Ibrohim Muhammad Dhiyaulhaq
English Language and Literature
Social Sciences University of Ankara
One Piece is a Japanese comic or Manga written and drawn by Eiichiro Oda. It has also been adapted into a cartoon/anime. The story itself revolves around the young protagonist, Monkey. D Luffy in his adventure to become the king of pirates and find the legendary treasure, the One Piece. The comic itself right now has reached 1071 chapters, and perhaps is still not even close to the ending. What makes One Piece interesting is the writer’s view and reference to many situations and problems that sprang up in real society, like corrupt government, the poor vs the rich, the psychological situation of the oppressed, etc.
The pirate theme in the story itself might be a symbol of something. Pirates are always regarded as a wild bunch doing everything they pleased without caring about their surroundings, which is why they were often viewed as bad guys. But they are also very open-minded and free-spirited. And I think that is the part Eiichiro Oda wants us to pay attention to. That no matter what our occupation is, as long as we have strong ideals, we can use any job to help society, like Robinhood using the stuff he stole from the rich to help the poor. Yes, it is lawfully wrong, but in a corrupted society where the law itself was written by the rich, some extreme measures have to be made to keep the balance of the society.
That is why the pirate flag in One Piece also holds significance. The flag, which varied from one pirate group to another, symbolizes the pirates’ goal and ambition as well as their character. The flag of the main character’s pirate group, the Straw Hat Pirates, is the usual skeleton face with 2 crossbones adorned with a wide smile and a straw hat, depicting the easygoing pirate with lots of laughter and happiness even in the grimmest situation, symbolizing hope whenever they are around. while the straw hat comes from the captain, who wears a straw hat given by his idol, someone he wants to catch up to and surpass. From the perspective of materialism, we can also see that straw is one of the cheapest and fragile materials. It easily burned, but when stacked together, it can shelter people from the sun and rain. So it means by wearing a hat made from straw, they want to show that no matter how cheap and insignificant their dream is, they will still wear it proudly on their head, and no matter how fragile they are, when they flock together with the power of their friendship, they will be strong enough to protect other people from danger and provide them a place to refuge.
The pirate theme also means that the characters will spend most of their time on the ship in the open sea. The sea symbolized nature that can never be tamed by humans, even from ancient times, which meant that the characters are always in constant danger. And it also meant that they are brave warriors/heroes to consciously want to be pirates despite being surrounded by constant dangers that can take their lives anytime it wants. The sea in the story of One Piece itself can be viewed as a representation of hell because of how wide and deep it is, in addition to numerous sea monsters that are even much larger than whales in the real ocean.
There is another reason why the sea is regarded as hell. In the world of One Piece, people can acquire easy power by eating a certain fruit called the Devil Fruit. There are many kinds of devil fruits, such as Gum-Gum fruit and Flame-Flame fruit. But in exchange for instant power, those people acquired when they ate the fruits, they can no longer swim in the ocean, and the seawater will render their power useless. This is similar to the story of Adam and Eve, when they ate the fruit forbidden by God, they were instantly no longer immune to sins and are able to enter hell if their sins in the world outweighed their good deeds.
There is also another type of power that is accessible in One Piece, called Haki/Aura. But unlike the Devil Fruit, people have to train long and hard to the utmost of their ability in order to master Haki. And unlike Devil Fruit users, they have no downsides except for the harsh and long training. Haki itself is then divided into three types. Every person in the world of One Piece can learn how to use two of the three Haki types, which are Armament-type Haki and Observation-type Haki. The last Haki type, Conqueror-type Haki, was determined from birth, and only chosen people can use it. So Haki/Aura in this is similar to talent and hard work. Everyone can acquire it as long as they work hard and never give up.
The comic started its stories by showing a legendary pirate named Gol. D Roger, who is currently in the middle of a public execution by the world government because he has discovered the secret of the world. And in the world of One Piece, coincidentally, the same as the real world, it has a similar world government that is like a loyal lapdog to the real ruler of the world, whose identity is mysterious. Before the execution, in his last word, Roger announces to the world that the treasure One Piece is real, which then sparked the age of the pirates and resulted in many youngsters starting to go out to the sea to become pirates and find that treasure, including our protagonist, Monkey. D Luffy.
So what is the One Piece and its significance to the world of One Piece? Until this date, no one knows what the One Piece is except the author himself, but many have made speculations about the One Piece, from the logical ones to the hilarious ones. One theory said it is a weapon of mass destruction called Uranus, the other said it is a spaceship, and there is also a theory that it is literally a one-piece swimsuit that allows devil fruit eaters to swim and use their power in the ocean, or the One Piece is the friendship we make along our journey. Either way, there is no way to know what the actual One Piece is until the story itself has been finished. The only clue we know about it is that Roger left it there as it is, and that he laughed heartily when he found it. The recent development might reveal that it has some connection to the mythical figure of One Piece, the sun God Nika.
Now let’s talk about the characters in One Piece. The protagonist, called Luffy, is a young man whose goal is to be the king of pirates and find the legendary treasure, One Piece, with his pirate band called the Straw Hat Pirates. He has had that dream ever since he was saved by a pirate named Shanks, who turned out to be one of the 4 emperors of the sea/Yonko, which I will talk about later. Luffy is a Gum-Gum Devil Fruit user, which allows him to stretch his limbs out like rubber. This signifies that Luffy is a young man who, no matter the condition he’s in, will adapt as fast as rubber would. He is also a prodigy as a Haki user, but only realizes it later that he has this power. And even though he is the captain of his pirate band, he never treats his crewmates as his subordinates, but instead as friends, and he is quite lacking in using his brain outside of battles, so it is up to his crewmates to consistently remind him how to act accordingly. In the recent update of the comic, it seems his power is not just stretched like rubber limbs, but he is the personification of the legendary warrior figure in One Piece, who ancient people revered as the sun God Nika, the revolutionary hero who fights the injustices in the world and fights for slaves and oppressed people. This clarifies that Luffy will have the same role as Nika in later chapters of the comic, becoming a symbol of hope for the world that has been too long under the oppression of the World Government.
Despite how often Luffy acts silly, his crewmates are loyal to him no matter what happens. They care about their captain and are ready to set him straight whenever and wherever. There is Luffy’s right-hand man, Zoro the swordsman, though his brain capacity is quite the same as his captain, he is always ready to say things that are normally difficult to say. He kind of reminds you of Sir Gawain to King Arthur. Next, there is their cook, Sanji the black leg, who is quite smart but easily infatuated by pretty ladies, but can still be counted on when he is in battle, kind of like Sir Lancelot if you ask me. And the three of them are the crew’s main engine in battles, even the fanbase dubbed them the big three. The other Straw Hat crew members are Usopp, a sniper who is skilled but a coward, and he has a tendency to lie; he also has a long nose, a characteristic of Pinocchio. Then there is Chopper, a reindeer who accidentally eats a Human-Human devil fruit and so becomes a reindeer that walks with 2 legs instead of 4 and can talk like a human does. He symbolized harmony between nature and humanity. Next is Franky the cyborg as a shipwright. He is kind of like Chopper, a symbolization between the present and future. There is also Brook, who became a pirate prior to Gol. D Roger’s era. He is a Revive-Revive devil fruit user, and so even though his former pirate band and crewmates have all been annihilated in battle, he alone survives by living as a skeleton. He is a musician of the Straw Hat Pirates and a symbol of peace between life and death. The last male member of the Straw Hat Pirates is Jinbei, a Fishman or mermaid who acts as a helmsman. He is the only member of the Straw Hat who can live under the sea and can even manipulate seawater in battles. It is safe to assume that he personifies a demon who comes from the depths of hell (or sea in this matter) to help Luffy and his crewmates to reach their goal.
The last two members of the crew are women. Nami is the navigator and the brain of the crew. She was once a burglar who loved to steal from pirates with her cartographical, meteorological, and navigation skills because of her hate for pirates. The straw hat pirate, who consisted of three people at that time, despised her before finding out that Nami’s hometown was ruled by a cruel pirate named Arlong. They then went and beat Arlong in order to save the city. And later, because the Straw Hat Pirate helps her save her hometown, she agrees to join the group. It is because she also dreams of creating a complete map of the world It is safe to say that she resembles the image of a ‘new woman’ which transpired in the 19th century. It can be seen in her controlling the crew’s behavior even when the majority of them are men. Her decision is also taken seriously by the other crewmates and it often times saves them from impending doom. The other female crew of the Straw hat pirate is Nico Robin. A sole survivor from an academician island called Ohara that was obliterated by the world government because they know the methods to disclose the world’s lost history when she was only 8 years old. Accidentally eating Flower-Flower devil fruit when she was a child, Robin can sprout her duplicate body parts in a fixed area like her hands, eyes, and ears, which she used to eavesdrop on her teacher on how to translate poneglyphs, an ancient stone slate where ancient people used to record events. And because of her knowledge and her ability to read poneglyphs, she becomes another central piece for the Straw Hat Pirates to find the One Piece and becomes their archeologist and historian after they save her from another evil pirate who tries to use her knowledge for their own gain and from the world government, who tries to execute her. She is given the epithet “Devil Child” by the world government because she can disclose the world’s lost history and forbidden knowledge and persuade people to go against the world government, just like any devils or demons in stories such as Dr. Faustus. But unlike those demons, she stays in the Straw Hat Pirates and helps Luffy reach his goal because they are the only people who won’t sell her if she inconveniences them.
The divergence of the crew of the Straw Hat Pirates almost encapsulates all kinds of jobs, races, and ideologies we have in the real world. From stern knights to flexible blue-collar workers like chefs, and even to thieves. From teenagers to a person who should have been dead tens of years ago. From men to women and to non-human creatures like plants and animals. They are all different, but all of them gather under one banner to revolutionize and change the world to be a better place.
The group of people in the world of One Piece also depicts some groups we can find here in the real world. The world government is a union with over 170 countries around the world that was founded by 20 kings 8 centuries ago. Their descendants who administer the world government are now known for constantly abusing their power and being corrupt. This group of people might resemble the United Nations (UN) in our world or the Roman Empire in the past, which, in the name of justice and equality, constantly abuses its power behind people’s backs. There is also a revolutionary army led by Luffy’s father, Monkey D. Dragon, who works to oppose the world government and save people from its grasp. The pirate itself here in this story is akin to normal people or activists with each of their own ideologies who are brave enough to oppose the world government. There are the 4 emperors of the sea, whom the world government itself seldom opposes because of the power they have. Then there are the 7 warlords of the sea, pirate groups who are affiliated with the world government to help them control the sea. And then there is also the supernova, a group of newcomer pirates who already have a big influence among people and considerable power to go against the world government. Luffy’s group, the Straw Hat pirate, was one of them before they ascended to the 4 emperors of the sea after besting Kaido, one of the 4 emperors of the sea. The rest of the pirate groups are not often mentioned as they are just a mob, and although they might be significant to the plot, they are not strong enough to be noteworthy.
Overall, One Piece is a fun read, or watch if you prefer the anime, because not just from the settings, but the plot itself is also heavily influenced by what was going on in the real world and has many political and conspiracy references. The characters themselves are numerous and also divergent means that you will sympathize with at least one of them.
References:
- Oda, Eiichirō, et al. One Piece. VIZ Media, LLC.
