Real-Life Timeline

1975

 * January 1: Eiichiro Oda is born in Kumamoto, Japan.

1984

 * Eiichiro Oda's favorite manga, Dragon Ball, created by Akira Toriyama, was serialized in Shonen Jump. Dragon Ball became an influential hit for Oda to create One Piece 13 years later.

1992

 * At the age of 17 Eiichiro Oda writes his first manga short story Wanted! and wins several awards.

1994

 * Eiichiro Oda became an assistant initially for Shinobu Kaitani for Weekly Shonen Jump manga, Suizan Police Gang. He would eventually become an assistant after the completion of this series with Masaya Tokuhiro and ultimately Nobuhiro Watsuki for his popular Jump manga Ruroni Kenshin.

1996

 * Oda produces Romance Dawn V.1 and Romance Dawn V.2.

1997

 * August: The One Piece manga series has officially begun.
 * Arcs: Romance Dawn Arc, Orange Town Arc.

1998

 * Arcs: Orange Town Arc, Syrup Village Arc, Baratie Arc.
 * Anime: One Piece - Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack

1999

 * Arcs: Arlong Park Arc, Loguetown Arc, Reverse Mountain Arc, Whiskey Peak Arc, 1st Part of Little Garden Arc.
 * Anime: Romance Dawn Arc, Orange Town Arc.
 * Others: While doing the Reverse Mountain Arc, an early concept of Brook appeared in Oda's mind, but will not be finalized until 2007.

2000

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Little Garden Arc, Drum Island Arc, 1st Part of Alabasta Arc.
 * Anime: Syrup Village Arc, Baratie Arc, Arlong Park Arc, Buggy's Crew: After the Battle!, 1st Part of Loguetown Arc, One Piece: The Movie, Episode Special 1.

2001

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Alabasta Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Loguetown Arc, Warship Island Arc, Reverse Mountain Arc, Whiskey Peak Arc, Diary of Koby-Meppo, Little Garden Arc, Drum Island Arc, 1st Part of Alabasta Arc, Clockwork Island Adventure, Jango's Dance Carnival.

2002

 * Arcs: Last Part of Alabasta Arc, Jaya Arc, 1st Part of Skypiea Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Alabasta arc, Post-Alabasta Arc, Goat Island Arc, Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals, Dream Soccer King!.

2003

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Skypiea Arc.
 * Anime: Rainbow Mist Arc, Jaya Arc, 1st Part of Skypiea Arc, Dead End Adventure, Episode Special 2, Episode Special 3.

2004

 * Arcs: Long Ring Long Land Arc, 1st Part of Water 7 Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Skypiea Arc, G8 Arc, 1st Part of Long Ring Long Land Arc, Curse of the Sacred Sword, Take Aim! The Pirate Baseball King.

2005

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Water 7 Arc, 1st Part of Enies Lobby Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Long Ring Long Land Arc, Ocean's Dream Arc, Foxy's Return Arc, 1st Part of Water 7 Arc, Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island.

2006

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Enies Lobby Arc, 1st Part of Post-Enies Lobby Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Water 7 Arc, 1st Part of Enies Lobby Arc, The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle, Episode Special 4.

2007

 * Arcs: Last Part of Post-Enies Lobby Arc, 1st Part of Thriller Bark Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Enies Lobby Arc, Post-Enies Lobby Arc, 1st Part of Ice Hunter Arc, Episode of Alabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates.
 * Others: Cross Epoch, a crossover between One Piece and Dragon Ball made by their respective authors, Eiichiro Oda and Akira Toriyama.

2008

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Thriller Bark Arc, Sabaody Archipelago Arc, Amazon Lily Arc, 1st Part of Impel Down Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Ice Hunter Arc, Thriller Bark Arc, 1st Part of Spa Island Arc, Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura, Romance Dawn Story.
 * Others: In a 2008 poll, conducted by marketing research firm Oricon, Oda was elected fifth most favorite manga artists of Japan. He shared the place with Yoshihiro Togashi, creator of Hunter X Hunter. Also, One Piece becomes the highest selling manga of all time.

2009

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Impel Down Arc, Straw Hat's Separation Serial, 1st Part of Marineford Arc, Chapter 0.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Spa Island Arc, Sabaody Archipelago Arc, Amazon Lily Arc, Straw Hat's Separation Serial, 1st Part of Impel Down arc, One Piece Film: Strong World.

2010

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Marineford Arc; Post-War Arc; Return to Sabaody Arc, 1st Part of Fishman Island Arc.
 * Manga: One Piece sells over 20 million volumes.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Impel Down Arc, One Piece Film Strong World: Episode 0, 1st Part of Marineford Arc.
 * Others: In a 2010 poll, conducted by marketing research firm Oricon, Oda was voted fourth in a list of the "The mangaka who changed the manga history".

2011

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Fishman Island Arc.
 * Manga: One Piece sells a record 38 million volumes.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Marineford Arc, Post-War Arc, Return to Sabaody Arc, 1st Part of Fishman Island Arc.

2012

 * Arcs: Last Part of Fishman Island Arc, 1st Part of Punk Hazard Arc.
 * Manga: One Piece Manga 65 sells 3 million in less than 2 months.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Fishman Island Arc, Z's Ambition Arc, One Piece Film: Z.

2013

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Punk Hazard Arc, 1st Part of Dressrosa Arc.
 * Manga: One Piece becomes the best selling manga series of all time with over 345 million copies in print.
 * Anime: Punk Hazard Arc, 1st Part of Caesar Retrieval Arc.
 * Others: The New York Times runs an ad by the publisher Shueisha, thanking One Piece fans as they celebrate the record breaking 300 million copies that are in print.

2014

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Dressrosa Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Caesar Retrieval Arc, Dressrosa Arc.
 * Others: The spin-off manga, One Piece Party, written and drawn by Ei Ando begins syndication in Saikyo Jump.

2015

 * Arcs: 3rd Part of Dressrosa Arc, 1st Part of Zou Arc.
 * Manga: One Piece is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as having "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author", with 322,866,000 copies printed and circulated, from December 1997 till December 2014.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Dressrosa Arc.

2016

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Zou Arc, 1st Part of Whole Cake Island Arc.
 * Manga: Oda revealed that 2016 would be the "Year of Sanji".
 * Anime: 3rd Part of Dressrosa Arc, 1st Part of Zou Arc.

2017

 * Arcs: 2nd Part of Whole Cake Island Arc.
 * Manga: One Piece celebrates its 20th anniversary with the release of One Piece Magazine.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Zou Arc, Marine Rookie Arc, 1st Part of Whole Cake Island Arc.

2018

 * Arcs: 3rd Part of Whole Cake Island Arc, Reverie Arc.
 * Anime: 2nd Part of Whole Cake Island Arc.