One Piece's large, blue world is full of eclectic characters of every sort, but it still sometimes struggles in certain areas to represent its female characters. While women initially had as much personality and agency as male characters during One Piece's early years, they have become closer to damsels-in-distress as the series has gone on.
As such, this list will be taking a close look at a female character that not only manages to stay relevant to the fans but is often called the series' best woman: Nico Robin. Robin is the lethal super-spy that any pirate organization wishes they could get their hands on. While she's been a welcome addition to the Straw Hats, a few things about her just stand out in a confusing way. This list will be looking at a few of those things, as it breaks down what about Nico Robin just doesn't make sense.
10 Devil Fruit
One of the most obvious things to call strange about Nico Robin is her Flower-Flower Devil Fruit. With it, she's able to sprout any of her limbs on any surface that she sees, whether that's a wall, floor, or even someone's back. While the idea of being able to sprout seemingly limitless amounts of limbs from anywhere can be useful, one has to wonder how each of these things is functioning.
Is actual blood and nerves going through them? Is Nico Robin able to feel the feelings of the surfaces she sprouts on? Are nutrients in her body spread to those extra limbs or are the vital fluids within her also cloned? She's apparently able to clone even her own clothes, so why not?
9 Flight Ability
While her Devil Fruit alone can be confusing enough, some of the uses for it seem outright impractical if not deliberately impossible in context. One such use allows her to fly. By sprouting layered arm from her back, Nico Robin is able to glide, albeit for a short time (though that duration has extended post-time skip).
Though an interesting feature, this isn't how wings or gliding work. Birds are able to fly because the bones in their wings are so thin. As far as fans know, Nico Robin doesn't have thin or hollow bones, meaning that when she sprouts her "wings," she's just sprouting pounds upon pounds of flesh. Not aerodynamic by any means.
8 Speaking Spanish
Well into her run in the series, fans were shocked to learn that Eiichiro Oda intended for Robin to appear Russian. This confusion among fans may be due to her original costume choices, dark skin within the anime, and, the most obliquely deceptive of all, her tendency to name her moves in Spanish.
Spanish is certainly a widespread language, but it's not exactly the characteristic one for Russia. It's anyone's guess as to how Oda actually drew any connection between Russian super-spy and the Spanish language.
7 Plan To Betray Crocodile
The Alabasta Arc was chock-full of twists and turns, but one of the most surprising had to be Nico Robin's betrayal of Crocodile. Despite being his clear second-in-command through most of the arc, Robin apparently had only been using him to get close to Alabasta's poneglyphs. Not wanting their information to fall in the wrong hands, Robin never intended to share her knowledge with him.
While the gesture is clever and noble in a variety of ways, Robin's endgame left a lot to be desired. When Crocodile realized that she was never going to tell him what was on the poneglyphs, Robin revealed the weakest ace to have in one's sleeve: A single vile of water. Luffy was barely able to take Crocodile on with a barrel of water. Was Robin really expecting to subdue a Warlord with a thin vile?
6 Lack Of Fight Scenes
When Nico Robin first joined the crew, fans everywhere got excited that they would see more female fight scenes. Nami is a clear staple for the Straw Hats, but she naturally isn't fit for consistent combat. Nico Robin, on the other hand, is a trained assassin who not only showed her mettle during the Alabasta Arc but even got a decent fight scene in the arc right after. Sadly, however, she hasn't had a substantive fight since then.
One Piece got a hold of a female character that was made for fighting and killing and has hardly used her in key action scenes, despite Robin having one of the most overpowered abilities for combat ever.
5 Mission
After the tragic slaughtering of her people and the catastrophic destruction of her entire island, Nico Robin set out on a mission to finalize the research that her fellow archaeologists and mother risked their lives for. In terms of actually finding the poneglyphs and reading them, Robin has done a wonderful job. However, as an archaeologist, one would think that Robin would take notes or pictures.
Whenever she finds a poneglyph, Robin kind of just reads it and doesn't take any time to record the findings. Given that the most valuable thing about Ohara was arguably its library, one would think that Robin would try to rebuild it. One can't possibly hope to hold a century's worth of secrets and knowledge in just their head.
4 "Development"
After the series' time skip, Eiichro Oda developed quite the divisive trademark among his female characters. Less emphasis started to be placed on distinctive features, with many designs sticking to an hourglass figure that emphasized curves. Robin is one such victim of the stylistic change.
While it makes sense for a lot of the younger girls in this series to still have developing bodies, Robin was well into her twenties when she debuted. She shouldn't have had as much "character development" after the time skip as she did.
3 Being Alive
While it's miraculous to see Nico Robin alive and well today, it is baffling that she has been able to skirt death ever since childhood. Nico Robin has been targeted ever since she was a young girl; but through wits and betrayals, she's been able to stay alive. While interesting in concept, in retrospect, it shouldn't have been that hard to capture or kill an eight-year-old girl.
The series definitely would have been very different if someone actually managed to catch Robin at that time. However, that does not defeat the fact that the story skirted on how different pirates, criminal organizations, and general people with weapons were unsuccessful in subduing a young girl. Betraying people and Devil Fruit abilities can only go so far for a kid.
2 Becoming Wanted At Age Eight
With that being said, how did anyone take Nico Robin's wanted poster seriously? After the Ohara incident, Nico Robin became one of, if not, the youngest criminal to ever have a bounty of her magnitude. Yet, somehow, no one ever questioned it.
People just took it on good faith that a child was somehow dangerous enough to accrue such a bounty. No one looked at the picture of an eight-year-old girl and thought, "Hey. Maybe the World Government is making a mistake with this one. Maybe we shouldn't be hunting little girls."
1 Becoming An Archaeologist At Age Eight
While becoming a world-renowned criminal at eight-years-old is baffling, it's even more confusing to see one become a fully educated archaeologist. Nico Robin was literally able to receive certification for becoming an archaeologist, a degree that typically takes years and a lot of hard research to get in the real world, at eight-years-old.
Why did Ohara's scholars even take her seriously? Why would they give a small child a very adult degree? What did they want her to do with this certification? It's one thing to be a prodigy or just really smart at a young age. It's another to have a professional understanding of archaeology and history.