It's hard to imagine anyone within One Piece's gigantic pirating world not knowing the golden rule for any criminal: "No honor among thieves." A pirate's life is a cruel and lonely one.Alliances shift and change much like the waters themselves, and good, loyal crewmates become as valuable and rare as actual treasures.
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Suffice to say, there have been plenty of betrayals and shifted alliances across the course of One Piece's long voyage, each one shaking up the story in their own way. Some are tragic, familial conflictsthat break the fans' hearts. Others are welcome, brilliant surprises that help rejuvenate the story when the chips are down. Whatever is the case, One Piece has come up with some grand anime betrayals.
Kurozumi Kanjuro
For a couple of years, the One Piece community has been wondering which character among the alliance could possibly be the traitor. As it turns out,it was the obvious answer, Kurozumi Kanjuro. Kanjuro never inherently gave off traitor vibes, but his weird demeanor never made him a fan favorite and this lack of emotional attachment made him easy pickings for the traitor fan theories.
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Despite this, there was still a lot of weight behind Kanjuro's betrayal. He had been an inside man for Orochi since the early days of the Scabbards and played a huge part in Oden's downfall and Jack's raid on Zou. However one may feel about his actual reveal, there's no denying that he's been easy to hate ever since.
Denjiro
Of the various twists and changed alliances within the Wano Arc, Denjiro's has to easily be the most shocking and exciting. While Kanjuro was an inside man for Orochi, Denjiro was an inside man for the Red Scabbards and a long-time protector for Kozuki Hiyori. After Oden's death, Denjiro wasn't part of the group that was sent to the future. Instead, he hid away for years, letting grief and age change his appearance.
When he did return to the public eye, he took on the name "Kyoshiro," a rising yakuza boss who'd go on to become Orochi's right-hand man. Up until the alliance came to Wano, Denjiro had been helping Hiyori and the people in secret while maintaining his prime spot right next to Orochi's head.
Scratchmen Apoo
While the Straw Hats were on sabbatical training, the rest of the Supernovas were out in the New World trying to usurp the Emperors...and failing. It became obvious to them that their only options were to either join with them or work with each other. Eustass Kid tried to do the latter, calling upon Basil Hawkins and Scratchmen Apoo to help him take down Shanks.
Unbeknownst to him, Apoo had already become a key agent for Kaido and was already calling the hulking beast to ambush their meeting. Since his betrayal was revealed (and even a little before), the fans have lambasted Apoo as easily the slimiest of the Worst Generation and have thoroughly enjoyed the Animal Kingdom betraying him.
Hody Jones
Fishman Island and the Ryugu Kingdom have a long, tumultuous history with the human world. Tensions became practically unforgivable after Otohime, their precious queen who had always dreamt of peace with the humans, was suddenly and mercilessly shot down by a mysterious assassin, right before she was set to begin peace talks with the World Government.
For years, it was easy for many to think that this was another act of hate and violence by the humans against fishmen and merfolk. Unbeknownst to them, it was Hody Jones, a fishman raised on utter hate for humans and human sympathizers, who shot her down. As tragic as this was, this would unfortunately just be a taste of Hody's campaign of fear for the kingdom.
Caesar Clown
A being of actual, noxious gas, Caesar Clown was an arrogant, self-serving scientist who abused others' trust and resources to fuel his devilish experiments. This would, unfortunately, include the likes of the Brownbeard Pirates, a downtrodden pirate group that he took in as guards and test subjects after their humiliating defeat by Basil Hawekins.
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And while many of them, Brownbeard included, saw Caesar as a hero leading and healing them, Caesarwas practically screaming throughout the arc that he was planning to betray them, going as far as to actually scream how little he thought of them as he was about to kill them.
Donquixote Rosinante
Only Eiichiro Oda could give a pirate group as aesthetically silly as the Donquixote Family a gangster movie-esque story. This gangster-style history would reach its peak in the tragic conflict between its two, core brothers. Here, Donquixote Rosinante was Doflamingo's long, lost brother who was taken in by the Marines when Doffy was taken in by Trebol and his brothers.
Rosinante would go on to become a Marine spy that was entrusted with infiltrating his brother's pirate crew during its early years.While being an informant is already betrayal enough for a gangster story, Rosinante would also try to sway a young, Trafalgar Law from joining the crew as well as interfere with one of Doflamingo's biggest deals.
CP9
Long after Tom's trial, the Marines believed that Icebergwas given the plans to the Ancient Weapon, Pluton. To keep an eye on him, they dedicated a small yet capable group of superspies to spend years infiltrating his closest circles. This involved several members becoming key contractors in his building company and one of them becoming his seemingly trusted assistant.
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Once they had enough information and control over Nico Robin, they decided to pull the trigger on their plans and fully raid his offices. The cold, unabashed reveal would leave Iceberg and his team feeling shocked and used, as people that they once viewed as friends and even family suddenly conspired against them.
Marshall D. Teach
Edward Newgate, known to most as "Whitebeard," roamed the seas looking for what he has always wanted most, a family. As great and mighty as his crew might have been, their central rule was to never betray or harm the sons and daughters that Whitebeard had spent years raising. And, as of this writing, only one person had ever broken that sacred rule.
Marshall D. Teach, now known to all as "Blackbeard," is an individual of mysterious origin who killed his superior, Thatch,whenhe realized that he had the Darkness Darkness Fruit. Unfortunately, this would not be Blackbeard's last betrayal of the Whitebeard Pirates or even his last betrayal as a whole, as he'd continue his ominous campaign toaccumulate even more power.
Squard
Whitebeard isn'tthe nicest pirate around, but he is an old man who has such great feelings of pride and affection for his crew that he could practically forgive any of them for stabbing him in the back or, in Squard's case, the front. "Maelstrom Spider" Squard was an old member of the Whitebeard Pirates who went on to start his own pirate crew.
He'd fight alongside the old man during Ace's rescue but quickly became suspicious of Newgate's intentions when Akainu somehow got in his ear. Akainu would eventually be able to trick Squard into piercing Whitebeard in his stomach. Squard wouldn't feel the weight of his actions until Whitebeard got onto his knees to hug and forgive his child without question.
Sanji
Sanji's betrayal of Monkey D. Luffy was so heart-wrenching and tragic that Toei Animation's marketing for the hour-long episode dedicated to the betrayal compared it to Judas's betrayal of Jesus Christ. In so many words, a lot of people felt this one. For a while, many fans wished and thought that the fight between Luffy and Usopp on Water Seven would be the Straw Hats' last, inner conflict.
However, greater powers and family circumstances would work against them as Sanjifound himself trapped within an arranged marriage between powerful, criminal families. When confronted by his traumatic past and the seemingly insurmountable power of the Big Mom Pirates, Sanji did his best to protect his crew by rejecting his captain in no uncertain terms, going as far as to kick out one of Luffy's teeth.
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