Alright so, introduction to the concept. One Piece is an ongoing shounen manga published in Weekly Shounen Jump, and pretty much has been running weekly since 1998. So as of January 2017 there is over 850 chapters. That is a lot of manga. And I have signed my self to the gargantuan task of reading and catching up to it. Will this be a tedious task seeing as I have already sat through large swaths of the anime? Probably but seeing as for me I watched some time ago, I'm hoping that I barely remember the goings on.
My first experience with One Piece was regretfully the original 4kids dub. I have very fond memories of the experience, but I have a distinct feeling that it should be left in the past. maybe except the opening, there is still a part of me that will have a giant grin when I hear that song. So because this was my first exposure to One Piece I did not understand the large grandeur of the story till much later when I watched the Funimation dub, and then switched to original japanese when the dub ran out.
So that's where I am at. I have a long history of watching this story on and off again. But I realised that I really do love this series. So in fear that if I don't catch up now I never will, I decided to start a retro-view for the manga, starting all the way back in the beginning. Why, why not. I'm a quick reader so to me if feels like it shouldn't take to long to catch up. So let's go.
So we start with some basic world building. There once was the world's most badass pirate. However he got captured, and this gave a cryptic message to the world of the whereabouts of his greatest treasure. This kicks off a new era for pirates. We then focus in on Monkey D. Luffy. We start off by meeting him as a young child, looking up to some adult pirates, namely a man named Shanks. Shanks and his crew are living it up in Luffy's home village. One day however Luffy eats the Gum Gum Fruit, allowing his body to have the molecular composition of rubber. Due to some mishaps while protecting Luffy, Shanks loses his arm. As Shanks leaves for another adventure he gives Luffy his straw hat. Years later as Luffy has aged he set sails to try and become the king of the pirates.
And so we set off. First things first however he gets caught by another pirates crew. Teaming up with Coby, a young boy who wishes to become a Marine, they escape from Alvida’s pirate forces. Next they find themselves in a port town where there is an incarcerated pirate hunter, a corrupted Marine captain, and his son Helmeppo. The pirate hunter named Zoro is convinced by Luffy to join his pirate crew. They then go on to defeat the Marine captain.
We have now reached what could be considered the first sizable arc of the series. That being the introduction of Nami, and the major battle with Captain Buggy and his crew. Throughout this arc we see some amazing battles involving a juggler and a beast tamer. The climactic battle showcases how different Devil Fruits can be used by different people. Also in this arc we see one of the first major themes of the series, that being how treasure is defined by the person not the monetary value. Ultimately this is a great intro to a major crew member and an ongoing antagonist of the series.
Next we head of to a small island, home of Usopp, a liar. We see the goings on of the village, and set up the pace and details of the arc. Seeing as I am not going by arc but by number of chapters I will leave my thoughts on these chapters till next time.
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