Mythbusters

Like many series, One Piece is open to many myths. This page describes such myths. The myths come in four basic forms: Mistranslations/Misunderstandings, Speculations, Rumours and Translator Jokes and Fake Spoilers. Some of these myths still exist due to their nature or the naivity of fans. To help editors identify these myths, any such myths will be written here to help avoid confusions and finally explain their details.

Mistranslations and Misundertandings
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.

Eating two Devil Fruit
Myth: When you eat 2 devil fruits, the second fruit will replace the first fruit's power

Fact: Eiichiro Oda stated in one of his SBS that you can't transfer the fruit's power to another person, if you take one bite of it the fruit becomes normal. This caused fans to think he meant if you eat the second devil fruit it will replace the first fruit but in Enies Lobby arc, Lucchi and Blueno said if you eat the second fruit after eating the first one, you'll explode and die.

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. 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 an mistranslation found in many fan translations and sub translations. K-F, one of the Fansubbers mistranslated it, Stephen the script translator also mistranslated it as well and said he'll correct it soon. Also the piece of paper Ace gave Luffy was not an invitation, as it was blank.

The higher the bounty the stronger they are
Myth: Theres no way someone like (for example) Buggy can beat Luffy. He is worth 15,000,000 Luffy is worth 300,000,000. Buggy is far too weak.

Fact: While some characters in the series such as Bellamy used them as a power rating, they are not. Bounties are a threat level not a power level. Someone quite weak can have a high bounty and some quite strong can have a low bounty. Although, a characters "physical" strength could very well be a threat to the World Government, for example Luffy, despite him not being very intelligent. This was made clear by Oda in one SBS.

Example
How they work may be done through an example. After Enies Lobby, Usopp got a bounty than Chopper's but Chopper is definitely stronger than Usopp in terms of physical strength. This situation is most likely based on eye witness accounts and testimonies from the Marines and Government agents stationed in Enies Lobby during the Strawhats' raid on the judicial island.

Among Usopp's actions during Enies Lobby, at least two accounts witnessed by Enies Lobby staff would be very notable. The first is the burning of the Government flag and the second is the sniping of a high ranking government director, Spandam, from a large distance. While these are not feats of pure physical strength, they can be considered acts of terrorism by the World Government comparable to burning a national flag or shooting a president. The mere description of these feats can easily be overexagerated and can be speculated to be signs of a extremely powerful character by others. Given this info, the authorities would most likely considered Usopp a threat despite not knowing his true strength, hence why Usopp got a high bounty.

Chopper, on the other hand, while he showed more feats of physical strength during Enies Lobby, probably none of which were properly seen by Enies Lobby staff. While the battered body of Kumadori was discovered by Enies Lobby staff, the source of how he got that way was unseen to them and vast speculation was to what happened was open to them. Also since Chopper was completely immobile during the Buster Call attack and most likely unnoticed by the Marine captains, the only pure confirmation of Chopper's affiliation with the Strawhats, and even existence, that the World Government would know of would be the picture taken of him in Water 7. Since the picture only shows what can be speculated by authorities as a pet and not a monster, Chopper would most likely considered less a threat than the rest of the crew, hence why Chopper got the lowest bounty.

King of the Sunny
Myth: The Straw Hat's new ship is "King of the Beast"

Fact: Sometimes we jump to conclusions without waiting for anything offical from Oda and embarrass ourselves once the truth is out but sadly, that's the price of human nature. When the Straw Hat Pirates saw their new ship for the first time, Iceburg made a comment that Franky believes that the Pirate King should ride a "Beastly ship". This led fans to assume that the ship is to be called the "King of the Beast". However, that's not the offical name from Oda; in chapter 439, the ship was given an official name: Thousand Sunny, a name approved by all 8 crew members.

"If I can see it..."
Myth: Robin stated she can only attack what she sees when she grabbed that South Bird back on Jaya Island.

Fact: A populaur misunderstanding of Robin's powers. This was not helped by the later event of her having to form eyes on Luffy's arm during her Usopp rescue when they reached the clouds before Skypiea. Robin wasn't implying she literally needed to SEE the bird in order to grab it, but rather that she just needed to know where it is. The bird had been hidden until then and once the bird was in sight and Robin knew where it was it could be grabbed.

There are a number of examples of her closing her eyes when she attacks or turning around or attack something that isn't within direct sight. A good example is the previously mention with Usopp's rescue. She had her eyes closed when she formed those eyes on Luffy's arm, not to mention the end of his arm was well out of sight by the time she formed them.

Garp Captured Roger
Myth: Garp captured Gold Roger.

Fact: Garp did not capture Roger, but merely fought with and cornered the Pirate King on several occasions. Early translations of chapter 431 mistranslated the phrase leading many people to believe that Roger was captured by Garp.

Moria a former Shichibukai
Myth: Robin stated Moria was a former Shichibukai.

Fact: This was a early misconceptation from the pre-introduction of Moria. The correct translation was provided a few days later.

Moria a Giant
Myth: Moria is a giant. Just look at the size of him in chapter Chapter 449!

Fact: Occusionally Oda changes the scale of characters, Moria was one of these examples of rescaling. Due to the scale that of the three zombies that woke him up against him, most jumped to the conclusion that he was a giant. When he was fully introduced in chapter 455, the actual size of him was revealed. He is probably a human being with "Giantism" like the Mighty Destroyers and Whitebeard.

Speculations
Another type of myth comes from speculations. Often it is like a game of Chinese Whispers, what one person says as a speculation may end up as being taken as a fact after several people have repeated a populaur speculation. After mistranslations and misunderstandings, this is the most common form of myth to rise through the fans of the series. Speculations are easier to kill then rumour based myths because as the series progresses, they are proven as fact or fiction and are rarely discussed again.

Death Buster Call Star
Myth: Buster Call having laser beams

Fact: Fans just love to make unfounded predictions and hope for the Buster Call to be a huge and scary Death-Star like ship, packed with lasers that can blow up the island like how Death Star blows up Aldaraan. Sadly, chapter 396 proves this wrong. The Buster Call turns out to be a military operation involving a fleet of World Government ships headed by five Vice Admirals, whose mission is to bombard the island until everything is burned down.

D Means Dragon
Myth: Dragon appeared in Logue Town and Luffy was able to hear the dragon talking in the Apis Arc. The D must mean DRAGON.

Fact: The Apis arc (otherwise known as the Warship Island Arc) was not Canon. Therefore everything in it (except for a few things like the Calm Belt information) was not written in the manga by Oda. This rumour was orginally created by a populaur anime blogger who took a wild guess after watching the arc. Due to the popularity of the said blog, others also pondered on the idea (though some fans came to this meaning on their own accord). However it has been proven Dragon has a important plot role.

Mushy Stuff
Myth: X character in One Piece is in love with X other character in One Piece.

Fact: Its not uncommon to see pairings mentioned like Luffy x Nami, however some fans try to force the speculation into fact when it is not. When asked if there would be romance in One Piece in a SBS letter, Oda replied "they are in love with adventure". There are no hints released in the manga itself as such, most love referencing come in the form of perverted comments from one character to the other. However fans of any series will take even the smallest detail as a hint otherwise. Remember: One Piece is not a shoujo, so don't expect much romance.

Buggy Scarred Shanks
Myth: Those marks on Shanks' left eye match those left behind when Luffy was hit in the face by Buggy with his knives. Buggy must have done that to Shanks!

Fact: Shanks states that he got the scars from Blackbeard.

Dragon has a wind Devil Fruit
Myth: Its obivous by the way he said "Wind Blast" back in Logue Town that Dragon has a wind Logia Devil Fruit.

Fact: We know nothing on this yet, but due to evidence it may be highly likely he does have this.

Oda's Character references
Myth: Oda based his idea for X character from One Piece to Y character from Z series.

Fact: While some characters like Jango have obivous design origins, others are not so easily compared. If you really want to, you can compare just about every character to someone else out there. Many characters are based on other characters. Without the word of Oda, saying stuff like "Brook looks like Jack Skeleton from Nightmare before Christmas" is just speculation.

The Parents
Myth: Makino is Luffy's mother. Shanks is Luffy's father.

Fact: no one knows who Luffy mother is. Makino is a friend, her concern for Luffy is no different then the mayor's. Shanks is revealed not to be Luffy's father, but rather Dragon is. This was a combination of fans noticing Shanks' concern for Luffy and that Shanks' was drawn very simulair to Luffy in the beginning of the series.

Rumours
Often these are started by one person posting on a site such as Wikipedia or on a forum. They are different from speculations as they are not being put forward as a possible idea, but rather as fact. Often, there is no ownership claim to such rumours as to who started them. They are just random statements being put off as false facts. Rumours are usually less common then other myths because they take some time to manifest in the fandom. Due to their nature and how they have worked their way into the fandom, they are the hardest to kill even when proven to be incorrect.

Fake Bounties
Myth: Example: Mihawk carries a bounty of 600,000,000 and Shanks a bounty of 700,000,000.

Fact: If Oda gives a bounty, it will appear in the Manga itself either on a wanted poster or in an info box when the character is first introduced. Outside of that, only the SBS will feature bounty amounts and estimates. Confirmed bounties will also appear in catch up chapters like Grand Line Times.

These rumoured bounty amounts were started off by fans, mostly thanks to people who created fan-based posters of the characters, speculationed rumours or even fanfiction. There are many fans who believe them, however they are not true. Other bounties often seen are Whitebeard being worth 1 billion and Gold Roger being worth 1.2 billion.

In addition to this, the mention of Ace's bounty being 400 Million also came out of a early fake spoiler rumour of chapter 441. The origin is that the fake spoiler stated that Luffy and + Ace's combined bounties were over 700 Million. No exact amount was placed on Ace's head however at the time everyone knew Luffy's bounty was 300 million thus it meant Ace's head was worth at least 400 million according to the fake spoiler.

Another recent fake put Gecko Moria's bounty at 370 million. The information is confirmed fake; the amount is 320 million. One fake placed Mihawk's bounty at 540,000,000 and Whitebeard's at 120,000,000,000. Another pitched Dragon at 500,000,000.

4Kids Promised English "We Are..." Intro
Myth: 4Kids used "We are" in the convention before One Piece was dubbed. They promised they'd use it, where is it?

Fact: Firstly, it is rare for a company to commit itself to such things beforehand as once they promise such things they cannot change them, because it would make them out to be liars. Secondly there is no proof this was a promise made by 4Kids. In fact 4Kids said they preferred the rap they eventually released alongside the series. There is also no information to say they created the english version of "We Are", only that it was created for promotional reasons.

Lastly, this was a promotional viewing at the time of the introduction. It has not been unknown for anime series to be featured with their orginal introductions at conventions to hype up the series before release.

Skipping Arcs to get to Chopper
Myth: 4Kids skipped straight through the Apis Arc/Warship Island Arc, Laboon Arc, Little Garden and several other episodes to get Chopper in the series ASAP due to his marketing value.

Fact: Some fans noticed that after Chopper joined, the amount of episodes being skipped were cut down. There is no given information for the skipping of those episodes and arcs or word from 4Kids on the matter. Without 4Kids side of the story, it is hard to say what the truth is.

What we do know is that the orginal channel the English Dub featured on did not allow references to blood, violience or death at all. Also, any show that recieves low ratings is harder to sell and 4Kids has been noted to leave out poor rated episodes from other animes they have dubbed. With that in mind we can only speculate on the reasons that may have caused those episodes to be taken out:


 * The missing Arlong Park episodes and cut scenes featured blood (such as the look at the wound Zoro received from Mihawk and Nami stabbing her arm) and death (Belle-Mere was shot for example).
 * Buggy's Mini-Arc received low ratings in Japan.
 * The missing Logue Town arc episodes had little to offer to the arc overall. Usopp's duel with Daddy the Father referenced fighting and death. They also received low ratings in Japan.
 * The Apis/Warship Island Arc was made for children in Japan, however it still featured death (in the form of a dragon dying, even though it was reborn a minute later). To top it off the Arc itself was met with low ratings in Japan.
 * The Laboon arc featured Luffy hurting a whale, which would have been a serious issue to an American audience.
 * Coby's mini-series received low ratings.
 * Little Garden arc featured the start of bloodier fighting scenes and had more references to death.
 * The fillers after the Arabasta Arc had nothing to do with the rest of the series and all received low ratings in Japan. Zoro's backstory was possibly left in due to his populaurity with the American audience.  Although filler, the Rainbow Mist arc was written into the story.

Mihawk and Elements
Myth: Mihawk can cut all four elements, it says so in X Data Book.

Fact: This is an old rumour that has been around since the release of the Data books, with origins currently unknown. There is nothing in the books about such a thing. However, this is one of those rumors amongst the fandom that just doesn't die easy.

Lucky Roux is fast
Myth: Lucky Roux is the fastest person in the Grand Line.

Fact: This is an old rumour that has been around since the release of the Data books, with origins currently unknown. The original rumor came once more from info in the Data books (which later was confirmed to be absent from any of the databooks). This is based on Luffy's past when Roux appeared out of no where to kill a bandit. Again, this is not actually a proven true fact.

Translator Jokes and Fake Spoilers
Translators like a joke as much as anyone. Several past myths have spawned from jokes such as these. Often these are fewer then the other types of myths but are harder to kill than normal myths. The reason is simply that they are often written by sources that people rely on, and without knowing any better the fans take the info as fact. Until someone points them out, these myths appear as the most innocent of all the myths because unless they're obviously fake, they are harder to prove as fake by the non-Japanese speaking fan.

Norland is a D.
Myth: His name is Montblanc D. Norland!!!

Fact: A joke that came directly from kaizoku-fansubs. Basically, they decided to do a stupidity test to see what would happen. Nevertheless their joke swept through much of the fandom and apparently it took several weeks to kill the myth. Meanwhile, it leaked into just about every forum (leading to embarrassment for many people). His name is just Montblanc Norland.

Aokiji, Ace and Blackbeard
Myth: Aokiji interupts the fight with the two pirates to ask what they are doing.

Fact: During the gap between the end of the Enies Lobby arc and the start of the Thriller Bark arc this became a reglaur sight amongst the spoilers being released for several weeks. In one case, a fake copy+paste picture was even provided as a real scan. Initally, all of the fake rumours said the same thing, however there were differences between the story with every released fake spoiler. Aokiji was later revealled to be with Garp on board his ship, hitching a ride back to the Marine HQ, while Blackbeard and Ace's fight was left to take its course.

Luffy a Shichibukai
Myth: Luffy's grandpa will offer him the position of Shichibukai.

Fact:Just as the Ace and Blackbeard myth, this was fake. The Shichibukai are offered their place by the World Government. Garp just doesn't have the authourity to grant him that position. This rumour has also reappeared as speculation from many fans reactions to the chapter 472 spoilers.

Related Articles

 * Speculations
 * Wikia Rules - Spoiler Rules