One Piece primarily focuses on action and adventure, since protagonist Monkey D. Luffy is all about freedom and exploration, not being an idealistic hero. Still, Luffy is a good person at heart, and he will gladly show other people kindness with his words, actions, or both, even if it means showing them some tough love. This has led to many heartwarming scenes with One Piece's hero, and he's not alone, either.
For every sequence of brutal action or heartbreaking tragedy, One Piece warms everyone's hearts with hopeful, inspiring scenes of these characters showing true altruism one way or another. Scenes of forgiveness, love, compassion, and second chances are sure to make One Piece fans feel good and assure them that this wild anime world still has its good side after all.
10 The First Five Straw Hats Launching Ceremony
After the first five Straw Hats escaped Loguetown in a freak thunderstorm, Luffy and his friends knew that they were a proper pirate crew embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. So, they decided to mark the occasion with a shared gesture and make it official.
Once a barrel was set in place, the Straw Hats each put a foot on it to mark their eternal friendship, and declare their dreams – signifying that the five of them were an official crew.
9 Chef Zeff Pushed Sanji Into Joining Luffy
Chef Zeff was introduced as a tough but fair restaurant manager who viewed Sanji as a son, though Zeff was too gruff to say so in words. Zeff also admired Sanji's dream to find the All Blue, and Zeff was concerned that Sanji was wasting his life working as a cook aboard the Baratie restaurant ship.
After Don Krieg's defeat, chef Zeff pushed Sanji to join Luffy's crew so Sanji could finally seek out the All Blue. It was a wonderfully kind gesture coming from Zeff, who practiced some tough love and pushed Sanji away from a dead-end job that wasted his talents.
8 Luffy Befriended Laboon
When Luffy's crew arrived at Reverse Mountain, they met an enormous scarred whale named Laboon, who was desperate to see his old friends again. Decades ago, a pirate crew had promised to return to see Laboon again, a crew that included a mortal Brook, but that crew failed to return because they perished from an illness.
Luffy challenged Laboon and became that whale's new rival. Then, Luffy promised to circle the world and return someday as Laboon's committed rival, so Laboon would finally have a promise to look forward to, a promise that Luffy would definitely fulfill.
7 Dr. Hiriluk Accepted Chopper As His Apprentice
At Drum Island, the five Straw Hats met a talking reindeer named Tony Tony Chopper, a medical student who was determined to save everyone's lives to honor his late master, a certain Dr. Hiriluk. It was sad to hear that Hiriluk was dead, but his and Chopper's flashback was still heartwarming at times.
The miserable Chopper faced rejection everywhere he went, but Dr. Hiriluk was different. That kind doctor gladly accepted Chopper for who and what he was, a heartwarming gesture that inspired Chopper to pursue his dreams like never before and make something of himself.
6 Nefeltari Cobra Thanked the Straw Hats
It was an immense relief to watch Luffy personally defeat Sir Crocodile in the Alabasta saga's climax, but the Straw Hat crew's victory didn't truly warm fans' hearts until things got more personal. King Nefeltari Cobra hosted a state dinner and invited all the Straw Hats, but that was more comedy than it was sentimental.
Things finally became heartwarming when the king joined the Straw Hats in the palace's bathhouse, where he spoke to them not as royalty, but simply as a father and as a man. As a humble individual, Cobra deeply thanked the Straw Hats from the bottom of his heart, and that's what made Luffy's victory worth it.
5 Sanji Complimented Charlotte Pudding's Third Eye
Sanji Vinsmoke was asked to visit Whole Cake Island and marry Charlotte Pudding as a political pawn of Germa 66. Sanji wasn't too keen on marrying Charlotte Pudding, but he was still fond of her. What he didn't know is that the entire wedding was a trap, with Pudding being a crafty villain with Devil Fruit powers and a third eye.
Pudding showed Sanji her third eye on the day of their nuptials, and she expected Sanji to be horrified. Instead, Sanji paid Pudding an honest compliment about that third eye's beauty, and Pudding went from a scheming villain to a lovestruck tsundere who wanted to repay Sani for his kindness.
4 Nefeltari Vivi Bonded With Rebecca & Shirahoshi
During the Levely at Mary Geoise/Marijoa, all of the world's leaders met, and there was plenty of tension. Things got even worse when the Celestial Dragons threw their weight around like usual, but there was still something to love about this sequence. Three princesses met up, and they befriended each other right away.
Princess Nefeltari Vivi was delighted to meet Rebecca Riku of Dressrosa and Shirahoshi of Fish-Man Island, and all three of them were definitely overdue to meet. They understood and respected each other immensely, adding some meaningful female-female friendships that One Piece really needed.
3 The Riku Royal Family Was Reunited
The Riku royal family had a tragic tale in the Dressrosa arc. Donquixote Doflamingo overthrew the entire family and made himself Dressrosa's tyrannical king, and Rebecca was separated from her aunt and father. Kyros, Rebecca's father, was turned into a one-legged toy soldier whom no one even remembered.
In the end, all the toys returned to their original selves, and Rebecca was finally reunited with her father in his real form. It was wonderful to see an innocent royal family brought back together after so much hardship and separation, which also promised a better future for all of Dressrosa under their leadership.
2 Shanks Gave Luffy His Straw Hat
One of One Piece's most heartwarming scenes was also one of the first major plot points. During an extended flashback, fans saw red-haired Shanks the Emperor save Luffy's life from a sea king at the cost of an arm, making Luffy feel terribly guilty and unworthy. Despite that, Shanks had faith in Luffy, and proved it with a life-changing gesture.
Shanks, who once doubted Luffy's potential as a pirate, lent Luffy his precious straw hat and asked Luffy to return it someday when Luffy became a great pirate. That single gesture is what inspired Luffy to become a pirate after all and pursue his dreams, with Shanks acting more like Luffy's father than Dragon ever did.
1 Ace Thanked Luffy For Loving Him
Oddly, one of One Piece's most heartwarming scenes is also one of its most heartbreaking, making this an emotionally complex scene that changed Luffy's life. During the climax of the Summit War, Luffy finally found his brother Portgas D. Ace, only for Admiral Akainu to deliver a fatal blow to Ace's chest.
Ace was dying in Luffy's arms, but not before he tearfully thanked Luffy for loving him as a brother when almost everyone else rejected Ace for being Gol D. Roger's son. That allowed Ace to die smiling as per the "Will of D," though Luffy wasn't in the mood to smile at the time.