Volume 1

Volume 1 is titled "ROMANCE DAWN - The Dawn of the Adventure".

Cover and Volume Illustration


The colored cover has a beige background, and the title logo is in black, red and maroon. The author's name is printed in blue.

On the front, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami are sailing out to sea while celebrating and being surrounded by seagulls. In the background is a small cartoonish island.

On the spine, Luffy is featured. The skull on the spine is colored yellow-orange.

For the volume illustration on page 3, Luffy rides on a small boat out in the sea. The title is printed on an unraveling, wavering flag, and a seagull wearing a stereotypical pirate hat is perched on the right end of it.

Chapters

 * 001. ROMANCE DAWN - The Dawn of the Adventure (—冒険の夜明け—): A young boy named Monkey D. Luffy swears to become the Pirate King, accidentally eats the Gomu Gomu no Mi, and is given a straw hat by his idol, Shanks. Ten years later, Luffy sets out on the high seas.
 * 002. That Guy, "Straw Hat Luffy" (その男"麦わらのルフィ"): Luffy meets cabin boy Koby and defeats his abusive captain, Alvida.
 * 003. Introducing "Pirate Hunter Zoro" ("海賊狩りのゾロ"登場): Luffy and Koby arrive at an island where Roronoa Zoro is imprisoned. Intent on having him in his crew, Luffy meets him and a girl who reveals why he was captured.
 * 004. Marine Captain "Axe-Hand Morgan" (海軍大佐"斧手のモーガン"): Luffy goes to retrieve Zoro's swords, but enrages the captain of the Marine Base, Morgan.
 * 005. Pirate King and Master Swordsman (海賊王と大剣豪): Morgan and the Marines go to kill Zoro and Koby, and Zoro remembers the promise he made to his deceased friend Kuina. However, Luffy saves them and Zoro tells him he will join his crew.
 * 006. The First (一人目): Luffy and Zoro battle against Morgan, Helmeppo, and the Marines.
 * 007. Friends (友達): Luffy and Zoro leave peacefully, and Koby joins the Marines. He and the Marines thank the two for stopping Morgan.
 * 008. Introducing Nami (ナミ登場): Luffy is captured by a bird and Zoro meets some of the Buggy Pirates. On an island, Luffy meets Nami, who is running away from some pirates.

Marine Captain "Axe-Hand Morgan" - Road to center stage!!
Marine Captain "Axe-Hand Morgan" - Road to center stage!! (海軍大佐「斧手のモーガン」表舞台への軌跡) is a segment where the author explains the evolution of Morgan's design. It is located on page 144.

Context
"He probably has a split chin too, since his son also has a split one."
 * Since I had thought of Helmeppo beforehand, this was the first thing that came to mind as I was brainstorming the introduction of his father.

"His hairstyle has got to be something that exceeds Helmeppo's. He's his father, after all." "It's Marine Captain Chop!!"
 * And so, the finished product turned out looking like this (↙). His name wasn't "Morgan", but "Chop".

He's a sailor, so "Chop the sailor".

Aah, what a simple name.

As one would expect, I ended up dropping this concept

(Translator's Note: "Chop the sailor" [水兵チョップ] also sounds similar to a well-known move called the 水平チョップ [Suihei Chop; lit. Horizontal Chop])

There's no more space to put these here so I won't, but Morgan actually went through 2~3 more transformations before he ended up with his current look.

The reason why he ended up looking more or less good looking is because one of my editors straight up just told me that he "looks like crap". "True", I agreed.

Page 58
An original drawing of Shanks, Benn Beckman, Lucky Roux, and Young Luffy standing together can be found.

Step 1 - The pirate flag (page 82)
Step 1 - The pirate flag (STEP 1 - 海賊旗) is the first part of a small, divided extra segment series found in between chapters of this volume. Here, the author provides a mini-guide (with illustrations) on Jolly Rogers.

Context


The pirate flag. First, we must have a discussion on this topic.

These "pirate flags" are commonly referred to as "Jolly Rogers", and they symbolize death. Very scary.

The name "Jolly Roger" comes from In other words, the flag symbolizes a heck of a disaster coming your way.
 * "Jolie Rouge", which signified blood in French, or
 * "Le Jolie Rouge", which also meant "the jolly red dude", or
 * "Old Roger", which also meant "demon", or other various theories.

Step 2! - Draw a skull! (page 104)
'''Step 2! - Draw a skull!' (STEP 2! - ドクロマークを描こう！'') is the second portion of the previous extra segment found in this volume. The author gives simple step-by-step directions for readers to draw their own One Piece Style Jolly Roger.

Context

 * 1) Draw a circle
 * 2) Draw 3 circles inside the circle
 * 3) Hang a circle
 * 4) Insert 2 lines
 * 5) Insert 3 vertical lines
 * 6) When you draw some bones in the background...
 * 7) Done [Whaat!?]
 * 8) Done [Hooray!]
 * 9) Also, if you add a hat, you get a Luffy's jolly roger.

Step 3! - Make your own Jolly Roger!! (page 124)
'''Step 3! Make your own Jolly Roger!!' (STEP 3! - オリジナル海賊マークを作ろう！！'') is the conclusion to the 3 part segment featured in this volume. Here, the author begins an interactive activity for readers to create their own One Piece Style Jolly Roger.

Context
Have you mastered the basics yet? Next, let's try and keep these steps in mind as you start to create your own personal Jolly Roger!!

(Examples)

Luffy's Jolly Roger

Add a straw hat

Shanks' Jolly Roger

3 scars on the left eye

Swords in the background

Alvida's Jolly Roger

A sideways skull with a heart

(Hint)

If you like baseball, it'd be something like this

If your dream is to become a chef, it'd be something like this

Original Design Skull

Trivia

 * This volume's cover image is referenced in the cover of Volume 61, with Luffy, Zoro, and Nami in the same pose, but with the rest of the Straw Hats and Thousand Sunny added.
 * Volume 61's title is also very similar to the title of this volume.
 * This, Volume 12, Volume 61, and Volume 90 are the only volumes to contain an entire story arc, with the Romance Dawn Arc completely contained in this volume.
 * This volume has the least number of chapters, at 8, although Chapter 1 is 54 pages long.
 * This volume cover was redrawn by Boichi in the series 22nd anniversary one-shot Roronoa Zoro Falls Into the Sea as part of the One Piece Cover Comic Project.

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