One Piece Wiki:Guidebook/Spoiler Rules

On this wiki, we add information from new chapters once they are officially released, and do not add information from unofficial spoilers and scanlations. You may be unsure about when, where, and how chapters are officially released and how to tell official releases from spoilers, so this page is here to explain the differences and rules.

It is helpful to know right off the bat that spoilers, in this context, refer solely to content that has not been officially released. As stated on the main page, this wiki covers all published plot points in the series and does not use any sort of markings for spoilers. Thus, if you are not caught up to the manga, you will likely be "spoiled" by major plot points, so we encourage you to browse this site at your own risk.

Rules Rundown
Edits containing spoiler information will be immediately undone. Repeated additions of spoiler material will result in warnings and possibly a block if the warnings are ignored.
 * Do not add information from a new chapter to any other article, other than the article of the chapter (titled 'Chapter ####'), until the chapter is officially available in English.
 * The official release platforms are VIZ and Manga Plus.
 * Do not upload images from a new chapter until the chapter's official release. Afterwards, images should preferably be taken directly from the Japanese (raw) version.
 * An article for a new chapter can be created when a release date is confirmed.
 * Do not add information based on spoilers to the article.
 * If the complete chapter is unofficially released in English, the chapter article can be updated only with the following information: Japanese Title, Cover Page, Characters, as well as Chapter Notes based on visually verifiable information. Please do not use any spoilers from text-based postings (such as from YouTube videos or Reddit).

What are Spoilers?
When referring to One Piece, "spoilers" can have one of two meanings. The term can refer to plot points that a reader who is not up to date with the series does not know about. This wiki keeps up to date with the series, and covers every plot point from the beginning to the present. Generally, we do not hide spoilers or have special markings for them on articles, so if you are not caught up with the series and do not want to be spoiled, you should browse this site with caution.

These rules cover the other definition of spoilers, which refers to information about plot points before they are officially released. One Piece chapters are officially released in physical and digital formats in Japan on most Mondays of the year. However, the physical copies of Shonen Jump magazine, where One Piece is serialized, are delivered to stores days before Monday. As a result, some stores may start selling the magazines before Monday, or a store or distribution worker may steal a magazine copy when they are being transported, even though both of those actions are illegal. Alternatively, people have also been able to acquire the Chinese and Korean versions of chapters early through the same methods.

Once someone acquires the magazine early, they may post a small amount of information about the chapter online such as a chapter summary and a few scanned panels. Among the fandom, this is what "spoilers" typically refers to.

Scanlations
Certain groups who acquire early copies and scans of the chapter then create scanlations, in which they digitally replace the Japanese text with an English translation before releasing the translated chapter pages online. The quality of scanlations varies wildly, with better quality groups working to clean the scanned pages and using reputable translators while worse groups may release very rough-looking scans with bad translations that may not be complete. Typically, the better translators get their scans to translate from the original Japanese chapter, while worse groups tend to translate from the Chinese and Korean versions, resulting in less accurate translations.

If you're reading a One Piece chapter from a site that's not VIZ or Manga Plus, and it was posted before Sunday, you're reading a scanlation.

What is the Official English Translation?
VIZ Media is the primary creator and distributor of the official English translation of One Piece. Originally, Viz chapters were only distributed to English-speaking locations, primarily North America and the United Kingdom. Viz began publishing One Piece in magazines and volumes in 2003, starting from the beginning of the series. In 2012, they ceased physical publishing of the magazine and solely published new chapters on their digital magazine. By 2013, they began releasing chapters simultaneously with Japan.

For much of Viz's existence, their services were unappealing to many fans who wanted to keep up with the series. Until the start of the 2010's, Viz's releases were not up to date with the manga, and so fans turned to spoilers and scanlations to know the entire plot. Many English fans lived in areas that Viz did not distribute to, and so scanlations were the only way they could read chapters in English. Reading Viz chapters used to require a monetary subscription, which many fans were unwilling to pay when they could not only read scanlations for free online, but read them days before the chapter was officially released. Finally, new One Piece fans may not be familiar with Shonen Jump or how chapters are officially distributed, and so they may think that translations they find online are legitimate.

Starting in 2019, however, Shonen Jump and Viz released a new distribution model in which chapters would be available to read for free online across the world. Manga Plus is available worldwide, while VIZ is exclusive to North America and the UK. New chapters are released at midnight on Monday in Japan, which 3:00 PM UTC/11:00 AM EST on Sunday. The first three and most recent three chapters are available to read for free, with all the other chapters still requiring a paid subscription.

Why Follow the Official Release Schedule?
In the past, this wiki added information from new chapters once any scanlations were released ahead of time. However, we now wait for the chapter to be officially released, for these reasons:
 * Posting information from spoilers has long been prohibited on this wiki, due to a tendency for spoilers to provide incomplete information at best and false information at worst.
 * With the new publishing format, everyone in the world has access to the officially released chapters for free.
 * The most reputable scanlation groups that produced consistently high quality translations decided to stop translating Shonen Jump titles in order to support the free official release. Now that they are no longer translating chapters, the scanlations being posted online have varied wildly in quality, with increased mistranslations resulting in misconceptions.
 * In the past, scanlations came out as many as five days before the chapter's official release. Due to crackdowns and arrests by Japanese law enforcement, that timeframe has steadily shrunk. Currently, scanlations usually only come out two days before the official chapter, meaning not much time passes between the fandom first becoming aware of new developments and the wiki documenting it.

Following the official release schedule does not mean we give weight to Viz's spellings. If we see that a spelling or translation has been localized, we will change it to the most accurate version (for example, even if Viz translates a character's name, we will use the transliterated name as we always do). Many of our editors have access to Japanese scans that they can use to determine if there is any difference between a character's name in Japanese and their official English name.

We also do not prohibit you from using a scanlation to add information to the wiki so long as you're adding the information after the time of the chapter's official release, and you are sure that the unofficial translation is accurate. We encourage you to support the official release by buying a subscription or volumes to read the entire series officially, but acknowledge that doing so requires a financial commitment.

Does this Apply to Other One Piece Media?
Generally, no. Information from the SBS and databooks tends to be leaked a few days before the publishing date; we will add this leaked information to the wiki so long as the information comes from a reputable source. If you see someone post leaked information online, ask an admin or mod to make sure the source is reliable before adding information.