One Piece — Straw Hat Pirates crew posing together in an anime promotional image

One Piece

1997franchise / anime memeclassic

Published September 19, 2026

One Piece is Eiichiro Oda's Japanese manga about pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy chasing the fabled treasure of the same name, running in Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 1997. Its impossibly long serialization, distinctive character quirks, and global fandom made the franchise a bottomless source of anime memes.

one piece memes anime manga otaku culture memes fandom discourse memes japanese internet memes

Overview

The story follows Monkey D. Luffy, a rubber-bodied pirate who accidentally ate the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit as a kid, and his Straw Hat crew as they chase the legendary treasure One Piece left behind by executed Pirate King Gold Roger1. Every crewmate carries their own dream, and every Devil Fruit user pays for their powers by losing the ability to swim. The world is patrolled by Marines, the World Government, and the pardoned Seven Warlords, giving fan artists an endless roster to remix3.

Meme output centers on running fandom jokes: Zoro's terrible sense of direction, Sanji's over-the-top reactions to women, Oda's habit of stretching short arcs into year-long ordeals, and the 'it's over 1000 episodes' reaction whenever someone asks if now is a good time to start. English-speaking fans also mock the 4Kids dub era, especially the notorious 'One Piece Rap' opening and the heavy content edits made for US TV1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Weekly Shōnen Jump (print) / anime fandom (viral spread)
Creator
Eiichiro Oda
Date
1997

Oda published two one-shots titled Romance Dawn in 1996, the first in Shōnen Jump's summer special on August 4 and a revised Romance Dawn Ver. 2 in Weekly Shōnen Jump on September 233. Both starred a rubber-armed pirate named Luffy but differed in supporting cast and plot beats, with the final manga borrowing most of its elements from the first version.

Serialization of One Piece began in Weekly Shōnen Jump in July 19973, originally pitched as a five-year run before the story kept expanding. The manga is credited to Eiichiro Oda alone, and every subsequent adaptation, spin-off, and fan meme traces back to those two 1996 one-shots.

How It Spread

Toei Animation launched the anime adaptation on October 20, 1999, preceded by the 1998 OVA Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack!3. English-speaking audiences first got the show through 4Kids Entertainment, which aired a heavily edited dub on Toonami in 2005 with a rap theme song fans still mock, before Funimation later took the license and re-dubbed the series more faithfully1.

By March 2015 the fandom had over 90,000 illustrations tagged ワンピース on Pixiv and more than 40,000 subscribers on r/OnePiece3. The series is Japan's highest-selling manga franchise, and the anime is a fixture on YouTube where clips like the recap trailer2 and related edits4 rack up views around every arc drop. Wano and Egghead in particular kept meme output steady across Twitter and TikTok as the manga approached its final saga.

Timeline

1996-08-04

Oda publishes the first Romance Dawn one-shot in Shōnen Jump's summer special.

1996-09-23

Romance Dawn Ver. 2 appears in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

1997-07

One Piece begins serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

1998

OVA Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack! premieres at the Jump Super Anime Tour.

1999-10-20

Toei Animation's One Piece anime series premieres in Japan.

2005

4Kids-dubbed One Piece airs on Toonami in the US, later mocked for edits and the rap theme.

2015-03-23

Fandom counted at 90,000+ Pixiv illustrations and 40,000+ r/OnePiece subscribers.

How to Use This Meme

Fans typically build One Piece memes around long-running character gags (Zoro getting lost, Sanji simping, Chopper being mistaken for food), Oda's arc pacing, and the 4Kids dub. Reaction shots from key episodes are common templates, and the anime opening video is often used as a soundtrack overlay2.

Frequently Asked Questions