Ok so what is the actual plot and the stakes in One Piece? SPOILERS ABOUND

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I am in a One Piece mood right now since I am watching the show from the beginning to get to the Arc that sold this series (Arlong Park) while still watching the new and upcoming episodes.

I haven not seen everything this series has though so a LOT of plot elements and context are mystery to me.

This is everything I know about One Piece:

Monkey D. Luffy wants to sail the Grand Line, find the One Piece, and declrare himself the Pirate King with his faithful crew the Strawhat Pirates: Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Franky, Robin, and Brook.

But of course things are never that simple and there are deeper plots and stories that are working in tandem with Luffy's adventures. Like how Luffy's father, Monkey D. Dragon, is the leader of a Rebellion that is directly attempting to overthrow the World Government and their Naval Marines. And Luffy's Grandpa Garp is a Vice Admrial of the Marines, and technically in one of the past Arcs, Luffy has essentially declared war on the World Government for the sake of his friend Robin, so as of the current arc, Luffy and his gang are one of if not the most Wanted band of Pirates in the world.

Other major events happened such as Luffy losing his brother Ace (no relation, but might as well) in a massive War that served as a turning point in the series that transitioned to the 2 year time skip.

And that Luffy has crossed the Grand Line and is now in the seas of the "New World" where the island that houses the One Piece is within.

But this is clearly scratching the surface and I just like for people to fill in any gaps, and I really don't mind spoilers at this point, the only thing I don't want spoiled is what exactly is the One Piece.

 

[PapaGreg096]

What do you mean by gaps, you haven't posted a question with the exception of the title, please be more specific

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

What do you mean by gaps, you haven't posted a question with the exception of the title, please be more specific

To which I will provide. Case in point, the World Government and how much of an antagonist are they to our heroes since I have the clear impression they are corrupt and rule with a tyrannical iron fist. Nami and Robin's story arc showcases this?

 

[Marik2]

It's going to be funny that the treasure was the adventure all along. How likely is that going to be?

 

[Asita]

It's going to be funny that the treasure was the adventure all along. How likely is that going to be?

*coughcough*

Oda: Yes, I already decided on how it's going to end. Should I tell you now?


Sakura: ...Well, I want to know, but I probably shouldn't. BUT, the One Piece, it's not something like "the growth your heart went through", right?


Oda: Hahaha, no no, I won't be pulling off some kind of Wizard of Oz thing like that. After having gone through an adventure like that, it wouldn't be fair to not actually give them a reward.

 

[Marik2]

It's going to be funny that the treasure was the adventure all along. How likely is that going to be?

*coughcough*

Oda: Yes, I already decided on how it??s going to end. Should I tell you now?

??
Sakura: ...Well, I want to know, but I probably shouldn??t. BUT, the One Piece, it??s not something like ??the growth your heart went through??, right?

??
Oda: Hahaha, no no, I won??t be pulling off some kind of Wizard of Oz thing like that. After having gone through an adventure like that, it wouldn??t be fair to not actually give them a reward.

Well, things can still change.

 

[madwarper]

If I wanted to watch a show with pirates, navy, weird powers and some mysterious treasure, I'd watch Outlaw Star again.

 

[PapaGreg096]

What do you mean by gaps, you haven't posted a question with the exception of the title, please be more specific

To which I will provide. Case in point, the World Government and how much of an antagonist are they to our heroes since I have the clear impression they are corrupt and rule with a tyrannical iron fist. Nami and Robin's story arc showcases this?

So far not right now since the straw hats are in New World territory where the marines don't have any jurisdictions also the Marines are a very diverse group of people, while there are corrupt evil people there are actually good people who want to protect people from pirates and bandits.

 

[Jute88]

Like how Luffy's father, Monkey D. Dragon, is the leader of a Rebellion that is directly attempting to overthrow the World Government and their Naval Marines.

Minor correction. They don't want to overthrow the World Government, but the Celestial Dragons influencing them.

And Luffy's Grandpa Garp is a Vice Admrial of the Marines, and technically in one of the past Arcs, Luffy has essentially declared war on the World Government for the sake of his friend Robin, so as of the current arc, Luffy and his gang are one of if not the most Wanted band of Pirates in the world.

The Straw Hats are certainly rising pretty quickly in terms of infamy, but they're not close to the top yet. The Four Emperors are still unimaginable monsters that our heroes haven't been able to injure at all.

There's also talks about Rock-pirates, pre-Roger's era of pirates coming back. Though I really don't get how they're going to make a comeback, since their era was over 40 years ago.

The Seven Warlords system is about to change as well, thanks to some invention by Vegapunk.

The great thing about One Piece is that Oda keeps building the world bigger and bigger with new factions, characters and revelations, like Doflamingo's past, revelation of Im, time travel-powers, Enel building an army (can't wait for him to come back!), relationship between Big Mom and Kaidou, a Celestial Dragon who's actually a good guy.

One thing that bugs me is how little we actually know about Shanks. What are his goals, his dreams? He seems suprisingly normal when compared to the other Emperors.

I'm also hoping that Blackbeard becomes addicted to some form of painkillers, considering his powers and what the real world's Blackbeard was like.

 

[DeadProxy]

A bit of backstory on the history of the One Piece world.

The current world has existed for the last 900 years. One where the World Gov't has been in relative control of the world, serving the whims of the Celestial Dragons, who are descendants of the people who began the Gov't after the "Void Century." This took place in the 100 years before the Gov't was established and all knowledge of it has been suppressed, and any attempt to learn anything about it is punishable by absolute death (Robins origin story).

The Void Century is the second big plot point that the story has slowly been working towards. The "Poneglyphs," which are just carved rock that happens to be harder than diamond, are records of history throughout the last 1000 years. Some tell the history of the country they're originally from, some tell of ancient weapons capable of changing the face of the planet, and RED poneglyphs are a special version, telling pieces of the history of Void Century with clues to the whereabouts of the island that the One Piece is hidden on.

In the story so far, we haven't learned ANYTHING about the void century even though the crew has obtained copies from 2 of the Red glyphs other than a name "Joy Boy" who we can only assume played a big part in whatever happened in the Void Century. The manga entered into the newest arc a few months ago, the country of Wano which is basically just feudal Japan. It's a closed off country, so the World Gov't has no sway at all in the country, and it's the birthplace of the Poneglyphs and the best swordsmiths, and the current home base of "The Strongest Creature in the World" Kaido, one of the 4 emperors of the new world. For plot reasons, Wano is a treasure trove of possible answers to most of the questions people have had throughout the story.

And the last thing I'll throw out there is the weird thing about "The voice of All things." After the 2 year time skip, a couple moments have happened were creatures that shouldn't be able to talk were being heard by Luffy, Shirahoshi, and Momonosuke. While Luffy could hear those voices, he couldn't talk to the animals, but the other 2 could. Shirahoshi is the princess of the Fishmen, and actually one of those ancient weapons, because she can talk to massive sea creatures that could easily destroy a fleet of ships if properly instructed, although she hasn't learned she can do this yet. Momonosuke is the son of the former ruler of Wano, and it's shown that he can talk to a gigantic...and I do mean gigantic, elephant and that saves the day in a truly devastating fashion.

Oh ya, possibly the most "Umm,what?" thing happened in the manga a few months ago, where it showed that the Celestial Dragons actually have someone even above them, and also a bigger than average straw hat in a deep freezer. Why? Nobody knows...we're waiting for the end of the Reverie (basically a U.N. meeting of country leaders) which started just before the Wano Arc to end and give us an info dump.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

A bit of backstory on the history of the One Piece world.

The current world has existed for the last 900 years. One where the World Gov't has been in relative control of the world, serving the whims of the Celestial Dragons, who are descendants of the people who began the Gov't after the "Void Century." This took place in the 100 years before the Gov't was established and all knowledge of it has been suppressed, and any attempt to learn anything about it is punishable by absolute death (Robins origin story).

The Void Century is the second big plot point that the story has slowly been working towards. The "Poneglyphs," which are just carved rock that happens to be harder than diamond, are records of history throughout the last 1000 years. Some tell the history of the country they're originally from, some tell of ancient weapons capable of changing the face of the planet, and RED poneglyphs are a special version, telling pieces of the history of Void Century with clues to the whereabouts of the island that the One Piece is hidden on.

In the story so far, we haven't learned ANYTHING about the void century even though the crew has obtained copies from 2 of the Red glyphs other than a name "Joy Boy" who we can only assume played a big part in whatever happened in the Void Century. The manga entered into the newest arc a few months ago, the country of Wano which is basically just feudal Japan. It's a closed off country, so the World Gov't has no sway at all in the country, and it's the birthplace of the Poneglyphs and the best swordsmiths, and the current home base of "The Strongest Creature in the World" Kaido, one of the 4 emperors of the new world. For plot reasons, Wano is a treasure trove of possible answers to most of the questions people have had throughout the story.

And the last thing I'll throw out there is the weird thing about "The voice of All things." After the 2 year time skip, a couple moments have happened were creatures that shouldn't be able to talk were being heard by Luffy, Shirahoshi, and Momonosuke. While Luffy could hear those voices, he couldn't talk to the animals, but the other 2 could. Shirahoshi is the princess of the Fishmen, and actually one of those ancient weapons, because she can talk to massive sea creatures that could easily destroy a fleet of ships if properly instructed, although she hasn't learned she can do this yet. Momonosuke is the son of the former ruler of Wano, and it's shown that he can talk to a gigantic...and I do mean gigantic, elephant and that saves the day in a truly devastating fashion.

Oh ya, possibly the most "Umm,what?" thing happened in the manga a few months ago, where it showed that the Celestial Dragons actually have someone even above them, and also a bigger than average straw hat in a deep freezer. Why? Nobody knows...we're waiting for the end of the Reverie (basically a U.N. meeting of country leaders) which started just before the Wano Arc to end and give us an info dump.

What is this Venture Bros. level deep lore?

I think this is the reason why One Piece will never become 100% worldwide mainstream as Dragon Ball and Pokemon because of this incredibly deep and tangled web of plots.

Don't get me wrong it is interesting none the less. But it certainly paints our protagonist's as far smaller in this large world. Like is Luffy going to end up becoming a Pirate God-Emperor of the Seas by the end of this?

 

[DeadProxy]

What is this Venture Bros. level deep lore?

I think this is the reason why One Piece will never become 100% worldwide mainstream as Dragon Ball and Pokemon because of this incredibly deep and tangled web of plots.

Don't get me wrong it is interesting none the less. But it certainly paints our protagonist's as far smaller in this large world. Like is Luffy going to end up becoming a Pirate God-Emperor of the Seas by the end of this?

It's like the longest form of a JRPG I can think of. The initial reason the journey starts becomes so trivial compared to the final goals. But enough time has been put into Luffy's character to make it believable he'll bumble-fuck his way into the web of lies that holds the world together and rip it apart just cause the bad guy says that he shouldn't do it.

One piece is massive in Japan, but I agree, it's got soap opera levels of plot lines and references thanks to how long the story has been progressing. The world is actually growing and becoming more and more detailed as the years go by, and somehow finds a way to keep things interesting...Although they did recently bring up literal time travel, which I think can only be a sign that the creator is starting to run out of ideas after 20 years of expanding on the same story, which seems fair.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

What is this Venture Bros. level deep lore?

I think this is the reason why One Piece will never become 100% worldwide mainstream as Dragon Ball and Pokemon because of this incredibly deep and tangled web of plots.

Don't get me wrong it is interesting none the less. But it certainly paints our protagonist's as far smaller in this large world. Like is Luffy going to end up becoming a Pirate God-Emperor of the Seas by the end of this?

It's like the longest form of a JRPG I can think of. The initial reason the journey starts becomes so trivial compared to the final goals. But enough time has been put into Luffy's character to make it believable he'll bumble-fuck his way into the web of lies that holds the world together and rip it apart just cause the bad guy says that he shouldn't do it.

One piece is massive in Japan, but I agree, it's got soap opera levels of plot lines and references thanks to how long the story has been progressing. The world is actually growing and becoming more and more detailed as the years go by, and somehow finds a way to keep things interesting...Although they did recently bring up literal time travel, which I think can only be a sign that the creator is starting to run out of ideas after 20 years of expanding on the same story, which seems fair.

Depends on how exactly they are gonna use time travel and where are they going to time travel too.

Because so far the overall big picture plot you guys mentioned so far, I think the time travel plot device is gonna be used to find out about the Void Century and the origin of One Piece.

But the bigger question is our protagonists going to be thrown back into the past and actually be present in it and potentially affect history at large because that would be dumb like: "It was actually Luffy that X and Y happened in the future"?

 

[jademunky]

Never watched one-piece, maybe I should give it a shot. After all, I do like that kind of long-running "lighthearted yet at times serious with over-the-top characters, etc" and........ 831 EPISODES!!!???

Run Awaaaaaaay!!!

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Never watched one-piece, maybe I should give it a shot. After all, I do like that kind of long-running "lighthearted yet at times serious with over-the-top characters, etc" and........ 831 EPISODES!!!???

Run Awaaaaaaay!!!

Case Closed/Detective Conan is at its 928th episode and counting.

But I still recommend watching One Piece at least the first 40+ episodes which ends at the Arlong Park arc.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

So the origin of the Devil Fruits. Is there a point in the "Devil" part of the Devil Fruits?

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

What is this Venture Bros. level deep lore?

I think this is the reason why One Piece will never become 100% worldwide mainstream as Dragon Ball and Pokemon because of this incredibly deep and tangled web of plots.

Don't get me wrong it is interesting none the less. But it certainly paints our protagonist's as far smaller in this large world. Like is Luffy going to end up becoming a Pirate God-Emperor of the Seas by the end of this?

That's exactly what fascinates me about One Piece. It's that really long form narrative, delivered over hundreds of 20 minutes episode, that's at the same time so incredibly silly and cartoony.There's nothing else quite like it and depending on how it's gonna end it might one day stand as one of our generations most important stories.

 

[DeadProxy]

Depends on how exactly they are gonna use time travel and where are they going to time travel too.

Because so far the overall big picture plot you guys mentioned so far, I think the time travel plot device is gonna be used to find out about the Void Century and the origin of One Piece.

But the bigger question is our protagonists going to be thrown back into the past and actually be present in it and potentially affect history at large because that would be dumb like: "It was actually Luffy that X and Y happened in the future"?

That's the thing about time travel, it can pop up at anytime again now that it's been introduced, but as far as we know, the person who can time travel is dead. But if the story ever goes into detail of her life as a time traveler, there could be a gold mine of lore to unpack.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

The one piece is definitely a treasure, Oda has said as much. With the things we've learned about Rodger and with the introduction of a lot of elements such as his capacity to talk with the giant sea creatures and the poneglyphs it may make it be some type of unusual treasure and not just gold and gemstones but it's definitely a physical thing.

And I don't think we need time travel, someone can just be alive for long enough or use some type of devil fruit to shows us what happened during the dark century. OP likes its flashbacks, after all.

Never watched one-piece, maybe I should give it a shot. After all, I do like that kind of long-running "lighthearted yet at times serious with over-the-top characters, etc" and........ 831 EPISODES!!!???

Run Awaaaaaaay!!!

Nah man, it's not 831.




...



It's 868 and it's only around 70% done, also over 20 movies/ovas/specials too. Each 1-2 hours long.


It's the biggest anime franchise in Japan for a reason lol.

 

[jademunky]

It's 868 and it's only around 70% done, also over 20 movies/ovas/specials too. Each 1-2 hours long.


It's the biggest anime franchise in Japan for a reason lol.

Bit of an accessibility issue there. Like a newcomer getting into World of Warcraft 15 years in. Or ANYBODY reading the Horus Heresy.