One Piece’s character list is one of the most versatile in the anime industry. Eiichiro Oda gave each one of them a backstory. It made the fans connect with the characters more and feel their joy and sorrow. But there is a particular character that barely ever felt joy after the Marineford arc. Marco, popular as Marco the Phoenix, lost everything during the Paramount War.
Marco is one of the best side characters of One Piece. His undying loyalty to Edward Newgate, Whitebeard, is second to none. He is still carrying out his captain’s last order. Other than losing his close ones, the Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit user suffers from being left out continuously.
Marco The Phoenix Is The Saddest Character In One Piece
The Paramount War was the turning point in One Piece’s course. It caused the power shift between the Marines and the Pirates, the Straw Hats’ momentary retirement from being pirates, and the rise of Marshall D. Teach. While most people remember Monkey D. Luffy’s loss at the war, Marco was the one who suffered the most. Portgas D. Ace’s death affected both Luffy and Marco. While the former only mourned his brother’s death, the latter experienced more.
He lost Ace, Whitebeard, Oars Junior, and countless other crew members. It was the doing of his former crewmate, Marshall D. Teach’s evil plan, that brought on the calamity. Since then, there has been no stopping to his misery. After the Paramount War, the remaining Whitebeard Pirates started a war with the Blackbeard Pirates called the Payback War. Unfortunately, they suffered a crushing defeat, and Marco lost most of his close ones.
Marco was on the Moby Dick for more than two decades and even fought the Roger Pirates. Most of his happy times were with the Whitebeard Pirates. Even though they spent all of their time together, his friends left him all alone. He was the only one who always survived. Marco has been involved in countless fights in One Piece, yet death never seems to come to him. The only thing he kept on experiencing was endless suffering, which Monkey D. Luffy knows very little about.
Marco Sufferings Did Not End After The Payback War
Marco the Phoenix left his pirating life behind and became a doctor at Whitebeard’s home village. But he never forgets his captain’s last order, which is to protect Ace’s brother. Marco aided the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance on Onigashima. He helped them by keeping the Big Mom pirates out of action and fighting King and Queen together until Sanji and Zoro arrived.
Even though he was not a major part of the alliance, he suffered the death of another friend, Izo. They sailed together on Moby along with Whitebeard. At the end of the Wano arc, Marco said, “I survived again.” Even though he was smiling, there was the burden of losing so many of his friends. Another great aspect of the former pirate was his loyalty.
He saw Whitebeard as his father and pledged his undying loyalty to him. Even after his death, Red-Haired Shanks approached him multiple times to join his crew, but he refused every time. His self-respect never made him beg for sympathy. Marco was on the crew of a Yonko, yet he is living a peaceful life without anyone’s support. Seeing him try to hide his sorrows with a smile brings pain to the fans.
One Piece can be streamed on Crunchyroll, and the manga is available on Viz Media.
