What is One Piece?
One Piece is a Japanese shonen manga series drawn and written by Eiichiro Oda since the 4th of August 1997. The manga is very well known for using colorful and creative motifs that are taken from classic mythology, politics and musical aspects. It is also mixed with pirate lore and shonen formula.
Since its release, One Piece is the most popular manga series of all time in Japan and one of the most popular manga series worldwide. It is the highest-selling manga of all time in the history of Weekly Shōnen Jump, as well as currently being its most acclaimed manga. One Piece is currently ranked as the best-selling series of all time in manga history. It enjoys a very high readership, with more than 240 million volumes of the series sold by 2011. One Piece has received wide critical acclaim from reviewers, primarily for its art, characterization, humor and story. I'll talk about that later on.
Oda was going to make the series last for five years, and he had already planned out the ending, however he found himself enjoying the story too much to end it in that amount of time and now does not know how long it will take to reach that point. Oda stated 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.
Plot
Wealth. Fame. Power.
The Pirate King himself, Gold Roger, had everything in this world. Before he was executed, he told everyone about his treasure, One Piece. With his death, the Golden Age of Pirates had begun. Many pirates from around the world travel across the sea in search of the treasure.
The protagonist of the series, Monkey D. Luffy becomes a pirate, having been inspired by his idol, Shanks.. And so, he, along with his crew, start travelling across the great seas in search of the great treasure, which is One Piece and to become the next Pirate King. Throughout his travels, he comes across many islands, making friends, and has battle many enemies and rivals.
