After having recently started watching the show One Piece, I've decided to create a proposal for a character I thought stood out in the series: Otohime.
What is the Work?[]
One Piece is the critically acclaimed manga and anime series created by Eiichiro Oda. It revolves around the main character Monkey D. Luffy, a young boy who wants to be King of the Pirates. The world is run by a tyrannical governing body, the World Government, and standing at the top of this system are the Celestial Dragons, a group of people descended from the people who created the World Government. In this world, there exists an island called Fisherman Island populated by mermaids and a species called Fishmen, humanoids with aquatic animal features. Otohime is the queen of Fisherman Island.
Who is she? What has she done?[]
Otohime is introduced as the queen of Fisherman Island. The relations between Fishmen and humans are shown to be extremely poor, with deep prejudice aimed towards Fishermen and the Celesital Dragons having imprisoned a great number of Fishermen. Seeing this prejudice against the Fishermen, Otohime attempted to increase relations between the two species in order for them to better understand each other. To this end, she would go out into the public yard, giving talks to her people and urging them to sign her petitions for the promotion of interspecies relations between humans and Fishmen. Unfortunately, she'd never get any signatures, and even after five years of this, she only amassed one thousand signatures, and eventually they rescinded those signatures.
Someone else who fought against Fishmen prejudice was a Fishman named Fishman Tiger, though unlike Otohime, he believed that the two species should be separated, and he led a group of pirates called the Sun Pirates. Otohime did not agree with Tiger or his methods, but was nevertheless sympathetic of him. In fact, when he returned to the palace, King Neptune asked him what he experienced while out at see, and he simply replied "humans". Otohime suddenly bursts into tears, having sensed the deep pain and hatred in his heart. In fact, after Fisherman Tiger was killed, it only inspired her to increase her efforts to promote peace between the two species.
One day, when a boat from the World Nobles crashed onto Fishman Island, one of the Celestial Dragons on board, Mjsogard, was heavily injured and demanded he be treated. As it happened, he came to Fishman Island in order to recover some slaves that had been freed by Tiger before and who'd become part of the Sun Pirates, and upon recognizing some of his slaves standing near the boat, he demanded they return to him. Enraged, the Fishmen attempt to kill him, but before they can fire the gun, Otohime shields Mjsogard, getting herself injured in the process. The Sun Pirates demand to know why she stopped them, but Otohime replies that while their anger is justified, they can't kill him in front of the children and allow their hatred to be passed on. Mjsogard holds Otohime at gun point and demands to be treated by a doctor. Otohime's daughter, Shirahoshi, cries out in horror, unknowingly summoning Sea Kings and causing Mjsogard to pass out. After freeing herself from him, she demands that the Celestial Dragon be treated.
Several weeks later, Mjsogard leaves Fishman Island alongside Otohime, who reveals to the shocked people that she's going with him to talk with the World Nobles and promote cooperation between the two species. A week after leaving, she returns to Fishman Island and reveals that she secured some negotiations with the World Nobles and began the framework for peace between the two species. Inspired by this, the people of the island finally start signing her petitions en-masse, which drives her to tears. However, just as things appear to be getting better, the petitions suddenly burn up, and amidst the confusion, Otohime is shot. Her children are there beside her as she dies, but Otohime begs her children not to hate the person who killed her, and tells her three sons to continue protecting Shirahoshi. The people of Fishman Island are devastated by her death, and Hody Jones reveals a human killed her, promoting more hatred against the race. Nevertheless, her will still lived on in her children and other Fishmen such as Jinbe.
Admirable Standard[]
Otohimte stands out as an extremely kind, generous, forgiving woman utterly devoted to peace and prosperity between Fishmen and humans. Unlike almost all other Fishmen and mermaids of Fishmen Island, Otohime did not hold any hatred towards humans. Though she did see some terrible humans and pirates who would attack Fishmen and kidnapped mermaids, she understood that it wasn't fair to judge all humans based on the few interactions they had with them, instead believing they should learn more about humans and interact with them better. For years, she attempted to get Fishmen to sign petitions to promote the relations between the two species, always going out in-person instead of just staying in the comfort of the palace and speaking to the people from afar.
Otohime's overall kindness and forgiving nature have allowed many others to be impacted and touched by her words. For instance, when a thief was stealing money and used a child as a hostage, Otohime immediately stopped the thief and saved the child herself. Then, she talked to the thief, and after he revealed he was only stealing to provide for his ten children due to his store burning down and no savings to provide for them, she states that he should live in a way that makes them proud. She actually starts crying because she is genuinely saddened to see one of her subjects suffering in such a way and actually chooses to take some responsibility for not being there for him in his time of need, when she literally had NO reason to do this at all. Her words and kindness inspire the thief to redeem himself and vow to never steal again.
Some more notable instances are with the Celestial Dragon, Mjsogard. Her decision to protect and heal him even after having held her at gun-point caused him to reflect deeply. Before, he was a pompous, haughty man who was fine with enslaving others and believed himself to be a god, but after his meeting with Otohime, he came to regret his actions, viewing his former self as a foolish man and now believing he is just a regular person while no longer keeping or purchasing any more slaves. In fact, he would later come to protect Otohime's daughter when one of the Celestial Dragons tried to take Shirahoshi by force, punching him in the face and scolding him for his actions, something he would've never done before.
Otohime strongly believed in love and resisting hatred, not wanting others to bear hatred in their hearts. She chose to take a bullet for the Celestial Dragon, the worst of the worst in One Piece known as the most depraved pieces of garbage in their universe, defending him from the Sun Pirates and saying while they were justified in hating him, they couldn't kill him in front of the children and allow them to inherit their hatred for humans. Furthermore, even when she was fatally shot, on her deathbed, she bore no hatred for the person who killed her and asked her children to not hold any hatred towards her killer either, no matter who it might be. Shirahoshi took her words to heart, and even after learning Hody Jones was responsible and not a human, she kept the secret for more than a decade in order to honor her mother's wishes and showed no true hatred towards Hody Jones either, all inspired by her mother.
Her actions and kindness had an overall positive effect on Fishmen Island and it's people. Her children would attempt to honor their mother's wishes, forsaking hatred against humans and carrying on her wishes, and even after learning of Hody Jones' role in her death, they chose not to hold a grudge against Hody Jones, inspired by Otohime's forgiving nature. The Sun Pirates such as Jinbe and Tiger would similarly come to accept her ideologies and be inspired as well to not continue the cycle of hatred against humans, and Jinbe would join the Seven Warlords of the Sea to build better relations between the two species. Because of her messages, actions and ideologies, basically all the people of Fishman Island would come to accept her way of thinking and do their best to teach the next generation not to hate humans.
Corrupting Factors[]
There are only some minor moments of potential corrupting factors: for instance, when confronting the thief who attempted to hold a child hostage, she vigorously slapped him, but this wasn't really true hatred but simply done to teach him a lesson of why he was wrong. Besides, she cried for the thief and empathized with his pain and tragedy that forced him to become a villain. Another possible moment is when she gets drunk and gives a speech to the island through a broadcast radio, but that's not really corrupting and more of a comedic moment.
Overall Verdict[]
Because of Otohime's strict adherence to peace, her loving nature, and the impact she had on Fishmen Island through her actions and words, I would say that Otohime is pure good.