One Piece: Is Roger losing his status as the story continues? Explored

In One Piece, Gol D. Roger was introduced as an unparalleled legend. The first and only pirate captain to reach the end of the Grand Line and find the One Piece, the fabulous treasure that gives the series its name, Roger learned all the secrets of the world together with his crewmates.

Roger has always been portrayed as a genuine powerhouse, a fighter with overwhelming Conqueror’s Haki, and thus exceptional, seemingly unparalleled willpower. Roger’s ability to match someone as mighty as Edward Newgate “Whitebeard”, the pirate known as the World’s Strongest Man, only confirms his combat prowess.

That said, a growing number of fans lament that Roger’s legendary status is diminishing as the story progresses. This perception has been amplified by the emphasis placed on Rocks D. Xebec instead, a pirate whom Roger could never surpass in power, having to join forces with Monkey D. Garp to beat him. In combination with Xebec’s seemingly much greater exuberance, this undermines the original Pirate King’s aura in the eyes of many readers.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1156.

Roger’s legendary status in One Piece doesn’t seem as untouchable as it once did

Is it possible to disrespect the Pirate King of all characters?

Gol D. Roger as seen in the One Piece anime (Image via Toei Animation)

Roger’s achievements earned him the Pirate King title and sparked the Great Piracy Era, cementing his status as a true legend in the intricate fictional world of One Piece. For this reason, Roger’s name has always inspired awe in fans. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case nowadays. There may be some truth to this, though the truth is probably more complex than it seems.

The story began with the One Piece being painted as Roger’s treasure, but it was later revealed to be a collection of items that Joy Boy handed down to posterity. It was also revealed that, although Roger and his crew were the first to reach the Grand Line’s final island, and even named it Laugh Tale, they arrived “too early”, making their role just transitional.

Furthermore, Roger and his comrades decided to keep everything they learned – including the Void Century, the Will of D., and the Ancient Weapons – a secret, instead of revealing it to the whole world. They didn’t directly harm the tyrannical World Government, and they indirectly helped them during the notorious God Valley Incident.

The Roger Pirates, the only crew to ever reach Laugh Tale (Image via Toei Animation)

Though a supposedly “good” crew who loved and sought freedom above anything else, the Roger Pirates didn’t ally with the Rock Pirates to take down the World Government. Instead, they allied with the Navy to protect the Celestial Dragons, a caste of villainous slave owners who look down on other human beings and kill them for fun. This behavior remains incomprehensible to this day.

Roger’s aura of awesomeness continues to decrease when considering that he was “just” on the same overall power level as Whitebeard. The difference between the two mostly was in the different strength of their respective crews. Whitebeard wasn’t even particularly interested in finding the One Piece.

Roger also didn’t defeat his greatest foe, Rocks D. Xebec, all by himself, but had to team up with Monkey D. Garp to take him down. Roger probably didn’t beat Garp either, as the two were said to have nearly killed each other several times. This suggests that neither came out on top, or that, at least, the difference was negligible.

The disbandment of the Roger Pirates (Image via Toei Animation)

Many of Roger’s life choices appear quite controversial, such as his decision to leave his child with Garp, a Marine, instead of entrusting him to his right-hand man, the reliable “Dark King” Silvers Rayleigh. Granted, Garp ended up loving Roger’s son, Ace, as his own, but that still didn’t turn out well, seeing as Ace died miserably.

Roger also didn’t arrange for his lover and the mother of his child, Portgas D. Ace, to be hidden away and protected. He could have asked Rayleigh or Scopper Gaban to help Rouge, but he left the woman to her fate. As a result, Rouger made tremendous efforts to delay the birth of her child in a desperate attempt to protect him from the World Government and the Navy, who were searching for him. While this worked, the struggle led to her death.

A complex, multifactorial truth

Roger's initial appearance in the One Piece anime (Image via Toei Animation)

Roger’s death is another controversial topic. Shortly after visiting Laugh Tale, Roger disbanded his crew. He parted ways with Rayleigh and the others before surrendering himself to the Navy, which imprisoned and later publicly executed him.

As it’s well known, Roger made this choice with the awareness of being doomed to die anyway due to a fatal illness that he had contracted. However, many fans see this as a disappointment, in particular when compared to Whitebeard’s iconic last stand in Marineford. Surrendering oneself to be executed like a dog on a leash sounds like the exact opposite of what pirates do, especially for someone who boasted about freedom.

Whitebeard died heroically, fighting everyone who stood in his way despite being weakened by both old age and a terrible sickness. His glorious death also wasn’t an end in itself, as before taking his last breath, he confirmed the existence of the One Piece. Roger could have done the same, just on a bigger scale.

There must have been a reason for the behavior of the Roger Pirates (Image via Shueisha)

It would have been epic and fitting to see the Pirate King revealing the existence of the One Piece to the newspapers, then single-handedly storming Mary Geoise, the World Government’s capital city, and dying in a last stand against the Holy Knights and the Five Elders, or perhaps even Imu. The World Government would have tried to hide the news, but someone like Morgans would have probably leaked it anyway.

Granted, it could be argued that Roger used his death to initiate the Great Piracy Era with the World Government’s unintentional collaboration. He surrendered himself with the sure knowledge that the World Government would execute him and pride themselves in this act, broadcasting the execution to the whole globe. So, he used that moment to spread the One Piece reveal.

Then again, that announcement has been a double-edged sword, considering that the initiation of the Great Piracy Era caused an immeasurable amount of violence and death worldwide. Also, what Roger did was essentially to promise something that only “a chosen” one can achieve, fooling thousands of people into wasting their lives in the chase of an impossible ambition.

Roger flexing his formidable Haki (Image via Toei Animation)

Even Dr Vegapunk, in his message to the world, openly blamed the Roger Pirates for their inaction, saying that they didn’t do anything to change the world despite the prominent information they learned in Laugh Tale. To be fair, however, it appears that it’s not like Roger and his comrades didn’t want to act, but that they were simply unable to take action for reasons going beyond their control.

Nowadays, several former members of the Roger Pirates, including Silvers Rayleigh, Scopper Gaban, Crocus, and “Red-Haired” Shanks, seem to be deliberately shaping Monkey D. Luffy’s pirate adventure. Luffy met these individuals at various points in his journey, and it’s plausible to think that these encounters weren’t coincidental encounters or random events, but part of a precise plan to guide Luffy towards becoming the new Joy Boy.

Rayleigh, Shanks, and the others are probably acting on Roger’s precise instructions, working to ensure that Luffy brings Roger’s dream to completion after inheriting his will. As Roger noted, they were “too early” to act. It’s quite possible that the Pirate King entrusted his former crewmates with nurturing the kid destined to shake the world even more than they did, and to finish what they couldn’t.

Roger in Laugh Tale (Image via Toei Animation)

Taking this into account, Roger remains an almost unparalleled legend who shaped the story with his achievements and actions. His strength also can never be underestimated, given that even Kaido remarked how Roger was mighty enough to conquer the world with the sheer power of his Haki alone.

As things stand now, Roger objectively appears somewhat different from how he seemed at the beginning of the One Piece story, when he was depicted as a charismatic, free-spirited man who commanded respect by his presence alone and was capable of slaughtering other pirate crews in a fit of rage.

His character now seems much goofier, which is probably a deliberate choice by One Piece author Eiichiro Oda to highlight the similarity between Roger and Monkey D. Luffy.

Some of Roger’s legendary aura has progressively faded to reveal a more fallible individual. In all fairness, this only makes him look more human and relatable. On the other hand, it’s undeniable that characters like Joy Boy, Xebec, and Shanks, each in his way, are usurping some of Roger’s place in the story with their narrative impact.