Gol D. Roger was known as the 'Pirate King', the strongest and most infamous being to have sailed the Grand Line. The capture and execution of Roger by the World Government brought a change throughout the world. His last words before his death revealed the existence of the greatest treasure in the world, One Piece. It was this revelation that brought about the Grand Age of Pirates, men who dreamed of finding One Piece-which promises an unlimited amount of riches and fame-and quite possibly the pinnacle of glory and the title of the Pirate King. Enter Monkey D. Luffy, a 17-year-old boy who defies your standard definition of a pirate. Rather than the popular persona of a wicked, hardened, toothless pirate ransacking villages for fun, Luffy's reason for being a pirate is one of pure wonder: the thought of an exciting adventure that leads him to intriguing people and ultimately, the promised treasure. Following in the footsteps of his childhood hero, Luffy and his crew travel across the Grand Line, experiencing crazy adventures, unveiling dark mysteries and battling strong enemies, all in order to reach the most coveted of all fortunes-One Piece.
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Horikoshi has praised Eiichiro Oda's willingness to let characters speak their minds, something he leaned on heavily for Bakugo. But he's also said outright that he just doesn't have the stamina to write something on the scale of One Piece, which shaped his decision to keep MHA a more contained story rather than a decades-long saga.
When MHA's manga wrapped up, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda marked the occasion by redrawing a piece of fan art a 15-year-old Horikoshi had actually mailed him 22 years earlier, long before Horikoshi was a professional artist. It's the same trick Oda pulled when Naruto and Dragon Ball ended, turning old fan submissions into farewell tributes.
Before Luffy ever set sail, Eiichiro Oda was just a kid glued to a completely different show — a European cartoon called Vicky the Viking. That early fascination with seafaring adventure, mixed with childhood trips to a pirate-themed amusement park near his hometown, planted the seed for what would eventually become One Piece.
When One Piece first launched in Weekly Shonen Jump on 22 July 1997, Oda actually pitched it as a five-year story. Nearly three decades and well over a thousand anime episodes later, the Straw Hats still haven't found the treasure, and the 'quick pirate story' has turned into one of the longest-running sagas in television history.
TV Asahi once surveyed 150,000 working adults in Japan to find the nation's 100 favourite manga series. One Piece didn't just make the list — it topped it, pulling in over 33,600 votes and beating out every other title people grew up reading.
When 4Kids Entertainment picked up One Piece for English broadcast between 2004 and 2006, they didn't just trim it for kids, they rewrote it. Cigarettes became lollipops, guns turned into water pistols, alcohol was swapped for juice, and entire scenes involving blood were quietly cut rather than edited, changes so drastic that 4Kids eventually dropped the license.
As part of their heavily localised English version, 4Kids replaced the original Japanese opening 'We Are' by Hiroshi Kitadani with an entirely new track called 'Pirate Rap.' It's one of the more infamous relics of that early dub era and a big reason fans steer newcomers toward later, more faithful releases instead.
By the end of 2014, One Piece had officially become the best-selling manga series of all time in print, according to Guinness World Records, with close to 321 million copies sold. It didn't stop there either — within a few more years the franchise blew past its own record, crossing the 500 million mark worldwide.
The rubbery, loudmouthed captain of the Straw Hats has been voiced since day one by Mayumi Tanaka, a woman. If her voice work sounds strangely familiar to Dragon Ball fans too, that's because she's also the voice behind Krillin, giving her a rare foot in two of anime's biggest long-running franchises at once.
Tucked away in Shibuya is BragMen, a gym built to look like it's straight out of the Grand Line, complete with rope, crates, heavy chains and compass patterns worked into the floor. Even the dumbbells get in on the theme, shaped like the giant meat legs Luffy is constantly dreaming about eating.
