You’ve cried while watching One Piece, don’t lie. We’ve all done it and often more than once. Some of us just shed a few reluctant drops at the most tragic flashbacks, while others (me) start sobbing at the drop of a (straw) hat. It’s gotten to the point where if I seem emotional at any time my friends will automatically ask if it’s because of One Piece. They are usually right, but I’m not ashamed of it, and no fan of One Piece should be ashamed of how often they cry or get emotional while enjoying it. One Piece is a series that draws intense feelings from its readers and watchers, and it’s meant to. There are many scenes that are sad, or heartwarming, or triumphant, or just so incredibly funny that fans find themselves with tears dripping down their cheeks. It’s not just the fans who are crying, a large number of One Piece characters have also been shown with tears running down their faces in many different situations. But despite what society may think of crying, these characters aren’t portrayed as weak when doing so. Instead, they’re shown as beings that don’t feel the need to cover up their emotions so that they can appear as “strong,” and fans should feel free to do the same.

When it comes to the characters themselves crying in One Piece, author Eiichiro Oda doesn’t pull his punches. This isn’t a single tear that shines when it drops daintily down a cheek. It doesn’t matter what their age or gender is, if the waterworks start you can expect to see a storm of tears, lip biting, and usually snot. The sheer volume of salt water shed might not be realistic in our world, but these aren’t some contrived small tears meant to make the characters look pretty. It can be a few tears at the corners of eyes or an actual waterfall of sobbing with red eyes and a runny nose. When One Piece characters cry, they cry from the soul, whether in happiness or sadness, and we the readers are made to empathize with them.

It’s not only the main Straw Hat crew who cry. Many side characters have made their way into our hearts when they tell the tale of whatever woe they face with tears in their eyes, and again when their specific obstacle is overcome, or sometimes if the obstacle isn’t overcome. Yes, I sobbed when Ace died with tears down his cheeks and smile on his face, but I cried even harder when I saw the reaction that Luffy, Garp, and the entirety of the Whitebeard crew. These are characters that are some of the most powerful and fearsome in all of the Grandline, and in the middle of a war they stopped to shed pure honest tears for the loss of a loved one. It wasn’t an act of weakness, it showed their strength in that they could openly mourn what they had lost without trying to cover it up, even when they were right in the midst of their enemies. Their captain, the great Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, also didn’t hold back his tears at some misguided attempt to be tough for his men. He cried at the loss of a child, just as his sons would later cry at the loss of their father. It doesn’t matter a character’s level of strength, their age, or their gender. That does not automatically exempt them from showing their emotions.

Oda knows exactly what he’s doing to us, just look at the inclusion of Bartolomeo in the Dressrosa Arc. Bartolomeo is a character that at least partially is meant to represent the fanbase, and with that comes a lot of crying whenever one of the Straw Hats even notices he exists. He’s an emotional wreck of a fanboy and isn’t ashamed about it at all, much like many One Piece fans. Oda knows that many of us would also probably start crying if we could just somehow meet the real Straw Hats, but he isn’t making fun of us by portraying Bartolomeo the way he does. Bartolomeo has rocketed up as a beloved character in the current Dressrosa arc, and even reached number 9 in the most recent One Piece character popularity poll. People love him because they can empathize with him. One Piece fans love a character who cries at the very idea of being called a friend by Luffy, who almost faints with awe over Zoro’s insane feats of strength. They want a character that shows as much emotional pleasure over these characters that they themselves do, and with that often comes the same messy tears that Bartolomeo sheds.

Tears in One Piece are a good thing, and not just because of the revealed healing powers of Mansherry’s. Way too many shonen manga and other genres like it in many different cultures portray crying as weak, humiliating, or even “unmanly.” When someone cries in One Piece, it’s usually done completely outright, with the characters being unashamed of their body’s emotional response regardless of the reason. Unlike many series, it’s not just the women or children who cry, every single one of the Straw Hats has had at least few scenes where they are crying and it’s usually during a pivotal scene during a character arc. We as fans don’t see them as weak because of their tears. Instead we seem them as characters who show the same basic human emotions that we ourselves might feel in similar situations in the real world. Sobbing in both joy and pain humanizes these otherwise outlandish characters and allows the audience to relate and fall in love with them.

So don’t feel like you have to hold it in the next time a flashback comes up in the manga or when Luffy beats the bad guy or we finally see the rest of the crew again. Cry, cry like you want to. There is no shame in showing your emotions and a vast majority of fans will readily admit that they’ve turned on the waterworks at least a few times during their tenure with One Piece. The amount of times that I’ve heard someone admit something about crying their heart out when Merry died or when Luffy rang the golden bell in Skypeia really just shows how connected the fans are to the characters that they love. If anyone ever makes fun of you for crying about One Piece ignore them because being emotional doesn’t make you weak, it just makes you human.