One Piece

One Piece is an ongoing manga written and drawn by Eiichiro Oda. Created in August 1997, over 460 chapters have been written.

History
''See Main Article


 * History of One Piece

Eiichiro Oda was inspired by Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump at a young age. As a child he was inspired by Vikings and he was aspired to become an manga artist. Later he created Pandaman for Yudetamago's Kinnikuman. In 1992, Oda at the age of 17, submitted the manga called Wanted. In 1994 at age 19 he became an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki for Rurouni Kenshin. Before August 1997, he created an 2 one-shot stories called Romance Dawn 1 and Romance Dawn 2.

In Aug. 1997 Oda started the manga series called "One Piece". It was first serialized in Weekly Jump of Shonen Jump magazine owned by Shueisha. At this time, One Piece was beginning to become one of the most popular manga in Japan and around the world.

The anime adaptation was created by Toei Animation in October 1999. By 2002, Viz (Now Viz Media) acquired North American distribution rights for the manga, and 4Kids dubbed the One Piece anime, which was criticized heavily by fans for its dramatic editing and censorship.

Originally, Oda wanted his series to run for 5 years (meaning One Piece could have ended in 2002) But he went longer then expected and has no idea how many more years his story will be.

Story
One Piece is the story of a boy named Monkey D. Luffy who was inspired by Red-Haired Shanks, a pirate. At the start of the series, 22 years from the present timeline, 1500 an Pirate name Gol D. Roger, known as the Pirate King was executed, but before dying, he told the crowd of the location of his famous treasure, "One Piece". His death sparked the Golden Age of Pirates as countless pirates sets out to look for his treasure. Luffy becomes one as well, desiring to be the next Pirate King and sets out to gather crewmates and begin his adventures.

One Piece has since spanned across more than a simple pirating tale. Through the years of its serialization, One Piece has taken vastly differing directions in its storyline, at time wavering off the inital focus of the pursuit of becoming Pirate King.

One Piece is known for its complex storyline, bizarre characters, battle mixtures, character development, many plot twists, comedic tones as well as emotional drama, and unique sub-plots.