From the thoughts of one man to the passion of a generation: Eichiro Oda and One Piece
What better way to begin a blog series about One Piece than by introducing the work and its author? Let's start with its creator, manga artist Eichiro Oda.
Eichiro Oda's career
in Kumamoto, Eichiro Oda quickly became passionate about the profession of mangaka. Indeed, from the age of 4, inspired by manga/series about Vikings and pirates, Eichiro Oda already wanted to become a mangaka. Let's jump in time, Eichiro Oda is now 17 years old, the age at which he receives honors from the 44th Tezuka Awards with the short story Wanted! then begins to work as an assistant mangaka alongside his studies. He then works for 3 manga published in the weekly Shonnen Jump. He first starts with Masaya Tokuhiro for Jungle King Ta-chan until 1995, he also makes a brief stint with Shinobu Kaitani in 1994, then returns to Masaya Tokuhiro from 1995 to 1996 and ended up working for Nobuhiro Watsuki from 1996 to 1997, when he released two works : Romance Down and One Piece. After publishing a few short stories, One Piece established itself over time and became one of the most popular works in Weekly Shonnen Jump, Eichiro Oda then focused entirely on One Piece.
The beginnings of a legendary work
Our story begins on a scaffold, where a man proudly stands about to be executed. Fortune, glory, and power—this man had amassed the greatest riches in the world. His last words, "My treasure? I'll leave it to you if you want. Find it! I left it somewhere in this world," inspired the men to take to the seas, thus unleashing the greatest era of piracy the world has ever known.
A few years later, in the small village of Fushia, we find a 7-year-old boy dreaming of becoming the king of the pirates: Monkey D. Luffy. This child wants to join the pirate crew that is anchored in the port at that time, the crew of Red-Haired Shanks. Their captain, Red-Haired Shanks, refuses to take Luffy in his crew because he "doesn't want a kid in his crew." During a meal with this group of pirates, Luffy inadvertently eats a devil fruit that Shanks had looted, giving him the power of elasticity but preventing him from swimming forever. Subsequently, a band of bandits will attack the captain of the crew, publicly humiliating him.
Luffy having witnessed the whole scene, decided to face the bandits alone, to clear Shanks' honor. Unfortunately, being only a child, Luffy lost hands down and almost got killed, then narrowly saved by Shanks and his crew, who massacred all the bandits except their leader who had fled with Luffy as a hostage in the meantime. After taking refuge in the middle of the bay on a boat, the bandit leader threw Luffy into the water and was then killed by a sea monster. About to be devoured by the beast, Shanks intervened, saving Luffy in exchange for his left arm. Luffy received two lessons that day: the first, he is not at all at the level to go to sea and face its dangers currently, the second, Shanks is an exceptional man, not an average pirate.
With the Redhead's crew about to leave, Luffy made a promise to them: that one day, he would become stronger than them and become the Pirate King. Shanks, seeing Luffy's determination, offered him his greatest treasure: his straw hat, telling him that he would have to return it to him the day he reached their level.
After 10 years of training, Luffy, now 17, sets sail and begins his adventure in search of the ultimate treasure: the One Piece.
One Piece
It's a difficult task to try to summarize One Piece in a few lines, but I'll take the risk. Once Luffy sets off on his adventure, he will first begin looking for companions, each with their own unique narrative arc.
Roronoa Zoro will arrive first, meeting on the small island of Shell Town where he will be rescued from the clutches of the navy and the tyrant, Colonel Morgan, who had captured him. Zoro will join Luffy's crew once he has been freed and will become his swordsman (note that contrary to popular belief established by some bad translations, Zoro is not the vice-captain, at least this has never been officially confirmed by Eichiro Oda).
Next comes Nami, nicknamed the thief cat. She will meet Luffy on the island of Orange Town. She will first form an alliance with Luffy to defeat the pirate Buggy the Clown, from whom she wanted to steal a map. She will then decide to go part of the way with them, having to betray them to save her village. Luffy and the crew will arrive to bring her back and thus defeat one of the three factions of the Sun Pirates: Arlong's crew. Following the latter's defeat, Nami will permanently join Luffy's crew as a navigator.
Ussop will be the next to join the crew. He and the Mugiwara will meet on the bay of the small village of Syrup. The village will be saved from an invasion by the Kuro Pirates by the crew, which will convince Ussop to join them as a gunner.
Sanji then meets the crew on the Baratié, a ship restaurant that is attacked by Admiral Don Krieg. Luffy and his companions decide to help the cooks and repel Don Krieg's crew. Following these events, Sanji joins the crew as a cook.
Later, the Straw Hat Pirates met Tony Tony Chopper on Drum Island while looking for a doctor to treat Nami who had fallen ill. Luffy learned that the country was ruled by a tyrant King named Wapol, and decided to fight him to free Drum Island. Once he was defeated, Chopper joined the Mugiwara Pirates as a doctor.
Nice Robin will be the next to appear. She will be an ally of the main antagonist of the Alabasta arc, Crocodile. As the story progresses, Robin will emerge as someone with her own motives, which will eventually break the alliance between her and Crocodile. Robin, after being attacked by Crocodile, will let herself die from a rockfall, having definitively lost all hope. But while she was waiting for her eternal rest, Luffy will intervene and save her. Once the Kingdom is saved, Luffy and the crew will set sail again. Then, out of nowhere, Robin will appear and ask Luffy to join his crew. Luffy will accept, despite the opposition of some.
After her, comes Franky, whom the crew will meet as the leader of the Franky Family. Initially enemies, the two groups eventually unite to confront the World Government together and free Robin and Franky, both captives. Once their task is accomplished, Franky will join the crew as a carpenter.
Brook then joins the crew. Met aboard a ghost ship by the crew, he later joins forces to defeat a common enemy, Gecko Moria. Once defeated, Brook joins the crew as a musician.
Jinbei will be the last to join the crew to date. First met at Impel Down, the two will form an alliance at Marineford where Jinbei will save Luffy on numerous occasions. They will meet a second time on Fishman Island, where Jinbei will save Luffy once more. It is at this time that Luffy asks Jinbei to join his crew. Jinbei will initially decline, breaking his oath with Big Mom during the Whole Cake Island arc. It is finally during the assault on Onigashima that Jinbei will definitively join the crew and remain by their side.
Sailing alongside his comrades, Luffy will experience many adventures divided into arcs. The themes addressed vary enormously and are very linked to real life. Racism, slavery, corruption, manipulation of information, power struggles, child exploitation, etc. are all themes that add realism to the work as well as emotion. We will detail the main arcs of One Piece in our next article, because summarizing this work in so few lines is simply mission impossible.