User blog comment:Ranger94/The Best moment in one piece/@comment-24850639-20150915204625

No particular order:

Walk to The Franky House -  A major theme of the Water 7 Saga in general was that the SH Crew will go to ANY lengths for each other. There are obviously instances before/after of crewmates sticking up for each other, but Water 7 took it to a new level. Zoro being the FIRST to protect Robin from Aokiji despite all his talk of not trusting her, the crew showing that they saw the Going Merry as a nakama and not just ship, Luffy destroying those 2 buildings to escape Aqua Laguna while thinking of Robin, and the fact that they all achieved new power levels for Robins sake (Zoro's Asura after Kaku's shit talking is another honorable mention). But overall, I think the elements all just worked perfectly together in this moment that I can't watch the vid on Youtube without crying.

Coby and his new marine comrades saluting Luffy - After watching Luffy kick the crap out of Coby and rather publicly disassociate himself from him, Coby's Commanding Officer was able to see through the trick and tell Coby just how amazing of a friend he has in Luffy. Again, Luffy has shown his character and pure heart on multiple occasions, and it always comes in ways that are completely unexpected. This was essentially the first real arc of the series, so before then I had trouble imagining a Pirate as a "good guy"  just like the average person in the One Piece world.

Zoro-Luffy: The Golden Promise: To this date, the only other person I can think of who even comes close to Zoro in terms of character development is Vegeta. Zoro is the absolute LAST person I would have ever thought I'd see crying on this series. Him and Luffy had an implicit respect and trust for one another the instant Zoro started tagging along, and you repeatedly saw Zoro's trust in Luffy growing from arc to arc. In the moment he made his promise (he's shown this character trait since then obviously on multiple occassions) it became clear that he values Luffy just as much as he did Kuina. Kuina help give his life a sense of purpose, and the instant Luffy saved Zoro's life from the firing squad it can be said that he did the same. This moment specifically was so powerful to me because it showed just much Zoro is achieving his dream for EVERYONE's sake and safety, just as much as his own personal ambition. It sparked something in him when Luffy told him that anything less than the best swordsman wouldn't work as the Pirate King's nakama, and you see just how much he took that to heart.

I could go all day just everyone else obviously lol. But I suppose I choose the more emotionally charged moments over the action-y/"epic" scenes because they are more unexpected. An incredible fight animation that blows me away isn't a surprise to me for Bleach, Naruto, DBZ, etc. But a scene that has me crying me eyes out? None of the aforementioned shows could do that in a million years. Oda has truly mastered creating these characters and telling their stories in ways that make us feel related and connected to them, and shows us a little something about ourselves. All while all generally making us laugh, which again, no other show can deliver the way One Piece has.