One Piece saddest backstories

891 duels later, Robin's backstory is still #1 in the One Piece saddest backstory ranking, with Kuma's backstory close behind at 1403 ELO points.

Robin's backstory claims the top spot with 1408 ELO points and a 70% win rate across 132 duels, narrowly ahead of Kuma's backstory at 1403 points. The tightest battle unfolds between ranks 2 and 3, where 70 ELO points separate Kuma's backstory from Chopper's backstory. Sanji's backstory follows in fourth place with 1301 points, while Law's backstory rounds out the top 5 at 1274 points. The ranking's lower end reveals a community less moved by certain tragic tales: Sabo's backstory sits at the bottom with 1034 points and a 33% win rate, while Franky's backstory and Noland and Kalgara's backstory occupy ranks 13 and 12 respectively, suggesting these narratives resonate less deeply with voters despite their emotional weight in the series.

This TopList compiles results from 891 duels submitted by 27 players across 14 contenders, last updated on 12 October 2026. The tight margins at the top and the varied win rates throughout demonstrate how subjective tragedy registers differently across the One Piece fandom. Cast your vote now to shape this ranking and defend the backstory that hit you hardest.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →