Characters With Selfish Dreams In One Piece

Summary

• The villains in One Piece have selfish and harmful dreams, prioritizing themselves over others.
• Characters like Kaido, Crocodile, and Wapol demonstrate ruthless behaviors for personal gain.
• Luffy’s clashes with individuals who prioritize their own ambitions without regard for others.

Anyone who has read or watched One Piece will know all too well that, while the world may seem very bubbly and joyful on the surface, there are still many sick and twisted individuals who occupy it. As is the case with most villains and antagonists, these characters tend to have pretty cynical dreams which revolve entirely around them, and only them, as opposed to trying to use their strength and talents to help the rest of the world.

On some occasions, a person may not even realize that their dream is inherently selfish and harmful to others, or they simply view the end goal as so important that they are willing to disregard the well-being and lives of other people entirely to get one step closer to reaching the finish line. Either way, one thing is for sure: Luffy would never be able to see eye to eye with individuals who only fantasize about benefiting themselves at the expense of others, as is the case with these One Piece characters below.

Warning! Spoilers Ahead!

1

Kaido

The Mighty Yonko Terrorized An Entire Country To Create An Unstoppable Army

• Dream: Amass A Powerful Enough Army To Topple The World

When the unstoppable pirate known as Kaido first disembarked in Wano, he quickly realized that the closed-off nation would be the perfect place to set up his private army. As a result, Kaido was more than happy to not only completely trample over the people and their villages, but even go as far as to team up with Orochi, where he would then begin poisoning the residents with throwaway Devil Fruits, or in some cases, just giving them no food at all.

It soon becomes clear that Kaido’s ultimate goal, aside from becoming a Pirate King, is to create an army that would be able to take over the world, including the World Government. While he may have had a crew of Beasts Pirates around him when executing this plan, Kaido proved time and time again that he was more than willing to throw them to the wolves if it meant furthering his goals; he even turned his back on his child while pursuing his dream, which just goes to show how ruthless Kaido truly is.

2

Crocodile

Acquiring An Ultimate Weapon Is All Crocodile Ever Wanted

• Dream: Overthrow King Cobra And Acquire Pluton

Most of the villains that Luffy and the Straw Hats faced up until Alabasta were simply one-time antagonists who didn’t exactly have the grandest of ambitions, but that all changed once Crocodile entered the story. Operation Utopia refers to Crocodile’s master plan of overthrowing the king of Alabasta, giving him the opportunity to acquire the ultimate weapon known as Utopia.

It’s heavily suggested that Crocodile was then going to use the destructive power of Pluton to conquer as many islands as he could, becoming an unstoppable menace in the process. Not only did he create his makeshift crew of spies to get the job done, but he even went as far as to instigate a civil war and pretend to be a hero to the very people he was planning to betray. While Crocodile does admittedly mellow out a little after spending some time in Impel Down, his ambitions were extremely selfish when he was still residing in Alabasta.

3

Bellamy

Bellamy’s Obsession With Doflamingo Turned Him Into A Ruthless Pirate

• Dream: Earn The Favor Of Doflamingo / Be Number One

Doflamingo is already as evil as they come, so it’s no wonder that his biggest fan would also turn out to be such a ruthless maniac. Luffy meets Bellamy when the crew takes a quick pit stop on Jaya, though it wasn’t initially made clear what exactly his ultimate goal was, considering he seemed like little more than a weak thug at the time for Luffy to humiliate.

It is eventually revealed that Bellamy has long been an admirer of Doflamingo, so much so that he would even mimic his nihilistic attitude just to try and win over the Warlord’s affection. In the end, rather than being helpful to Doflamingo, Bellamy would simply become a destructive captain who was only interested in looking out for himself and stroking his fragile ego. It’s a good thing that Luffy was able to beat some sense into Bellamy when he did, as it allowed him to realize that maybe living the life of a pirate just isn’t for him.

4

Wapol

Wapol Ensured The People Of Drum Island Were Entirely Reliant On Him

• Dream: Rule Over People As A Tyrant

It’s honestly staggering the lengths Wapol will go to achieve his dream of becoming a tyrannical ruler. On Drum Island, for example, Wapol had the smart idea of killing off every medical professional on the island, so the entire population would be reliant on him to keep them healthy. It’s not like he was a very good leader when he was actually in this position either, as all Wapol would ever be doing was either dozing off or eating everything in sight through the use of his bizarre Devil Fruit.

Even after he was defeated by the Straw Hats, Wapol decided to establish yet another kingdom where he could call himself King once again, with the name of the island fittingly named the Evil Black Drum Kingdom. Wapol’s obsession with being someone who can rule over others through fear has turned him into a truly hideous and selfish character, which is why it’s always all so satisfying when someone gets to give him a smack around the face.

5

Arlong

Arlong Wanted An Easy Life Where Humans Would Be His Servants

• Dream: Conquer The East Blue And Turn Humans Into Slaves

While it seems as though Arlong had always had a deep resentment toward humans for much of his life, he was still at least willing to follow in the footsteps of Fisher Tiger, who tried to resist slaughtering them for no reason, to avoid swooping down to their level of cruelty. After Fisher Tiger’s death at the hands of a few Marines, Arlong’s underlying hatred began to take control, turning him into a dangerous pirate whose only goal was to conquer the East Blue and turn every remaining human into his slave.

Though Arlong does have a crew of fishmen following him, at the end of the day, it would be the head chief himself who would be running the show, just to satisfy his twisted, discriminatory ego. Thankfully, Arlong didn’t manage to get very far after being apprehended by Luffy early on in the story, though it’s a chilling thought to imagine this guy sitting atop a golden throne where everyone would be forced to serve him.

6

Judge

Judge Had No Quarrels Turning His Kids Into Monsters

• Dream: Create An Army Of Soldiers And Conquer The North Blue

Judge certainly won’t be winning any Father of the Year awards anytime soon, as he is undoubtedly one of the worst parents to have ever appeared in One Piece. Judge’s grand plan was to conquer the North Blue so that he could restore the Germa Kingdom to its former glory, but his methods of going about achieving this are spine-chilling to say the least. As a former scientist, Judge was able to perform genetic experiments on his kids to completely remove all of their emotions, in an attempt to create his group of killing machines.

Sanji was the only one who remained unaffected by these experiments, but as a result of this, he was thrown into a cell by Judge and almost forced to starve, all because he was a real human. The fact that Judge’s goal drove him to rid his kids of a normal life is incredibly cruel, and a prime example of how a selfish dream can drive someone to do some truly insidious things.

7

Doflamingo

After The World Betrayed Him, Doflamingo Only Looks Out For Himself

Doflamingo hates the world and everyone in it, and to be honest, he has every reason to. As a young Celestial Dragon who was forced by his father to live among the common folk, Doflamingo and his family were strung up and almost burned at the stake because of their status, only for the Celestial Dragons to abandon him and his father in their time of need. This is ultimately what turns Doflamingo into such a dangerous psychopath, as he comes to believe that nobody can be trusted, and therefore, the world itself should be destroyed.

Doflamingo makes it no secret that he’s a truly nihilistic villain, having not a care in the world about killing anyone who steps in his way, whether they are innocent or not. Tearing down everything that the Celestial Dragons had built, along with killing anyone caught in the crossfire, was the only thing that ended up bringing Doflamingo any real joy, so it’s a good thing he’s been locked away in Impel Down to prevent this twisted dream from becoming a reality.

8

Orochi

Orochi Enjoyed Inflicting “Punishment” Onto The People Of Wano

• Dream: Punish The People Of Wano While Living In Luxury

While it was ultimately Kaido who was recognized as the supreme leader of Wano, the real leader of the country was actually Orochi, since he was technically still the Shogun. As a child, Orochi felt that his grandpa’s execution was unjust, and it would be a grudge that he would hold for the rest of his life. Orochi’s ultimate goal as Shogun was to punish the people whom he deemed enemies, resulting in him treating the residents of Wano like dirt and killing many of them off, partly as an act of vengeance, but also just for his own amusement.

As long as he had Kaido by his side, Orochi knew that no one would even dare to stand up to him, allowing him to live out his selfish fantasies while the people on the ground continued to starve. Orochi is one of the most despicable tyrants in the story, and it all comes as a result of his childhood trauma, which would encourage him to terrorize an island of innocent people for several years.