One Piece

"My treasure? If you want it, I'll let you have it. Go look for it. I left all of it at that place." - Gold Roger's final words.

Today I'll be writing about the best manga/anime that is currently beying written: One Piece! In advance I warn that there will be some spoilers ahead so don't blame me.

The Straw Hat Pirates, the heroes of the anime.

One Piece is about pirates. When the last Pirate King, Gold Roger, was sentenced to death, his last words started a new age, The Golden Age of Pirates, where lots of men went to the sea in search of his legendary treasure, One Piece, and become the new Pirate King. Despite being called pirates, not all the pirates on the sea are evil, but as they raise a jolly roger and oppose the laws of the World Government, they get pursued as well, and get bounties on their head. A bigger bounty means how strong they are and how great the deeds against the World Government they made. The ones who regulate the law and fight pirates are The Marines, the ''police'' force of the World government.

The world of One Piece is unique. The world is almost made of water and islands, with the only continent that exists is called the Red Line, that goes around the equator of the planet. Parallel to it is the Grand Line, an ocean that's impossible to enter besides taking a path through a mountain on the Red Line, the Reverse Mountain, where the ocean pushes you to the top and lets you enter the Grand Line, always on the same spot. The reason the Grand Line can't be entered from another side is because along it there's two lines called the Calm Belts where there's no wind, and because the main locomotion vehicles are ships are wind powered, as they enter it they get stranded. You could say "what about steamboats and such?", well in the calm belts live huge schools of Sea Kings, gigantic aquatic monsters, that destroy all the ships that enter it.  The Red Line and Grand Line also separate the oceans in 4, The Blues, each one named after a cardinal point (North Blue, South Blue, East Blue and West Blue). They all have different kinds of oceans and unlike the grand line, navigation is made as it is in our world.

The map of One piece world. The white lines are the Calm Belts.

The pirates enter the Grand Line because Gold Roger was the only man to reach it's end, and is thought that his treasure lies there, at the last island Raftel. The problem with navigation in the grand line is that the weather is extremely unstable, and each island has its unique weather, being normally classified as season islands, because they keep a seson all year. Other obstacle is that their magnetic pole is also unstable and it's needed a special kind of compass, the Log Pose, to navigate. The Log Pose adjusts to the current island magnetic pole and points to the next island. This makes that you can't freely navigate the grand line, and it also turns it to a maze, as there are lots of diferent routes to reach it's end. 

The Log Pose.

In this mysterious world, there's a place somewhere where some rare, special fruits grows. These fruits are called Devil Fruits, because it's believed there is a demon spirit inside them,  and to those who eat them they grant special abilities, with the only drawback common to all being that they loose strenght when on water, making them unable to swim. In a world wich the majority of it is water, it's the biggest disadvantage there is, but almost of the times the reward is several times greater. A person can only have one ability, and is said if they eat another Devil Fruit they die.

After this long intro to the setting of this anime, the story revolves around Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, The Straw Hat Pirates, as they navigate the world in search of the One Piece.

The Straw Hat Pirates:

"I'll be the Pirate king!"

Monkey D. Luffy - Also known as Straw Hat Luffy, obviously because of his straw hat. His crew also gets it's nickname for it. Luffy is straight forward, good hearted and incredibly airheaded. He can probably be the dumbest person on board, but has a sensational instinct for battle. Always going with his heart, he makes the crew get into great trouble. He cares deeply for his comrades, showing his true strenght when one of them is in danger. He ate the Gomu Gomu Fruit making him a Rubber-man. He can stretch his limbs and body, and bullets and electricity don't work on him. It's mentioned in one point that the most terrifying ability he has is the one to make people gather around him, and every great man in the show has happened to have it.

"A wound that'd make an ordinary man unconscious... I won't lose to it. ... A wound that would kill an ordinary person... I won't lose to it!... To face one who is extraordinary, Hawk Eyes... I can't allow myself to be ordinary!"

Roronoa Zoro - Also known as Pirate Hunter Zoro. First he was a pirate bounty hunter, but then got saved by Luffy and becomes the first to join. His dream is to become the best swordsman in the world, so he has to defeat the best swordsman in the world, Mihawk "Hawk Eyes". It's seen by the fans as Luffy's First Mate, and despite not having a fruit ability he's a force to be reckoned. His style is also unique, he uses the Santoryuu style he developed, using 3 swords at the same time, two on hand and one on his mouth. His fights are almost on the verge of death and he surpasses himself on each one.

"I've got to get a hundred million beri!! Then I'm going to buy a certain village!!"

Nami - Also known as Cat Burglar Nami, she's the ship navigator. She joins the crew officially when Luffy saves her village from the clutches of the merman Arlong. Has great navigation skills, and her dream is to draw a world atlas, including the unmapped Grand line. Also loves to take an opportunity for profit because of her love for money.

"There is a time when a man will not run from a fight.That time is when his comrade... when his comrade dreams are laughed"

Usopp - Usopp is the sniper of the crew, and it's thanks to him that the Straw Hats get their first ship, The Merry Go Round. Despite using a slingshot, his markmanship is top class and some say it's because of his father, Yasopp, being one of the most skilled snipers in the world. He often lies and is a coward, but when the time comes he pulls trough. He's also very handy, making a lot of gadgets that he uses in combat. He has also an alter ego called Sogeking, the king of Snipers and his dream is to be a brave warrior of the sea.

"Men who can't wipe away the tears from women's eyes aren't real men."

Sanji - Also known as Black Leg Sanji, he is the ship's cook. He uses a combat style that relies on kicks, as to a cook the most important thing there is are the hands. Usually smoking, Sanji also flirts with all the women they come across, most of the time for comedy relief, and is the first to jump to their aid. He has a huge rivalry with Zoro, and they don't get along, but despite that they are valuable comrades to each other. He also doesn't have an ability but it's considered to be also one of the most strongest fighters on the crew, along with Zoro and Luffy. His dream is to find the All-Blue, a legendary ocean that has all the fish from every Blue. He got depressed how his wanted poster is a sketch instead of his real face.

"I'm not grateful or anything you idiot!" 

Tony Tony Chopper - Also known as Candy Lover Chopper, he is the ship's Doctor. He is a reindeer that ate the Hito Hito Fruit, making him a human-reindeer. He is very gullible, but in the beggining he doesn't trust humans because of his past. He can control his transformations with a drug he invented, the Rumble Ball, and can use abilites far more different than the normal animal abilty users. He's normally called by Tanuki for his strange appearence. Despite his 50 beri bounty, he is way stronger than Usopp who has a 30 million one.

"When all I want is to learn of a history, there are too many enemies within my dream."

Nico Robin - Also known as Demon Child, Robin doesn't have a clear role on the crew. She's more like an archaelogist, as her dream is to find all the poneglyphs, stones wich ancient secret history is carved, on a language that few can read. She starts as a villain and eventually joins as a crew member after being saved by Luffy. She has a quiet and mature personality, in contrast with the rest of the young crew. She ate the Hana Hana Fruit, making her capable of growing body parts on surfaces and control them.

"I will build the ship of  dreams! One that will go until the end of the world!"

Franky - Also known as Cyborg Franky, he is the crew's Shipwright and is the one that builds the second ship of the Straw Hats, The Thousand Sunny. After an accident, half of his body got robotic. He uses a lot of hidden weapons of his body in combat, moved by cola as its fuel. After the two year skip, he gets tons of vehicles that atach and make a giant robot, Franky Shogun.  His dream is to build a ship that can go around the entire world.

"Can I see your Panties? Yohohohoh"

Brook - Also called the "Humming Swordsman" and "Soul King", he is the ship's musician. He ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi and when he died his soul came back to his body, only to find a skelleton. He uses a sword as his main weapon, hidden in his cane, but he also uses music in combat. He is very joyfull and pervert, often asking girls to show him their panties. He travels with the Straw Hats to be reunited with the Whale-Island Laboon that was his companion, and  Straw Hat also befriended her before entering the Reverse Mountain.

The common trait of the Straw Hat Pirates is the trust, and friendship that they place on each other, and how every single one of them wants to help Luffy becoming the Pirate King. Another characteristic is that at the end of the arc there's almost always a great banquet and party, reminding me a lot how Asterix ended in every comic.

The story of this show is great. Every character has a solid and well written background, and it's hard not to simpathyse with each of one. The villains are normally made so well that we find ourselves hating them really bad, but also admiring how epic and strong they are. The combats are never dull, the story fast paced and the comedy comes when you least expect it but is well inserted in the events. You can find them in a middle of a battle and jokes come flying out of nowhere, giving a goofy atmosphere in the middle of the very tense fights, but it works so well it hurts. The setting in the arcs often is a gigantic battle, like Arabasta Civil War or the escape from Impel Down Prison, so when an arc starts it will get gigantic porpotions. In this chaotic environment then the individual fights get place. And they are good, very good.

An example: 

The soundtrack is amazing, and I doubt that anyone who watched the show will ever forget it's first opening. I leave here some of my favourite tracks:

A cover by the cast of the first opening

Overtaken, one of the first that sticks to your head.

The very very very strongest, When you hear this one shit is going down.

Luffy's Combat theme

Binks' Sake, couldn't put an example without this one.

The manga is written since 1997 and the anime is being aired since 1998, and the story just now passed half of the Grand Line, so there still much to come. 

Story 5/5 - There's no dull moment or bad storytelling from the part of Eiichiro Oda. Every character has a solid and well constructed background, and the world is rich and vast and is almost possible everything happening in it.

Soundtrack - 5/5 - As said before the soundtrack is awesome. Some tracks remind me of the ones used in Pirates of the Caribbean. The only negative point is the sound effects, that they're too generic, but every other anime uses them.

Art - 5/5 - Oda's art is unique and has inspired tons of mangakas who worked under him, such as Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima.

Excitment - 5/5 - Once you get into it is impossible not to want more and to speculate about what will happen and what has happened means. Every single factor contributes to it and I couldn't find any other work that could make this happen.

One Piece after great consideration, and debated with the other reviewers, gets the most solid 20/20 I could give.