Revenge is one of the most classic and enduring story elements in the history of fiction. From the days of Shakespeare to the plight of Sasuke Uchiha, audiences live for the taste of a bad doer’s blood. Sometimes it just makes for good angst, and other times it allows us to live out the fantasies of getting back at a bully. Either way, it plays to our natural desire for good drama. It gives characters a clear goal, and sometimes they even look cool standing there all mopey.

There are certainly a fair share of examples in the One Piece world of characters who want nothing more than to take the head of their oppressors. The bad guys are bad. Chances are real strong that they’ve murdered the loved ones of our main characters. This kind of conflict is often introduced or at least implied at the outset of each arc.

But here’s the thing, One Piece is one of the reasons we laugh at shows like Naruto. Shows that focus too much on brooding heroes who have had wrong done unto them. One Piece is a happy show full of smiles, showing us why things like optimism and adventure are cool. Is Eiichiro Oda the kind of author who would write a story for the sole purpose of getting back at a villain?

There’s a common sentiment among fans that Luffy needs to get revenge on Akainu for killing Ace during the Whitebeard War, but that’s never rung true for me. Luffy can absolutely be petty and angry, we’ve seen him talk about “kicking that guy’s ass” time and time again, but to what extent has that ever been about revenge?

In the recent Chapter 787, Sabo gets between Luffy and Jesus Burgess, whose crew was also instrumental in their brother’s death. He tells Burgess, “That was the life Ace chose. I won’t blame you for what happened,” before declaring that he is the one who will protect Luffy from that point forward. That’s… an incredibly mature response from Sabo, and it’s definitely framed as such in the story. I assume that Luffy feels very similar.

No matter how aggravating a villain’s bad deeds are, our heroes’ actions ultimately end up being about protecting and helping people they care about first and foremost. If we look back on the history of beat downs that Luffy has delivered, it’s rare that he even knows the full story behind his friends’ struggles. He isn’t fighting because the villain killed that guy that one time, he’s fighting because he’s protecting somebody’s happiness.

“Maturity” definitely feels like the right word here. It’s pretty frequent that we do see characters wanting to pick a fight out of anger, but the story hardly ever rewards that in any meaningful way. The Arlong arc opens with the young boy Chabo trying to barge in on the Fishman pirate crew to avenge the death of his father. A classic scenario, but he immediately has his attempt shot down by Nami. Impassioned revenge is framed as childish. In most arcs, we see the locals and arc-specific characters having to put aside their lust for revenge and put their trust in Luffy, a character who’s often the only one who has no personal attachment to the villain whatsoever.

As an audience, we kind of get to have our cake and eat it too. We do get the whole story. We do get the satisfaction of seeing an a-hole of a villain get his comeuppance, and it’s part of the price of admission that we pay. It means a lot when Luffy defeats Arlong because at that point we wanted revenge on him. Kyros and Diamante’s fight ends with some poetic justice as Diamante bumps his head on Scarlett’s grave. As far as character motivations go, these things still fall under the umbrella of protecting people, but we can’t pretend that they weren’t structured that way for our amusement.

Regardless of that, the story is almost never about revenge. It’s about all the ways that Luffy is fit to be the Pirate King. If Luffy ever had to fight Akainu again, how do you think the story would approach it? Is Luffy getting back at Akainu over Ace’s death the kind of satisfaction that Oda is interested in? I really don’t think so. I think however enjoyable it is to see a bully get his face caved in, One Piece has to ultimately be about something much bigger and much more mature. Revenge is for entertainment, sacrifice is for the real deal.

Revenge is a common theme throughout One Piece as it is in many series of the same genre, but there was always something that struck me when it came time to talk about the end game for the characters. Whenever Akainu or Blackbeard do return as a major antagonists or whatever, I just think there will be so many more interesting goals to accomplish beyond something as immediate and petty as revenge. One Piece has so much more to say than that.