Summary
The greater scope ofOne Pieceshows that not every character with a significant impact is necessarily significant within the story itself. While, on some level, the series makes an effort to distinguish more characters than the average shōnen manga, there is still a distinction between the ones who are given narrative importance and the comparatively insignificant ones.
Perhaps characters with this distinction can ascend to a higher level of importance, possibly even off the back of their impacts, but for the moment, these characters are somewhat minor within the context of the narrative, but still have had major impacts nonetheless.
1Caribou
Leaked Info About The Ancient Weapons To Blackbeard
Caribou is a scoundrel and villain who is a quasi-recurring character in the series. He is characterized as a sadistic pirate who tries to infiltrate the Straw Hat Pirates from the inside to kill them. Having failed, he instead snuck aboard their ship but managed to escape. However, his slippery criminal behavior allowed him to resurface in Wano, even briefly aiding the Straw Hats and their allies against theBeasts Pirates. His tendency to eavesdrop has allowed him to pick up significant information regarding the various ancient weapons, often as it is being relayed to others.
After some time spent hitching rides and being captured for disruptive behavior, he seemingly revealed his true colors during the Egghead Arc. He professed that Marshall D. Teach was his idol, and mentioned a desire to relay info regarding the weapons to theBlackbeard Pirates. He has recently docked in Hachinosu, but it remains to be seen how valuable Teach will find his info or how well he will be rewarded for it. Additional complicating factors include the duplicitous nature of both pirates. Caribou has previously proven a willingness to infiltrate crews for his own gain, and Blackbeard has ultimately shown little regard even to significant members of his crew and insists they are all allies of convenience. Whatever the outcome, it will likely result in Blackbeard acquiring the information and remaining the dominant party, as Caribou is much weaker and has little influence in addition to seeming to genuinely admire Teach.
2Kurozumi Higurashi
Enabled Orochi To Rule Wano
The Kurozumi Family was heavily persecuted due to a failed coup attempt by one of their members. This resulted in even innocent relatives being targeted by lynch mobs for their ancestry. Kurozumi Orochi was one such relative before his rise to the throne. A vital player in his ascendance was Kurozumi Higurashi, a supporter of the initial coup. Higurashi encouraged Orochi to steal the throne from the Kurozumi Family by telling him the truth about the previous coup.
An emboldened Orochi used this knowledge but was also aided by Higurashi’sMane Mane no Mi, which allowed her to impersonate others, most importantly copying the mannerisms of the Kozuki rulers to ensure a smooth transition of power between the two clans. Despite the Kozuki clan never actually ceding the throne, this falsehood ensured that the Kurozumi clan would lay claim to it for many years.
3Mother Carmel
Facilitated The First Giant Marine & Big Mom
Mother Carmel presented herself as a kindly caretaker who ran the Sheep’s House, an orphanage accepting children of all races. She was well-liked by the giants in Elbaf, where her orphanage was initially based, and presumably the children she took care of, as well. However, this was all a carefully crafted facade for what was a highly lucrative child trafficking operation, in cooperation with the Marines. Carmel’s initial significant triumph was introducing giants into the Marines, which is presumably why she was based in Elbaf.
Vice Admiral John Giant, both the first giant introduced in the series and the first giant to enlist in the Marines was once an orphan whom she sold to the Marines. Yet arguably dwarfing this initial child soldier, was a second failed major prospect; Charlotte Linlin. Despite being a mere human girl, Linlin’s size, voracious appetite, and destructiveness were far too much for her homeland to deal with, resulting in her exile. Carmel took her in, yet her behavior in Elbaf, which resulted in multiple deaths during a ritual fast, caused her to become hated by the giants. Undaunted, Carmel simply relocated her children to another orphanage to sell Linlin to the government at a price that would leave her rich enough to retire. While Linlin’s raw strength, even at a young age, would likely have made her a top-tier marine or agent of Cipher Pol, the agreed-upon deal never went through.
During Linlin’s sixth birthday, she is heavily implied to have eaten Carmel and her fellow children, having inherited the trafficker’sSoru Soru no Mifor herself upon their collective disappearance. While some can argue figures like Streusen andRocks D. Xebecfurther groomed her into the powerful pirate captain she would later become, Carmel’s conduct cemented Linlin’s poor behavior and inadvertently resulted in her gaining her most terrifying abilities. Furthermore, Linlin’s actions during her time with Carmel resulted in the collective prejudice the giants held against her.
4Jalmack
Pushed Sabo Toward Revolution
Jalmack is a World Noble, the most upper-crust type of royalty in theOne Pieceseries. Descending from ex-rulers who collectively founded the World Government, these nobles live their days out in selfish bliss, subjugating all they please while plunging themselves into excess. When visiting the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue, Jalmack traveled while a ship driven by a child got in his way. He shot it down with a bazooka.
Jalmack justified his actions, claiming a pirate ship that cut him, a World Noble, was deserving of such an attack. Sabo was presumed dead by many, including his sworn brothers, Luffy and Ace. Yet this was untrue. Instead, he was saved by Monkey D. Dragon and eventually became the right hand of theRevolutionary Army. If Sabo were allowed to simply continue, he may never have joined the cause, as he wanted to become a pirate originally, like his brothers.
5Lu Feld
The MADS Financier
The institute also identified the lineage factor, which led to significant strides in its discovery by members such as Dr. Vegapunk and Vinsmoke Judge. Judge’s machinations for the lineage factor were largely responsible for alienating Sanji from the family, as the counteractive prenatal drugs his mother, Sora, took led to him becoming a “failure.”
Virtually every scientific innovation seen throughout the series from SMILEs, artificial Devil Fruits, to cybernetic enhancements, is partially attributable to the work done by the various scientists during their time at this institute. Feld specifically financed the vessel, which, due to being used to conduct several different groundbreaking experiments, likely couldn’t have been cheap. Yet without this vessel, who knows how long a lot of bizarre scientific innovations seen throughout would have taken to form?
