Among the many reasons that make ever-growing narrative and world-building. Eiichiro Oda, the creator behind the manga and anime, may not have intentionally meant to add as many references to the real world as he did, but there are a lot of fascinating inclusions within the story that unravel as Luffy and the audience learn more about the universe in One Piece.

Oda has never been afraid to get into dark, grizzly topics in One Piece’s otherwise fun and light-hearted story. While Luffy is an optimistic and silly protagonist, the times he really shines is when he’s faced against overwhelming odds or challenges that he’s never had to face before he left Dawn Island. One Piece doesn’t always add a new, stronger antagonist to each new arc; it introduces themes of oppression, history’s previous atrocities, and incidents that can be connected to specific cases, such as White Town. Here are moments in the franchise that had ties to real-world events.

1 Segregation of Races

The Fish-Men Island Arc Was More Than A Fight Against Humans

The most popular and well-noted of these events are the themes of segregation and oppression during the Fish-Men Island Arc, where mermaids and Fish-Men were clearly seen as inferior to the human race, with the former even fetching high prices on the black market. The Fish-Men race wasn’t just looked at as lesser than; Queen Otohime’s backstory revealed that it was also about impurity, which ultimately proved to be a false assumption based on discrimination alone. This may not have been Oda’s darkest moment, but it was a reality many readers were slapped with when they got to Fish-Man Island.

One of the incredibly sad realizations is that even within the Fish-Men themselves, there was judgment between mixed couples that could reflect how some view interracial marriages. Fish-Men Island’s arc may not have been a hit with some One Piece fans, but there’s no denying that looking into a lot of the messages and themes of hatred and division definitely reflected a lot of real-world issues, mostly commonly seen among countries' treatment of minorities.

2 Island-Wiping Bombings

The Buster Call’s True Tragedy Lies in Its Accuracy

Rescuing Robin was always more than just saving her from the 9 and Spandem, it was about helping her realize that continuing to live wasn't a sin following the traumatic conclusion of Ohara. It can be easily argued that this resulted in some sort of PTSD from what we see in the newest installments of One Piece, as well as the survivor’s guilt for being the only researcher to have made it out alive. The most atrocious thing about Ohara isn’t just the tragedy, however, it’s with the Buster Call itself.

The Buster Call is described as a bombing when in reality, it’s a call to arms of many high-ranked marines to wipe out an island’s existence through cannon fire. The most notorious of incidents such as this could reflect some of the bombings that occurred during World War II, with Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Ohara was a tragedy that shaped many lives outside of just Robin, even going on to warp Kuzan’s perception of the World Government. It was a needless sacrifice of innocent people and continues to affect One Piece’s characters even hundreds of chapters later.

3 Human Trafficking and Slavery

An Instance That Occurs Multiple Times Throughout One Piece

There is, surprisingly, a lot of human trafficking in this coming-of-age shōnen meant for teenage boys, and it goes from people being used as slaves to what may very well be sexual abuse when taking into consideration Boa Hancock and her sisters' aversion to men. When it all comes down to it, however, many of One Piece’s use of human trafficking always comes down to the Celestial Dragons and the Holy Land of Mary Geoise. The most frightening thing about this inclusion in the series is that it is far from being relegated to only fiction.

Revealed as soon as Luffy and his Straw Hat crew stepped back on the Saobody Archipelago, the series didn’t stop pulling punches post timeskip, with Camie getting kidnapped to be sold on the black market by the Celestial Dragons. As one of the most untouchable threats in One Piece, many aside from just the noble, Rosward, continue to engage in seedy behavior throughout the story from there, with Boa Hancock and Big Mom as reminders to the audience that this lucrative practice is still ongoing and very much in business.

4 Asbestos and Lead Poisoning

The Curious Tragic Case Behind White City

As if Trafalgar D. Law couldn’t any more tragedy in his backstory, Oda included the addition of Flevance, where a bizarre disease took over a majority of the town due to the Amber Lead in the area. If the sickness didn’t get to the people, the betrayal and fear of the neighboring countries would wipe White City out, with only Law surviving among a pile of corpses.

Similar events have occurred before, tragically, with one being the obvious connection between lead poisoning and the inevitable drastic effects it can have on people when it’s running through the water supply and piping. Another few curious cases have involved asbestos in Canada and Australia, where, more accurately to One Piece, poisonings lead to cancer due to the nearby mines and asbestos being used in materials, much like how Amber Lead was used in utensils and items in Flevance.

5 Censorship and Propaganda

The World Government Notoriously Silences Important Knowledge and Events

Throughout many of the travesties explored in this article, one of the main components is often relegated to the World Government and its participation in keeping the events contained, if not outright erased. The Ohara Incident, abandonment of Flevance, and the special treatment allotted to the royal families and Celestial Dragons have all been at the hands of this organization, which set out to protect the public, yet it keeps withholding all the sinister occurrences it’s responsible for. The unraveling chaos at Marineford was even attempted to be covered up, with the Marines desperately trying to cut off the camera feed.

The largest form of censorship the World Government is known for is everything that occurred during the Void Century, though its part in the conspiracy hasn’t been explored in its entirety in One Piece.

However, the World Government didn’t just hush events, they used deceitful tactics to tie up any loose ends. As one of the only survivors of Ohara, Nico Robin’s bounty of 80,000 Berries wasn’t due to how physically dangerous she could be, but what she knew about the wipeout of the island. Another case is the misconception behind Gold Roger’s name as an attempt to erase the knowledge of the D. clan, leading to Luffy’s first bounty being set incredibly high, not because of his achievement following East Blue’s conclusion, but because of the D in his name.

6 Hunger and Starvation

Okobore Town Alluded to Morbid Horrors

Food is a major staple in One Piece, whether it’s through symbolizing a person’s motivations through their willingness to eat or serving as a literal conflict in poverty-stricken communities. Whereas Luffy’s goals to become the Pirate King are often reflected in his hunger to both achieve them and his actual appetite, self-motivated greed has been condemned in the series, like how Big Mom’s hunger leads her astray and places her family in jeopardy and constant fear.

The darkest time the series has ever delved into starvation has been seen in the Wano arc, with smaller towns often taking the brunt of it. While one town was affected by the defective SMILE fruits, an earlier scene depicts a family from Okobore about to take their own lives by hanging, and a mother raising a knife over her infant to end their suffering. Not having access to food is a bleak reality that exists beyond fiction, and just one from Chapter #918 alluded to a dark ultimatum considered by struggling families.

7 Criminal and Outcast Construction

Generations Living and Building Tequila Bridge

Expanding on the atrocities committed by the World Government, enter the construction of Tequila Bridge, a massive project undertaken by criminals and those who opposed the government's agenda. Ordered by the Nobles, the bridge was meant to serve as the connection between islands and has been ongoing for the past 700 years. Before the timeskip, Robin is teleported to the location due to Kuma's ability, giving the audience the first glimpse of Tequila Bridge.

What's fascinating and equally dark about the construction of the bridge is that it's a continuous project that may not have an end goal, instead serving as a way to keep criminals and anyone who the World Government deems a threat numbed to the idea of revolution. History has used the construction of real major monuments all at the behest of another group that the majority sought to stifle and exhaust, which may very well be the case for Tequila Bridge.

8 Martyrdom

Living On Past Their Death and Sacrifice

What ultimately started One Piece and inspired pirates across the seas was undoubtedly Gol D. Roger's treasure, but more than that, instead of going out and serving as a warning to anyone else who would dare rise against the World Government, Roger became a martyr and spurred on the next generation. He was a vital enough figure to affect not only the pirates, but the marines and general public, since big-name pirates like the Yonko's have territories that are protected under their name alone. Audiences get to see just how vital these become as a consequence of Whitebeard's death.

The incident at Marineford resulted in the ing of both Whitebeard and Ace, monumental figures in the pirating world, and ushered in a new resurgence with the Worst Generation rising to power in the years that followed due to the actions of the Marines. Though the reason behind each of their sacrifices was different, they all served as more than just an excuse for Oda's quota. Gol D. Roger's and Ace's past actions are still pivotal in later One Piece arcs, showing just how much the two of them touched the hearts of people they've come across.

Sources: Flevance, Censorship, Tequila Wolf