by regular humans that live in fear of the supernaturally powerful individuals that are supposed to be taking care of them.Don Krieg would poison his whole crew if it meant settling a grudge.Arlong would massacre a town that he promised to protect if they slighted him.

There's not much of a leap between Crocodile impaling Luffy in their first battle and Michael Myers stabbing Bob to the door in the original HalloweenAnd Enel's "mantra" allowing him to become an invincible god figure that knows everything you'll do before you do it is straight out of a slasher villain's playbook as well.

Thriller Bark is filled with horror tropes like zombies and bats and the loss of control due to having your shadow ripped from you.But even more specific than that, look at Perona's bear sidekick Kumacy. notable example of the "innocuous cute thing becomes scary" comes from the clown doll attacking Robbie in Poltergeist, it's become the basis of the entire Child's Play franchise.And the bread and butter of most modern horror film trailers is taking some non-threatening song like "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" and remixing it so that it fits footage of demonic possession.

More recently, Doflamingo's ability allowed him to puppeteer people and force them to attack others, with the entire kingdom of Dressrosa being mauled by their absolutely jacked, sword-wielding king. And Whole Cake Island was just one horror scene after another with the Seducing Woods , Big Mom's rampages and the "disappearance" of Linlin's friends and Mother Carmel during Linlin's sixth birthday party.And all of this fits smoothly with loud fistfights, declarations of friendship, and plentiful jokes.

Horror isn't just an aspect in One piece to's a deeper exploration of the world itself, one where the inspirational "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" attitude brushes right up alongside of of most most primal fears-the loss of control, the inability to escape, our own mortality, etc. The "pirate music" of JAWS wasn't chosen because it would jolt the audience.It was chosen because, amidst the horror, there was a fitting place for it.And the horror of One piece isn't some outlying aspect that sticks out awkwardly.It's there because it's a crucial part of the One piece world.

What is your favorite horrific moment in One piece? Has a One piece chapter or episode ever scared you? Let me know in the comments!

——————————

Daniel Dockery is a writer and editor for Crunchyroll. You should follow him on Twitter!