One Piece (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 1997, with its individual chapters compiled into 104 tankōbon volumes as of November 2022. The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. With his pirate crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy explores the Grand Line in search of the deceased King of the Pirates Gol D. Roger's ultimate treasure known as the "One Piece" in order to become the next King of the Pirates. The manga spawned a media franchise, having been adapted into a festival film produced by Production I.G, and an anime series produced by Toei Animation, which began broadcasting in 1999. Additionally, Toei has developed fourteen animated feature films, one original video animation, and thirteen television specials. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising and media, such as a trading card game and numerous video games. The manga series was licensed for an English language release in North America and the United Kingdom by Viz Media and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. The anime series was licensed by 4Kids Entertainment for an English-language release in North America in 2004 before the license was dropped and subsequently acquired by Funimation in 2007. One Piece has received praise for its storytelling, world-building, art, characterization, and humor. It has received many awards and is ranked by critics, reviewers, and readers as one of the best manga of all time. Several volumes of the manga have broken publishing records, including the highest initial print run of any book in Japan. In 2015 and 2022, One Piece set the Guinness World Record for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author". It was the best-selling manga for eleven consecutive years from 2008 to 2018, and is the only manga that had an initial print of volumes of above 3 million continuously for more than 10 years, as well as the only that had achieved more than 1 million copies sold in all of its over 100 published tankōbon volumes. One Piece is the only manga whose volumes have ranked first every year in Oricon's weekly comic chart existence since 2008. As of August 2022, One Piece had over 516.6 million copies in circulation in 61 countries and regions worldwide, making it the best-selling manga series in history, and the best-selling comic series printed in book volume. It is also one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Synopsis Setting The globe of the One Piece world. The world of One Piece is populated by humans and many other races, such as dwarves, fish-men, and giants. It is covered by two vast oceans, which are divided by a massive mountain range called the Red Line; The Grand Line, a sea that runs perpendicular to the Red Line, further divides them into four seas: North Blue, East Blue, West Blue, and South Blue. Surrounding the Grand Line are two regions called Calm Belts, similar to horse latitudes, which experience almost no wind or ocean currents and are the breeding ground for huge sea creatures called sea kings. Because of this, the calm belts are very effective barriers for those trying to enter the Grand Line. However, navy ships, members of an intergovernmental organization known as the World Government, are able to use a sea-prism stone to mask their presence from the sea kings and can simply pass through the calm belts. All other ships are forced to take a more dangerous route, going through a mountain at the first intersection of the Grand Line and the Red Line, a canal system known as Reverse Mountain. Sea water from each of the four seas runs up that mountain and merges at the top to flow down a fifth canal and into the first half of the Grand Line, called Paradise because how it compared to the second half. The second half of the Grand Line, beyond the second intersection with the Red Line, is known as the New World. Plot Further information: List of One Piece characters The series focuses on Monkey D. Luffy, a young man made of rubber, who, inspired by his childhood idol, the powerful pirate Red-Haired Shanks, sets off on a journey from the East Blue Sea to find the mythical treasure, the One Piece, and proclaim himself the King of the Pirates. In an effort to organize his own crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy rescues and befriends a pirate hunter and swordsman named Roronoa Zoro, and they head off in search of the titular treasure. They are joined in their journey by Nami, a money-obsessed thief and navigator; Usopp, a sniper and compulsive liar; and Sanji, an amorous but chivalrous cook. They acquire a ship, the Going Merry, and engage in confrontations with notorious pirates of the East Blue. As Luffy and his crew set out on their adventures, others join the crew later in the series, including Tony Tony Chopper, an anthropomorphized reindeer doctor; Nico Robin, an archaeologist and former Baroque Works assassin; Franky, a cyborg shipwright; Brook, a skeleton musician and swordsman; and Jimbei, a fish-man helmsman and former member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Once the Going Merry is damaged beyond repair, Franky builds the Straw Hat Pirates a new ship, the Thousand Sunny, Together, they encounter other pirates, bounty hunters, criminal organizations, revolutionaries, secret agents, and soldiers of the corrupt World Government, and various other friends and foes, as they sail the seas in pursuit of their dreams. Devil Fruits A Devil Fruithis is a type of fruit that, when eaten, grants a power to the eater. A person may only eat one Devil Fruit during their lifetime, as eating a second Devil Fruit will swiftly end their life. There are three categories of Devil Fruits; Paramecia is a category of fruits that gives the user various superhuman abilities, such as Buggy's capacity to separate his body parts, Nico Robin's appendage generation or Brook's self-revival. Logia fruits give control over and allow the user "to change their living body structure into the powers of nature", like Smoker's control over smoke, Portgas D. Ace's control over fire, Sir Crocodile's control over sand, Kuzan's control over ice, and Caesar Clown's control over gas. Zoan fruits allow the user to transform into a specific animal or a human/animal hybrid, like how Tony Tony Chopper can transform into a reindeer/human hybrid and Rob Lucci can turn into a human/leopard hybrid. Certain Zoan fruits allow the user to transform into prehistoric creatures, like X Drake being able to turn into an Allosaurus and even mythical creatures like how Marco can transform into a phoenix. Through an unknown technique developed by scientist Dr. Vegapunk, inanimate objects can also "eat" a Devil Fruit and gain sentience like how Spandam's sword Funkfreed can become an elephant or an elephant/sword hybrid. Devil Fruits are said to be incarnations of the sea devil himself and as a result, Devil Fruit users cannot swim in sea water as "they are hated by the sea". When even partially submerged in sea water, they lose all their strength and coordination, although some abilities remain. For example, Luffy is still able to stretch after being totally submerged. Sea-prism stone also has this effect. Moving water, such as rain or waves, does not have this effect. When a Devil Fruit user dies, the powers reincarnate into a new Devil Fruit. For unknown reasons, Devil Fruit users cannot eat a second Devil Fruit because it would cause their bodies to burst, although series antagonist Blackbeard manages to obtain a second Devil Fruit power through an unknown method. Devil Fruit powers can also be "awakened", greatly increasing the power and utility of the user's abilities. There is also an artificial Devil Fruit created by Caesar Clown called the SMILE which enables the user to obtain the abilities of a specific animal, but having only partially a part of the animal such as the legs, ears, or the head protruding from any limb of the body, like the head of an animal on the stomach or in place of the hand, wings in the head or the waist, or an animal appearing in place of their legs. If anyone eats a SMILE that turns out to be a dud, all they can feel is joy and nothing else.