Pirates, superpowers, and giant sea monsters. Yup, this is One Piece.
When I was growing up in the early 2000’s, we had a
comic store near my house called New World Manga. At the time, I only went
there for their weekly Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, but they had a huge selection of
manga in the back that I never really acknowledged. During this time, I also
started to watch Toonami on Saturday nights, where it would air shows like
Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, and of course, One Piece.
The version of One Piece that I saw was the 4Kids dub,
and to say that 4Kids took a hacksaw to the localization would be an
understatement. This was readily apparent in the later arcs, but I didn’t know
any better at the time. I was just watching a cartoon pirate series, and that
was enough for me to head down to New World Manga and pick up the first three
volumes of One Piece at the same time. My mom took me to a Wendy’s afterwards,
and I started to read as much as I could during the first day. It all started though
with the first chapter; Romance Dawn.
Our story begins with the audience being told about
“The Great Age of Pirates”. Gold Roger, the world’s best pirate, was being
executed by the Navy for the crimes he committed as a pirate. Before he died
though, in front of a crowd of citizens, reporters, and future pirates, he told
them all that he left all of his treasure to anyone who can find it. The actual
location is unknown, but just the idea that there was a massive treasure was
enough to spark people to form pirate crews around the world and search the
seas to try and find it.
Several years later, we’re introduced to a seven year
old boy named Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy is a child that always hangs around a
pirate crew led by “Red Hair” Shanks, a generally nice pirate that allows Luffy
to always hang around with his crew. He tells Luffy about his journeys, his
adventures, and what it’s like being a pirate. Luffy wants to join Shank’s
crew, but Shanks denies him for a couple of reasons. 1) He’s just a kid that
doesn’t know any better, 2) Luffy can’t swim, and 3) Luffy has no idea what
it’s like to be a pirate in the world of One Piece.
You see, in One Piece, there are five oceans in the
world; the East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, South Blue, and the Grand Line.
The Grand Line is where most of the pirates of the world are, since Gold Roger
was the only man to ever sail completely around the Grand Line. The Grand Line
is a dangerous ocean, full of weather anomalies, giant sea monsters, and
constantly changing magnetism. Needless to say, a seven year boy would be kind
of screwed if he went to this ocean, let alone one that can’t swim.
Luffy gets upset at this, but before he can say
anything else, bandits appear at the bar where Shanks is resting at. The
bandits raise hell, but Shanks and his crew don’t do anything. The only things
that they do do is offer the bandits beer, apologize to the bar maid when the
bandits intentionally break Shank’s glass, and cleans up the mess that the
bandits made when they were insulting Shanks. The bandits leave and Shanks
laughs off the whole occasion, but Luffy has had none of it. He storms off, but
Shanks grabs his arm… only for it to stretch like a rubber band. Luffy, while
the bandits were insulting Shanks, had eaten a Devil Fruit, a fruit that gives
the eater mystical and fantastical powers. In Luffy’s case, he ate the Gum-Gum
Fruit, which made him a rubber man.
The concept of Devil Fruit is a pretty cool concept if
you ask me, albeit it it’s one that as time goes on becomes goofier and more
bizarre. An item that can give people super powers always makes stories more
interesting, but the nature of the Devil Fruit help limit the characters and
their powers. You’ll never see a Superman-like character that can fly, shoot
heat beams, freeze things, and have super strength. Devil Fruit have a very
particular set of skills that have to be followed at all times. Users cannot
swim in salt water, and have to play by the rules of whatever power they’re
given. For example, if a person has the ability to create wax, they probably
shouldn’t fight anyone with fire.
However, where Devil Fruit become problematic from a
story telling perspective is that these Devil Fruit can give very vaguely
defined powers and depending on who the character in question is, can make them
near God-like because of their powers, even though they really shouldn’t have.
Take for example Blueno, a minor villain from a later arc called Water 7.
Blueno has the power of the Door-Door Fruit, which allows him to create a door
anywhere he wants. He can make one in a wall, in the floor to create a hole, in
a person’s face to disorient them, and all of those powers are all in line with
what the basic principle of the fruit it; to create a door, or open a hole, in
a solid space. In order to make some villains more threatening though, a
villain’s power is taken to the nth degree, like with Blueno. There’s a scene
where he is able to make a door in the air and travel from one location to
another instantaneously. He opens a hole in space in order to travel over a
mile away to accomplish a goal. There’s having super powers, and then there’s
just writing plot convenient abilities. Thankfully this doesn’t happen too
often in the series, and for pretty much all of the beginning arcs in the “East
Blue Saga”, there are only four Devil Fruit users with fairly standard
abilities and powers.
Anyway, so Luffy ate the Gum-Gum Fruit and can’t swim.
Does that get him down? Hell no! Instead, Luffy continues on his merry way,
still trying to join Shank’s crew. When the bandits return while Shanks is
away, Luffy tries to attack them after they insult Shanks and call him a
coward. Luffy gets the crap knocked out of him, but Shanks makes a surprise
appearance with his crew, slaughtering most of the bandits. The bandits said
that the pirates fought dirty, to which the pirates replied “Why wouldn’t we?
We’re pirates!” The bandit leader escapes, but takes Luffy with him out to sea
to try and have a hostage. Before he can do anything though, a giant sea monster
attacks their dingy and kills the bandit instantly while Luffy sinks to the
bottom of the ocean. Just when the giant sea monster is about to finish the
job, Shanks pulls Luffy up and quietly tells to sea monster to go away while
shooting him the mother of all death glares. The sea monster relents, and Luffy
cries as Shanks tells him that everything’s going to be alright. Except, Luffy
isn’t crying because he was so scared… but because the sea monster ate Shank’s
left arm.
Fast forward to a few weeks later, and just as Shanks
is about to leave, Luffy comes to say goodbye. As a show of friendship, Shanks
gives Luffy his straw hat and tells Luffy that once he’s assembled a pirate
crew and becomes a real pirate, Shanks will be waiting for him out on the ocean.
Luffy promises Shanks that he will, crying all the while.
Fast forward 10 years into the future, and Luffy is
now a full grown adult about to set sail. He has a one person boat, a straw
hat, some food, and begins his adventure, but not before hitting the sea
monster with a punch that he’s been practicing for the past 10 years, the
Gum-Gum Pistol. As with that, Luffy’s quest is off.
Romance Dawn is a great start to the series. It
establishes the world, tells us who Luffy is, explains what a Devil Fruit is,
and introduces us to Shanks, probably one of the most lovable characters in the
whole series. Over the course of 80 volumes, we rarely see Shanks or hear about
him, but just from this first chapter, we know that Shanks is a fun loving kind
of guy that wants to just sail the world and explore it. He’s more about the
journey than the destination, and if that journey just happens to take Shank’s
whole life, so be it. There’s just such a strong connection between Shanks and
Luffy because of how much one is indebted to the other. Luffy defended Shank’s
honor, Shanks saved Luffy at the cost of his arm, and Shanks gave Luffy his
trademarked hat as a sign of trust and respect. It’s clear that Shanks cares
for Luffy very deeply and that Luffy idolizes Shanks, even if he can have his
outbursts at times.
Speaking of, Luffy is energetic, loud, and always
tries to do the right thing. Luffy doesn’t have any foresight or that much
intelligence, but he acts with his gut and knows deep down what’s right. He has
a strong moral code and determination to become the King of the Pirates. It’s
his one goal, he’s sticking to it, and if you have a problem with it, then
Luffy won’t really do anything to stop you. Now if you damage his hat, his
friends, his ship, or his family, then hell hath no fury like Luffy. As a start
for the series, Romance Dawn is probably one of the strongest ways to start a
series of. It’s light, it’s comical, has a cartoonish style to it, and is
inoffensive to anyone.
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