Oda is known to be a brilliant writer, and his story has left an impression on fans all over the world. The storytelling in One Piece is the primary reason why many fans hold it so close to their hearts and often to an entirely different standard when compared to any other manga series. Oda's One Piece is a product of love and incredible creativity, coupled with terrific vision and fantastic story writing.
One Piece is a story where fans know their characters very well, and Oda makes sure that all of them never stray from what they truly believe in. As such, it is quite easy to guess what direction character arcs often take. However, at times, Oda has gone beyond and absolutely stunned his fans by subverting their expectations.
Up until Sabaody Archipelago, the Straw Hat Pirates triumphed at every island they went to. They started from the East Blue, where Luffy became the meanest man and acquired a massive bounty of 30 million berries, known to be staggering for that sea, to the Grand Line, where he defeated a Warlord and attained a 100 million berry bounty. In Enies Lobby, Luffy and his crew managed to do the impossible and saved Robin from the clutches of the Government, and Thriller Bark was no different.
Yet, Sabaody Archipelago is where fans received their first shocker. Against all expectations, the Straw Hat crew was utterly decimated by the Navy and Bartholomew Kuma. Its impact was such that even to this day, fans hold Sabaody Archipelago in a different light. Not because the arc is better than every other in the story, but simply because it gave the Straw Hat crew their first reality check before they eventually went on to conquer the New World as well.
Oda is brilliant at writing character arcs, and One Piece has no shortage of some of the most brilliant characters in all of fiction. Luffy's older brother, Portgas D. Ace, is one such character. Ace was introduced to the fans in the Alabasta arc of the story, and ever since then, fans knew that he would play an important role moving forward, given that he was Luffy's brother. When Ace was captured and handed over to the Navy, it was expected of Luffy to rescue Ace.
However, fans expected Dragon to make a move as well. In fact, even Ivankov, one of the commanders of the Revolutionary Army, expected Dragon to make a move, as most fans just assumed that Luffy shared a blood relationship with Ace. It wasn't revealed until his execution began that Ace was actually the son of none other than the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, and that Luffy and Ace were just sworn brothers instead of blood brothers. To be fair to the fans, this is something that Oda decided spontaneously rather than having it planned out, but it worked well all the same.
Portgas D. Ace was an exceptionally important character, more so than ever during the latter part of the first half of One Piece. After his capture, Ace was the trigger for the biggest war in the Great Pirate Era up until that point. Expectedly, the likes of Luffy and the Whitebeard Pirates, whom Ace had a very close connection to, ran to his aid and eventually fought in what is known as the Paramount War. Oda drew two entire arcs focused on the rescue of Ace.
As such, one would expect him to be rescued at the end of the day. In fact, Luffy even managed to rescue Ace from his shackles in the Marineford arc; however, Oda had other plans. Shortly after being saved, Ace ended up sacrificing himself to save Luffy's life from Akainu. Within a flash, his life was taken from him, and the fans were left in a state of utter shock. To this day, this remains the most shocking thing about One Piece, and no fan saw it coming. In fact, Oda's very own editors tried to advise him against killing Ace off.
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