About “One Piece”

“One Piece” is a Japanese Shonen-Jump TV Series/Manga (manga is a comic version of a show) that originally began to air in 1999. The TV Show is about a young boy named Monkey D. Luffy, a boy made of rubber, who, inspired by his childhood idol, sails across the sea as a pirate while gathering a swordsman, navigator, chef, doctor, musician, shipwright, doctor, archaeologist, sniper and a helmsman.

Luffy sets out on his journey to become the “King of the Pirates” which is earned when you reach the final hidden island known as “Laughtale” where the hidden treasure lies. Although this would sound like a fun experience, the World Government in “One Piece” believes otherwise. The government in “One Piece” is a vastly powerful military that rules over the entire world and absolutely despises pirates, which makes them the main antagonist of the show. Although the world government may be the main antagonist, there are many other vicious pirates that also sail the seas which are big obstacles for Luffy and his crew since they would have to fight other pirates to continue their journey.  

The “One Piece” world is composed of many various types of races and countries, such as giants, fishmen, dwarves, and humans. The “One Piece” world is separated into 4 different seas which include different variants of islands scattered throughout the seas that are explorable. This world also consists of “devil fruits” which grant the person who eats the fruit a random ability. In return, the user loses their ability to swim in the sea, since the devil fruits are hated by the sea. Luffy’s ability to be made of rubber was also granted by a devil fruit when he mistakenly ate one as a young child. 

The Author

The author of “One Piece”, Eiichiro Oda, started working on manga when he was still in high school at the age of 17. Fast forward 31 years, he now holds the title as the author of the best-selling manga/comic series sold in volumes. According to  onepiece.fandom.com, Oda stated in a Shonen-Jump interview that he was strongly influenced by the series known as “Dragon Ball” which led him to write “One Piece”. 

Achievements

“One Piece” is a long-running series with over 1000+ episodes of the series and 100+ volumes of manga. It has received endless amounts of praise for its story-telling, art style, world-building and humor. “One Piece” holds its own record of being the best-selling manga and the most-sold manga of all time. It was also the best-selling manga for eleven consecutive years from 2008 to 2018. According to Cbr.com the manga has officially sold 516.6 million copies in over 61 countries and regions worldwide as of March 2023, which makes it the second literary work to ever accomplish that goal with the first being “Harry Potter.” These achievements gave “One Piece” the title of “best-selling manga in history,” and “best-selling comic series printed in a book volume.” On top of that, the series has also become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.