Mythbusters/Misunderstandings and Misinformation

Due to different levels of ability and the fluid nature of translating Japanese to English, sentences will frequently be translated inaccurately. Sometimes the simplest or smallest mistranslated word can lead to confusion amongst fans. Other times, the way the translator writes the sentence in English (i.e. their use of words and grammar) can also cause confusion.

Oda Said So!
Myth: This statement is true because I heard that Eiichiro Oda said it!

Fact: It can be very easy for rumors and misinformation to go around due to being attributed to Oda, and since he speaks Japanese, it can sometimes be hard to easily prove what was and was not said.

Currently, however, there are many online sources that can provide information revealed by Oda or his team. These include news sites like Anime News Network and the One Piece Podcast, and fan sites and forums. If you are unfamiliar with One Piece-related websites and informers, you can ask veteran members about which ones provide reliable information.

Additionally, Oda's staff frequently tweets One Piece news from their handle @Eiichiro_Staff, and translates these tweets into English. Ultimately, if you hear that Oda said something, you should find the specific source where he said it, otherwise take it with a grain of salt and don't add it on the wiki. If Oda did indeed say it, multiple online sources should report it.

Zoro the First Mate


Myth: Zoro is the First Mate of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Fact: Zoro was the first to join Luffy in what later became the Straw Hat Pirate crew, but neither Luffy, Zoro, nor anyone else has ever said Zoro was the first mate. Each member of the crew has had a job profession assigned or announced already in the storyline. To date, Zoro is regarded as "Bounty Hunter" by profession and "champion" or "partner" in crew role, although yet another argument is First Mates on other crews have been described as the captain's "champion". Both the manga translation by Viz and the anime version dubbed by 4Kids and recently FUNimation, as well as the English translation of the games have also referred to him as this role. However their translations are not always direct ones, as was the case with Kuina in the 4Kids version, of the Japanese text and may have some changes due to culture differences and/or censorship.

One translation has also included a scanlation of chapter 499 with him referred to as "first mate" but that phrase was not in the raw (the actual phrase translates as "second member" and not First Mate (副船長, Fuku Senchō, translation; "Vice Captain") though the second in command of a ship is the First Mate.

Even on this wikia, arguments over Zoro's classified role have occurred in the past, but to date officially Oda has never listed anyone as the Straw Hat Pirates First Mate and it is for now considered incorrect to name him as the First Mate until stated otherwise.

Pell's Survival
Myth #1: Oda regrets having Pell survive the bomb at the end of the Alabasta Arc.

Myth #2: Pell was meant to die at the end of the Alabasta Arc but Oda changed his mind due to the September 11 attacks.

Fact: Pell's sacrifice in Chapter 208 and the subsequent reveal that he is still alive in Chapter 217 are somewhat infamous among fans of the series. Common rumors claim that this plot development was something Oda regretted or that he changed his initial plans due to the September 11 attacks.

While the climax of the Alabasta Arc was being published at the end of the year 2001, Chapter 208 was published two months after the September 11 attacks on November 19. Oda did write an author comment condemning the attacks for Shonen Jump Issue 44 (October 1, 2001), but there is no evidence that this influenced his decisions for the character of Pell. In an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun (July 24, 2018), Oda stated that he generally does not kill characters because he feels he would be unable to write parties after the battles if characters had died.

Low Ratings for Animated Cover Stories
Myth: No more manga cover stories were animated because the Buggy and Koby mini-arcs received low ratings. Low ratings are also given as a possible reason why 4Kids did not include these episodes in its dub version.

Fact: The ratings for the Buggy and Koby mini-arcs were not low, and in fact were roughly the same as the episodes preceding and following them. Another cover story will later be animated, the Straw Hat Separation Serial which comes between the Impel Down and Marineford arcs, further making this rumor false.

This rumor has been propagating on One Piece fan forums for years but can be easily disproven by looking at a list of the ratings for each episode.

One Piece is 80% Done
Myth: The end of the series is soon, since Oda said that One Piece is 80% done.

Fact: Oda did say that the story was at the 80% point in an interview with Yomiuri in 2018, and he said in an interview on HonmaTekka TV that One Piece would slightly surpass 100 volumes.

However, it is unclear how accurate this will be, and difficult to know how Oda perceives the remaining 20% of the story, or how long it will take to tell. For reference, Oda said that One Piece was 65% done in 2016 and 60% done in 2012. Oda frequently changes the story as he goes along as he gets new ideas or receives suggestions from editors, and things he initially plans may not end up going that way. For example, it was initially declared that the Wano Country Arc would begin in 2017, but it did not begin until 2018. Thus, it is unlikely to be fruitful in predicting when One Piece will exactly end, as you will likely be wrong.

Levely or Reverie
Myth: Levely is spelled as Reverie, that's how I always see it spelled.

Fact: Oda spelled it as Levely in Chapter 908, and we spell names the way Oda does. The Levely was first introduced in the year 2000, and most translators spelled it as Reverie, as Japanese does not distinguish between L and R sounds. Oda did not provide his spelling until 18 years later, meaning that most of the community spent almost two decades using "Reverie". Official translators such as Viz and FUNimation must keep their name spellings consistent, and a lot of fans are not inclined to forego a spelling that they have used for a long time. This wiki does not have these issues, and so was able to change the spelling to Levely, but much of the English-speaking fandom will continue using the Reverie spelling.

Dragon is the "Most Wanted Man in the World"
This is a popular mistranslation that likely popped up due to fan translations. In fact, Dragon's title 世界最悪の犯罪者 translates to "World's Worst Criminal", or alternatively "Most Horrible". It does not translate to him being the most wanted criminal.

Koby is a Rear Admiral
Myth: Chapter 956 revealed that Koby had been promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.

Fact: This was a mistake made by Oda in the magazine release of the chapter. It was corrected with the release of Volume 95, which changed Koby's rank to Captain.

The word Nakama has special meaning in One Piece
"Nakama" (仲間) is a common Japanese word, loosely defined as "people who are close to each other and who do something together". In English, the word approximately translates to 'comrade', 'companion' or 'one of us (/them)'. In the context of One Piece in particular, it is often used to denote a 'crewmate' or 'ally'.

In most dictionaries (広辞苑、大辞林、デジタル大辞泉）the definition of 'nakama' indicates a casual relationship. On the other hand, the usage in One Piece corresponds most closely to the definition given in the Iwanami Japanese Language Dictionary (岩波国語辞典), where it has been defined as "心を合わせて何かをいっしょにするという間柄をかなりの期間にわたって保っている人. そういう間柄. ", or "People who share the same feelings (lit. "whose hearts are united") who do something together, and who have maintained this relationship for a relatively long time."

Related words in Japanese include 'shigoto-nakama' (仕事仲間) or "work-nakama", which translates to "colleagues" or "friends one has at one's workplace", and 'nakama-ishiki' (仲間意識) or "treating/seeing someone as one's nakama", which can also be translated as "fellowship" or "solidarity". The word "nakama" can also be used to denote a friend that one shares a hobby with: e.g. 'sakka-nakama' (作家仲間) translates to "fellow writer", 'geemu-nakama' (ゲーム仲間) translates to "fellow gamer" / "gamer friend", etc. On the other hand, the English "friend" would correspond to the Japanese "tomo" (友),  "tomodachi" (友達) or "yuujin" (友人); while the English "comrade", as used to refer to allies who pursue the same ideal or a "greater goal" (e.g. 'comrade' as used in communism-related contexts) would correspond to the Japanese "doushi" (同志; lit. "same ideal"; equivalent to the Chinese 'tongzhi').

The special bond the word has come to represent for the fans, comes from the way Luffy's crew members, in particular, treat each other. However, other pirates generally do not treat their so-called "nakama" with as much respect. There are some exceptions, like the Arlong Pirates and Buggy Pirates, after Buggy's fight with Luffy. Others, like Don Krieg and Crocodile, do not have any respect for their crewmates/associates (but still know that they are essential for maximum success) while some pirates even willingly kill their own "nakama", like Kuro. Also, one of the tightest knit crews in the entire series, the Whitebeard Pirates do not often refer to each other as "Nakama", but act as though they are family, referring to their captain as "Father" (Oyaji). Similarly, members of the Big Mom Pirates referred their captain as "Mother" (Mama).

Nakama was first left untranslated by a fansub group known as Kaizoku Fansubs, during the Arlong Park Arc. Due to the prevalence of fansubs at the time, people began regarding the word as having a special meaning in the series. Lately, exposure to fansubs has diminished due to increased access to commercially subtitled episodes from FUNimation.

In the version provided by FUNimation, 'nakama' is often (somewhat erroneously) translated as "friend". Unfortunately, this fails to take into account the distinction between 'companion' / 'comrade' / 'ally' (nakama) and 'friend' (tomodachi). E.g. Luffy always refers to his crewmates as 'nakama', but to Coby as 'tomodachi'. This distinction is lost in the official translation.

The higher the bounty the stronger they are
Myth: This character is stronger than that character because this character has a higher bounty.

Fact: This is a notable misunderstanding in that it has happened in-universe as well as among the fandom, as shown with Bellamy, who boasted about his 55,000,000 bounty. However, bounties are not measures of strength, but of the threat someone poses to the World Government. While strength is frequently a factor in a person's threat level, it is not the only factor, and so it is very possible for a weaker character to have a higher bounty than a stronger one.

One example is Nico Robin, who received a 79,000,000 bounty at the age of eight. Robin had no fighting skills at the time, and was wanted solely due to her ability to read the Poneglyphs, which the World Government considers a great threat, as well as her connection to the Poneglyph-studying scholars of Ohara.

A character can also earn a high bounty based on having achievements credited to them, even if said achievements do not necessarily reflect their power. For example, Usopp is considered one of the weakest Straw Hats while Franky is not, but Usopp's bounty is over twice as large as Franky's due to his larger role in sparking the uprising in Dressrosa. How a character uses their strength also plays a role in the size of their bounty. Even though Luffy had defeated two Shichibukai and helped take down CP9, his bounty while at Sabaody Archipelago was less than Eustass Kid's bounty due to Kid frequently attacking civilians, which Luffy had never done.

Finally, the World Government is not all-knowing and so is capable of ignoring a person's actions due to not knowing about it, or misattributing the action to someone else. For example, Chopper's bounty is a very small 100 despite his imposing strength and actions performed as a Straw Hat, because the World Government assumes him to be a pet.

Power of Destruction
Myth: Certain Swordsmen in One Piece possess the "power of destruction", which is what allows them to perform feats like cutting steel or sending flying slash attacks.

Fact: This misunderstanding is based on Brook's statement during the battle between Zoro and Ryuma in Chapter 467. The statement was mistranslated by early scanlators, who had Brook refer to Zoro and Ryuma as "users of the "power of destruction"". The fact that Brook also made remarks about their flying attacks and physical strength caused fans to erroneously believe that these were the result of the "power of destruction".

In truth, there is no "power of destruction". Brook was only saying that the two same similar physical strength, thus they possess similar destructive powers. There is also no evidence for the special abilities of swordsmen in One Piece being attributed to any such power.

Male and Female Fish/mermen
Myth: The male mermen look like Arlong, the females are the ones that look like mermaids.

Fact: There are several variations of this once popular myth, all of them incorrect. In the past, due to the fact the name for Mermaids (人魚) was just reversed for the Fish-Men (魚人) the name of Fish-Men had been mistranslated into "Mermen". The misconception was even carried across to the 4Kids dub, which referred to Arlong's crew incorrectly as "Mermen".

Many fans had been left with the impression that mermaids were the female of the species and Arlong's crew were what the male looked like. Even when Hatchan's mini-series was written showing both the fish-woman Octopako and mermaid Camie, fans continued to make this mistake. In an SBS, Oda himself verified that the two people were not the same race, yet despite this many fans continued to make the same mistakes. It wasn't until the start of the Whitebeard War Saga that these set of fans began to accept the two were different.

Pappag further explained in the Fish-Man Island arc that if a fish-man and a mermaid have kids, their child could be a fish-man, a fish-woman, a merman or a mermaid.

Bon Clay
Myth: The latter part of Mr. 2's alias is Bon Clay.

Fact: This is a mistranslation made in almost every translation. It even appears on a lot of Japanese merchandise; nevertheless, in the manga his name has only been written in English once: as Bon Kurei. This name is a reference to him being his own female partner since female agents have holiday names and Bon Kurei are a series of festivals held in Japan. This is made even more likely by the fact that his coat in the anime says 盆暮れ (Bon Kurei) instead of the manga's おかま道 (The Okama Way) Or something like ボン・クレ (Bon Kurei in Katakana) which would imply the word really were English (i.e., "Bon Clay").

Moria's nickname is King of the Depths
Myth: When introduced, his box name writes "King of the Depths, Shichibukai Gecko Moria".

Fact: The full title for the term Shichibukai is Ouka Shichibukai, which literally translates into Below King Seven Armed Seas. Fan mistranslation has caused people to assume that the Below King part is his nickname and people went with the term King of the Depths as his nickname when in reality, it is simply part of the Shichibukai title. All other Shichibukai members have the same title written in their name boxes.

Dog-Pen
Myth: The name of the zombie that hosted Sanji's shadow during the Thriller Bark Arc was "Dog-Pen."

Fact: The zombie's name is Inuppe, which is a combination of "inu" meaning "dog" and "penguin" but is not quite the same as just saying "dog penguin." Usopp refers to it as Dog-Pen (also translated as Pendog or Denguin) in chapter 453, but this is not an official name. This is one of the most common errors by any fan to One Piece, however an accepted one as there was originally no way of recognizing Sanji's zombie otherwise.

Raki and Aisa
Myth: Raki and Aisa are sisters.

Fact: They aren't, although they may actually be cousins: Raki calls Aisa's mother "aunt" (おばさん), but the terms is often used out of respect for elderly.

Uncle Kizaru
Myth: Kizaru is Sentomaru's uncle.

Fact: There is currently no evidence to support that Kizaru and Sentomaru are related in the family sense. While Sentomaru refers to Kizaru as "Kizaru no ojiki", which can be translated as "Uncle", this can also mean that he is simply referring to him as boss (much like the Yakuza). However, this rumor, due to the direct translation, has spread across message boards, and of course YouTube. At one point, the rumor made its way to Wikipedia itself and was confirmed as a fact, but this is the sort of reason why the One Piece wiki was created. It should be noted that several characters referred to friends using family terms e.g. Chimney would refer to Luffy and Nami as "kaizoku-niichan" (pirate-brother) and "kaizoku-neechan" (pirate-sister) respectively. Johnny and Yosaku both referred to Zoro as 'aniki' as well. The best example is the Franky Family who all refer to Franky as "aniki" (big brother), since the closeness between was such that they considered themselves like a real family, hence the name. Another thing that could have given off that Kizaru and Sentomaru are kin is the fact that the kanji spelling for the latter's name spells "peach" keeping up with Momotaro's naming scheme of the three admirals and those linked to them. In any case, "Uncle" Kizaru is nothing more than a title that Sentomaru gives him showing a great level of respect.

Tom a Sun Pirate
Myth: Tom was a Sun Pirate, he has their tattoo!

Fact: Tom does have a similar tattoo, but it is not the same as theirs. From flashbacks you can see Tom with his tattoo many years before the Sun Pirates were formed.

The Marineford War is broadcasted all over the world
Myth: Everyone in the world is able to see the war on the video.

Fact : The video broadcast is only performed in Sabaody Archipelago. From there, reporters diffuse the information to their own headquarters. The confusion comes from the fact that in Chapter 550, it was shown that everyone is aware of the immensity of the war, but the same chapter explains later how the information is provided.

Luffy's last adventure as a 17-year-old
Myth: Oda stated in the interview in the Strong World movie artbook that the 10th movie is Luffy's last adventure as a 17-year old. Therefore, he turns 18 after the events of Strong World.

Fact: The full statement from Oda was "And as far as something that will hold true for both the manga and the anime, this will be Luffy's last adventure as a 17 year-old". However, this is not referring to Luffy getting older in the chapters and episodes immediately following Strong World. Strong World's place on the timeline is uncertain due to it being non-canon, but if Oda does intend for it to fit on the timeline, it must be between the Thriller Bark Arc and the Sabaody Archipelago Arc due to Brook being on the Straw Hats during the movie and the crew being all together. Since Luffy is 19 after the two-year timeskip, this means he was 17 from the Sabaody Arc to the timeskip.

Zombie Plot Hole
Myth Oda created a plot hole with Moria's zombies at Marineford when Moria used them in the sunlight.

Fact This myth stems from a common misunderstanding how Moria's powers work. When a person whose shadow was stolen by Moria gets hit by sunlight they will burst into flame and eventually fade away completely. It was never stated anywhere that this also happens to the zombies who have the shadows put into them.

Higuma the Bear
Myth: Higuma's nickname is "the Bear"

Fact: This is actually a mistranslation by Viz. "Higuma" is the name of a Japanese bear living in the mountains. This is probably just a nod to the fact that Higuma is a mountain bandit and Viz added "the bear" because American readers would not get the reference. However, his name appears in the Japanese manga as 山賊棟梁ヒグマ (sanzoku touryou Higuma) "Mountain bandit leader Higuma."

Pirate Summit
Myth: Ace said something about the pirate summit so it must be a place or event.

Fact: There is no pirate summit, what Ace meant was "See you at the top" but he did not mean that there will be a pirate summit. Since "top" can also mean "summit" (as in the summit of a mountain) the line was easy to confuse. The "See you at the top" line was a figure of speech by Ace, challenging Luffy to become strong like him and join the top tier of strength. Pirate summit was a mistranslation found in many fan translations and sub translations. K-F, one of the Fansubbers, mistranslated it, and Stephen the script translator also mistranslated it as well. The error even makes an appearance in the official translation of Pirate Warriors 2. In the English manga, Viz translated it as "See you on the high seas". Also the piece of paper Ace gave Luffy was not an invitation, as it was blank. This paper is later revealed to be a Vivre Card, a special paper that is made from part of a person (usually fingernail trimmings) that allows the holder to know what direction the paper's owner is in.