The island's surface was destroyed 22 years ago by a Buster Call. This is an important event behind the ongoings of the Water 7 Saga with far-reaching consequences in the Final Saga.[3]
Ohara was notable for the Tree of Knowledge,[4] a 5,000-year-old gigantic library tree .[5] Around it, there was once a town where Nico Robin lived with her aunt, uncle and cousin, as well as some woods and a lake big enough to all the books from the Tree of Knowledge.
Following its destruction, Ohara now merely consists of the charred ruins of the town and the Tree of Knowledge with a memorial put up by Vegapunk and Monkey D. Dragon to honor the victims of the incident. The island also no longer appears on any commercial maps.
In the far northeast of Ohara, there is an island where Robin was on a passenger ship.[6]
Ohara was a country for 5,000 years, when the Tree of Knowledge was planted on the very island.[5] For millennia, archaeologists thrived there learning about history, a course of action that the World Government permitted.[5]
Nico Olvia, an archaeologist, left the island on an expedition to find out more about the Void Century, but was captured by Vice-Admiral Jaguar D. Saul. After interrogating Olvia, Saul helped her escape back to her homeland, but accidentally ended up as a castaway at Ohara as well,[7] where he befriended Olvia's daughter, Nico Robin. Meanwhile, the World Government, aware of Olvia's excursion into troublesome subjects, sent their CP9 agency to investigate the Oharan archaeologists.[8]
After the government discovered that the archaeologists were studying the forbidden Poneglyphs and the Void Century,[9] they ordered the island's destruction via the Buster Call.[10] Among the Vice Admirals sent to carry out the attack were Sakazuki, who destroyed the evacuation ship carrying all the civilians, in case any archaeologists snuck onboard,[11] and Kuzan,[12] a friend of Saul.
The government then used propaganda to demonize the citizens of Ohara, stating that they were attempting to use forbidden knowledge for global destruction, as several Poneglyphs also contain information about the Ancient Weapons.
The only native survivor of Ohara is Nico Robin, who was branded a criminal for her ability to read Poneglyphs. The government also framed for the destruction of the evacuation ship and the Marine battleships that Saul destroyed. After that day, Ohara was erased from all the maps.[13]
The name "Ohara" may come from the Irish surname "O'Hara" (also spelled オハラ in Japanese). The leading archeologist of Ohara, Clou D. Clover, is also named and themed around clovers, which are a symbol of Ireland.
