Sixty-first volume of One Piece

One Piece (ワンピース Wan Pīsu) is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 69th volume released as of March 2013. One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young man whose body gains the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit, and his diverse crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy explores the ocean in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as One Piece in order to become the next Pirate King.
The chapters have been adapted into an original video animation (OVA) produced by Production I.G in 1998, and an anime series produced by Toei Animation, which began broadcasting in Japan in 1999. Since then, the still ongoing series has aired over 595 episodes. Additionally, Toei has developed eleven animated feature films, an OVA, and five television specials. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising such as a trading card game, and a large number of video games.
The manga series was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. The anime series has been licensed by Funimation Entertainment for an English-language release in North America, although the series was originally licensed and distributed by 4Kids Entertainment.
In 2008, One Piece became the highest-circulating manga series. In 2010, Shueisha announced that they sold over 260 million volumes of One Piece manga so far; volume 61 set a new record for the highest initial print run of any book in Japan with 3.8 million copies (the previous record belonging to volume 60 with 3.4 million copies). Volume 60 was the first book to sell over two million copies in its opening week on Japan's Oricon book rankings. One Piece is currently ranked as the best-selling manga series. It enjoys a very high readership, with more than 280 million volumes of the series sold in Japan as of 2012. One Piece has received wide critical acclaim from reviewers, primarily for its art, characterization, humor and story.

Plot

Monkey D. Luffy

The series begins with the execution of Gol D. Roger, a man known as the King of the Pirates (海賊王 Kaizokuō). Just before his death, Roger announces that his treasure, the One Piece (ひとつなぎの大秘宝 (ワンピース) Wan Pīsu), will be up for the taking, causing the Great Pirate Era (大海賊時代 Dai Kaizoku Jidai) to begin. As a result, countless pirates set out to the Grand Line to look for the treasure.
Twenty-two years have passed since Roger's execution, and Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate inspired by his childhood idol and powerful pirate Red Haired Shanks, has since set off on a journey from the East Blue Ocean to succeed Roger and find the legendary treasure. In an attempt to organize his own crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, he befriends a swordsman named Roronoa Zoro and together, they sail off to find the One Piece. They soon meet Nami, a navigator and thief; Usopp, a sniper and a liar; and Sanji, a womanizing chef; leading to confrontations with Buggy the Clown, Captain Kuro and Don Krieg. Later, Luffy encounters Arlong, a fishman and member of the former Sun Pirates who thinks that fishmen are superior to humans. After Luffy defeats Arlong, Nami joins Luffy's crew and the Navy places a bounty on Luffy's head. After making their way through the Grand Line, the group meets Nefeltari Vivi, a princess who wants to help save her country, the Alabasta Kingdom, from the crime syndicate Baroque Works. They later befriend the doctor and anthropomorphized reindeer Tony Tony Chopper while in Drum Island.
The Straw Hat Pirates make their way to Alabasta, leading to battles with Baroque Works and their leader, Sir Crocodile. Luffy eventually defeats Crocodile and liberates Alabasta. Soon after, Nico Robin, an archaeologist and former member of Baroque Works joins Luffy's crew. They soon meet Blackbeard, whose dream is also to become Pirate King. After going up to the floating island of Skypiea, the crew gets involved in a war between the Skypieans and the Shandorians, leading to a confrontation against the island's ruler Eneru, who has the power of lightning. Luffy defeats Eneru to save Skypiea and end the war. The crew soon meets the navy admiral Aokiji, who reveals that Robin was involved in searching for Poneglyphs, which are stones with markings left by an ancient civilization. The group goes to Water 7, confronting the cyborg shipwright Franky. However, Cipher Pol No. 9, the World Government's intelligence agency captures Robin, and the Straw Hat Pirates team up with Franky and declare war on the World Government, resulting in battles between CP9 and its minions. The final long battle with CP9 ends when the crew saves Robin, and Franky joins their crew. Soon after, the crew helps a musician skeleton named Brook find his shadow, which has been stolen by Gecko Moriah.

Blackbeard

The crew later prepares to sail off to the New World, the second half of the Grand Line, after landing at the Sabaody Archipelago. While there, they befriend Silvers Rayleigh, a former member of Roger's pirate crew who plans to coat their ship so they can travel underwater. The crew eventually gets separated during a battle with Bartholomew Kuma at the Sabaody Archipelago, with Luffy being sent to the all-female island Amazon Lily. When he learns that his older brother Portgas D. Ace has been detained at the government prison Impel Down, Luffy goes there and liberates several people from the prison, including the fishman Jimbei. Luffy soon learns that Portgas D. Ace is at Marineford to be executed. However, war breaks out between the Navy and a group of pirates led by the legendary pirate, Whitebeard. In the ensuing chaos, Whitebeard and Ace are killed. At Rayleigh's suggestion, Luffy has the Straw Hats undergo rigorous training regimens, some under the tutelage of prominent figures.
Nearly two years later, the crew regroups at Sabaody Archipelago and journeys to Fishman Island to enter the New World. During this time, a group of fishman pirates appear, seeking supremacy against humans, and hold a coup d'état to decide the fate of the island. However, after Nami forgives Jimbei for releasing Arlong into the East Blue, the Straw Hats defeat the fishmen pirates, saving the island. The Straw Hats leave Fishman Island and finally reach the New World, but not before starting a feud with one of the four strongest pirates in the New World, Big Mom. Entering the half-burning and half-freezing island, Punk Hazard, the crew encounters Trafalgar Law, and they form an alliance to take down the four strongest pirates in the New World before being drawn into a battle against Caesar Clown, who plans to use a weapon of mass destruction. After Caesar's defeat, the alliance goes to Dressrosa in an attempt to destroy the Smiles factory as the next step to take down another one of the four strongest pirates, Kaido.
After arriving on Dressrosa, Luffy decided to enter a tournament in the Corrida Colliseum, where the prize is his brother Ace's Devil Fruit, the Flame-Flame Fruit .

Setting

The world of One Piece is populated by humans and numerous other races, including mermen and mermaids, "fishmen," fish-human hybrids, and giants. It is covered by two vast oceans, which are divided by a massive mountain range called the Red Line (赤い土の大陸（レッドライン） Reddo Rain). The Grand Line (偉大なる航路（グランドライン） Gurando Rain), a sea that runs perpendicular to the Red Line, further divides them into four seas: North Blue (北の海（ノースブルー） Nōsu Burū), East Blue (東の海（イーストブルー） Īsuto Burū), West Blue (西の海（ウェストブルー） Uesuto Burū) and South Blue (南の海（サウスブルー） Sausu Burū).Surrounding the Grand Line are two regions called Calm Belts (凪の帯（カームベルト） kāmu beruto), which experience almost no wind and ocean currents and are breeding ground for the huge sea creatures called neptunians (海王類 kaiōrui, lit. "sea kings"). Because of this, the calm belts are very effective barriers for those trying to enter the Grand Line. While marine ships, using sea-prism stone (海楼石 kairōseki) to mask their presence, can simply pass through, most have to use the canal system of Reverse Mountain (リヴァース・マウンテン Rivāsu Maunten), a mountain at the first intersection of the Grand Line and the Red Line. Sea water from each of the four seas runs up that mountain and merges at the top to flow down a fifth canal and into the first half of the Grand Line. The second half of the Grand Line, beyond the second intersection with the Red Line, is also known as the New World (新世界 Shin Sekai).
The currents and weather on the Grand Line's open sea are extremely unpredictable, whereas in the vicinity of islands the climate is stable. What makes it even harder to navigate is the fact that normal compasses do not work there. A special compass called a Log Pose (記録指針（ログポース） Rogu Pōsu) must be used. The Log Pose works by locking on to one island's magnetic field and then locking on to another island's magnetic field. The time for it to set depends on the island. This process can be bypassed by obtaining an Eternal Pose (永久指針（エターナルポース） Etānaru Pōsu), a Log Pose variation that is permanently set to a specific island and never changes.
The world of One Piece is filled with anachronisms, like the Transponder Snails (電伝虫 Den-Den Mushi), snail-like animals that can be attached to electric equipment and function as rotary phones, fax machines, surveillance cameras, and similar devices. Dials (貝（ダイアル） daiaru), the shells of certain sky-dwelling animals, can be used to store wind, sound, images, heat, and the like and have various applications.

Devil Fruit

A Devil Fruit (悪魔の実 Akuma no Mi) is a type of fruit which when eaten confers a power on the eater. There are three categories of Devil Fruit. Zoan (動物系（ゾオン） Zoon) fruits allow the user to fully and partially transform into a specific animal. Logia (自然系（ロギア） Rogia) fruits give control over and allow the user "to change their living body structure into the powers of nature". Paramecia (超人系（パラミシア） Paramishia) is a catch-all category for fruits that give the user superhuman abilities. They are said to be incarnations of the Sea Devil himself, and as a result, Devil Fruit users cannot swim in sea water, as "they are hated by the sea". When even partially submerged in sea water, they lose all of their strength and coordination, although some abilities remain, such as Luffy still being able to stretch after being totally submerged. "Moving" water, such as rain or waves, does not have this effect.
Haki (覇気, lit. "Ambition") is a latent ability every living being in the world of One Piece possesses, though it is quiescent in most. It comes in three varieties: Color of Observation Haki (見聞色の覇気 Kenbunshoku no Haki) allows to sense the presence of other beings and predict their movement. Color of Armament (武装色の覇気 Busōshoku no Haki) allows one to envelop body parts and even inanimate forms with a force akin to an invisible armor that possesses defensive/offensive properties. The rare Color of the Supreme King (覇王色の覇気 Haōshoku no Haki) enables one to intimidate or render beings of weak determination unconscious.

Production

While working as an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Eiichiro Oda began writing One Piece in 1996. From there, it started as three one-shot stories entitled Romance Dawn—which would later be used as the title for One Piece's first chapter and volume. The two one-shots featured the character of Luffy, and included elements that would later appear in the main series. The first of these short stories was published in August 1996 in a special issue of Shōnen Jump and later in One Piece Red. The second was published in the 41st issue of Shōnen Jump in 1996 and reprinted 1998 in Oda's short story collection, Wanted!.
Oda originally planned One Piece to last five years, and he had already planned out the ending, but he found himself enjoying the story too much to end it in that amount of time and now has no idea how long it will take to reach that point. Nevertheless, the author states, as of July 2007, that the ending will still be the one he had decided on from the beginning and he is committed to seeing it through to the end, no matter how many years it takes.
When creating a Devil Fruit, Oda thinks of something that would fulfill a human desire; he added that he does not see why he would draw a Devil Fruit unless the fruit's appearance would entice one to eat it. The names of many special attacks and other concepts in the manga consist of a form of punning, in which phrases written in kanji are paired with an idiosyncratic reading. The names of Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Franky's techniques are often mixed with other languages, and the names of a number of Zoro's sword techniques are designed as jokes; for example, some of them look fearsome when read by sight but sound like kinds of food when read aloud (like Zoro's signature move, Onigiri, which is rendered as demon's cut but may also mean rice dumpling). Eisaku Inoue, the animation director, has said that the creators did not use these kanji readings in the anime since they "might have cut down the laughs by about half." Nevertheless, Konosuke Uda, the director, said that he believes that the creators "made the anime pretty close to the manga."
Oda was "sensitive" about how it would be translated. The English version of the One Piece manga in many instances uses one onomatopoeia for multiple onomatopoeia used in the Japanese version. For instance, "saaa" (the sound of light rain, close to a mist) and "zaaa" (the sound of pouring rain) are both translated as "fshhhhhhh." Unlike other manga artists, Oda draws everything that moves—including crowds, animals, smoke, clouds, and oceans—himself to create a consistent look while leaving his staff to draw the backgrounds based on sketches drawn by Oda.
When a reader asked Oda who Nami is in love with, Oda answered that there will not likely be any romance among the Straw Hat Pirates. Oda explained that he does not portray romance in One Piece as the series is a shōnen comic, and the young boys who read the comic are not interested in romance. Oda stated that he does not want to incorporate or even be told other people's ideas, whether they be his readers or staff. He explained that he does not want to become dependent on others' ideas and that he derives self-confidence from the fact that his work is his alone.

Media

Manga

One Piece Manga

Written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece has been serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump starting on August 4, 1997. The chapters have been published into tankōbon volumes by Shueisha since December 24, 1997. As of April 8, 2013, there are 704 chapters and 69 tankōbon volumes.
The One Piece series was licensed for an English language release by Viz Media publishes its English-language adaptation of the series, chapterwise in the manga anthology Shonen Jump, since the magazine's launch in November 2002, and in bound volumes since June 2003. As of January 7, 2012, 60 English-language volumes have been published. In 2009, Viz Media announced the release of five volumes per month in North America during the first half of 2010, greatly increasing that number. In the United Kingdom, the volumes were published by Gollancz Manga, starting March 2006, until Viz Media replaced it after the fourteenth volume. In Australia and New Zealand, the English volumes have been distributed by Madman Entertainment since November 10, 2008.In Poland, Japonica Polonica Fantastica is publishing the manga – as of June 2011, four volumes have been released.

Original video animations

Three original video animations (OVAs) have been released in Japan. The first, One Piece: Defeat The Pirate Ganzack!, was produced by Production I.G for the Jump Super Anime Tour of 1998 and directed by Gorō Taniguchi. It is 29 minutes in length and features character designs by Hisashi Kagawa. Luffy, Nami, and Zoro are attacked by a sea monster that destroys their boat and separates them. Luffy is found on an island beach, where he saves a little girl, Medaka, from two pirates. All the villagers, including Medaka's father, have been taken away by Ganzack and his crew as forced laborers. After hearing that Ganzak also stole all the food, Luffy and Zoro rush out to get it back. As they fight the pirates, one of them kidnaps Medaka. A fight starts between Luffy and Ganzack, ending in Luffy's capture. Meanwhile, Zoro is forced to give up after a threat is made to kill all of the villagers. The people from the village rise up against Ganzack, and while the islanders and pirates fight, Nami goes and unlocks the three captives. Ganzack defeats the rebellion and reveals his armored battleship. Now it is up to the Straw Hats to "Defeat the Pirate Ganzack!" and prevent him from destroying the island. The Straw Hat team include Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook.
The second OVA, One Piece: Romance Dawn Story, was produced by Toei Animation in July 2008 for the Jump Super Anime Tour. It is 34 minutes in length and based on the first version of Romance Dawn, the pilot story for One Piece, but includes the Straw Hat Pirates up to Brook and their second ship, the Thousand Sunny. In search for food for his crew, Luffy arrives at a port town, defeating a pirate named Crescent Moon Gally on the way. He meets a girl named Silk in town, who was abandoned by attacking pirates as a baby and raised by the mayor, which has caused her to value the town as her "treasure". The villagers mistake Luffy for Gally and capture him just as the real Gally returns. Gally throws Luffy in the water and plans to destroy the town, but Silk saves him and Luffy goes after Gally. His crew arrives to help him, and with his help, he recovers the treasure for the town, gets some food, and destroys Gally's ship. It was later released as a triple feature DVD with Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! and Tegami Bachi: Light and Blue Night, that was available only though a mail-in offer exclusive to Japanese residents.
The third OVA, One Piece Film Strong World: Episode 0, is the animated version of the One Piece Manga Special called "Chapter 0" which shows how things were before and after the death of Roger. It is also the introductory chapter to the long-awaited tenth film, Strong World.

Anime series

Toei Animation produced an anime television series based on the manga chapters, also titled One Piece. The series premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on October 20, 1999. Since then, the still ongoing series has aired more than 500 episodes and has been exported to various countries around the world.
In 2004, 4Kids Entertainment acquired the license for distribution of One Piece in North America. 4Kids collaborated with Viz Media to distribute the series for home video release. This dub was heavily edited for content, as well as length; reducing the first 143 episodes into 104. Sanji's cigarettes, for example, were turned into lollipops, and "the skin of a black pirate was changed to a tan mulatto / white color." 4Kids originally created an English version of the original opening theme; however, the music was replaced with an alternate score. The series premiered in the United States on September 18, 2004 on the Fox network as part of the Fox Box block, and later aired on Cartoon Network in the Toonami block in April 2005. 4Kids released a statement in December 2006 confirming that it cancelled the project. In July 2010, an interview was conducted between Anime News Network and Mark Kirk, the Vice President of Digital Media for 4Kids Entertainment. In this interview, Kirk explained that 4Kids acquired One Piece as part of a package deal with other anime, and that the company did not actually watch any of the series before acquiring it. However, once 4Kids realized One Piece would not work with their intended demographic, the company decided to edit it into a more child-oriented series until they had an opportunity to legally drop the license. Kirk said the experience on producing One Piece "ruined the company's reputation." Ever since that incident, 4Kids established a more strict set of guidelines, checks, and balances to determine what anime the company acquires.
Following the 4Kids dub in 2007, Funimation Entertainment began production on an English-language release of One Piece. In an interview with voice actor Christopher Sabat, Sabat stated that Funimation had been interested in acquiring One Piece from the very beginning, and produced a "test episode," in which Sabat played the character of Helmeppo and Eric Vale played the part of the main character, Luffy (they would later go on to provide the English voices for Roronoa Zoro and Sanji, respectively). After producing a new English voice dub, which featured minimal edits compared to the 4Kids dub, the company released its first unedited, bilingual DVD box set, containing 13 episodes, on May 27, 2008. Similarly sized sets followed with fourteen sets released as of October 26, 2010. The Funimation dubbed episodes premiered on Cartoon Network on September 29, 2007 and aired until its cancellation on March 22, 2008. The remainder of Funimation's dubbed episodes continued to be aired on Australia's Cartoon Network, and then shifted into reruns of the Funimation dub before being replaced by Total Drama Island. On October 28, 2011, Funimation posted a press release on their official website, confirming the acquisition of episodes 206-263 and the aspect ratio, beginning with episode 207 onwards, will be changed to the 16:9 widescreen format. On May 18, 2013, the uncensored series began airing on Adult Swim's revised Toonami block from episode 207 onwards.
Funimation, Toei Animation, Shueisha, and Fuji TV announced in May 2009 that they would simulcast stream the series within an hour of the weekly Japanese broadcast. This free, English-subtitled simulcast is available at www.onepieceofficial.com. Originally scheduled to begin on May 30, 2009 with episode 403, a lack of security resulted in a leak of the episode. As a result, Funimation delayed the offer until August 29, 2009 at which point it began with a simulcast of episode #415.
In early February 2013, Manga Entertainment announced that they will start releasing the Funimation dub of One Piece in the United Kingdom in 4 disc collection format, starting in late May 2013.

Anime films

Twelve animated films based on the One Piece series have been released in Japan. The films are traditionally released during the Japanese school spring break since 2000. The films feature self-contained, completely original plots or alternate retellings of story arcs with animation of higher quality than what the weekly anime allows for. Funimation Entertainment has licensed the eighth and tenth films for release in North America.

 

 

Video games

The One Piece franchise has been adapted into multiple video games published by subsidiaries of Bandai and later as part of Namco Bandai Games. The games have been released on a variety of video game and handheld consoles. The series features various genres, mostly role-playing games—the predominant type in the series' early years—and fighting games, such as the titles of the Grand Battle! sub-series.
The series debuted in Japan on July 19, 2000 with One Piece: Mezase Kaizoku Ou!. As of 2012, the series contains 32 games, not counting Battle Stadium D.O.N, the title One Piece shares with its related manga series Dragon Ball and Naruto.