Waifu Nico Robin

The first time I ever saw Nico Robin was in my imported Japanese version of One Piece Grand Battle 3 for the PS2. That game covers the Skypiea arc, but at the time, I was still reading One Piece monthly in Shonen Jump, so I didn't even know who Sanji was yet. I knew we'd meet him and Chopper and Robin at some point, but I didn't know anything about who they were. When I started watching the anime through the Alabasta arc, I realized I'd unknowingly spoiled myself; Robin was introduced as a bad guy. Her joining the Straw Hats was kind of a twist and I'd ruined it for myself without even realizing.

All the same, I didn't really care for her at first. She was tough to use in the game and in the anime her cool demeanor didn't seem to jive with the rest of the crew, even if the way she won most of them over was hilarious. But like Zoro, I was wary of her at first.

Then Enies Lobby happened. And we all got to see the lengths Robin was willing to go to to protect the Strawhats, and the lengths the Strawhats were willing to go to to rescue her. We finally got to see her gut-wrenchingly tragic past and we got to finally wrap our minds around this Robin character. And just like that, she jumped straight through the ranks from my least favorite Strawhat to my third-favorite (after Zoro and Franky), where she's remained to this day.

And it's worth mentioning that my favorite moment in all of One Piece isn't an action scene or a gag or a dramatic reveal. My favorite scene in my favorite comic of all time is still Robin, tears streaming down her face, admitting for the first time in her life that she wants to go on living. That's the scene that made me fall in love with Robin, and the scene that made me realize just what a master storyteller Oda really is.