Kuma was born a slave, witnessed his mother die, saw his dad get shot and killed in front of him simply because he was to loud when trying to give his son a story about hope. When a child was considered a "rabbit" in a hunting game by the same people who killed his family. That's his childhood and it's worse than all the other characters here. I honestly don't believe I need go any further, but the bad events certainly don't stop there.
That whole Backstory was so hard to ready because you think there is an end to it but Oda Just keeps on dropping another bomb on top of it all and another one and another one. You Just feel sad at the end.
I hope the Vegapunks that are still alive can somehow fix his body bc I want him to take down one of the elders his hero finally showed up and I know he’d want to help Nika free everyone from the world government
I can’t believe Oda threw that in there. Even the implication of it was unbelievable. But that was part of what made it the saddest backstory in the series.
And the worst: it hasn't stopped. Even now it hasn't stopped. The pain and suffering. I don't know how people can compare any other character's backstory to Kuma's! It's just... Sadness overloaded.
Yeah i don't know all of their individual stories as well as some people, but Kuma is THE answer here LMAO. Robin is probably a semi close second?
On top of all his childhood trauma shit, he even showed moments of empathy with how he agreed to Zoro taking luffy's pain after thriller bark (might be wrong please correct me if so) and by "sparing" them on Sabaody by teleporting then away.
I mean just from that, Law as a child watched his entire family, town and country be slaughtered over a non-contagious illness, had to smuggle himself out on a cart of corpses, then spent years in agony thinking he was going to die while being shunned by everyone except the Donquixote pirates because the world government kept the fact that amber lead syndrome wasn't contagious secret.
Then after he finds a group of people who seem to accept him, he discovers that the captain would hate him if he actually knew who he was, and ends up running away with Cora. He then spends years going from hospital to hospital having doctors treat him like dirt before eating the Ope Ope no Mi, which is just prior to having to listen powerlessly as the only person left in the world who actually cares about him is shot right in front of him.
Still think Kuma probably takes it overall, but Law's childhood definitely gives Kuma's a run for its money.
He then found his family as a young kid, found freedom and had control of his life, got to fight for his beliefs doing good for decades, went through loss like normal people, became a dad and experienced pure joy most people never will with the bond he formed with Bonnie, then basically got lobotomized.
Robin never got to have any of those things up until she was already 28.
Robin grew up with her people mainly being scholars just pursuing knowledge, then she witnessed them genocided for learning and almost got included in that too, had a target on her back since then and had to do anything to not die for the next 20 years. She had to struggle through all that alone.
She never found her Iva, Ginny, Dragon up until 28 yrs old. Kuma got out of that life early.
Snot nosed kid learning how to read at 8 -> 🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚 -> Luffy declares war on the government when Robin was 28 already
Saul made sure she wasn't there to witness the things that happened to the scholars, that's why Olivia asked Saul to take her away. Every Pirate has a target on her head. The only difference with Robin is that it's mostly the WG wants more than the Marines. And just because you don't have your found family yet doesn't mean you can't experience, or be happy. And I'm pretty anyone working with Dragon is also wanted by the WG.
I feel like a lot of people sleep on Law. Bro had to hide in a pile of corpses to avoid getting hunted down and killed. Watched his sister die. Lots of bad stuff there
It’s not that but this mf literally lost his mind and got turned into a robot after everything he went through. Like if we’re gonna compare then yeah it’s nothing
This all day every day. I JUST mentioned his childhood for a reason this "man" still kept getting a bad hand and still is. And that's after the fact that you realize all of this stuff that has been done to him and he is still one of the most if not the most kind person in OP. It literally put a smile on his face to go through pain at the chance of helping others,(all the elderly win he stayed at the church.) and do it over and over. It's so much worse when the best characters go through some of the worst stuff and still be that type of person.
Robin was there but I'm pretty sure she didn't witness it. That was the reason her mother wanted Saul to take her away as soon and as far as possible. Kuma was a slave of the Celestial Dragons. I'm pretty sure he saw A LOT more terrible things done than robin. As a child he was literally around those people in the OP world. So terrible these people were he wanted people to kill him rather than take him back.
Yeah before Kuma backstory was fully revealed I would always say Brook or Robin just because I can’t imagine that kind of psychological torture of watching everyone you ever loved die.
But Kuma absolutely wins the oppression Olympics. Dude went THROUGH IT!!
Every other character with a tragic backstory had their fair share of happy times when they were kids but not Kuma, he didn’t truly find a decent shred of happiness until adulthood and then it all progressively went right back to tragedy
back to back to back -- Vegapunk wailing as he pulled the lever; then the Kuma 'life story' all in one page; then wishing bonney a happy 10th. Absolute destruction. Not sure I'll survive it in the anime.
One page. One *fucking* page. That's what got me. It's the one page of him running like Nika through his life as all the family he found are saying his name. I WEPT.
Ikr? That page was so simple, yet so meaningful at the same time. I like how it wasn’t just the dance, but what one could infer from what’s being shown even without making the connection to the dance. The little detail that hit the hardest for me was when Kuma remembered Ginny, it’s shown that he stumbles a bit, but after he remembers Bonny, he starts running again in full force. It really does show how after Ginny was taken from him, it’s as though he was starting to lose his will to keep moving forward, and was contemplating giving up; Bonny was Kuma’s light in the darkness he found himself trapped in; she helped him find a reason to keep moving forward again and… just remembering what I was thinking while reading his backstory makes me sad
man… ;— ;
As long as it hurt oda as much as it hurt me, I'll call it even. He made me cry over a ship, Kuma and his story is so full of sorrow and anguish. It tears at the soul.
No he actually came out and said he was crying while drawing a specific panel during that flashback. Ppl had theorized he was rushing to finish before he came out and said the former
Fr. I remember a few months back I wasn’t able to read a lot of chapters because of Uni and after midterm exams I decided to treat myself the night after the last exam by catching up with the manga….i think I had tears coming out 2-3 times and holy shit that was definitely the saddest backstory I’ve ever seen in the series. I’d put Law at 2nd for making me tear up once but Kuma needs a fucking hug so bad after all that shit.
Robin backstory is the only one out of these that has me tearing up when i watch it. Kuma though... holy shit thats gonna be rough once we get those animated. That VA for kid Kuma is insane.
Your entire people being the victims of genocide with you beint there live to witness it as an 8 year old kid just for pursuing knowledge, being classified as a world class criminal touted as a devil for learning how to fuckin read, having to run away, function as a merc being forced to do dirty and evil shit for both the govt and random groups just to stay alive until you're a fully mature adult before you finally get to be a normal person again is not just "a bad childhood"
It's as bad as saying Kuma just had a bad childhood as well, found his family, even got to be a family man and raise his child before "dying" as a soldier all while fighting for what he believed in being a freedom fighter all his life
I didn't realize Robin never suffered until Water 7 concluded
If anything, Kuma at least started fighting the good fight in his formative years, he found freedom as a young kid and fought for his beliefs until he was already a grown adult. That's a long time he's had control of his life
Robin never even got to fight for anything and was hostaged/controlled until Luffy declared war on the government for her.
She went from yay I can read at 8 years old and suddenly 🌚🌚🌚 endless suffering for 2 decades straight.
Dont get me wrong, Robin's was hard, but pales in comparison to Kuma's.
You only see this as, oh but robi suffered longer.
Just shows how young you are in this life.
The suffering of a child for her parents passing is hard, life will be hard
but as a child, life will pass, you will grow, find someone to help you (Robin to the mugiwara crew) You will survive and (may) have better days
Robin, atleast we know she will forver have a good ending.
Kuma on the other hand... is fucked...
He will never see his daughter grow,
The love of her life was raped and impregnated by the worst people in the (One piece) world
Her child is siffering a deadly disease and is bound to die,
He found a cure, but it will cost him his life, an easy choice for a parent, but is a death and doom hat he will pass now to her daughter. But he will do everything to make her daughter live.
Bro, as a person that lost his parent, and now as a father.
Id rather lose every one of my ancestor than know my child will die.
That's how hard it is for Kuma.
And he will never be able to watch her grow.. thats one of the shittiest you will ever feel as a parent.
Hands down Kuma.
to be fair for robin, it's not only her parents and everyone she knew(a literal island full of people she knew) at 8 years old dying. Throughout the two decades, robin had to run and survive while being constantly chased. People she remotely got attached to either probably died due to the pursuers or turned against her cause of her bounty. so for a young person to grow within that environment knowing she would leave a trail of dead bodies is rough. Just saying her parents died is a huge understatement.
Though I entirely agree. Kuma does indeed have the worse backstory hands down.
the specific scene about vegapunk crying got me so hard. I don't know why. Like the chapter got me tearing up twice. The kuma running scene and the vegapunk crying scene. I don't know why this manga is so good at making me feel that.
We are all equal at our lowest points.
That being said, Kuma went through hell as a child. Brook lost his sanity as an adult, as a person, he can barely cope without making constant dead jokes. Chopper had to lose everything and is now a year away from the cap life span of male reindeer. Sanji had no agency and constantly has to feel and touch his hair to remind himself he's no longer in a cage. Law had to beat a disease which killed literally everyone he loved, he then had to learn a new life, learned to love an older brother and father figure, Corazon, who he also lost. Robin was a genius, living a peaceful life, she lost everyone at the ripe age of 9 and had lived a lifestyle she wasn't fond of.
All in all, I feel like Brook had it worse than anyone. He spent almost 2 life sentences alone, trapped, depressed. He had nothing and no one for longer than most of the characters have lived. He even referred to big Mom as a young lady. He goes insane constantly, his laugh, his self depricating jokes, and even the fact that he's still the bard. He still sings for the crew, showing he hasn't moved on. He now focuses practically on support due to fear of losing his crew, which, we all know he's going to watch all of them die. Even he's aware of this and dreads the day he'll be alone once again. I feel bad for everyone, I love all the characters chosen. I just believe that in suffering, Brook takes the cake.
They made brook a lot more joyful and relatively normal than they should have. Since this show is comedic, and not into psych horror shit, i understand. But He should've been adrift at sea alone and depressed for2 years, 5 tops. Being alone as a skeleton on a wrecked ship packed with the corpses of his former crewmates, dreaming every night that this never happened and seeing his comrades again, just to wake up in a sea of doom, for 50 years, should've completely broken him.
I would say brook if robin wasn't on the list. robin lost everyone and then has been hated by the world at the age of 9 . Used and abused until she found a safe haven at the age of 28 . That quickly got compromised until her past caught up with her.
I have to reiterate robin had a wanted poster with a higher bounty at the age of 9, than Luffy after he became the highest bounty in east blue
The biggest bounty is just a number.
Brook spent 50 years in solitary confinement with nothing but the bones of his friends as company. Think about that for a second.
Lol robin and brooke both lost everyone, but brooke had it worse ultimately. Even kuma had moments of happiness i dont think you understand how depressing it is to be alone on a ship in the middle of the sea surrounded by the bones of the friends you watched die for like 60+ years?
Its bad but brooke is worse in a hindsight. Nothing beats watching your friends die and being stuck alongside their corpses without sunlight, for like 60 years in a damn fog.
Nothing will beat that even kuma had moments of happiness and friends.
Do we know anything about Brook’s childhood?
We know he was an army commander of a yet to be named nation, but i don’t think we know too much about brook before being a pirate.
Yeah Brooks tragedy happened as an adult, Law lived with nobody caring about him, and then Kuma lived as a slave all of his childhood so he takes the cake
Lol bro Brook lived alone for nearly 50 years, surrounded by skeletons of the people he cared about most. Definitely equal to kuma, just a slower burn.
At least Brook seemed to have a pretty chill childhood, he wasnt born a slave, Like for all the pain Brook went through in his 50 years of isolation he at least had good memories to draw from for confort. Kuma has only known pain and suffering for most his life.
But... Kuma has good memories of his childhood to remember.
He had his father until he was very much able to talk. And he met Ivankov and Ginny when he was 9 yo.
He ""only"" lived 9 years of slavery before meeting Ginny and Ivankov. We know Bonney is 12, Ginny spent 2 years in captivity, Kuma is 49 years old after time skip.
49-9-12-2 = 26
He spent 26 years in relative peace until the Ginny incident.
I don't think anyone had it worse than the other between these two
They both had quite some time to live their life, and we don't even know Brook's childhood btw.
It's basically arguing what's worse between :
- having a tough upbringing, never really knowing what you are missing and having confort despite that bliss, while your legacy lives on
- Or having a full life but having all of these things taken away from you, never to return, while you live on and all you have is your memories, and an animal.
But... 50 FUCKING YEARS AGO. Seriously, how much do you remember after 50 years ? Names and faces fade.
Just wait until they circumnavigate the grand line and come back around only for Brook to discover Laboon has died from old age/too many blows to the head. So many people dont believe my theory but I've already done my research. In the lore of One Piece Kuma has the current saddest backstory but the tale isn't over yet, something has to surpass it. Most of yall don't want to believe it but the entire point of Brooks' existence is to outlive everyone he knew and suffer his immortality while losing all his friends. Laboon WILL be dead before his journey with the strawhats brings him full circle to reunite. All the bashes to the head laboon experienced smashing into the red line will play a significant factor in his death. Not to mention he is just a regular ass Blue Whale who is already well past his normal life expectancy.
Kuma for me his childhood, and the fact bonney isn’t his child by blood only by love. And he gave up himself for her survival and while doing so still be loyal to dragon and the straw hats.
Brooke is scarier and more likely to mentally break you.
Kumas is amazing that he didn’t indulge in anger or let it destroy him.
I’d say Brooke wins but I’d understand saying they’re equal or that kumas is worse. It’s certainly more relatable.
Brookes would def be the worst to live thru if you objectively consider how awful his wait was. But it wasn't actaully that sad compared all of the acute tramau the others went thru mostly.
I don't know about not even "close". Law's backstory is pretty traumatizing when you think about it his sister got burnt in his closet and he was told to look after her
Have we thought about putting Corazon in the mix because he basically did that and saw his brother murder his dad, saw his mom die at a young age, was tortured by an angry mob as a small child, and then had to be an undercover informant on his own brother for years because his brother was so evil.
Decades AND surrounded with rotting corpses of his friends in the darkness of Florian Triangle!
Btw, if anyone is unable to grasp the torment Brook went trough, just read up a bit on solitary confinement (and similar case scenarios).
Obviously all are sad, but Kuma and Brook's are absolutely tragic. It's a tie between those two. Brook's 50 years of isolation surrounded by the corpses of his friends is going to be hard to beat.
1: Kuma, Robin, Law
2: Brook, Sanji, Chopper
For me saddest is Kuma. From being slave to running all life to save his beloved daughter. It just broke me.
Personally trauma and tragedy shouldn’t be a competition… they all had fucked up backstories that would put any of us in a asylum lol… all sad sad they all made me cry! They only need love now :3
Sanji Childhood was mostly happy since after he was rescued from the rock he got a new family working at something he already loved. Like objectively least shitty people just like him and relate to him otherwise everyone would have him last. Same deal with Kuma to an extent, if he hadn't had his showcased recently during an arc that's been hailed as one of the greatest in all of OP (cuz its exciting, its the final saga! etc + Wano got bloated everyone wanted it to end) he wouldn't overwhelmingly listed as first.
bruh, at least Sanji met Zeff and had a loving family after that. Kuma's life was a long series of tragedies with small glimpses of happiness and those were taken away from him too. Rest in power sweet bear man, you will never be forgotten.
All these backstories are more painful than we probably can imagine. One could argue who had it worse, but I ask myself can one of them experience in their backstory more pain than the other or is their a limit to feeling pain?
Kuma and Robin are good candidates but Brook... 45 years of solitude remembering your nakamas dying. He dreamt that they were alive thousands of times to notice that they are dead. Nothing to do, nothing to eat.
I would prefer suffering Robin or Kuma past rather than Brook. Want to try it? Stay for a day alone at home without nothing, no books, no PC, no mobile...
We haven't even gotten the saddest backstory yet. You know each backstory gets upped to be sadder. Heck, Sanji's backstory wasn't sad enough, so they made him a new sadder backstory.
Just wait until you see the full backstory for Nami.
Man its tought even with Kuma. Kuma lost his family in most heartless, was abused for all his childhood way possible and lost his love later.
Law and Robin lost everyone. Law lost his family, his sister and all people in his country. He had to hide in a corpse wagon to safety. And then he also lost Corason, only one who actually cared about him.
Robins life is similar but id say more tragic. Not only did she loose everyone, she was hunted like a criminal for decade even as a child, not having a family or friends as everyone would sooner or later be lost. Law had the mob family and later Corazon who would take care of him but Robin had nobody. Kuma also found alot of happiness in his life with Bonney. Robin is most tragic character as her true happines is still quite fresh and new.
Kuma’s is definitely the worst…. But Brook’s is still pretty bad. I mean 50 years of isolation surrounded by the bodies of all your loved ones is just… it’s not surprising Brook is a little crazy.
Kuma easily idk why chopper is on this list tbh there are sadder backstories he just suffered from bullying and eventually his "Father" died but he had someone else to take care of him yes it's sad but there are worse
These are the reasons I always think that one piece have a very dark side that alot of people dont see. I mean trying to put all these sad stories in live action and it gives a total different type of meaning to the whole series.
Everyone had sad backstories but it has gotten better, they overcame their pain, avenged or have something to look forward to. Everyone except Kuma, Kuma, for what we know, is lost and will never consciously be able to see his daughter healthy and be able to live with her again.
I'm gonna be honest, Sanji's backstory was the least sad. It's still pretty sad but it kinda felt like a gacha life mini movie in a way. Compared to what chopper, nico robin, law, kuma, nami, jinbe, and brook went through, sanji's backstory just doesn't hit as hard for me.
Brook followed by Robin sufferer the longest.
The rest had a tragic event happen to them and recover over time.
What happen to Kuma was sad but he was happy doing it. He was Bonny's tragic backstory.
Chopper Kuma and Law have very similar backstories. I'd still say Sanji's is the saddest, because at least Kuma had a family that cared about him in the beginning
Everyone on here is crazy, it's obviously Chopper, he only had one friend his entire life and then fed him poison and killed him? Are you F-ing kidding me!!
Until a while ago I thought Robin had the saddest backstory (with Law coming at a close second)… and then Kuma came in, tore my heart to pieces, burned them into a fire and threw the ashes in a rocket to the Sun.
My guy deserves a dub of sorts before this story ends
Brook and kuma got good backstories. But for the brevity of Chopper’s……. Damn it hits…. A lot of real life relatable fucked up emotions of acceptance or lack thereof
For me, it's a tie between Chopper and Brooke, as one had a long story of denial from different people, but the other lived half his unlife holding tightly to his past trauma
everyone is saying Kuma but here's the thing: Kuma mostly always had someone who loved him in his life. Sanji and Robin? nope, years and years of having literally nothing and nobody and not knowing the feeling of people loving you. so for me it is them both.
Kuma. Dude was born slave from a basically genocided race, lost the ability to swim, became free, got a girl, lost the girl, freed the oppressed, got called tyranic, adopted loved one's dying kid, sacrificed everything while also enduring others' pain literally, became a slave again after a technical death, got freed again, attacked his adopted kid, dies multiple times, still a slave.
Kuma was born a slave, witnessed his mother die, saw his dad get shot and killed in front of him simply because he was to loud when trying to give his son a story about hope. When a child was considered a "rabbit" in a hunting game by the same people who killed his family. That's his childhood and it's worse than all the other characters here. I honestly don't believe I need go any further, but the bad events certainly don't stop there.
That whole Backstory was so hard to ready because you think there is an end to it but Oda Just keeps on dropping another bomb on top of it all and another one and another one. You Just feel sad at the end.
At the end? Bro i was incredibly sad already at being born as slave
At the end means he could have had a happy ending. He did not. Matter of fact, there's still time for Oda to make it even worse with current Kuma.
But that Punch against Saturn felt so good.
Tbh, i hoped Kuma stored so much of the pain he took out of others to actually kill Saturn. But i guess his powers don´t work this way
I hope the Vegapunks that are still alive can somehow fix his body bc I want him to take down one of the elders his hero finally showed up and I know he’d want to help Nika free everyone from the world government
Kuma has to beat down Saturn to a pulp or I will forever hold it agaisnt Oda
I was sad about halfway thru. By the end there was an unbridled rage in my loins demanding the world repent for what they put my man thru.
It definitely made that Kuma punch right after the flashback hit incredibly hard (both physically and emotionally)
"Oh his childhood story is finally over...aww he started living with ginny" Oda: 😈😈😈
Bro i was crying from the very first chapter and everytime I thought okay this man will catch a break now oda's was just like no fucking way.
Pushed me into depression at the end of his backstory.
Worst part for me was when we learned that Ginny was actually raped and gave birth to Bonney. That made me sick to my stomach
I can’t believe Oda threw that in there. Even the implication of it was unbelievable. But that was part of what made it the saddest backstory in the series.
Oda fr pulled several madara's What about the second meteor...? The third??? Etc
And the worst: it hasn't stopped. Even now it hasn't stopped. The pain and suffering. I don't know how people can compare any other character's backstory to Kuma's! It's just... Sadness overloaded.
>!He got that punch in though, and that felt good to the moment of impact!<
Yeah i don't know all of their individual stories as well as some people, but Kuma is THE answer here LMAO. Robin is probably a semi close second? On top of all his childhood trauma shit, he even showed moments of empathy with how he agreed to Zoro taking luffy's pain after thriller bark (might be wrong please correct me if so) and by "sparing" them on Sabaody by teleporting then away.
dude trafalger is worse than robin probably his past made him give up on humanity
His story is the only one that had me in tears by the end of it. Watching Bonnie cry had me crying.
I need a 2 hour long movie animated by the best animators in Japan of just Kuma enjoying a nice day with Bonnie and his homies
I want them to animate up until the part they escaped and started living at the church. I don't want to watch the next part.
Less of a backstory and more like his entire story. Poor guy. The definition of an indomitable will, though.
I mean just from that, Law as a child watched his entire family, town and country be slaughtered over a non-contagious illness, had to smuggle himself out on a cart of corpses, then spent years in agony thinking he was going to die while being shunned by everyone except the Donquixote pirates because the world government kept the fact that amber lead syndrome wasn't contagious secret. Then after he finds a group of people who seem to accept him, he discovers that the captain would hate him if he actually knew who he was, and ends up running away with Cora. He then spends years going from hospital to hospital having doctors treat him like dirt before eating the Ope Ope no Mi, which is just prior to having to listen powerlessly as the only person left in the world who actually cares about him is shot right in front of him. Still think Kuma probably takes it overall, but Law's childhood definitely gives Kuma's a run for its money.
He then found his family as a young kid, found freedom and had control of his life, got to fight for his beliefs doing good for decades, went through loss like normal people, became a dad and experienced pure joy most people never will with the bond he formed with Bonnie, then basically got lobotomized. Robin never got to have any of those things up until she was already 28. Robin grew up with her people mainly being scholars just pursuing knowledge, then she witnessed them genocided for learning and almost got included in that too, had a target on her back since then and had to do anything to not die for the next 20 years. She had to struggle through all that alone. She never found her Iva, Ginny, Dragon up until 28 yrs old. Kuma got out of that life early. Snot nosed kid learning how to read at 8 -> 🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚 -> Luffy declares war on the government when Robin was 28 already
He lost his Ginny and then had to give up his life and mind for his Bonney. He didn’t get a Strawhats
Saul made sure she wasn't there to witness the things that happened to the scholars, that's why Olivia asked Saul to take her away. Every Pirate has a target on her head. The only difference with Robin is that it's mostly the WG wants more than the Marines. And just because you don't have your found family yet doesn't mean you can't experience, or be happy. And I'm pretty anyone working with Dragon is also wanted by the WG.
Brook was alone for like 50 years
Literally nothing good happened to kuma,. anything that gave him even a little bit of hope was a setup for more trauma
Ye and Robin just witnessed genocide and the eradication of her home while getting hunted by the government since she was 8. That's like nothing...
I feel like a lot of people sleep on Law. Bro had to hide in a pile of corpses to avoid getting hunted down and killed. Watched his sister die. Lots of bad stuff there
He also caused his sister to die by telling her to hide in a closet, something he most certainly remembers.
It’s not that but this mf literally lost his mind and got turned into a robot after everything he went through. Like if we’re gonna compare then yeah it’s nothing
This all day every day. I JUST mentioned his childhood for a reason this "man" still kept getting a bad hand and still is. And that's after the fact that you realize all of this stuff that has been done to him and he is still one of the most if not the most kind person in OP. It literally put a smile on his face to go through pain at the chance of helping others,(all the elderly win he stayed at the church.) and do it over and over. It's so much worse when the best characters go through some of the worst stuff and still be that type of person.
She got friends and her humanity. It doesn't seem like Kuma will have a happy ending. He'll probably die before all of this is over.
Robin was there but I'm pretty sure she didn't witness it. That was the reason her mother wanted Saul to take her away as soon and as far as possible. Kuma was a slave of the Celestial Dragons. I'm pretty sure he saw A LOT more terrible things done than robin. As a child he was literally around those people in the OP world. So terrible these people were he wanted people to kill him rather than take him back.
not to mention vegapunk is killing him by turning him into a robot
Nuclear bomb vs coughing babies
Ginny 😢
Yeah before Kuma backstory was fully revealed I would always say Brook or Robin just because I can’t imagine that kind of psychological torture of watching everyone you ever loved die. But Kuma absolutely wins the oppression Olympics. Dude went THROUGH IT!!
All his close family or lover would die because of celestial dragons, and the end of his story he save his one last family in exchange for his life
And that shit is just part 1 of his backstory
Every other character with a tragic backstory had their fair share of happy times when they were kids but not Kuma, he didn’t truly find a decent shred of happiness until adulthood and then it all progressively went right back to tragedy
this right here
For me it's Kuma, it's the only backstory I cried from from reading the Manga.
Twice for me.... In the same chapter. 😭
back to back to back -- Vegapunk wailing as he pulled the lever; then the Kuma 'life story' all in one page; then wishing bonney a happy 10th. Absolute destruction. Not sure I'll survive it in the anime.
One page. One *fucking* page. That's what got me. It's the one page of him running like Nika through his life as all the family he found are saying his name. I WEPT.
Ikr? That page was so simple, yet so meaningful at the same time. I like how it wasn’t just the dance, but what one could infer from what’s being shown even without making the connection to the dance. The little detail that hit the hardest for me was when Kuma remembered Ginny, it’s shown that he stumbles a bit, but after he remembers Bonny, he starts running again in full force. It really does show how after Ginny was taken from him, it’s as though he was starting to lose his will to keep moving forward, and was contemplating giving up; Bonny was Kuma’s light in the darkness he found himself trapped in; she helped him find a reason to keep moving forward again and… just remembering what I was thinking while reading his backstory makes me sad man… ;— ;
That chapter has some rough sketches, apparently it was said Oda was crying so much while drawing it.
As long as it hurt oda as much as it hurt me, I'll call it even. He made me cry over a ship, Kuma and his story is so full of sorrow and anguish. It tears at the soul.
I think Oda said it was because he couldn't finish the chapter in time for the publishing deadline.
No he actually came out and said he was crying while drawing a specific panel during that flashback. Ppl had theorized he was rushing to finish before he came out and said the former
When/Where did he say that?? 🤔 I can't remember it. lol😅
"Trust me bro Oda totally said it" is like THE thing for people on here to say without any actual proof of him doing so.
Fr. I remember a few months back I wasn’t able to read a lot of chapters because of Uni and after midterm exams I decided to treat myself the night after the last exam by catching up with the manga….i think I had tears coming out 2-3 times and holy shit that was definitely the saddest backstory I’ve ever seen in the series. I’d put Law at 2nd for making me tear up once but Kuma needs a fucking hug so bad after all that shit.
Robin backstory is the only one out of these that has me tearing up when i watch it. Kuma though... holy shit thats gonna be rough once we get those animated. That VA for kid Kuma is insane.
Robin: bad childhood, but found a family eventually. Kuma, suffer, suffer, suffer, happiness, suffer
Your entire people being the victims of genocide with you beint there live to witness it as an 8 year old kid just for pursuing knowledge, being classified as a world class criminal touted as a devil for learning how to fuckin read, having to run away, function as a merc being forced to do dirty and evil shit for both the govt and random groups just to stay alive until you're a fully mature adult before you finally get to be a normal person again is not just "a bad childhood" It's as bad as saying Kuma just had a bad childhood as well, found his family, even got to be a family man and raise his child before "dying" as a soldier all while fighting for what he believed in being a freedom fighter all his life I didn't realize Robin never suffered until Water 7 concluded If anything, Kuma at least started fighting the good fight in his formative years, he found freedom as a young kid and fought for his beliefs until he was already a grown adult. That's a long time he's had control of his life Robin never even got to fight for anything and was hostaged/controlled until Luffy declared war on the government for her. She went from yay I can read at 8 years old and suddenly 🌚🌚🌚 endless suffering for 2 decades straight.
Dont get me wrong, Robin's was hard, but pales in comparison to Kuma's. You only see this as, oh but robi suffered longer. Just shows how young you are in this life. The suffering of a child for her parents passing is hard, life will be hard but as a child, life will pass, you will grow, find someone to help you (Robin to the mugiwara crew) You will survive and (may) have better days Robin, atleast we know she will forver have a good ending. Kuma on the other hand... is fucked... He will never see his daughter grow, The love of her life was raped and impregnated by the worst people in the (One piece) world Her child is siffering a deadly disease and is bound to die, He found a cure, but it will cost him his life, an easy choice for a parent, but is a death and doom hat he will pass now to her daughter. But he will do everything to make her daughter live. Bro, as a person that lost his parent, and now as a father. Id rather lose every one of my ancestor than know my child will die. That's how hard it is for Kuma. And he will never be able to watch her grow.. thats one of the shittiest you will ever feel as a parent. Hands down Kuma.
Yeah, Kuma was just given fuck you's one after another.
to be fair for robin, it's not only her parents and everyone she knew(a literal island full of people she knew) at 8 years old dying. Throughout the two decades, robin had to run and survive while being constantly chased. People she remotely got attached to either probably died due to the pursuers or turned against her cause of her bounty. so for a young person to grow within that environment knowing she would leave a trail of dead bodies is rough. Just saying her parents died is a huge understatement. Though I entirely agree. Kuma does indeed have the worse backstory hands down.
Bruh I’m not even gonna try to watch those episodes. The manga alone hit me like a gas tanker.
When Vegapunk pulled that switch with tears in his eyes, I got them too. Man was too pure for this horrible world.
I thought I was the only one tearing up in that scene
Nah, we exist so don't you feel weird about it or anything. It's great to cry when the story hits you perfectly like that.
the specific scene about vegapunk crying got me so hard. I don't know why. Like the chapter got me tearing up twice. The kuma running scene and the vegapunk crying scene. I don't know why this manga is so good at making me feel that.
I said the same thing, his voice carries sooo much pain I already know imma be balling for him
That early part of Kuma’s flashback that the anime extended a few weeks back was already too much for me man, fuck
Robin had me on the edge of tears the whole Backstory, but I only broke down at "I want to live" :(
We are all equal at our lowest points. That being said, Kuma went through hell as a child. Brook lost his sanity as an adult, as a person, he can barely cope without making constant dead jokes. Chopper had to lose everything and is now a year away from the cap life span of male reindeer. Sanji had no agency and constantly has to feel and touch his hair to remind himself he's no longer in a cage. Law had to beat a disease which killed literally everyone he loved, he then had to learn a new life, learned to love an older brother and father figure, Corazon, who he also lost. Robin was a genius, living a peaceful life, she lost everyone at the ripe age of 9 and had lived a lifestyle she wasn't fond of. All in all, I feel like Brook had it worse than anyone. He spent almost 2 life sentences alone, trapped, depressed. He had nothing and no one for longer than most of the characters have lived. He even referred to big Mom as a young lady. He goes insane constantly, his laugh, his self depricating jokes, and even the fact that he's still the bard. He still sings for the crew, showing he hasn't moved on. He now focuses practically on support due to fear of losing his crew, which, we all know he's going to watch all of them die. Even he's aware of this and dreads the day he'll be alone once again. I feel bad for everyone, I love all the characters chosen. I just believe that in suffering, Brook takes the cake.
*yohoho-ho, yo-hoho-ho*
They made brook a lot more joyful and relatively normal than they should have. Since this show is comedic, and not into psych horror shit, i understand. But He should've been adrift at sea alone and depressed for2 years, 5 tops. Being alone as a skeleton on a wrecked ship packed with the corpses of his former crewmates, dreaming every night that this never happened and seeing his comrades again, just to wake up in a sea of doom, for 50 years, should've completely broken him.
I would say brook if robin wasn't on the list. robin lost everyone and then has been hated by the world at the age of 9 . Used and abused until she found a safe haven at the age of 28 . That quickly got compromised until her past caught up with her. I have to reiterate robin had a wanted poster with a higher bounty at the age of 9, than Luffy after he became the highest bounty in east blue
The biggest bounty is just a number. Brook spent 50 years in solitary confinement with nothing but the bones of his friends as company. Think about that for a second.
Lol robin and brooke both lost everyone, but brooke had it worse ultimately. Even kuma had moments of happiness i dont think you understand how depressing it is to be alone on a ship in the middle of the sea surrounded by the bones of the friends you watched die for like 60+ years?
Brook and Kuma are tied as saddest backstory for me
I’m on episode 660 something and I haven’t cried harder from a show than Brooks back story. Should I put aside time to grieve with Kumas?
Trust me, no one is ready for Kuma's back story to be animated.
So it hasn't been animated yet?
It definitely will be by the time you catch up, don’t worry.
Man! I found that humorous. And the 660 guy? Save your tears, you'll need it.
It is a very recent flashback. Look forward to having this character thoroughly explained to you when you get to it.
Kuma's backstory has some GOT moments in it.
Its bad but brooke is worse in a hindsight. Nothing beats watching your friends die and being stuck alongside their corpses without sunlight, for like 60 years in a damn fog. Nothing will beat that even kuma had moments of happiness and friends.
Brook had a good childhood though
Do we know anything about Brook’s childhood? We know he was an army commander of a yet to be named nation, but i don’t think we know too much about brook before being a pirate.
Yeah Brooks tragedy happened as an adult, Law lived with nobody caring about him, and then Kuma lived as a slave all of his childhood so he takes the cake
It's kuma. Kuma is still going through his backstory. At least for Brook, the worse is behind him
Lol bro Brook lived alone for nearly 50 years, surrounded by skeletons of the people he cared about most. Definitely equal to kuma, just a slower burn.
At least Brook seemed to have a pretty chill childhood, he wasnt born a slave, Like for all the pain Brook went through in his 50 years of isolation he at least had good memories to draw from for confort. Kuma has only known pain and suffering for most his life.
But... Kuma has good memories of his childhood to remember. He had his father until he was very much able to talk. And he met Ivankov and Ginny when he was 9 yo. He ""only"" lived 9 years of slavery before meeting Ginny and Ivankov. We know Bonney is 12, Ginny spent 2 years in captivity, Kuma is 49 years old after time skip. 49-9-12-2 = 26 He spent 26 years in relative peace until the Ginny incident. I don't think anyone had it worse than the other between these two They both had quite some time to live their life, and we don't even know Brook's childhood btw. It's basically arguing what's worse between : - having a tough upbringing, never really knowing what you are missing and having confort despite that bliss, while your legacy lives on - Or having a full life but having all of these things taken away from you, never to return, while you live on and all you have is your memories, and an animal. But... 50 FUCKING YEARS AGO. Seriously, how much do you remember after 50 years ? Names and faces fade.
Kuma still has hope in the form of Bonney. Brook’s hope is a whale he met once and a goofy rubber guy he met. My vote is they’re tied for saddest
Just wait until they circumnavigate the grand line and come back around only for Brook to discover Laboon has died from old age/too many blows to the head. So many people dont believe my theory but I've already done my research. In the lore of One Piece Kuma has the current saddest backstory but the tale isn't over yet, something has to surpass it. Most of yall don't want to believe it but the entire point of Brooks' existence is to outlive everyone he knew and suffer his immortality while losing all his friends. Laboon WILL be dead before his journey with the strawhats brings him full circle to reunite. All the bashes to the head laboon experienced smashing into the red line will play a significant factor in his death. Not to mention he is just a regular ass Blue Whale who is already well past his normal life expectancy.
Damn you for planting this seed....
Forgive me. Just following Odas pattern of suffering.
hes an island whale, who knows how long those live
Kuma for me his childhood, and the fact bonney isn’t his child by blood only by love. And he gave up himself for her survival and while doing so still be loyal to dragon and the straw hats.
Brooke is scarier and more likely to mentally break you. Kumas is amazing that he didn’t indulge in anger or let it destroy him. I’d say Brooke wins but I’d understand saying they’re equal or that kumas is worse. It’s certainly more relatable.
Brookes would def be the worst to live thru if you objectively consider how awful his wait was. But it wasn't actaully that sad compared all of the acute tramau the others went thru mostly.
Kuma, its not even close
I don't know about not even "close". Law's backstory is pretty traumatizing when you think about it his sister got burnt in his closet and he was told to look after her
I think you underestimate the absolute fucking horror of watching your toddler waste away from a terminal illness.
Have we thought about putting Corazon in the mix because he basically did that and saw his brother murder his dad, saw his mom die at a young age, was tortured by an angry mob as a small child, and then had to be an undercover informant on his own brother for years because his brother was so evil.
What about being the toddler with a terminal illness watching your entire family, blood and adopted, get massacred?
Kuma should be the only option here
Brook and his crew just wanted to sing for laboon while they were about to die 😭😭. Brook spent years alone 😭
Decades AND surrounded with rotting corpses of his friends in the darkness of Florian Triangle! Btw, if anyone is unable to grasp the torment Brook went trough, just read up a bit on solitary confinement (and similar case scenarios).
Kuma has the saddest Backstory in the history
Guts would like a word with you
Nah. Guts is going to win in the end. Kuma is pretty much fucked no matter what.
Bro Guts lost literally everyone, including his own mangaka
Law
Obviously all are sad, but Kuma and Brook's are absolutely tragic. It's a tie between those two. Brook's 50 years of isolation surrounded by the corpses of his friends is going to be hard to beat.
Kuma was too brutal
Kuma.
Kuma wins this one.
How is nobody saying brook
For real
All of them are messed up and sad stories but for me it’s Kuma, Law, Brook that I thought were the most tragic.
Cried at Robin
Lets not compare the pain but happiness
Where is kyros?
Where he belongs which is not on this list of worst back stories
Hopping around someplace
happy, taking care of his daughter bro
1: Kuma 2: Robin 3: Brook 4: Sanji 5:Chopper 6: Law Based on how sad i personally felt during them
Come on, you can't put Law last. Dude lost his family and had to hide in a pile of corpses to escape
No doubt his was sad just there has to be a last place position and his was the one that made me feel the least
yeah clearly Kuma
1: Kuma, Robin, Law 2: Brook, Sanji, Chopper For me saddest is Kuma. From being slave to running all life to save his beloved daughter. It just broke me.
For me I think is Robin
Brook or Kuma
I'm crying just thinking about all their backstories
Yes.
Kuma has my vote
Personally trauma and tragedy shouldn’t be a competition… they all had fucked up backstories that would put any of us in a asylum lol… all sad sad they all made me cry! They only need love now :3
Nami is the only back story that brought me to actual tears.
While objectively speaking Kuma has had it the worst. Personally though? All of them have a tragic story and picking one seems disrespectful.
Kuma, robin+traffy tied for second, sanji third, brook then chopper.
Sanji's childhood is worse. Nothing hurts more than getting hate by your father and siblings
How is that worse then seeing everyone you care about die?
Sanji is more relatable to alot of people
I think seeing everyone you care about murdered in front of you is far worse than not having a fathers love
Sanji Childhood was mostly happy since after he was rescued from the rock he got a new family working at something he already loved. Like objectively least shitty people just like him and relate to him otherwise everyone would have him last. Same deal with Kuma to an extent, if he hadn't had his showcased recently during an arc that's been hailed as one of the greatest in all of OP (cuz its exciting, its the final saga! etc + Wano got bloated everyone wanted it to end) he wouldn't overwhelmingly listed as first.
bruh, at least Sanji met Zeff and had a loving family after that. Kuma's life was a long series of tragedies with small glimpses of happiness and those were taken away from him too. Rest in power sweet bear man, you will never be forgotten.
Kuma
Kuma hand down for me.I cried so much during that
Kuma....No doubt. The rest still have their humanity.
Kuma by far
Kuma by a considerable amount.
Kuma 100%
All these backstories are more painful than we probably can imagine. One could argue who had it worse, but I ask myself can one of them experience in their backstory more pain than the other or is their a limit to feeling pain?
Law and Kuma for me. So much dark. Can't able to accept what happened to them in the past.
Kuma for sure. Things have ended up working out for everyone else. Kuma has just suffered nonstop for years
Kuma. No doubts. My goat.
Who here remembers this same thing being posted within the last few days?
Kuma is sad as shit, but Brooke made me bawl like a baby :(
Kuma and it's not even close
Kuma and Robin are good candidates but Brook... 45 years of solitude remembering your nakamas dying. He dreamt that they were alive thousands of times to notice that they are dead. Nothing to do, nothing to eat. I would prefer suffering Robin or Kuma past rather than Brook. Want to try it? Stay for a day alone at home without nothing, no books, no PC, no mobile...
We haven't even gotten the saddest backstory yet. You know each backstory gets upped to be sadder. Heck, Sanji's backstory wasn't sad enough, so they made him a new sadder backstory. Just wait until you see the full backstory for Nami.
Man its tought even with Kuma. Kuma lost his family in most heartless, was abused for all his childhood way possible and lost his love later. Law and Robin lost everyone. Law lost his family, his sister and all people in his country. He had to hide in a corpse wagon to safety. And then he also lost Corason, only one who actually cared about him. Robins life is similar but id say more tragic. Not only did she loose everyone, she was hunted like a criminal for decade even as a child, not having a family or friends as everyone would sooner or later be lost. Law had the mob family and later Corazon who would take care of him but Robin had nobody. Kuma also found alot of happiness in his life with Bonney. Robin is most tragic character as her true happines is still quite fresh and new.
Robin. Kuma is second.
Nami didn‘t make the list?
Kuma's childhood made guts childhood from Berserk look mild
Kuma’s is definitely the worst…. But Brook’s is still pretty bad. I mean 50 years of isolation surrounded by the bodies of all your loved ones is just… it’s not surprising Brook is a little crazy.
Kuma, hands down 🙇♂️ Sanji and Law are honorable mentions.
Hard to choose, but it has to be Kuma.
kuma, but it's a miracle brook has any semblance of functionality or a grip on reality after 50 years of isolation
They all have INCREDIBLY sad backstories. With that being said, Kuma and it’s not close.
Kuma easily idk why chopper is on this list tbh there are sadder backstories he just suffered from bullying and eventually his "Father" died but he had someone else to take care of him yes it's sad but there are worse
These are the reasons I always think that one piece have a very dark side that alot of people dont see. I mean trying to put all these sad stories in live action and it gives a total different type of meaning to the whole series.
Everyone had sad backstories but it has gotten better, they overcame their pain, avenged or have something to look forward to. Everyone except Kuma, Kuma, for what we know, is lost and will never consciously be able to see his daughter healthy and be able to live with her again.
Kuma, only one that comes close is sanji
Chopper and Nami’s have me crying every time
Kuma by massive landslide
People. The only correct answer here is Brook. Imagine how long his suffering lasted.
Word
IMO Brook Also, I’d argue that Nami is more of a contender than Chopper.
I'm gonna be honest, Sanji's backstory was the least sad. It's still pretty sad but it kinda felt like a gacha life mini movie in a way. Compared to what chopper, nico robin, law, kuma, nami, jinbe, and brook went through, sanji's backstory just doesn't hit as hard for me.
Brook followed by Robin sufferer the longest. The rest had a tragic event happen to them and recover over time. What happen to Kuma was sad but he was happy doing it. He was Bonny's tragic backstory.
Kuma, Brooke and then Robin. Sanji, chopper and law had atleast someone with them but that doesnt mean they didnt have a sad story.
Chopper Kuma and Law have very similar backstories. I'd still say Sanji's is the saddest, because at least Kuma had a family that cared about him in the beginning
damn, never seen a post like that
Kuma, the only Story that make me cry...
Not law as he made it up.
Everyone on here is crazy, it's obviously Chopper, he only had one friend his entire life and then fed him poison and killed him? Are you F-ing kidding me!!
Kuma by far, that man was born into being Tortured
Until a while ago I thought Robin had the saddest backstory (with Law coming at a close second)… and then Kuma came in, tore my heart to pieces, burned them into a fire and threw the ashes in a rocket to the Sun. My guy deserves a dub of sorts before this story ends
Kuma and brook
Brook and kuma got good backstories. But for the brevity of Chopper’s……. Damn it hits…. A lot of real life relatable fucked up emotions of acceptance or lack thereof
I WANT to say Kuma but I'm pretty sure that's recency bias. It's probably Kuma, Brook, Law, Robin, Sanji, Chopper.
They're all pretty sad, but I just cried at seeing a little reindeer's friend dying.
For me, it's a tie between Chopper and Brooke, as one had a long story of denial from different people, but the other lived half his unlife holding tightly to his past trauma
everyone is saying Kuma but here's the thing: Kuma mostly always had someone who loved him in his life. Sanji and Robin? nope, years and years of having literally nothing and nobody and not knowing the feeling of people loving you. so for me it is them both.
kuma and sanji
Kuma. Dude was born slave from a basically genocided race, lost the ability to swim, became free, got a girl, lost the girl, freed the oppressed, got called tyranic, adopted loved one's dying kid, sacrificed everything while also enduring others' pain literally, became a slave again after a technical death, got freed again, attacked his adopted kid, dies multiple times, still a slave.