One Piece Mania

The One Piece manga by Eiichiro Oda began in 1997 and was followed a year later by the anime.

The One Piece manga is one of the most, if not the most, popular manga in Japan, and is sometimes regarded as one of the ''Holy Trinity of Shonen'', the other two being Naruto and Bleach. Currently the manga has reached over 450 chapters, and a new chapter is published weekly in the Shonen Jump. The Japanese anime has reached over 300 episodes, and a new episode airs on TV every week in Japan. There is an English dubbed version of the One Piece anime, created by 4Kids, which is considerably farther behind the Japanese anime.

The Legend of One Piece

Once upon a time, there was a great pirate. His name was Gold Roger. He had conquered every single treasure that existed. His last words before his execution have inspired pirates eveywhere.

"Want my ultimate treasures? It's possible I will give them to those who can find them.
I have gathered everything in this world and already hidden them in that place..."

One Piece Chapter 1: ''Romance Dawn''

The world has entered the pirate era. Pirate King Gold Roger's last words before his execution have incited a countless number of pirates to seek out the last island of the Grand Line, the island of Raftel, where the Pirate King hid his greatest treasure, the ''One Piece''. The story of One Piece follows the story of a young man named Monkey D. Luffy, who dreams of finding ''One Piece'' and becoming the world's greatest pirate.

When he was young, Luffy was inspired by a pirate that used Luffy's hometown as a base of operations, ''Red Hair'' Shanks. Determined to become a pirate, Luffy constantly demands for

Shanks to take him to sea, even despite the fact that he can't even swim. After Shanks has an embarrassing encounter with a local bandit, Higuma, Luffy loses faith in pirates, and also learns that he accidentally ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi, a rare Devil's Fruit that turned Luffy into a rubber man, and forever denied him the ability to swim. Several days later, when Shanks is out at sea, Luffy encounters Higuma again, and is kidnapped when he retaliates against the Higuma's insults towards Shanks. Higuma is about to kill Luffy when Shanks's crew returns. A member of Shanks's crew single-handedly demolishes Higuma's bandit group, but Higuma escapes to sea with Luffy. However, having escaped from the pirates, Higuma's luck turns, and he is eaten by a sea monster after throwing Luffy into the water. The sea monster is about to eat Luffy as well when Shanks miraculously appears and saves Luffy, sacrificing his left arm in the process.

After this event, Luffy determines to become a pirate by himself, gather a crew stronger than Shanks's crew, find the world's biggest treasure, and become the strongest pirate in the world. Just before his final departure, Shanks gives Luffy his favorite straw hat for Luffy to return when he becomes a great pirate. Luffy's story starts 10 years later, when he finally leaves his home in search of friends and adventure, and to achieve his dream of becoming the world's greatest pirate.

The World of One Piece

One Piece takes place in a fictional world almost completely covered by the ocean, which is separated into four parts: North Blue, East Blue, South Blue, and West Blue. There are numerous islands on each sea, where the majority of the world's population lives in communities ranging from small villages to large cities. The four seas are separated by the only continent, known as the Red Line, and the most dangerous sea, known as the Grand Line. The Red Line and the Grand Line both span the entire circumference of the world, the Red Line runs in a north/south direction whereas the Grand Line runs in an east/west direction. Two eternally peaceful seas, known as the Calm Belts, flank the Grand Line to the north and south, separating it from the four Blues. Sailing by normal means is possible anywhere except in the Grand Line.

However, in the Calm Belts, the weather is eternally peaceful, meaning that ships that rely on wind for movement will not be able to move very fast, if at all. Also, the Calm Belts are a nest for sea kings, gigantic sea monsters that are difficult to deal with when alone, and virtually impossible to fight when against a group. In the Grand Line, each island has its own magnetic field surrounding it, causing a compass to become completely ineffective. Instead, a Log Post must be used to lock onto the magnetic field of the next island and sail there using the Log Post. Once at the island, a certain period of time, spanning from a few hours to years, is required for the Log Post to lock onto the magnetic field of the next island, and the process continues throughout the Grand Line. Although there are various routes through the Grand Line, ultimately all of them will lead to the final island at the very end of Grand Line, Raftel.

Eiichiro Oda was born on January 1, 1975 in the town of Kumamoto. At a simple age of four years old, he decided to become a mangaka, the reason being he didn't want to do real jobs like everyone else. His dream was further inspired by reading Dragon Ball from his favorite mangaka of the time, Akira Toriyama. When he reached 17 years old, in the year of 1992, his dream came true when his first Manga entitled "Wanted! which was a collection of short stories, finally got published. This was the start of Oda's long, seccessful road ahead of him.

Oda left his college in 1994, heading to Tokyo to work with other mangaka. These were Shinobu Kaitani, Masaya Tokuhiro, and Nobuhiro Watsuki.

During these years, Oda created gathered ideas for an upcoming manga. Two versions of a manga called Romance Dawn was created, and not long after that, on issue #41 of Weekly Jump, the finalized series One Piece was published. From then on, Oda's series has done spectacular, with over 45 volumes and still breaking records.

Creations of Work

Dragonball x One Piece: Cross Epoch (2007)
One Piece (since 1997)
Wanted! (1998, Collection of the short stories below)
Wanted! (1992)
Kami kara mirai no present (1993)
Itsuki yakou (1993)
Monsters (1994)
Romance Dawn (Version 2, 1994)