Warning! Contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1074!
While One Piece has many superb side characters, Big News Morgans just proved why he is the best of them by betraying Luffy and his crew. This may not seem like an action that would endear Morgans to One Piece’s fans, but his reasons for doing this give him a delightful layer of complexity. And given the twist at the end of One Piece’s latest chapter, it seems that mangaka Eiichiro Oda plans on featuring him a lot more in the future.
In chapter 1074, the navy continues its assault on Egg Head Island to try and capture the scientist Vegapunk. Big News Morgans receives the inside scoop on the incident from an unnamed source and realizes the great news potential it has, likening it to the World Government’s past atrocity at Ohara shown in Nico Robin’s flashback. But instead of portraying the story truthfully and revealing the dark deeds of the Government, Morgan decides to paint Luffy as the villain of the piece, falsely claiming that he is holding Vegapunk hostage. In doing so, he hopes that the World Government will pay him well for painting them in a positive light. When Princess Vivi, an old ally of the Straw Hats who Morgans is hiding from the World Government, objects to this, saying that Luffy would never do something like that, Morgans replies that news isn’t about what’s true or false, it’s about what will sell the most papers and be most entertaining.
Morgans’ Betrayal of Luffy Shows He is Unpredictable
This philosophy recontextualizes a lot of Morgans’ past actions. Previously, it seemed like he was an ally to the Straw Hats, publicizing his defeat of Big Mom on Whole Cake Island and going against the government’s wishes by publishing a story of his victory on Wano and Luffy’s newly awakened Gear Fifth form. These actions proved that he was a man willing to publish the stories he wanted to regardless of any potential enemies he would make in the process, which is very similar to how Luffy often behaves. But despite the similarities between him and Luffy, this chapter proves he is not on the Straw Hats’ side.
While this may be disappointing for some fans who viewed Morgans as an ally, this ultimately makes his character much more interesting and unpredictable. Instead of being a figure the Straw Hats can always rely on to spread the truth of their adventures, he can and will spread lies about them if he thinks it is beneficial to him. Unlike other beloved side characters in One Piece like Buggy the Clown, whose arc fans can generally predict the trajectory of, Morgans could become either the Straw Hats’ greatest ally or greatest enemy by the end of the series, all without compromising his ideals.
Morgans’ Chaotic Nature Makes Him One Piece‘s Best Side Character
All of this makes Big News Morgans easily the best side character in One Piece. And since the Straw Hats will likely reunite with Vivi soon, this will likely bring them into direct contact with Morgans himself, which should reveal even more about the mysterious newsman. Knowing Oda’s tendency to incorporate even minor characters into the story, it will be exciting to see where Morgans’ arc goes from here now that he has been revealed as one of One Piece‘s most chaotic characters.
One Piece Chapter 1074 is available to read from Viz Media.