WARNING: The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter #1030,"Echoing The Impermanence of All Things," by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English from Viz Media.
One Piece is by far the best-selling and most popular manga series of all time, having sold more than 490 million copies worldwide since its 1997 debut and garnering a huge global fan base. For all its greatness, however, it's not without its flaws.
Considering how long the series is and the considerable depth of its story, there's plenty that fans disagree on. One thing they all do agree on, however, is its frustratingly constant use of a particular trope. The trope in question is fake deaths, and it has plagued One Piece since its early days. Eiichiro Oda has a habit of placing characters in situations where it seems unlikely they'll survive, then deliberately makes it seem like they died -- only to casually reveal that they're alive some time later. In Chapter #1030 of the manga, the fake-death trope is once again used on three different characters.
Kin'emon, Kiku, and Kanjuro were presumed dead several chapters ago. As it turns out, they're still alive and kicking. Kin'emon being alive is particularly shocking because he was stabbed straight through his body by Kaido, after being hit in the head with a Color of the Supreme King Haki attack. At this point, it's starting to feel like these One Piece characters are immortal.
There are several reasons why fans are frustrated by the latest use of the fake death trope. The characters are currently engaged in an all-out war that will undoubtedly have lasting effects for the series after the Wano Country arc. The problem is, all these fake deaths are undermining the seriousness of the situation the characters are in. It's gotten to a point where it's hard to take the war seriously anymore.
Kin'emon being alive is one of several reasons fans are starting to feel underwhelmed by Kaido as an antagonist. He's been built up as the strongest creature in the world, yet during the war for Wano, he has done nothing to live up to his reputation so far. Earlier during the raid, he seemingly killed Orochi by cutting his head off. That turned out to be a fake death and Orochi is still alive in Chapter #1030. Then there's Kin'emon, who somehow survived Kaido's attempts to kill him.
Kin'emon survived supposedly because his body was never properly reattached after Law cut him in two during the Punk Hazard arc. Thus, when Kaido stabbed him, his body separated again. This attempt to explain his survival is debatable at best. It seems implausible that Kin'emon wouldn't have noticed something is off with his body at any point during the long journey since then. It's more likely that Law must be the one to put his targets back together for it to be done properly -- which he didn't for Kin'emon. If that's the case, it seems odd that Law, who's been traveling with Kin'emon and the Straw Hats this entire time, never brought this up.
The manner in which Kaido "killed" Kin'emon -- by stabbing him straight through his body -- also makes the explanation questionable. He didn't slice him the way Law slices his targets. And even if Kaido did slice him, it seems a bit too convenient that he would have sliced the exact same area. It's clear he didn't, however, because there was a lot of blood shown when he stabbed Kin'emon -- which doesn't happen when Law uses his Devil Fruit ability to separate people's bodies. One Piece's explanation is believable in theory, but there are too many contradictions to simply accept it in this situation.
Chapter #1030's revelations prove Kaido hasn't been the big bad he was set up to be. Not only has he failed to kill multiple characters who shouldn't have been able to survive his attacks, but the fact that Luffy keeps coming back to fight him again after being knocked out undermines his abilities. There's also the fact that Kaido didn't definitively beat Yamato either.
Between all the fake deaths and the lack of any real casualties so far in this One Piece arc, the stakes of the Wano war are feeling low and it's increasingly difficult to take anything that's happening seriously. It doesn't help that it's almost certain Kaido will be defeated by Luffy. A lot of fans will also find it hard to care if characters they've already mourned when they thought they were dead, actually end up dying.
It wouldn't be the first time the fake death trope ruins the emotional impact of a One Piece arc. Pell was infamously revealed to be alive after seemingly sacrificing himself to save the Kingdom of Alabasta. Fans still complain about that one to this day. Other instances of this include Pagaya during Skypiea and Pound during Whole Cake Island.
Readers seeming eager to see characters die -- whether they love them or hate them -- is a testament to how tired they are of the fake death trope. Characters rarely losing their lives in present time in a series like One Piece, which depicts and explores serious matters such as war, slavery, government corruption and oppression, undermines the seriousness of those subjects.
Series like Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer excel in their use of character deaths to emphasize the seriousness of their storylines, or how strong other characters are in comparison. The stakes can never be overestimated. While fans are always saddened to see characters they like die, they do appreciate it when the deaths are executed in a meaningful way that feels fitting for their arcs. Unnecessarily killing off characters can be just as frustrating as unnecessarily keeping them alive.
One Piece's Wano arc remains ongoing, so there's still a chance for Eiichiro Oda to make the stakes feel real again before its conclusion. Unfortunately, whatever happens is unlikely to have maximum emotional effect, as readers are bound to question whether a character who's seemingly died is actually gone.
