One Piece (ワンピース) is the epic pirate themed shonen battle anime based on the manga of the same name by Oda Eiichiro. The first story arc of the series, East Blue, originally aired between the Fall of 1999 and the Winter of 2001 for a total of 61 episodes.
One Piece is by far one of, if not the most, successful franchise in manga. After years of deciding not to continue watching it past the first 26 episodes the Netflix live action adaptation renewed my interest in this anime...even if I have a great dislike of shonen battle stories. I can't guarantee that I will watch everything in the series, but for now, here is a run down of the story segments I make it through starting from the beginning.
The world of One Piece is that of power struggles between the world government, roving bands of lawless pirate affiliations and other disparate groups vying for control. In other worlds the world is a mostly lawless place that is ruled by the power of strength and ruthlessness. The greatest pirate of them all, Gol D. Roger had amassed unimaginable wealth before he was captured and executed by the world governments military arm, the Marines. His dying words were to challenge everyone to seek out his hidden wealth, ensuring his power would carry on after his death. For twenty years every one with a ship and a will to risk it all has been searching for the legendary One Piece. One boy in particular is obsessed with finding the treasure and claiming the title of king of the pirates, Luffy D, Monkey. Growing up in a small port town, the orphan idolized the captain of a small band of pirates named Red Hair Shanks. Even though he was a pirate captain, Shanks had a code of honor that the young boy absorbed and emulated. Luffy's way of piracy was to live free and treat those that are weaker than you with respect, protecting them at all costs.
Luffy sets out on his own to make his dreams true with only his overwhelming power of confidence and a strange ability gained from eating a cursed Devil Fruit. The Devil Fruit curse grants the person who eats it a unique and unnatural ability at the cost of losing that ability in while in the sea, even the ability to swim. The fruit Luffy ate turned his body into rubber, allowing him to withstand physical blows with ease and to stretch any portion of it as much as he desires. But in order to be a pirate king, he needs a pirate crew, so he heads into the ocean to find a crew and a ship. The first person he tried to recruit to his cause is a captive of a ruthless pirate named Koby. After destroying his captors ship they find themselves at a Marine base where a pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro is being punished for assaulting the Marine captains on. The Marine captain, mad with power, decides to kill Zoro, Luffy and Koby. In exchange for freeing him to fight, Luffy convinces Zoro to join his crew. Once they make it to safety, Koby chooses to stay behind and join the Marines, a life long dream of his, in hopes of working to make the Marines more honorable.
With his first crew mate secured, the pair head off into the sea to seek more adventure. Before long they find themselves in the clutches of a crazed pirate captain named Buggy along with a thief names Nami. Buggy and his band of circus themed pirates have been ransacking and controlling a town for a long time. Luffy decides its time the strange clown stops harassing innocent people and vows to defeat him. The fight isn't as easy as Luffy expects when its revealed that Buggy has also eaten a Devil Fruit, one that gives himn the ability to break up his body into any number of pieces he desires. With Nami's help they are able to lock away sections of Buddy's body, leaving him largely helpless. Satisfied with their victory they flee the town before the townsfolk, who have risen up against the pirates finally, look to destroy any outsider they see. The trio sets sails to the next unknown adventure and Luffy has a nw crew member in Nami, an experienced navigator.
The crew finds themselves in another small town and are greeted by the towns lair, Usopp, who tries to convince them he leads a large and blood thirst pirate crew. Instead they learn its just the strange man and three young kids that make up his 'crew'. Once they realize a fight wont happen, Usopp brings Luffy and crew to a restaurant in town. Luffy explains they are looking for a ship to call their own and Usopp suggests asking his friend for help, a sickly orphaned girl named Kaya. Kaya's parents were wealth beyond belief but her butler has other plans for her inheritance. Her butler is really a ruthless pirate captain, who faked his own death and inserted him into her family to try and steal all of their money. His plans come to a head when he summons his old crew to raid the village as a distraction. Learning about the plan, Luffy and company fend off the pirates at the beach. After a prolonged battle they succeed in protecting the village, impressing Usopp and Kaya. Kaya agrees to give them a ship as payment for their help and Usopp joins their crew in pursuit of his dream of being a famous pirate himself.
Now with a proper ship they head off for the next adventure, finding themselves at a floating restaurant, Baratie, run by a retired pirate turned head chef. On their way to the restaurant, Luffy and crew run into a Marine ship who attempts to sink their new ship. Luffy accidentally repels the attack into the restaurant and is forced into servitude to pay for the damages. A stranded pirate tries to use force to get a free meal but is beaten by one of the line cooks, who refuses to let anyone take advantage of their business. Recognizing the desperate pirate is on the verge of salvation another cook names Sanji feeds him for free. The indebted pirate thanks him for his kindness and heads off to meet up with his crew. Upon finding them he learns they too are on the verge of starvation and leads them back to the Baratie. His captain is a dreaded and ruthless captain named Don Kreig, who uses trickery to take advantage of his victims.
Don Kreig shows up to the restaurant and begs for help, portraying himself as a desperate and repentant man. Sanji provides charity again, remembering his own past being stranded on a remote rock facing starvation with Zeff, the man who owns the restaurant. Sanji had served as a child cook on a cruise ship, which Zeff and his pirate crew attacked. A storm destroyed both ships leaving only Zeff and Sanji as survivors. They spent more than a month stranded, with little food to eat. Near the end Sanji discovers that Zeff had given him all of the food and had been sustaining himself on his own lower leg instead. Since then Zeff's career as a pirate had come to and end and Sanji felt indebted to the man who sacrificed his own leg for him. Unfortunately Sanji's charity turns against him as Don Kreig, restored to some semblance of strength, reveals that he is going to take over the restaurant and turn it into his new ship.
Things go from bad to worse when the reason Don Kreigs ship and crew are in terrible shape tracks them to the Baratie to finish the job. Before he can kill the pirates, Zoro challenges him to a duel. Zoro had made a promise to his childhood friend after shie died, to become the strongest swordsman in the world. The man hunting the Don Kreig pirates is that man, the feared and legendary swordsman Mihawk. Mihawk recognizes Zoro's potential and chooses not to kill him, just injure him enough to accept defeat. Bored with finishing Don Kreig, Mihawk leaves, allowing the pirate to resume his assault on the restaurant. Don Kreigs attacks become more devastating and dramatic, daring Luffy to the point of pushing him past personal injury. Luffy succeeds in defeating him and convinces Zeff to absolve his debt for stopping the pirate raid.
Before the battle has started, Nami had taken their ship and left with out them. Sanji decides to join them, realizing he wont grow if he doesn't leave Zeff and his internal debt behind. The crew heads off to find Nami with a clue to where she might have gone. The clue leads them to a village that Nami had lived in as a small child, living with an adopted older sister and an adopted mother. Nami has returned to rejoin a fishman pirate crew she has been a part of for eight years, headed by a ruthless sharkman named Arlong. Arlongs gang has controlled Nami's village all these years, extorting and murdering as they want. Nami joined Arlong in order to buy her villages freedom from him. Arlong isn't willing to let her buy the villages freedom and instead plans to betray her and trap her in his service until she dies. In desperation she asks for Luffy's help, since she is unable to save everyone on her own. Luffy and the crew, determined to get their shipmate back, attack Arlongs gang head on.
Though the battle is fierce and at times seems impossible, victory eventually comes to Luffy and his friends and they defeat Arlong, winning Nami's home town its freedom. With their ship and all of its crew back together Luffy and his Straw Hat pirates head back to the adventure of the ocean and the draw of the One Piece. Unfortunately for him, or perhaps fortunately, his exploits and run ins with Marines has lead to a bounty being put on his head. Luffy and the Straw Hats are now known wider than their travels and all manner of people begin to hunt them down as they head to the Grand Line, where they will begin their search for the One Piece. They start their journey at the city which Gol D. Rodger was both born and executed in, Loguetown.
Loguetown is the final stop for ships headed to the Grand Line and the Straw Hats crew does the best they can to resupply before their dangerous voyage. Their ability to do so is limited as they have little to no money to their names. As they explore the city, various factions notice their presence, leading to a final confrontation to test their mettle before leaving. The Loguetown Marines, lead by a man named Smoker, have gotten word that Luffy is on his way to the city and are looking for him. Buggy, through a series of bizarre trials, has been able to reconnect with his crew and his missing body pieces. Reformed and partnered with a changed Alveda (the pirate captain who has originally held Koby prisoner) also land in Loguetown, looking for Luffy. Each member of the Straw Hats encounter their own personal challenge as they attempt to prepare for the Grand Line. Sanji competes in a cooking contest, Usopp has to prove his sharp shooting skills or be killed by a bounty hunter, Zoro encounter a Marine swordwoman who reminds him of his dead friend while trying to replace his sword broken by Mihawk.
As Luffy and his crew of Straw Hat pirates sail off into the unforgiving ocean, the Grand Line and all of its perils awaits them. Before they reach it they end up rescuing a lost girl name Apis, who is trying to escape the Marines. She has a Dragon Fruit ability that allows her to communicate with animals. Here people are the descendants of a people who worshiped legendary creatures known as millennial dragons. Legend says the bones of the dragons can be used to grant anyone immortality. A gluttonous comodore of the Marines is after the legend, getting word that the young girl has found a dragon. Apis leads the Straw Hat crew to her home island where she leads them to the old dragon she has become friends with known as Grandpa Ryu. They agree to help her bring the old dragon to his nesting ground, in hopes it will help restore his vitality. The island they are looking for is known as the Lost Island for a very good reason. Grandpa Ryu is unable to move and a crazed mercenary is on their trail, at the request of the commodore. Yet the pirates refuse to let any obstacle come in-between them and their desire to help their new friend!
This wraps up what is considered the first plot line of the series. The core crew has been gathered and the real adventure can begin. A series of adversaries have been introduced and the resolve of the Straw Hats has been solidified. The MacGuffin of the One Piece is now on the horizon...but what dangerous perils lay ahead of them?
I guess at this point I have committed to watching One Piece, even though its outside of the styles I enjoy. A big part of what makes the series tolerable is how little it takes its self seriously. Of course there are moments where the characters put their antics aside and become focused on the challenge ahead of them. The story is pure shonen battle from Oda being inspired by Dragon Ball to his work as an assistant on the Rurouni Kenshin manga. All of the familiar tropes exist, but at the same point, the core crew of characters is so ridiculous that the seriousness becomes over shadowed. Everyone in the world of One Piece is insane and bigger than life. My biggest complaint about the series is how long the story takes to move ahead, particularly with the battles. Though, pushing through them at a break neck pace makes this seem like less of a problem than it would when watched one episode a week. The pacing of the story is really problematic on a weekly basis, so I am not sure how willing I will be to begin watching it every week once I catch up to the show.
Over the years I have spent a lot of time discussion the show with people who have been following it from the beginning, understanding their complaints and frustrations. One Piece in general suffers from uncertainty. The story has gone on for such a long time now that no one is sure how it will end. Will that ending be satisfactory enough to justify the amount of time put into it? What would happen is Oda dies before the story is completed. At this point though, with how valuable the franchise is and how much Jump and Shueisha depends on it, there has to be an outline of a conclusion.
I digress though.
The first part of the story does a well enough job of establishing the characters, world and motivations to build a strong foundation for the future of the journey, even if the success of the characters is purely due to their overwhelming confidence. Pure shonen plot devices, friendship, confidence and unrelenting pursuit of a single goal. One Piece is a master class in the genre. The artwork is ridiculous and low quality. Its hard to tell if this is due to Oda's obsession with Dragon Ball, his actual artistic ability or a combination of them. The anime as well, being produced in the end of the 90's, established its self as a product that tries to keep production costs at a minimum. A lot of typical production short cuts are used and animation is a far cry from that of other Jump titles from 20 years later. But its disingenuous to compare the beginning of One Piece with Jujutsu Kaisen, just as it would be wrong to compare One Piece to the original Gundam series. Animation techniques and technology changes rapidly over decades. One Piece though, having at this point run for almost 25 years is in a bit of a unique situation. While the series continues there is the desire to retain some of its original design philosophies. It will be interesting to observe the way the animation and character portrayals change as the years peel away...something that can be more easily done by binging as much as I am planning on binging in a short period of time.
Next up, part 2, Entering the Grand Line.
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