@Nex:
Also, why does everyone think Monet is going to die with a smile on her face?
Because Oda.
She's a villain, not a good guy. She is an evil demonic harpy who is just as guilty as Caesar for what's been done to the children.
And, as for her dream, it's for Dofla to fulfill his dream, or so I've gathered. But still: villain.
Fucking ARLONG is still alive. ARLONG. He didn't get a nice happy redemptive cover story, but he's about as bad and unforgivable as it gets. Luffy beat him down, broke him, shot him through a building. The racist, genocidal, unforgiveable brutal murderer of main character Nami's mother who hasn't even appeared on camera since then… but we know he's still alive, Hachi (Oda) went out of his way and made a point of saying so. And then he got flashbacks explaining his actions and showing his softer side. Oda made a point of HIM still being alive.
And CROCODILE is an anti-hero now!
@Nex:
Higuma, Mr. 11 was it?, the Royal Alabastan Guard have all died in the story present day, and none died with a smile, and not one was significant to the story.
You forgot the Meowban brothers, and Bellamy, who DoFlamingo killed. (And even then that's arguable.) But all of those were pre-Skypeia, and all without screentime exceeding a couple pages. Oda allowed extremely subtle minor deaths prior to Skypeia. But as his readership has grown and he's realized more and more kids are reading it, he's gotten far, far meeker about even minor background deaths.
A couple of Enel's minions that were thrown out of the sky probably died, but one of them survived even that and even got a coverstory out of it. Possibly Nero has died since then since he was thrown out into the middle of a giant sea storm, and a case can be made for some nameless fodder during the war, (But no officially stated deaths! Just "people are dying". ) but that's it. No one with a name, no one on more than a panel since before Sypeia.
Ace, who died with a smile, and Whitebeard who passed One Piece onto the next generation, both of whom shook things up significantly for the main hero personally, and the world, are the exceptions. (And Whitebeard was old, sick and dying when he first showed up hundreds of chapters earlier.) and BOTH of them got big speeches first!
Monet's death right now is not insignificant.
It affects none of the main characters. So yeah… it's totally insignificant. And adds nothing to the story.
It has revealed to us Doflamingo's true ambitions.
No it didn't. Her "death" isn't needed to reveal he wants to be pirate king. At all.
Her role is done.
So were Alvida, Buggy, Wapol, Boroque Works, Gedatsu, Enel, and CP9 , and they got cover stories. GOOFY cover stories. Where they stop being evil and go on to some other happier dream. (Well, maybe not Buggy and Wapol.) Dr. Hogback, Absalom and Moria are all alive and kicking around too… even after someone was specifically sent to kill Moria!
Besides, the war should have taught you... Oda brings EVERYONE back for a role eventually. Mr. 3 of all people turned out to be a major deal! (It's probably significant that Foxy has NOT gotten a coverstory.)
Hell, Ax Hand Morgan was arrested, put away, and then escaped during a coverstory. HE'S still out there somewhere doing who knows what and he sucks and hasn't been seen in 550 chapters! But he will show up again.
I think Kuro is like the only case where we haven't seen even a hint of him since.
She was the Ace to his Whitebeard; the Zoro to his Luffy.
No. She's not. She's really not.
People who were willing to throw their lives down because their captain's dream is theirs. Zoro lived because of, you know, main character, but Monet doesn't have that plot-armor. If she does end up living, Oda had better do something fantastic with her, otherwise a lot of fans upset.
Or she can go live her secret dream and open up a pet shop or something. Like most of the villains have dome for the last 15 years.
See, the whole "this is One-Piece" argument has always bugged me, because we've never actually seen someone get fatally wounded and live. That's why the rallying cry with Sabo is "no body, no death." People applied present day logic to the flashback, and it's right.
Getting struck down by bolts of lightning doesn't count? Turned to stone? Beaten bloodily. Blown up, shot, then pissed on? Biting your own tongue off? Being stabbed repeatedly? Being jumped by a gang of ruffians? Being hit by a train? Stabbed through the chest? Super poisoned? What Kuma did to Zoro? What Mihawk did to Zoro? There's been plenty of fatal wounds. They just aren't fatal.
Though, I really do think Oda needs to do something to differentiate bewtween the New World and "Paradise" other than even weirder islands. I'm not saying he needs to go around killing a bunch of people, but if the New World really is supposed to be that much more dangerous than the first half of the grandline, he needs to be able to make that atmosphere present throughout.
He does… but he won't. He couldn't even leave those guys hit by poison gas alone. He had to hit Kinemon too, so now we know there's a cure.