In the magnificent One Piece series written by Eiichiro Oda, where characters each have their own unique and distinguishing features, Monet stands out as the snow harpy from the Punk Hazard arc. With a very distinctive and striking appearance as a bird-human hybrid, Monet is a character that is a lot of fans love despite her being an antagonist in the series. A member of the Donquixote Pirates, she was tasked by Doflamingo to supervise the actions of Caesar Clown, the scientist tasked with the production of Smileys. Monet, while performing her task, served as an assistant and secretary to Caesar, overseeing various experiments on the hazardous wasteland, Punk Hazard. Her intelligence and loyalty played a big role in the events of the Punk Hazard arc.
Who Is Monet In One Piece?
Older sister to Sugar, another member of the Donquixote Pirates, Monet’s life prior to joining the Donquixote Pirates was not an ideal one. Living in a very terrible environment, the sisters suffer terribly until Doflamingo saves them. This made them swear to be loyal to him since then. Monet seemed to be a kind character, giving off a calm presence and even flirtatious at times, as shown during a few of her interactions with Trafalgar D. Water Law on the island. However, this was all a facade, as she appears extremely sadistic at her core. Because of this, she was willing to aid Caesar in overseeing the experiments that he was conducting on children, posing as a maternal figure to gain their trust. Giving the children the awful drug, which had dangerous side effects, with a smile just goes to show how sadistic she gets.
Beyond her sadism, Monet is a very intelligent woman and a very diligent researcher. She could dig up information on the Straw Hats in no time and even deduced their abilities, which seemed greater than their bounty at the time. Even her calm disposition is not entirely a facade, as she appears level-headed even in the craziest of situations. Monet is also extremely loyal to Doflamingo as she is even willing to lay down her life to obey Doflamingo’s orders, although she was not without fear as the thought of death left her unable to reform after Zoro’s attack petrifies her, and did not even use Haki. She believed Doflamingo would become the next Pirate King. I guess we all know how Doffy ended up. Monet played a very significant role in the Punk Hazard arc, and sadly, it ended there as well.
The Yuki Yuki No Mi
Monet is the user of the Logia-type Devil Fruit, the Yuki Yuki No Mi (Snow-Snow Fruit). This allows Monet to manipulate snow freely, including creating snow, transforming into snow, and so on. Monet is able to drastically reduce the temperature of her surrounding environment, giving herself the environmental advantage in fights. She is even able to cover the battlefield in a blizzard of sorts, giving an advantage as snow is steadily produced, waiting to be manipulated by her. While it may not seem as powerful as Aokiji’s Hie Hie no Mi, it’s quite a handful. With this power, Monet is easily able to trap her opponents in a thick layer of snow and move freely within it, giving her the edge of sneak attacks over her opponents. Not to forget her ability to render her opponents unconscious with hypothermia by lowering their body temperature drastically.
Monet is not lacking in the defense aspect as well. She is able to form snow barriers, ice walls, and even multi-layered igloo-like structures, all of which take effort to overcome. It might seem so simple, but combined with Monet’s intelligence, these defenses would unnerve you so much. Monet’s wings are not just for flight alone. Monet is able to harden her feathers with her abilities and use them as ice blades that are durable enough to face Zoro’s swords, even though Zoro is holding back. Monet can also cover herself in snow and transform into something sort of like a large ice monster with very large fangs. The fangs do not only bite but also deliver enough cold to freeze and break off the affected body part. However, heat is something that Monet avoids as it is a very large weakness for her.
Eternal Debt to the Heavenly Demon
Monet and her younger sister, Sugar, started out pretty rough. Up until the age of 17 and 9, respectively, they lived in a very horrible environment till they met Doflamingo. Abandoning their past lives for the Donquixote family, as most people would do for their savior, the Doflamingo family gave the sisters Devil Fruits. Monet was given the Yuki Yuki No Mi and her sister, the Hobi Hobi No Mi. We later see Monet in the royal palace of Dressrosa, working undercover as a servant in preparation for Doflamingo’s coup d’etat.
After a while, Monet was able to open the gates for the Donquixote Pirates to invade. Unlucky for Viola, she stumbles upon Monet while the invasion was in progress, Monet captures her and they later coerce her to work for Doflamingo. Doflamingo later sends Monet to Punk Hazard to protect and monitor Caesar Clown while using her secretary duties as a facade. Later on, we realize Monet’s undying loyalty to Doflamingo when she reveals their contingency plan in case anything goes wrong on Punk Hazard.
The Harpy Transformation
This is where Trafalgar Law arrives on Punk Hazard. Monet, who had found out he was a doctor while researching him, enlisted his help in healing the injured people who had lost the ability to use their limbs due to the poisonous gas explosion about two years prior to that time. Law then replaced the limbs of the injured with animal limbs. Even though her limbs worked perfectly well, Monet also requested a change in limbs as well, replacing them with bird wings, talons, and a tail, hence the harpy title. Since Law brought a proposition of working with Caesar, Caesar sought some form of insurance in case of betrayal, so Law removed his own heart and gave it to Caesar and then took possession of Monet’s heart as well, just to make sure the insurance goes both ways.
As a harpy, Monet is able to transform into a human-bird hybrid, with her arms and legs replaced with wings and bird-like feet with talons. In this transformation, Monet’s speed and agility increase immensely. She is even able to use her talons to attack her opponents. With her abilities, the likes of Nami, Robin, and even Tashigi, a marine captain, were no match for her. However, she could barely hold Luffy and later Zoro, who even held back while fighting her, back with her intelligence. Despite her unique features, Monet is still able to perform delicate actions such as writing and turning pages, even with her large wings. With all of these, most fans presume being a harpy as her Devil Fruit ability. However, this is not so, as she has actual Devil Fruit abilities that have no relation to being a harpy.
Punk Hazard Arc
Let’s jump to when the Straw Hat Pirates, Kin’emon, and Momonosuke arrive at Punk Hazard. We see Monet observing the Straw Hats from a distance while they fought a dragon, already assessing their strength before returning to report to Caesar. While reporting to Caesar, Monet also includes that their bounties may not represent their current strength due to their inactivity in the last two years. As one would expect, not much goes by the diligent Monet. Monet was quick to find the connection between Luffy and Law and reported that to Caesar as well. A while later, after Caesar left, Law enters the building in search of him and Monet informs Law of his absence with an ulterior motive in mind. Law then informed her of his leaving, to which Monet claimed she would miss him.
However, Law needed her for something, and she agreed to follow him after teasing him. Unfortunately for Law, something else was going to happen. As he and Monet went, he began to feel pain, and Monet, still with the flirtatious persona, asked if he was okay. However, Monet’s sadistic side began to surface as the cause of Law’s pain, Vergo, emerged. Having a history of being brutalized by Vergo when he was younger, Law seemed traumatized and was immobilized by Vergo. Monet watched on and chuckled as Vergo knocked out Law. Not long after, she watches the captivity of Luffy and the others in the research facility.
Battling The Straw Hats
While Caesar was being informed of the intruders and their allies being locked up, Monet caught sight of Chopper gunning for a cure for the subjects of the experiments and subdued him. Since almost everyone escaped Caesar’s poison gas plan, Caesar ordered Monet to let it flow into the next room, ignoring Vergo as collateral damage. Later on, while Luffy was about to finish up Caesar, Monet steps in to protect him and take his place as Luffy’s opponent as that was one of the reasons Doflamingo sent her there in the first place. As the fight went on, she trapped Luffy in her multi-layered igloo-like snow structure and tried to make him unconscious with hypothermia by hugging him, but Luffy was not having it as he blasted through the floor and into the basement, which was nearly impossible to escape unless he could fly, according to Monet.
Monet later confronts Nami, Robin, Chopper, and Zoro. She created a snowstorm, putting the environment to her advantage, and stabbed Robin, who was trying to calm the rampaging children. When Monet realized that all of them except Zoro were trying to escape, she created a large ice wall and then transformed into a large snow monster, trapping Nami and Chopper in it. However, they were able to escape her clutches, and Zoro cut through the wall to allow the rest of them to escape while Monet faced him. However, Zoro was not even taking her seriously, as he was not even attacking her. Their one-sided fight was interrupted by the arrival of Sanji, Tashigi, and the Marines. Noticing their effort to get the children, Monet transforms into the snow monster again but is quickly Tashigi quickly counters her, deciding to take her on.
Monet’s Death
While going back and forth with Zoro and Tashigi, Monet manages to catch Tashigi and is about to inflict serious damage when Zoro slashes her cheek. Completely fazed as she thought Zoro did not attack women, fear began to seep into Monet as Zoro rushed towards her. Zoro then split Monet into two with a single slash. Despite the attack not being a Haki-imbued one, Monet was unable to reform herself as she was roots in terror at the lethality of the attack. While still trying to get her bearings, Tashigi deals the final blow with a Haki-imbued attack, leaving Monet nearly dead. However, Monet was able to survive as the poisonous gas began to seep into the room, forcing Zoro and Tashigi to escape.
After also escaping the poisonous gas, Monet contacted Doflamingo. She informed him of her failure and decided to atone for it by destroying the entire island along with everyone else, a plan Doflamingo already had in mind to carry out either way. With her readiness to achieve Doflamingo’s cause at the expense of even her own life, she was ready to activate the deadly weapon. However, she was not even able to go out the way she wanted. Prior to this, Law had given Caesar Monet’s heart, making Caesar think it belonged to Smoker, an intruder at the time. Right when Monet was ready to lay her life down, Caesar stabs the heart, leading to Monet’s death.
The Harpy Of Punk Hazard
Monet played a big role in the One Piece narrative, especially in the Punk Hazard Arc. We mostly see Monet as Caesar Clown’s right-hand woman, overseeing the experiments on the island. It is highly likely that the trust of the children used as test subjects would not have been gained if Monet was not there as she posed as a mother figure for them, deceiving them with a kind smile and offering them the candy that was detrimental to them. Aside from overseeing the experiments, Monet was a very sharp and diligent woman, doing research of her own and giving Caesar the appropriate information when necessary. With this and so much more, Monet was crucial to Doflamigo and Caesar’s plan for world domination.
Her loyalty to Doflamingo also played a big role in the actions she took in the series. Her willingness to die for Doflamingo’s cause despite Doflamingo just wanting to use her is astonishing. However, considering that he pulled them out of the horrible situation, Monet was in prior to meeting him, it is not something that was completely unexpected. Monet even pictured Doflamingo as the next Pirate King. Monet’s past is still shrouded in mystery, a topic Oda might not expand on. Even her connection with her sister, Sugar, is shrouded in mystery. Hopefully, light will be shed on this sooner or later.
Trivia
Monet is the only female character to have died on screen in the current story of the One Piece series. Considering how Oda does not really let his characters die, and even if they do, their death has massive significance in the following series of events. On-screen deaths are few, and Monet just happened to be one of them. Monet is also the first female Logia-type user we see in the canon series.
