Summary

The Ohara Incident in One Piece remains a dark event in history, involving the execution of hundreds for researching the Void Century.
Despite the tragedy, Ohara’s research survives, with the scholars’ legacy and work living on through a beloved side character and the survival of their knowledge.
Chapter 1134 reveals that Saul is alive, protecting Ohara’s research for 22 years in Elbaf’s Owl Library, hinting that this arc will unveil more secrets about the Void Century.

As lighthearted as One Piece is as a franchise, there are quite a few notable moments in the series that are incredibly dark. While dark moments serve to shock and surprise the viewers in any story, this is felt even more in One Piece because of its otherwise friendly, colorful, and adventurous tone. Although these instances are few and far between, they go down in the eyes of fans as some of the most important and harrowing in the series.

The most infamous of these is perhaps the Ohara Incident, which saw the cruel execution of hundreds of people for an innocent act that should never have been designated as a crime in the first place. The event is a stain on the history of the world and characters across the globe are still facing the repercussions of it to this day. However, not all was lost, as the legacy and the life’s work of the citizens of Ohara lives on.

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Just What Was The Ohara Incident?

A Dark Period From 22 Years Ago

First Appearance
One Piece, Chapter 395, “Ohara vs. The World Government”

Story Arc
Enies Lobby

Notable Characters Present
Nico Robin, Saul, Kuzan, Sakazuki, Clover, Nico Olvia

For centuries, one of the worst crimes someone can commit in the entire One Piece world is researching the Void Century, which was a period of time from 900 years ago. The events of what transpired here are still a complete mystery to fans, since it is 100 years of history that’s missing from all records, so the entire world is left in the dark about what happened during this century and why the World Government has outlawed any knowledge of it.

However, traces of this knowledge are still found around the world, and anyone looking to research it must do so in complete secrecy. This is what the scholars of Ohara did, as they spent many decades compiling all the books and knowledge about this time period and creating a library/research center within Ohara’s ancient Tree of Knowledge. Here, they not only researched the Void Century, but they also decoded Poneglyphs and had ways to teach others the means of learning the lost language that was carved into them.

More importantly, this history will surely reveal the existence of this Ancient Kingdom, and that presents a threat to your ‘World Government’, doesn’t it?

However, the World Government eventually came to know what the scholars of Ohara were doing. Due to this being the greatest crime one can commit, they ordered a Buster Call on Ohara, killing all of the residents and seemingly destroying all the research and knowledge that they had accumulated over the years by reducing the entire island to ruin. This is also where Robin was forced to escape and where Saul seemingly died.

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How The Legacy Of Ohara Lives On

Ohara’s Research Is Mostly Intac

During the Egghead arc, a huge reveal was made; that the beloved former-Marine Jaguar D. Saul was actually alive, despite being presumed dead for many years. In the Enies Lobby arc, one of the most harrowing scenes showed the scholars of Ohara throwing down the books from the Tree of Knowledge into the lake below it in hopes of saving their precious work, which ended up working.

Egghead also showed that sometime after the Ohara Incident, Vegapunk went to the remains of the island where he came upon a crew of giants at the lake in question. Here, he found that the scholars were successful in saving the books by throwing them into it, since doing so allowed them to survive the fire. In fact, it was Saul’s insistence that the giants go to the remains of Ohara and reclaim the books

This reveal was groundbreaking, since it not only confirmed the survival of one of One Piece’s most beloved side characters, hundreds of chapters after fans believed him to have died, but also that the life’s work of the Ohara scholars wasn’t for nothing. It showed that although these innocent people died, their legacy continues to live on through the survival of their work.

Chapter 1134 of the manga continues after the emotional reunion between Robin and Saul. Saul is now a teacher and the lead historian on Elbaf due to being the one to protect and study these books over the past 22 years in the mysterious Owl Library, where all this knowledge is safe and under the protection of the giants. This has primed Elbaf to be one of the greatest arcs in the franchise and likely the one that will eventually unveil a lot of the secrets behind the infamous Void Century.