The Most Immature Characters In One Piece

Key Takeaways

• Characters like Brook and Perona embrace immaturity, making them endearing in the story.
• Usopp and Shirahoshi struggle with childish traits but show signs of growth over time.
• Luffy’s infectious immaturity influences his personality and fighting style.

One Piece is an anime known for its vast cast of unique characters who all vary wildly in their appearances and personalities. While there’s certainly a fair share of heroic and brave warriors who are more than willing to fight for what they believe in, there are also a few characters who still have a lot of growing up to do.

Thanks to Oda’s genius character writing, and the jovial and carefree tone of the story, these immature characters will often come across as endearing rather than whiny or annoying. In fact, for some of them, being immature is at the core of their entire character and is what many fans know them for, so it’s not exactly a bad trait to have.

8 Brook

Brook’s Childish Jokes Were A Big Reason Why Luffy Invited Him Onboard

• First Appearance: Episode 337

Behind the bony exterior, Brook possesses a heart of gold and is always more than willing to put himself in the line of fire to protect those he cares about. However, one wouldn’t think this upon first speaking with him, as despite being hundreds of years old, Brook isn’t passed telling a few poop or pantie jokes now and again.

Clearly, Brook didn’t get much of a chance to mature while he was seeking out his deceased body, but this is arguably what makes his character so fun and unpredictable. It’s remarkable how Brook will find almost anything funny, even his own jokes, and when he joined the crew, he fit right in with the likes of Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper, who are always up to silly antics.

7 Perona

Perona Tries To Mask Her Spoiled Immaturity With A Cool And Calculated Exterior

• First Appearance: Episode 338

First introduced as an enemy in the Thriller Bark arc, Perona initially comes across as pretty unnerving due to her design and manipulative Devil Fruit, but she’s secretly a big crybaby who hates it when things don’t go her way. This is shown right after Usopp gets a one-up over her in their bout. Her lack of maturity also shows while Perona resides on Mihawk’s island, where she’s often shown complaining and blaming others.

This part of Perona’s personality does start to make sense though, considering she held such immense power and an influential role in Moria’s crew before the Straw Hats messed everything up. As a result, she probably never had a chance to experience the real world for herself, resulting in the devilish princess that so many fans adore.

6 Caesar Clown

Caesar Can’t Help But Point The Finger At Others Rather Than Himself

• First Appearance: Episode 581

Most of the major villains in One Piece are presented as cunning, confident, and malicious individuals capable of taking out anyone who stands in their way, but Caesar Clown is a little different. Sure, his Gas-based Devil Fruit can deal some serious damage, but if it doesn’t do its job, Caesar easily becomes irritated and is never afraid of pointing the finger at his subordinates.

During the Straw Hats’ escapades at Punk Hazard, Caesar proved time and time again that he lacks the level of maturity to be a real leader, which is a big reason why he was defeated so swiftly. Even when he shows up again as a temporary ally later on in Whole Cake, all he does is complain about his current situation and never even tries making friends, often preferring to mumble to himself like an annoyed toddler.

5 Buggy The Clown

Buggy Is Constantly Trying To Hide His Immaturity With Fake Bravado, Which Seems To Work

• First Appearance: Episode 4

Remarkably, Buggy has achieved the feats that he has, even managing to become a Yonko, even though he couldn’t be further from being a “leader-type” if he tried. Buggy is a timid pirate captain who always tries to overcompensate by displaying bravado and confidence to his crew, despite being absolutely terrified of the world and the immensely powerful individuals who occupy it.

Not one with care for pride or bravery, Buggy prefers using his unusually strong Devil Fruit to avoid attacks in the hopes that his enemies will make a mistake. While he’s one of Luffy’s rivals for much of the story, the two actually get along quite well when they put their differences aside, primarily because they both share the same immature sense of humor.

4 Usopp

It’s Taken A Long Time For Usopp To Shake Off His Childish Instincts

• First Appearance: Episode 8

Admittedly, Usopp has done a lot of growing up throughout the story. After all, his personal goal is to become a ‘brave warrior of the sea’, but the journey getting there has certainly exposed just how silly and immature he can be. While this is clear to see on the Sunny where Usopp can regularly be seen screaming at Luffy or performing humorous impressions of his friends, it’s most visible during his fights.

While he can definitely hold his own, Usopp’s childish nature will often shine through in these duels, and sometimes, it even scores him the win. In his fight with Sugar, for example, he earned a victory by simply showing a funny face, but before that, he was ready to cut and run, showing no signs of bravery or confidence in standing up to the enemy. Even when Usopp donned the Sogeking moniker, he was still running from his problems rather than facing them head-on. Thankfully, Oda has done a good job in helping him mature over the course of the series post-Timeskip.

3 Shirahoshi

Shirahoshi Has A Lot Of Growing Up To Do If She Wants To Be A Leader

• First Appearance: Episode 531

Shirahoshi is kind of a paradox. On the one hand, this underwater mermaid princess is large enough to decimate entire villages if she wants to, but her child-like personality and habit of crying when anything goes wrong means that she is actually incredibly innocent. In fact, her crying got so bad that Luffy, who isn’t exactly the most mature character himself, attempted to teach Shirahoshi to control her emotions and present herself as a strong and reliable leader.

At first, Shirahoshi’s problem was that she simply couldn’t handle anything that frightened or even startled her. Even when Luffy says that he doesn’t like her during their first meeting, it was enough to set off the waterworks. It demonstrates that, though she occupies a prestigious position, Shirahoshi has been cradled for so long that she hasn’t had the opportunity to grow; at least emotionally.

2 Spandam

A Marine Who Cares About Nothing But Bolstering His Own Childish Ego

• First Appearance: Episode 249

For anyone to become a Marine in the world of One Piece, they’ve got to be capable of laying down the law and providing a good example for the world to follow. It’s therefore baffling how anyone at the Marine HQ decided it would be a good idea to bring Spandam on board, a man who literally called a Buster Call by accident.

During his brief appearances in Water 7, Spandam was adamant about bolstering his own ego by bringing in Nico Robin, but when compared to the arc’s other major villains, CP-9, Spandam is clearly less than suitable for his role. Never afraid to lash out randomly and always throwing his toys out of the crib for no reason, Spandam proves time and time again that he’s one of the most immature villains in the series, which is certainly saying something.

1 Luffy

Luffy’s Infectious Immaturity Shows Itself Through His Personality And Fighting Style

• First Appearance: Episode 1

Luffy’s come a very long way since he first popped out of a barrel in the first episode of One Piece, and while a lot has changed since then, the plucky pirate’s immaturity and childish nature always seem to remain intact. On the surface, this can be seen with his undying obsession for stuffing his face full of food, or how easily he can be cracked up by even the most ridiculous jokes, but it’s also showcased in his fighting style.

Luffy’s rubber-based Devil Fruit encourages the user to be creative in their attacks, and since Luffy has the mind of a toddler at times, it means he’s able to conjure up some devastating abilities. He’s a knucklehead in every sense of the word, and he refuses to grow up, no matter how many hardships he faces. Those are just some of the many reasons why he has stood the test of time as one of shōnen’s most compelling and fun protagonists.