One Piece

One Piece (stylized as ONE PIECE), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since July 1997, with its individual chapters compiled into 98 tankōbon volumes as of February 2021. One Piece has received praise for its storytelling, art, characterization, and humor. Several volumes of the manga have broken publishing records, including the highest initial print run of any book in Japan. The official website for Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga announced that the manga has set the Guinness World Record for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author". As of February 2021, the manga had over 480 million copies in circulation in 43 countries worldwide, making it the best-selling manga series in history. It became the best-selling manga for the eleventh consecutive year in 2018. One Piece is also one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Plot
The series focuses on Monkey D. Luffy, a young man who, inspired by his childhood idol and powerful pirate "Red Haired" Shanks, sets off on a journey from the East Blue Sea to find the titular treasure and proclaim himself the King of the Pirates. In an effort to organize his own crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy rescues and befriends a swordsman named Roronoa Zoro, and they head off in search of the One Piece. They are joined in their journey by Nami, a navigator and thief; Usopp, a sniper and a pathological liar; and Vinsmoke Sanji, a perverted chef. They acquire a ship named the Going Merry and engage in confrontations with notorious pirates of the East Blue. As Luffy and his crew set out on their adventures, others join the crew later in the series, including Tony Tony Chopper, a doctor and anthropomorphized reindeer; Nico Robin, an archaeologist and former assassin; Franky, a cyborg shipwright; Brook, a skeletal musician and swordsman; and Jimbei, a fish-man helmsman and former member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Once the Going Merry becomes damaged beyond repair, the Straw Hat Pirates acquire a new ship named the Thousand Sunny. Together, they encounter other pirates, bounty hunters, criminal organizations, revolutionaries, secret agents and soldiers of the corrupt World Government, and various other friends and foes, as they sail the seas in pursuit of their dreams.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Despite it's simple premise on finding a treasure how the series is handled is something else, as the series has not only one of the best written stories in manga but it has ones of the best written stories in all of fiction.
 * 2) The series has one of the best and most unforgettable arcs in manga history such as Alabasta, Enies Loby, Marineford, Dressrosa, and the Whole Cake Island arc among others.
 * 3) A great cast of characters such as Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Vinsmoke Sanji, Tony Tony Chopper, Nico Robin, Franky, Brook, Jimbei, among others.
 * 4) The series has pretty of great antagonists such as Crocodile, Enel, Rob Lucci, Blackbeard, Smoker, Doflamingo, Charlotte Katakuri for example.
 * 5) The series also has plenty of emotional moments such as Luffy after eating the Devil Fruit realizing he can no longer swim, Ace's death and the backstories of both Nico Robin and Brook.
 * 6) For a series that's over 20 years old the art has changed drastically going from a borderline American cartoon style art to the art we come to know the series as.
 * 7) The series has plenty of great fights such as Zoro vs Mihawks, Luffy vs Lucci, Whitebeard vs Blackbeard, Luffy vs Doflamingo, Luffy vs Katakuri, and Luffy vs Kaido for example.
 * 8) There are plenty of heartwarming scenes such as Princess Vivi's return to Alabasta and the crew departing from Alabasta, holding their arms up with the X mark towards hero as well as Sabo reuniting with Luffy.
 * 9) There's plenty of Character Development in the series from the main cast to even the background characters.
 * 10) There's tons of memorable quotes in the series. Here's the list for them.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Many arcs sometimes feel repetitive are some arcs feel similar to each other.
 * 2) Nami prior to her Character Development was pretty selfish.

Trivia

 * 1) Oda himself admits he's a huge Dragon Ball fan, and he even said if Dragon Ball didn't exist One Piece wouldn't either. It would all come full-circle with the crossover.
 * 2) Due to the Unfortunate Implications of Whitebeard's flag (the fact that it was a Buddhist symbol that resembled a reversed swastika), Oda had to change it as per the higher-ups' request.
 * 3) All Supernovas who were introduced in Sabaody Archipelago arc exist because of this trope. Oda had already planned the general outline of the arc, but his editor suggested that it needed more content to spice things up. A mere three hours later, Oda had created nine new character designs and drawn a rough draft for a new manga chapter.
 * 4) Whitebeard is based on an old pub owner Oda used to hang around with, and Whitebeard's first line was actually something that man always said. Like Whitebeard, he too had medical problems (i.e. hooked up to medical equipment) and is now dead.
 * 5) The series is the best-selling manga of all time according to Wikipedia as well as the 3rd best-selling comic of all time behind Superman and Batman.
 * 6) The series had two prototypes before the chapter that eventually became the first one, and there was heavy rewriting between them. We'll just say that Luffy's character was way toned down and close the discussion. Also, there was no titular treasure (Luffy pretty much became a pirate for the hell of it), and the series was called Romance Dawn (which was used as the name for the manga's first chapter and volume).
 * 7) In the second Romance Dawn, which was submitted as the pilot, Luffy's grandfather (who's a Marine vice-admiral in the actual manga) played an equivalent role to Shanks, which Eiichiro Oda did so that Shanks would have more of an impact when he was introduced in the actual manga. There's a character named Ann with a similar design to Nami and the position of a swordswoman of limited skill, but she doesn't join Luffy's crew in this version. Plus the Big Bad of this pilot is Pirate Captain named Spiel the Hexagon whom to this date is the ONLY One Piece villain who uses magic, such as having the ability to ride on a broomstick, set a subordinate ablaze, summon a hammer, and control water to sink his own ship.
 * 8) *In the other Romance Dawn, Oda's attempt at a Nami-like character was named Silk and she and Galley do join Luffy's crew according to the Time Skipped epilogue.
 * 9) The story of the first prototype was adapted into an animated special made for the JUMP Super Anime Tour that's set in the continuity of the main series between the Thriller Bark and Sabaody Archipelago arcs (following the manga, as the anime hadn't gotten to this point yet). Even before this, the villain named "Crescent Moon-Galley" made a cameo appearance in the anime version of the Loguetown arc.
 * 10) *Captain Kuro makes a reference to the crescent moon that would otherwise be a throwaway line if not for the possible reference to Romance Dawn.
 * 11) Zoro was originally conceived as one of Buggy's bodyguards and the Master Swordsman of Buggy's Pirates, while Cabaji was the Knife Nut of the crew instead.
 * 12) Nami was initially going to have An Axe to Grind as her main weapon. One of her early designs also featured her having scars, as well as a cybernetic-looking left arm and right foot.
 * 13) At the beginning, Oda planned to make Hatchan a Squid Fishwoman named Marly Reed.
 * 14) Oda actually did want to include some more stories for the Loguetown arc (though what was intended to be canon is unknown. At the very least the Daddy the Father and Caroline story was meant to be used). But he wanted the crew's journey to start at Chapter 100, hence the rushed pacing in the manga.
 * 15) Daddy Masterson was originally going to appear in the manga, but Oda nixed the story so that the Straw Hats would leave for the Grand Line in the 100th chapter. Instead, Usopp just buys his goggles off-page and Masterson's story is only seen in the anime, and is thus considered filler by those who do not know this.
 * 16) Vivi was initially nothing more than an enemy, and her being a princess is the product of pure chance: one time, Oda drew Miss Wednesday with her hair down, which made him think she looked like a princess. Since he had already planned out the plot for the Alabasta arc, this gave him the idea of making her the princess of Alabasta, and the rest is history.
 * 17) Mr. 2's initial designs looked very different, he was named "Mr. Happy Birthday", and he had a female partner named Miss Obon.
 * 18) Robin was going to have a technique called Face Fleur, which would have allowed her to duplicate her face. It was rejected almost immediately after it proved too creepy in practice.
 * 19) Originally, CP9 were going to be much different: Kalifa was a black-haired creepy woman, Jabra was a swordsman called Jakeen, instead of Kumadori there was a Gorilla-themed brute named Apollo, and Fukuro was actually well-muscled instead of being a fatso. Furthermore, the battle layout was different, and included Zoro vs Jakeen, Nami vs Fukuro, and Usopp against Blueno, amongst various things.
 * 20) Oda mentions that he had intended to have Brook join the Straw Hats before Franky as he always intended for Brook to join the crew, meaning that Thriller Bark would've happened before Water Seven. However, because Kazuki Yao's performances as Jango and Bon Clay were so well liked, he created Franky and had him join before Brook.
 * 21) Marguerite initially had a Zoan Devil Fruit, specifically the Cat-Cat Fruit, Model Black Cat.
 * 22) Kuma looked very different, and was supposed to have a steering wheel embedded in his head, until the steering wheel was given to Shiki instead.
 * 23) Moriah was initially meant to be a pastor with a split personality, and looked nothing like his final design. Perona also used to be more like a silent princess-type character.
 * 24) One of Nightmare Luffy's early designs is somewhat reminiscent of Freddy Krueger's.
 * 25) Brook went through several designs as well; one showed him alive with Round Hippie Shades, another as a more serious-looking skeleton with a bandanna and no afro, and yet another with a top hat.
 * 26) For the Dressrosa arc, Oda had nearly thirty other names options for Rebecca, like Violet, Girasole, Akiria, Noir, Iris, Isbell, Fabula, Russian, Laura, Helianthus, Seneca, Juvenalis, Vineyard, Lambda, Amazonia and Shalom. Some of those options were considered for meaning "sunflower" in other languages, while other options became the names of other characters, like Violet (Rebecca's aunt's alias) or Russian (Senor Pink's late wife).
 * 27) Judge's early design looked very different, and he was initially named "Saint-Germain", with his Red Baron being "Count Karakuri".
 * 28) The Green Databook reveals more information about the parts of the series that did not make it into the manga - among other things, Dadan was going to be a man, Usopp (though with an older design) was going to be the first mate, the shipwright was a short Fishman with a mallet (Franky was there, but he looked completely different and was considered the weaponsmith), and Sanji was originally named "Naruto", but JUMP rejected this as they were still optioning the Naruto pilot to become a series. Well, that explains his eyebrows...
 * 29) *Even more: Moria was originally conceptualized as a kindly-looking priest, while Doflamingo looked like a DJ/rapper, Blackbeard's first name was "Everything", Akainu had glasses and Kizaru was cheerful in a jovial sense instead of the creepy one. Also, Don Krieg had made himself into a mecha and the Amazon Marguerite had a Zoan Devil Fruit called the Cat Cat Fruit: Model Black Cat which made her look like a Cat Girl when transformed.
 * 30) In a Log Book, a series of sketches were printed, one of which was Chopper with Robin's arms, legs, and eyes on his back. When asked about this, Oda said he was originally intending on Robin to transport the unconscious crew via this method at the end of the Skypiea battles, but he realized this would be such horror for his younger readers that he replaced the idea with something simpler. Still, it brings up an untapped idea of how Robin could easily dispose of enemies without using her basic "Clutch" attack.

Reception
One Piece is the best-selling manga series in history with 480 million copies in print worldwide as of February 2021; it sold 100 million collected tankōbon volumes by February 2005, and over 200 million by February 2011. The manga reached 440 million copies in circulation worldwide in May 2018, 460 million copies in December 2019, and 470 million copies in circulation in 43 countries worldwide as of April 2020. According to Oricon, One Piece has been the best-selling manga series every year for eleven consecutive years, since 2008, when the company began its manga chart, until 2018. In 2019, the manga has not topped the chart for the first time in twelve years, ranked 2nd with over 10.1 million copies sold, while Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba ranked 1st with over 12 million copies sold, although One Piece remained being the best-selling manga by volume in its twelfth consecutive year. One Piece was the 3rd best-selling manga series in 2020, while volumes 95–97 were the 23rd–25th best-selling manga volumes of 2020, behind the first twenty-two volumes of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Due to promotions for the Strong World film, all 56 volumes of the manga released at the time charted on Oricon's list of the top 200 manga for the week of December 7–13, 2009. Up until February 2012, One Piece had grossed at least ¥112,126,800,000 ($1,404,220,000) in manga tankōbon sales revenue. Additionally, individual volumes of One Piece have broken publishing and sales records in Japan. In 2009, Volume 56 had the highest initial print run of any manga: 2.85 million copies. Volume 57's print run of 3 million copies in 2010 was the highest first print for any book of any subject in Japan—a record that was broken several times by subsequent volumes and is currently held by Volume 67's 4.05 million initial printing in 2012. Volume 60 was the first book to sell over two million copies in its opening week on Oricon book rankings, and later became the first book to sell over three million copies since the chart began in 2008. Furthermore, One Piece is the only manga that had an initial print of volumes of above 3 million continuously for more than 10 years.

One Piece has also sold well in North America, charting on Publishers Weekly's list of best-selling comics for April/May 2007 and numerous times on The New York Times Manga Best Seller list. On ICv2's list of Top 25 Manga Properties Fall 2008 for North America, which is compiled by interviews with retailers and distributors, Nielsen BookScan's Top 20 Lists of graphic novels and ICv2's own analysis of information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, One Piece came in 15th place. It rose to second place on their Top 25 Manga Properties Q3 2010 list.

Allen Divers of Anime News Network comments in 2003 that the art style One Piece employs "initially seems very cartoonish with much of the character designs showing more North American influence than that from its Japanese origins", adding that the "artwork and settings come across as timeless in their presentation". He also notes that the influence of Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) shines through in Oda's style of writing with its "huge epic battles punctuated by a lot of humor" and that, in One Piece, he "manages to share a rich tale without getting bogged down by overly complicated plots". Rebecca Silverman of the same site stated that one of the series' strengths is to "blend action, humor, and heavy fare together" and praised the art, but stated that the panels could get too crowded for easy reading. The website activeAnime describes the artwork in One Piece as "wonderfully quirky and full of expression". Splashcomics comments that Oda's "pleasantly bright and dynamic" (German: "angenehm hell und dynamisch") art style suits the story's "funny and exciting" (German: "witzigen und ... spannenden") atmosphere.

EX Media lauds Oda's art for its "crispy" monochrome pictures, "great use of subtle shade changes" on color pages, "sometimes exquisite" use of angles, and for its consistency. Shaenon K. Garrity, who at some point edited the series for English Shonen Jump, said that, while doing so, her amazement over Oda's craft grew steadily. She states that "he has a natural, playful mastery of the often restrictive weekly-manga format," notes that "interesting things [are] going on deep in the narrative structure," and recommends "sticking through to the later volumes to see just how crazy and Peter Max-y the art gets". Mania Entertainment writer Jarred Pine comments that "One Piece is a fun adventure story, with an ensemble cast that is continuing to develop, with great action and character drama." He praised Oda's artwork as "imaginative and creative" and comments that "Oda's imagination just oozes all of the panels [sic]". He also notes that "Oda's panel work [...] features a lot of interesting perspectives and direction, especially during the explosive action sequences which are always a blast," though he complains that the panels can sometimes get "a little chaotic".

The manga was nominated for the 23rd Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 1999. It was a finalist for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize three times in a row from 2000 to 2002, with the highest number of fan nominations in the first two years. The German translation of its 44th volume won the Sondermann audience award in the international manga category, a yearly comic award given in seven categories by the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Frankfurter Rundschau, Spiegel Online and Comicforum, at the Fair's Comics Centre in 2005. In a 2008 poll by Oricon, Japanese teenagers voted it the most interesting manga. The manga was nominated for Favorite Manga Series in Nickelodeon Magazine's 2009 Comics Awards. In 2012, One Piece won the 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award Grand Prize, alongside Kimuchi Yokoyama's Nekodarake Nice. Da Vinci magazine named One Piece number three on their list of 2013's top manga, which was voted on 4,619 professional book reviewers, bookstore employees, and Da Vinci readers. On June 15, 2015, it was announced that Eiichiro Oda and One Piece had set the Guinness World Record for "The most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author" with 320,866,000 copies printed worldwide as of December 2014. One Piece ranked 4th on the first annual Tsutaya Comic Awards' All-Time Best Section in 2017. One Piece ranked 22nd on Alu's manga community "My Manga Best5" 2020 ranking, in which 46,641 users (via Twitter) participated. On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, One Piece topped the list.