With the release of the live action adaptation of One Piece from Netflix dropping with extreme success, it has encouraged millions to explore a world crafted by Eiichiro Oda for the very first time. The pirate fantasy epic boasts an intimidating over 1000 episodes based on its almost 1100 chapters of manga. The series follows a young pirate named Monkey D. Luffy, who is quite literally made of rubber, and his pirate crew. His crew features the likes of the money hungry thief Nami, and the frightening swordsman Zoro. They sail the seas together as "The Straw Hat Pirates" and search for a mysterious treasure known only as the One Piece. This is a series that hypnotizes you into wanting all the people around you to also be in on the fun with you. Like most manga of this genre a major theme is that you can become anything you want to be. One Piece twists this trope just a bit by presenting the audience with unimaginable dreams that have their validity constantly questioned. Whether the dream is the One Piece, a lost city of gold, or an island in the sky.
"Anything man can imagine is a possibility in reality..."
I started reading the manga at the start of 2023, mostly due to the constant pleading from friends. Eleven months later, I’m on my way to being caught up at around 800 chapters as of finishing this article, and needless to say, I’m invested. If you have ever read or watched an early 2000’s manga/anime, it has a certain tone and pacing that can be very grating to people, and One Piece is well within that trend. While reading the manga I wasn’t sold on the looney tunes hijinks of the Straw Hats and their battles. I saw glimmers of excitement during the Arlong Park story, which is the big climatic story in the Netflix adaptation. The end of the Netflix adaptation ends at around chapter 93 in its source material, what I want to discuss begins almost 150 chapters later. Between these chapters are some fantastic stories that maybe I will write about in the future. Going forward I’ll be discussing the story of One Piece up to the end of Skypiea, so spoiler warning, if you’ve never read it or watched One Piece at all, but if you haven't, I hope this article can maybe change your perspective or even convince you to start the voyage yourself.
During the Netflix show, we see Nami recount the story of Liar Noland, a children's story book. The 400 year old story tells the tale of Mont Blanc Noland, the biggest liar in the world. An explorer, who discovered a city made of gold! When Noland reported back to his kingdom. It was ordered by the king, that he and 100 soldiers see for themselves, and when they arrived they found nothing but jungle. Noland was inevitably sentenced to death for his lies. Noland's final words were "That's it! The mountain of gold sank into the ocean!!!" Sadly by this point, nobody believed him anymore, but he never stopped lying until he was dead, says the story. Definitely a dark story for children but this is a fantasy world so don’t think about it too much. With that story planted in our minds, The arc begins with a quote
"Anything man can imagine is a possibility in reality..." - Willy Karen, physicist.
This quote reads as a decimated pirate ship crashes out of the sky, something that by all points of logic should be impossible, but this is One Piece and god damn it if we can have boys made of rubber anything is possible. The Straw Hats are able to explore the wreckage of the crashed ship and retrieve a skull and a few books. with these artifacts they are able to identify that the wrecked ship belonged to a kingdom from over 200 years ago! How can a ship this old be crashing only now? The Straw Hats do not have much time to question further as the sky darkens suddenly and giant shadows emerge in the sky resembling horrifying warriors! The Straw Hats manage to escape the terrifying shadows and arrive in Mock Town on the island of Jaya.
Currently patrolling Mock town is a pirate named Bellamy the Hyena who is searching for the Straw Hats to collect bounties that have been placed on them. The Straw Hats are discovered at a bar asking the other patrons for any information about a mysterious island in the sky. When Bellamy overhears, he jumps at the opportunity to shame them for even pondering an idea so preposterous. The rest of the bar joins in on the shame and mockery. Bellamy further berates the Straw Hats by explaining that too many people are focused on searching for ridiculous dream treasures like the City of Gold and the One Piece, and that they ignore all of the real treasures around them. Bellamy attempts to humiliate the Straw Hats further by pouring beer all over Luffy. when Nami and Zoro step up to answer the call of a fight, Luffy refuses the challenge. Emulating Luffy’s idol Shanks and his attitude towards this kind of behavior.
As they leave the bar they encounter a powerful man who they don’t know yet, Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard, who states that not fighting back was the correct choice and encourages Luffy on his dreams. The Straw Hats have no idea that the man telling them this will change the course of the world. Blackbeard pushes the major theme of this story and the rest of One Piece as a whole, Peoples dreams don't ever end, no matter how much stands in their way.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island is a man named Mont Blanc Cricket, who is a direct descendant of Noland the Liar from the story book. We learn about how he has never let his ancestor’s dream go despite him being excommunicated from Mock Town and the rest of Jaya. A fate that the Straw Hats probably would’ve faced if they wanted to live on Jaya and continued talking about their dreams of Sky Islands. A cruel fate that pains Cricket deeply, but he persists as he truly believes Noland was speaking the truth. Cricket informs the Straw Hats of large explosions of water called knock up streams that can send a ship flying into the clouds. If there was anyway to see if sky islands were real. it would be to launch yourself into the sky. The Straw Hats brace themselves to face the dangerous knock up stream, despite not knowing what lies above them. This adventure could simply be a faster route to their death. However, lets not forget what we were told at the beginning of this tale
"Anything man can imagine is a possibility in reality…”
By a miracle, The Straw Hats survive the knock up stream, and land in a white sea of clouds. A scientific miracle in itself. Their ship arrives at the gates of a real Sky Island! In typical pirate fashion, they enter the Island illegally, albeit accidentally for once. Immediately Marking them as targets for what the people of this island refer to as their “God”. This place of wonder and beauty is quickly contradicted by its civilian’s fear. We are informed about a growing power struggle between their tyrannical “God”, the Skypeians, and a tribe of people known as the Shandians. This tribe of outsiders formerly resided on the Island of Jaya until…
Four hundred years ago, half of the island was shot up into the sky due to an enormous knock up stream. Similar to the one that the Straw Hats rode, only much much larger. By that time, it had been the homeland to the Shandian's for many centuries. Shandia landed atop of a giant beanstalk, which caused the Shandians honored golden bell to ring. Hearing the bell, the Skypieans rushed to the scene as they considered the soil around the bean stalk holy as it tended plants much better than clouds. The land was taken over by the Skypieans, who came to call it the Upper Yard, forcing the Shandians out of their only home. Since then, the Shandians and the Skypieans have been in constant warfare over control of the Upper Yard. I'm sure you can interpret the real world inspirations of this story. Which is hammered in further when we look at how the Shandians are presented, covered in tattoos and welding traditional weapons such as spears. We are witnessing what is called 4th generation warfare. Which is basically any conflict where a non-state entity plays a significant role. One real world comparison of this form of warfare would be the Servile Wars led by gladiator Spartacus against the Roman Empire.
This conflict became more violent when their current “God” took control around eight years prior. A dangerous man named Enel, who can create, control, and transform his body into lightning. Enel believed that the moon was sacred and the only place deserving of his godlike status. During his rule in Skypiea he has been building a large ark ship made of gold that he dubbed “Maxim”, where he would pilot himself and a selected few to journey to the moon. The ship was able to fly due to Enel using himself and his lightning abilities as a battery. Later in the story, a member of the Straw Hats uncover an empty city overgrown with vines. We learn that this WAS the city of gold until Enel forced people to mine out all of the gold for his Maxim. With the only remaining object to be kept with gold was the Belfry Bell, the exact bell that Noland heard hundreds of years prior, to entice him to find the city. The myth and the hope of this famous tale was real this whole time.
"Anything man can imagine is a possibility in reality…”
The conflict grows as Enel begins to enact his plan to destroy Skypeia as he leaves for the moon, mere minutes away from achieving his dream. The Straw Hats are able to unite the people of Shandia and Skypeia and inspire them to free themselves against the oppressive and frightening Enel. Despite being completely immune to Enel's lightning, Luffy is beaten and weighed down as an enormous ball of gold is molded onto his arm. Enel believed this to be his victory. This battle almost comes to a disastrous climax when Enel unleashes his ultimate ability that has been creatively named "Deathpeia". As lightning shatters down ripping through the clouds, The Shandians and Skypeian pray that a real god will act and save them. Luffy musters the strength to strike Enel with the golden ball, and since gold is conductive Deathpeia is stopped as Enel crashes into the golden bell, creating a beautiful sound that can be heard near and far.
Back on Jaya, Cricket explains that he believes the giant shadows that the Straw Hats previously encountered are not monsters at all but are actually shadows cast by people in the sky, and his theory is proven true by as a giant shadow appears in the sky,this time not as warriors but in the shape of Luffy celebrating. Cricket cries hearing the ringing of the bell as he realizes that his friend Luffy survived the knock up stream and more importantly that his dream was real. The city of gold was real, not sent to the bottom of the ocean, but up into the sky. To the people of Skypeia and the Shadians, the sounds of the bell means something else, that their war is over, and peace can finally run free on this island in the sky.
While everyone celebrates their freedom, Enel recovers and sneaks away on his Ark Maxim to achieve his dream, the moon. Maybe this tyrant had a change of heart after seeing what it looks like to achieve a dream you've longed for. In case we forget that the Straw Hats are indeed pirates, they grab as much gold and treasure as they possibly can, when the Skypeians go to meet them to give thanks and send them off, the Straw Hats believe they are being chased, which the locals laugh off as the treasure they steal is meaningless to them now that they have their freedom.
The Skypeia Story arc is a beautiful overture for the rest of the series. we are introduced to several major concepts for the world that come together much later. Wider mysterious continue to unfold in Skypeia. we meet several important characters and learn about their own interpretations of the world. Luffy's growth is put on display in his actions in the face of adversity, When younger he would scream and punch those challenging him. Luffy is now a confident pirate who is steadfast in his beliefs and values. Most important Skypeia shows us that if there is hope, there is freedom. In this world it is possible that a 400 year old promise can be fulfilled. Cities can be made of gold. There are more islands than those on the water. That the oppressed can become free from tyranny. A boy can be made of rubber. The history of the world is not lost to time. Even a tyrannical maniac can go to the moon.
"Anything man can imagine is a possibility in reality…”
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