One Piece facts for kids

One Piece (pronounced "One Peece") is a super popular Japanese comic book series, called a manga, written and drawn by Eiichiro Oda. It started way back in July 1997 in a magazine called Weekly Shōnen Jump. The story is all about the amazing adventures of a young guy named Monkey D. Luffy. He's made of rubber because he accidentally ate a special fruit! Luffy wants to explore the dangerous Grand Line sea with his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates. Their big goal is to find a legendary treasure called the "One Piece" so Luffy can become the next King of the Pirates!

This manga series became so famous that it turned into a huge media franchise. There's an anime TV show made by Toei Animation that started in 1999. Plus, there are many animated movies, special TV episodes, and even a live-action show! Lots of companies have also made cool One Piece stuff like a card game and tons of video games.

One Piece is loved by many for its exciting stories, amazing world, cool art, interesting characters, and funny moments. It has won many awards and is often called one of the best manga ever. By December 2023, over 523.2 million copies were sold around the world! This makes it the best-selling manga series in history. It even holds a Guinness World Record for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author."

The World of One Piece

Different Races and Powers

The globe of the One Piece world

The One Piece world is full of different kinds of beings! You'll find humans, but also dwarves (who are tiny like fairies), giants, merfolk (half-human, half-fish), fish-men, and even animal people called "Minks."

There are also mysterious "Devil Fruits." If someone eats one, they get a special power, like Luffy becoming rubber. But there's a catch: they can't swim anymore! Another special power is "Haki." This lets people use their willpower to become stronger, see things better, or even hurt Devil Fruit users.

Who Rules the World?

The world is mostly run by a group called the World Government. They have a sea military called the Navy that tries to keep pirates and criminals in check. There's also a secret police group called List of One Piece characters#Cipher Pol.

However, not everyone agrees with the World Government. The List of One Piece characters#Revolutionary Army wants to overthrow them. The story often shows that "pirates" aren't always bad, and the World Government isn't always good.

How the World is Divided

The One Piece world has two huge oceans separated by a giant mountain range called the Red Line. There's also a special sea called the Grand Line that crosses the Red Line. The Grand Line is super dangerous because it's surrounded by "Calm Belts" where huge sea monsters live and there's no wind for sailing.

These barriers divide the world into four main seas: North Blue, East Blue, West Blue, and South Blue. It's really hard to travel between them! Government ships use a special stone to sneak through the Calm Belts. There's also a unique place called Reverse Mountain where water flows uphill, letting ships enter the Grand Line. The Grand Line itself is split into two parts: Paradise and the New World.

The Main Story: Luffy's Journey

The Straw Hat Pirates

The story follows Monkey D. Luffy, a young man who ate a Devil Fruit and became a rubber human. He dreams of finding the ultimate treasure, the "One Piece," left by the Pirate King Gol D. Roger. If he finds it, he'll become the new Pirate King!

To do this, Luffy starts his own crew, the Straw Hat Pirates. His first friend is Roronoa Zoro, a skilled swordsman. Soon, they are joined by:

• Nami: A smart navigator who loves money.
• Usopp: A great sniper and a bit of a fibber.
• Sanji: A chivalrous cook who loves ladies.

They get a ship called the Going Merry (later replaced by the Thousand Sunny). As they sail, more friends join their crew:

• Tony Tony Chopper: An adorable reindeer doctor.
• Nico Robin: An archaeologist who can sprout extra limbs.
• Franky: A cyborg shipwright.
• Brook: A skeleton musician and swordsman.
• Jimbei: A powerful fish-man who becomes their helmsman.

Together, they face many challenges. They meet other pirates, bounty hunters, secret agents, and even soldiers from the World Government. They also make new friends and enemies as they chase their dreams across the seas.

How One Piece Was Made

Inspiration and Early Ideas

Eiichiro Oda, the creator, loved pirates since he was a kid. He watched a cartoon called Vicky the Viking, which made him want to draw a pirate manga. He also read about real pirates, like Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, and used their traits for his characters.

Oda was also greatly inspired by another famous manga, Dragon Ball, by Akira Toriyama. Before One Piece became a series, Oda drew two short stories called Romance Dawn. These stories featured Luffy and some ideas that would later appear in the main One Piece series.

Creating the World and Characters

When Oda creates Devil Fruits, he thinks about what a person would really want. He also likes to use puns in the names of special attacks. For example, Zoro's move Onigiri sounds like "demon cut" but also like "rice ball" in Japanese!

Oda draws almost everything that moves in the manga himself. This helps keep the art style consistent. He works very long hours, often from early morning until late at night! He also decided not to include many love stories within Luffy's crew because One Piece is a shōnen manga, which is usually for boys who are more interested in adventure.

The Story's Length

Oda originally thought One Piece would only last five years. But he loved the story so much that it kept growing! In 2016, he said the manga was about 65% done. By 2019, he said it was heading towards its end, but it might go past 100 volumes.

In 2020, it was announced that One Piece was "headed toward the upcoming final saga." In 2021, the manga reached its 1,000th chapter! In 2022, Oda took a break to prepare for the final part of the story. He has promised that the ending will be what he planned from the very beginning.

One Piece in Other Media

Manga Series

The One Piece manga has been published in Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 1997. The chapters are collected into books called tankōbon volumes. By November 2023, there were 107 volumes!

In English, One Piece manga is published by Viz Media in North America and the UK, and by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.

Special Stories and Crossovers

Eiichiro Oda has also teamed up with other famous manga artists for special stories. He worked with Akira Toriyama (creator of Dragon Ball) on a crossover called Cross Epoch. He also worked with Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (creator of Toriko) on Taste of the Devil Fruit. There's even a cute spin-off series called One Piece Party drawn in a "super deformed" style.

Anime Adaptations

Early Films and OVAs

Before the main TV show, there were a couple of short animated films. One Piece: Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack! was made in 1998. Another film, One Piece: Romance Dawn Story, was made in 2008 and was based on an early version of Luffy's adventure. There was also an original video animation (OVA) called One Piece Film Strong World: Episode 0 that showed events before and after Gol D. Roger's death.

The TV Show

The main One Piece anime TV series, made by Toei Animation, started on October 20, 1999. It's been running for a very long time and reached its 1,000th episode in November 2021!

In December 2023, it was announced that a new remake of the anime, called The One Piece, will be made by Wit Studio for Netflix. It will start from the very beginning of the story!

Movies in Theaters

There have been fourteen animated movies based on One Piece. These movies usually have their own new stories or retell parts of the anime with better animation. They are often released around spring break in Japan.

Live-Action Series

In 2017, it was announced that a live-action TV show of One Piece would be made for Netflix. Eiichiro Oda himself is involved as an executive producer! The show started filming in South Africa and features real actors playing the characters.

The main cast includes Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji. The show was released in 2023 and has already been renewed for a second season!

Video Games

The One Piece world has been turned into many video games. These games are made by Bandai Namco Entertainment and can be played on different consoles and mobile devices. There are role-playing games and fighting games, like the Grand Battle! series. One Piece characters also appear in other crossover games with characters from different manga series, like Jump Force.

Music

The One Piece anime has lots of great music! There are many theme songs and character songs that have been released as singles and albums. The music for the series is composed by Kohei Tanaka and Shiro Hamaguchi.

Other Cool Stuff

• There's a One Piece trading card game where you can collect and play with cards featuring your favorite characters.
• A Hello Kitty version of Chopper (a character from One Piece) was used for special merchandise.
• A kabuki play (a type of traditional Japanese theater) inspired by One Piece was performed in Tokyo.
• One Piece has its own special events at Universal Studios Japan every year, where you can see live shows.
• There's a restaurant called Baratie, just like the one in the manga, at the Fuji Television headquarters in Japan.
• The Tokyo One Piece Tower was an indoor theme park inside the Tokyo Tower with attractions, shops, and restaurants.
• One Piece was the first manga series to have a "Dome Tour," with big events held in huge stadiums like the Kyocera Dome and Tokyo Dome.
• There have been One Piece art exhibitions in different countries.
• In 2023, an ice skating show called One Piece on Ice: Episode of Alabaster premiered in Japan, featuring famous figure skaters.

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See also

In Spanish: One Piece para niños