Mythbusters/FAQ

How do myths begin? Usually by a fan asking questions, someone responds incorrectly... Next thing you know a myth is born. The following are questions often asked by fans with answers to them.

What is the New Age? Is it a cult?
At first it was thought to be a cult that the story led us to believe but later in the Whitebeard War Saga, we learned that the New Age is something that is happenning now right after the Golden Age of Pirates. New Age marks the end of the age late-Pirate King Gol D. Roger created (Golden Age of Pirates) and it is the age that started after the death of Whitebeard. After Whitebeard announced that One Piece is out there somewhere in his last moments, people were astonished and wanted to claim it for themselves and obtain the title of "Pirate King". It is believed that more people will become pirates and the ones that were already pirates and stay in the 4 "Blues" start to journey toward Grand Line/ New World. The Marines also mention the need to reform their organization for the needs of the new age since a new wave of pirates (most likely pirate that are greedy and ruthless because Donflamingo states that the New Age is not for "dreamers" like Luffy) are coming.

Why did Kuma go to the Sabaody Archipelago?
Because Kuma was a Pacifista in development, he was not completed. Before going to Saboady Archipelago, he was to be made complete and if that happened, he would lose his free will and because of the situation in Saboady, he decided to make his last free actions before he was modified into a complete Pacifista. This is why he told Luffy that he would never see him again. Also, as a member of the Revolutionary Army, he probably wanted to help Dragon's son.

Why did Kuma split up the Straw Hat Pirates?
It has been revealed that Kuma did it to save them from Kizaru, Sentoumaru, and the other Pacifistas. He did so, as he whispered to Rayleigh, as a member of the Revolutionary Army.

What did Kuma say to Rayleigh when he whispered into his ears?
He whispered that he was a member of the Revolutionary Army, and that he, like Rayleigh, wanted to help the Straw Hats escape. Though this made Rayleigh question if he should trust him while Kuma seemed to be putting his rank at risk.

OP, BB, WB - what do they mean?
Sometimes English fans give characters "joke" nicknames or shorten names to just their initals (usually out of laziness) while some of the names are mistranslations or translation variations. Occusionally, it makes it difficult to understand long-term fans if you are a new fan.

Some notable names include the following:
 * 1) Who is "Pwngoat"? It refers to Sengoku's nameless and apparently "purposeless" pet goat often seen by his side, lacking an offical name, English fans dubbed it "Pwngoat"'. Strickly speaking most likely to be found on Arlong Park Forums, but appears outside from time to time.
 * 2) Who is "Epicbeard"? Usually it refers to Whitebeard, and is a joke name for his incredibility and apparently "awesome" status as a pirate. Strictly speaking most likely to be found on Arlong Park Forums, but appears outside from time to time.
 * 3) Who is WB? Again it is short for "Whitebeard".
 * 4) Who is BB? Blackbeard
 * 5) And what is ID? Impel Down
 * 6) GM and TS? The ships "Going Merry" and "Thousand Sunny"
 * 7) What about "OP"? "OP" = "One Piece", either talking about the series itself or the treasure. "OP" can also refer to the anime "OPening" themes. Pay attention to context for this one.
 * 8) What About "ED"? Similarly to the above, while "OP" can mean "OPening themes", "ED" refers to the "EnDing" themes of the anime.
 * W7, what is that? Water 7
 * 1) TB = Thriller Bark
 * 2) EL = Enies Lobby
 * 3) SH = Straw Hat Pirates
 * 4) DBF = Davy Back Fight
 * 5) DF = Devil Fruits
 * 6) AL = Amazon Lily

Where's the Fairy Tail Story?
Its common to see comparisons between the manga "Fairy Tail" and "One Piece", particularly because of the artwork. However one of the reasons why comparisons on the wikia are often removed is that most claims of similarity to both series are not properly researched by the editors, or are written as though One Piece is referencing the other series without first investigating the claims.

If one investigates both series, neither mangaka were assistants of the same mangaka or Hiro under Oda (as it is often rumoured they are). Hiro himself stated he was never an assistant of any other mangaka before becoming one himself. In fact the reason why they are similair in art style is because both Oda and Mashima Hiro were influenced by the mangaka Akira Toriyama and both admire his art style. Oda also works for Weekly Shōnen Jump while Mashima Hiro works for Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Occasionally, fans noting the series also forget that One Piece began its run in 1997, while Fairy Tail started in 2006.

Essenitally, because both take their inspirations from Akira Toriyama, its easier to make an comparison with One Piece to Dragon Ball, then it is to compare One Piece to Fairy Tail. This same rule can also be said to apply to Fairy Tail as well as to One Piece.

For further reading: See here.

What makes the Straw Hats pirates?
Several fans claim that the Straw Hats are not pirates at all due to the fact that they don't really do any stereotypical pirate actions. Some even claim they are more revolutionaries than pirates. The pirates in One Piece are varied, but in real life not all pirates pillaged and raped though arguably most did.

In fact the reasons for becoming a pirate were varied and not all of them did the typical pirate actions:
 * Some were merely innocent merchant traders reported as pirates for one reason or another. Breaking the law in any way was enough, however from time to time for one reason or another merchants were misreported as pirates. Modern historians have often taken William Kidd as an example of such a case.
 * Others were seeking freedom or protesting against their government who established hard taxes on merchants or who were unfairly treating the population living within their jurisdiction.
 * In some cases they were freed slaves who joined pirate crews because life as a pirate was a better life than a life of slavery.
 * A few were acting as vigilantes (which today is illegal in many countries), in some cases hired privateers (who are often considered legal pirates), while others continued plundering even after privateering was outlawed or got greedy and attacked even their own country's ships.
 * For many pirates, they were born poor and lived on little income prior to becoming shipmates on board their crews. As poor as most pirates were, pirates were often slightly wealthier than those on dry land and during times of hardship the number of pirates would increase greatly as sailors sought more profitable income.

With that in mind here is a list of "crimes" the Strawhats have committed:
 * Declaring themselves "pirates": The storyline clearly establishes the grounds for identification as a pirate in One Piece and at the very least simply declaring oneself a pirate is enough to have the Marines arrest you. Though they declared themselves pirates, originally their actual reporting as being "pirates" was merely revenge from Nezumi because Nami beat him up. They had however acted more as vigilantes at the time because the East Blue pirates were allowed to hurt their friends and potential crewmates. Up until this point, by official means they were not classified as pirates.
 * Burning the flag of the world government: a declaration of war
 * They have hit/attacked members of the law enforcement: a crime even in the real world. Zoro commented when he raised his swords against the Marines for the very first time after Luffy freed him, once you are declared a criminal there is no going back.
 * Holding a hostage: though it wasn't true, they were still "involved" with the hostage situation with the World Nobles at the Human Auction House.
 * Pillaging: At the very least the Straw Hats did pillage gold from Skypiea (though were naive to the inhabitants' own regard to gold). Luffy beat Bellamy to get Cricket's stolen gold back. Nami also had previously stolen valuables from other pirates with theaid of the Arlong Pirates when needed, as well as being part of Arlong's crew who was actively pillaging villages around the East Blue. Franky had stolen from others (Usopp was a victim) to get what he wanted prior to being a 'pirate'.
 * Privateering: They have also committed at least one act that would fall into the classification of "Privateering" (Igaram hired the crew to protect Princess Vivi on a price agreed by Nami together with their actions in Arabasta against Crocodile). Initially, outside of the Shichibukai, this is frowned upon and could have gotten the Arabasta royal family in trouble.
 * Vigilantism: Throughout the East Blue, they resolved one problem after another by acting as vigilantes even where the Marines could not succeed.
 * Freeing prisoners: Zoro, Robin, Franky, and various members of Impel Down were all freed by a member of the Strawhats.
 * Destroying Marine ships: Although a lie, Robin was said to have destroyed a number of ships at 8 years old. Since the start of the series, an untold number of lesser Marine ships have been taken down.
 * Murder and attempted murder: Zoro was known to have killed prior to joining the crew. Officially, Iceberg was apparently a target for murder by them, however Water 7, the place where it occurred, soon learned the truth.
 * Black market: Franky had at least one dealing with black market materials, the Adam Wood.
 * Forbidden research: Robin reads Poneglyphs, something that is banned in the One Piece world.
 * Overthrowing a king: Wapol being kicked out by the Strawhats.
 * Destroying government property: Enies Lobby, Impel Down and Marineford all have had serious damage dealt to them.
 * Stealing a ship; On several occasions, such as when Luffy delivered his 3D 2Y message, occasionally ships were stolen by the crew albeit it for brief periods of time.

Although they are the least stereotypical of the pirate crews within One Piece, they are still "pirates" under the classifications released by the series itself. Traditionally, a revolutionary seeks to change things for the good of a country, the Strawhats have often made it clear that they have no intentions of getting involved with good causes. They themselves only get involved when a friend of theirs is hurt, and only then because a situation causes them to get involved further than they intended. They themselves do not openly seek to overthrow the World Government or any individual kingdom. Pirates are criminals and while Luffy's criminal actions have aided others, they are still crimes. A Revolutionary may also commit crimes but has a set goal wherein they are purposely bent on overthrowing the government.

Isn't Haki based on...
Haki was first introduced via Shanks in chapter 1 and is often compared to other series techniques. But it took Oda hundreds of chapters to explain it. Hence forth half the problem with Haki is a number of fans felt Déjà vu come over them when they saw it for the first time in the storyline, often many forgot it was actually first seen in Chapter 1. Bleach in particular is targeted as one of its techniques works almost the same. Ultimately there is no basis for claims as most of the series mentioned and compared started after Chapter 1 was written, thus ultimately fall into the "Fairy Tail" problem of how One Piece can reference another manga when it itself did it first. Often, the result is simply a repeat of the old Fairy Tail problem of it simply being that they are referencing a common cultural aspect and are not actaully referencing each other.

Whitebeard and Gundam
Another point made is that one of the Gundam from the series Turn A Gundam. Again, we have a classic "Fairy Tail" scenario. This gundam series started in 1999 and while Whitebeard's jolly roger appeared afterwards a year later, this would make the series seem to be referencing the Gundam one. However there is one piece of evidence that remains; Oda always intended there to be a character with that Mustache design in the series - Crescent Moon Galley. Galley appeared in Romance Dawn V.1, even before the series began and although the colour has changed and grown thicker, they are the same design.

In short, although the Gundam series may have had some influence on the overall design, this reference can be considered a coincidence until Oda states otherwise. This is similar to how Fairy Tail and One Piece share the same style of artwork, even though there is no relationship between the two mangaka.

Lost Histories - Not possible
Some fans have a hard time understanding how an effect like the Void Century was allowed to occur inside of the One Piece world. However, due to the freedom of information around by today's standards, we know so about our world. In the past, many only had the information passed on to them from travellers. Take for instance old paintings of bibical moments, more often than not they resemble typical landscapes of the Europeon countryside rather than areas such as the Egyptian sites found in Sahara areas of North East Africa. Even the first pictures of a rhino left misgivings for Europeans. And also think of how unaware Europeans were that there was an entire continent to the west of them, before explorers found the Americas.

In the past, whole sections of history were left to disappear until modern day archaeology, science, and geography found the keystones of this lost history again. Even now, whole cultures lay underground, waiting to be rediscovered.

Also, heavy censorship is not unheard of in modern day world. Many books, paintings, and documents made by the Nazi party were deemed too sensitive after World War Two ended. To hide these ideas, many were either burned or locked away, for fear of the effect of some of the ideals within these books getting into the minds of another generation.

Also remember, that the One Piece storyline took place 800 years after the war and that the World Government has had heavy manipulations on the countries of the world over the centuries. On top of this, the only documentation of the Void Century is held on the poneglyphs. Over the centuries, the ability to read the poneglyphs would have disappeared since anyone caught trying to read them would have been killed, perhaps taking the knowledge to their grave. In the real world, the Rosetta Stone had been the keystone that at last explained how to read the Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Zoro "art error" - black to green
There are no artistic errors, the trousers and bandana are still black. Only the colour of the highlighting changes from white to green. The highlight appears as a white line along the edge of the main black fill to seperate the outline or details of an item such as a piece of clothing. Otherwise these lines would disappear into the main black fill. However, sometimes the green highlight is confusing to a number of fans and they acknowledge the trousers as actually being dark green rather then black with green highlights. While the reasons behind the change of shading colour remain unknown, white is rarely used in anime for shading.

One Piece of the Caribbean
One of the most popular misconceptions is that Oda "stole" or "borrowed" the ship "The Flying Dutchman" from Disney's film "Pirates of the Caribbean".

However, both Pirates of the Caribbean and One Piece are referenceing the same legend. One Piece also used "Davy Jones" in the Foxy arc, however "Davy Jones" comes from the nickname for the bottom of the ocean "Davy Jones' Locker" and has been conceptalised as an actual character in many other shows over the years. Since both had appeared, this led fans to further presume the reference was to the film. Further into this was the Kraken seen just before the ship's appearance in One Piece. Davy Jones also had a pet Kraken in the Pirates of the Caribbean film. The Kraken is also a popular monster within maritime fiction. Though it is likely that both the Kraken and the Flying Dutchman appearing at the same time is not just a coincidence, it is unknown if this was a tribute to the film at this point in time unless Oda addresses the issue. However, since the Fishman Island arc takes place underwater and involves an "Umibozu" (from Japanese folklore), Oda is at least referencing more than one sea legend within the Fishmen Island arc.

On a note of clarifiction, Oda was not the first writer to use the "fishmen" style of underwater folk, but Arlong and the Fishmen Pirates had appeared before the release of the Disney movie. So the appearance of the actual species of fishmen within One Piece is unconnected to the Disney movie, this can be said for certain.

Fire and Lava
Fans claim that lava would not beat fire, as lava causes fires naturally and fire is a gas whereas lava is molten rock, with a additional reasons that make fans dismiss Akainu's superiority over Ace's Mera Mera no Mi ability.

It is true lava does cause fires that may spread quickly, consuming hundreds of trees within seconds doing far more damage then the lava itself. However, while it is true fires can often be associated with lava, lava being a more dense mass can actually put fires out by smothering the fires source of ignition. Lava has many types and varieties in itself, often the lava that causes the most fire related damages comes from a slow flowing stream, in which cases the fire will spread quicker then the lava can consume it.

Also, it is not actually the lava that often causes the fire, but rather specifically the heat from the lava that causes the fire. In general, the most common hazards of a volcanoes are not actually lava flows and most of the death and distruction is caused by other means such as Lahar, intoxicating gases and pyroclastic flows. In some instances, the event of any of these occurring previously, or even a previous eruption, may actually remove any flammable sources such as trees and buildings limiting any further damage lava can do through fire.

Thus regardless, Akainu's Devil Fruit superiority to Ace's, as bizarre as it may seem is actually plausible to accept. The best example of fire losing to lava is that any liquid or molten substance moving fast enough puts out fire even alcohol or gasoline.