Is Merry dead in ‘One Piece?’ What about the live-action?

Warning: This article contains spoilers for both the manga and the live-action adaptation of One Piece.

It’s become somewhat of an inside joke within the One Piece fandom that author Eiichiro Oda rarely kills his characters; so when he does commit to killing off a character, fans take note. That may be changing if this character’s fate in the live-action Netflix adaptation is anything to go by.

One Piece isn’t afraid to tackle serious subject matter — recent manga chapters have been particularly heavy — but Oda often comes short of letting characters die. Some fans criticize this tendency, believing it cheapens tragic moments when a character pulls through after getting critically injured, while others believe the rarity of character deaths makes them all the more impactful when they do happen.

While characters tend to suffer the same fates in both the manga and anime, the One Piece live-action adaptation has already shown it’s not afraid to change things up if necessary. In the first season alone, Garp is introduced much earlier than in the original material and Buggy plays a more prominent role in the early plot. Similarly, Merry’s involvement in the story has changed, though on a smaller scale.

Who is Merry and does he die in One Piece?

Merry is Kaya’s butler in the manga (though he has a different role in the live-action) and while he dies in the live-action series, he remains alive in the manga. The character is introduced in the Syrup Village Arc alongside characters like Usopp, Kaya, and Kuro but he is rarely shown after this arc.

In the manga and anime, Merry realizes Klahadore is actually Captain Kuro too late to warn Kaya. He falls victim to Kuro’s claws and is left to die. Though his circumstances are dire, he somehow survives the night (this is definitely one reason fans say “nobody” dies in One Piece) and warns Kaya by telling her all he had discovered.

In the live-action, Merry is not Kaya’s butler. Instead, he’s an old family friend and the old owner of the shipyard. Kuro intercepts Merry in the mansion’s cellar and claws him through the back, though this time, Merry very much does not survive the attack.

Merry’s death doesn’t really change anything in the story (though we’re sure he’s less than thrilled about it). The Straw Hats still end up with the Going Merry, the ship Merry built, and are victorious against Kuro. If you want to know what happens to the Going Merry though, we plead the fifth.