It’s time to talk about One Piece again.

The magic of Eiichiro Oda’s pirate epic is something truly unique, as on the surface it appears to be a fun adventure story yet when studied carefully it reveals depths of character and morals missing from most modern narratives. It’s very tempting to put the entire opus under a microscope to see just how much scrutiny it can withstand. In this way the story itself is something of a treasure hunt. Very fitting, because the reality is that One Piece is not aiming to be a landmark work of literature with ironclad morals and legendary characters.

It is aiming to be a fun adventure story about pirates looking for treasure. The rest just happens along the way.

This is something I can personally attest to, as I’ve been following Monkey D. Luffy and his crew along their adventures for some twenty years now, and I’ve found a lot of treasure over that time. Like the rubber guy himself, I love to share it with my friends. So let’s talk a little bit about the tale of Captain Rocks D Xebec and King Harald of Elbaf.

If you’re not overly familiar with One Piece, don’t worry. The story of Rocks and Harald is fairly contained. What makes them interesting is the commentary they offer on what it means to be a leader, a topic that is at the core of One Piece. On their own, these two titans did a lot to shape the world of One Piece as we know it. That alone would make them interesting characters to study. However, when we consider them in contrast to the central character of Oda’s tale we start to see some very interesting contrasts that illuminate Luffy’s leadership style in fascinating ways.

Luffy’s often repeated dream is to become King of the Pirates by discovering the eponymous One Piece, the lost treasure of the previous Pirate King, Gold Rogers. The only clue he has to this goal is Rogers’ statement that anyone looking for this treasure will have to search the whole world. So Luffy sets out to the Grand Line, the only sea route that circles the globe, gathering members for his crew along the way.

Each member of Luffy’s crew is a fascinating character in their own right. He had to win them over individually, learning who they were and breaking down the barriers that keep them from committing to his cause. The crew have dreams and goals rooted in long histories, personal ambition and deep grief they are slowly moving past. Luffy understands and values each of these people and pushes them towards their own goals while pursuing his own. It speaks volumes of him and what he values.

In contrast, Rocks D Xebec is a very careless person. He doesn’t care about his crew or what they want so long as they do what they’re told and advance his goals. He seems vaguely aware that they have things they want but we never see him consider those wants at all. He certainly didn’t do much to win them over to his cause.

The Rocks Pirates were assembled using an ancient contest known as the Davy Back Fight, where crews compete to press gang members of the opposing crew into their own ranks. Rocks doesn’t have a crew of friends and allies. He has a crew of prizes. They’re all powerful but, as you might expect of people who have been forced into working together, they’re not very friendly towards each other.

There’s only one person who Rocks seems really friendly towards and that’s Harald, who isn’t even a member of his crew!

While it’s not readily apparent at first glance, in terms of dreams and ambitions Harald is the exact opposite of Rocks. Although he is the king of a nation of literal giants, Harald is a kindly man. In spite of a wild youth, Harald came to realize that Elbaf’s reputation as a nation of violent warmongers had limited their opportunities and stunted their growth. So he sets out to reform the nation and establish diplomatic ties with the rest of the world, hoping to earn Elbaf membership in the World Government.

It might seem odd that a king seeking membership in a worldwide government would form a friendship with a famous pirate wanted by that same government. In fairness, things didn’t start that way. Rocks and Harald met in passing and traded blows but Harald proved the first man who could match Rocks in any measure. Rocks immediately realized he would need Harald’s help to achieve his goals. Yet he could not force the giant king to go along with him the way he had with the rest of his crew. So Rocks attempts friendship, instead. 

Harald was never interested in joining forces with Rocks but he kept meeting Xebec when the pirate came to call. Like Rocks, Harald had no other equals of note. Perhaps he felt some kinship to the pirate captain as well. However, Harald’s dream was diplomatic in nature. The self centered behavior Rocks embodied was not something he could indulge if he hoped to achieve his own goals.

If Rocks embodies an entirely egocentric style of leadership, where he overwhelms his followers and drags them along towards his goals, Harald embodies a selfless kind of leadership. We don’t know much about how Harald went about forging his alliances with surrounding nations but he does form them. In many ways his own nature vanishes. Giants tower over others but Harald bent down to their level. Elbaf’s giants are known as warriors but Harald was a diplomat. Harald was a direct descendant of an ancient lineage that grows horns on their heads so he tore them off to distance himself from the violent reputation of that lineage.

Harald must do all this because he is entirely dependent on how others see him to achieve his own ends. Another way in which he is the opposite of Rocks.

These contrasting styles of leadership are repeatedly juxtaposed throughout Rocks’ and Harald’s story. Eventually they both spiral in ways that lead to the destruction of both characters. Rocks drags his crew to an island without explaining the dangers there and they fracture under intense pressure from the World Government. Rocks himself is killed and the others flee in disarray.

Harald never finds the reconciliation he hoped for, only ever greater demands from the World Government. Eventually, his son is forced to kill him to keep the whole nation from falling into slavery. Both endings are incredibly tragic.

What makes them interesting is that, in spite of the very different ways these two men lead, they both have the same flaw. They paid no attention to the people they led. 

For Rocks, his crew was all about himself, his own dreams and his ability to force them to work towards his own ends. By the time it collapsed he had been betrayed by one of his crewmates and the rest had been too busy fighting amongst themselves to help him in his darkest hour. For all of Harald’s diplomatic overtures to distant lands, his own nation had deep rifts between factions that led to constant infighting. A little of that peacemaking at home would have been nice. He spent so much time overseas that he neglected his two sons, creating every circumstance they could want to thrive in the future – except for his own love and attention.

After all was said and done, what we are left with is a much clearer picture of why Luffy is the hero of our tale. Many legendary figures have sailed the Grand Line before. However, we do not just need a leader who looks forward to a goal. Finding the One Piece demands a leader who will look behind him, to care for the people who follow in his footsteps as well.

The threefold contrast between Luffy, Rocks and Harald makes this clear. It’s a fascinating use of character writing to drive home a core theme of the larger story. At the same time, it is a strong story in its own right. It also shows the importance of not analyzing these characters as their tropes. Both Rocks and Harald fall into archetypes we’ve already seen in One Piece. Many people thought of Rocks as a predecessor to Luffy himself because he was a pirate who strove to be free of the World Government.

However, that ignores the details of Rocks’ story in favor of his trope. Rocks doesn’t trust his crew, he exploits them. He doesn’t seek his own dream in conjunction with others. He destroys things that get in his way and devours the rest, though not with any malice per se. He’s not typologically related to Luffy or Gold Rogers (who is largely a previous iteration of Luffy’s archetype). The closest character to Rocks’ type in the story is probably Crocodile, who is an unambiguous villain.

If you’re struggling with how to compare and contrast characters who are very similar to each other in a single narrative, I suggest studying One Piece. As Rocks, Harald and Luffy show I believe it’s very worthwhile.