[One Piece] How Did Hody Jones Lose to Zoro Underwater? Fans Say He Was the Weakest Boss in the New World
#12 FISH-MAN ISLAND
Hody Jones — June 2018 — Was He Ever Worthy of Being a “Boss”?
Hody Jones was built up as a symbol of hatred. But when fans look back, something feels off. Was he really a threat—or just painfully underwhelming?
A Boss Who Felt Small From the Start
1: Anonymous Pirate Everything about what he did and how strong he was felt lame. His trump card being drugs? Seriously?
8: Anonymous Pirate In the anime they changed things and gave him an actual reason to hate humans.
16: Anonymous Pirate Luffy: “His toughness is over 100 million.” Jinbe: “Fish-Man Karate from a small fry.” He loses normally to Zoro, would lose to the prince without drugs, and power-wise he feels way below Crocodile or Enel.
18: Anonymous Pirate A boss who loses to Zoro underwater while doped.
19: Anonymous Pirate He’s the only post–New World boss who’s absurdly weak. Big Mom (Katakuri), Doflamingo, Caesar — all heavy hitters.
Comparisons With Other Antagonists
21: Anonymous Pirate >>19 Pre–timeskip Luffy wouldn’t even stand a chance against those guys. Fish-men you could still handle back then.
33: Anonymous Pirate >>19 Other than Caesar and Hody, everyone was stronger than Luffy at the time. With Big Mom, he couldn’t even land a decisive blow on her.
20: Anonymous Pirate If he’s that weak underwater, he’s even worse without terrain advantage.
Confusion About Power Rules
29: Anonymous Pirate What I don’t get is Akainu getting cut by Vista and Marco using Haki, but it doesn’t really work. Isn’t Haki supposed to let you hit Logia users?
41: Anonymous Pirate >>29 The damage is there. It just doesn’t cancel out magma’s properties, so there’s no visible wound.
Anonymous Pirate >>41 But Armament Haki is supposed to hit the real body. If the blade goes through, it should work — otherwise it makes no sense.
Themes vs Entertainment
48: Anonymous Pirate I respected how he had no tragic past and was a boss born purely from environment. It was new. But still boring.
Fukaboshi “The New Fish-Man Pirates are monsters born from resentment. They fear that the hatred of those before them will be forgotten, they fear the day their anger toward humans fades…!!! So they rush headlong into violence!!!”
“They want humans to be evil— so their so-called holy war can feel justified!!!!”
“These blood-hungry bastards don’t even want peace for the Fish-Men!!!!”
Hody Jones “UOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”
Flashback Scene
Fukaboshi “How much have you suffered in the past!? What exactly did humans do to you!!!?”
Hody Jones “……………………” “Nothing.”
Fukaboshi “!!?”
Hody Jones “We were chosen by heaven to pass judgment on humans… and granted power for that purpose.”
Fukaboshi “Their hatred lacks both experience and will!!!!! They’re enemies with no substance… completely hollow!!!!!”
53: Anonymous Pirate The theme was “hatred without substance,” but the anime gave him an actual reason?
The Anime Change Controversy
57: Anonymous Pirate Come to think of it, what were they planning to do after taking over Fish-Man Island? Big Mom’s crew would’ve crushed them.
61: Anonymous Pirate >>57 Probably didn’t think that far ahead. They thought being ability users meant the sea = easy mode.
70: Anonymous Pirate Manga: “Hody was never harmed by humans.”
Anonymous Pirate Anime: “He was about to be kidnapped by humans and saved by Arlong.” Trash.
80: Anonymous Pirate >>70 Anime isn’t supervised by Oda anyway. It’s basically official fan fiction.
Aftermath and Legacy
87: Anonymous Pirate He permanently turned fish-men into jobbers.
88: Anonymous Pirate Why did Hachi, who’s supposed to be a decent guy, follow someone as small-time as Arlong? Was he trash too? Absolutely unforgivable.
Anonymous Pirate (´・ω・`) It’s a scene meant to show everyone’s growth, though…
👉 Why Japanese Fans Reject Hody as a Villain
Japanese readers value threat credibility above symbolism. Even if a theme is strong, a boss who loses to Zoro underwater—while buffed— breaks the unspoken rule that villains must feel dangerous first.
👉 What Hody’s Failure Reveals About One Piece’s Themes
Hody worked on paper: hatred without cause, violence without depth. But One Piece fans expect ideology and intimidation. Without both, the message collapses into disappointment.
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