One Piece Is Better if You Skip the First 100 Chapters

It’s no secret that One Piece didn’t start out with as much gusto as the hundreds of chapters that quickly followed, and for manga fans who are trying to get in on the craze that still captivates the world more than 20 years later, it’s quite difficult.

Many longtime One Piece readers try to give newcomers hope by claiming that they just have to slog through the first few chapters before the series really starts getting good. Most of these fans reference Arlong Park as the arc when the series truly picks up steam. But it’s actually not until much later. What’s crucial to realize is that newcomers don’t have to read the series’ more than 100 opening chapters. Longtime fans say trudging through them is crucial to capture the relationship between Monkey D. Luffy and his crew. But that’s not what actually matters during this time. It’s only certain key moments sprinkled throughout that readers really need – and manga fans can still experience them in full by either only reading these select few panels or even a Wikia page.

Of course, diehard fans would understandably emphatically condemn and object to this advice, and, certainly, if newcomers find themselves more amused than bored by the first few chapters, then it’s advised that they try and tough it out. But for those who believe each page is more excruciating than the last and feel as though they’re about to give up at any moment, there is hope.

Nami’s Backstory and Luffy’s Almost Execution

The best moments (arguably both before and after the 100-chapter mark) are each character’s backstory, not necessarily how they interact with each other – except for Nami’s case. The reason for this stems from the saying that a hero is only as good as its villain. A hero might be incredibly compelling, like Luffy, but it’s hard to care what they do when everything this hero interacts with is bland.

The best example of this is Nami’s backstory. Even though the main villain Arlong did horrible things to her, all of that is lost by how One Piece portrays him and his Fish-Men in the present day. Like almost every villain up until that point, Arlong was essentially a caricature of Nappa from Dragon Ball Z, a bully who yells more than he speaks, and who mangaka Eiichiro Oda tries to make readers hate by how he enjoys laughing at the heroes’ misfortunes – complete with an absurd amount of ha ha‘s. At least Nappa’s absurdities were countered by Vegeta’s eerie reserve. What made Arlong different, however, was that One Piece included him in Nami’s backstory. Eiichiro Oda can tell one hell of a story, as evident by Nami’s past, but most of that goodness is lost by its early villains. So, to fully capture the dynamic between Arlong and Nami, readers only need to read Nami’s backstory and the moment when Nami has a terrifying mental breakdown.

Besides Arlong, the most egregious sin was when One Piece decided to bring back the ludicrous and two-dimensional Buggy when Luffy and his crew land on Pirate Island. To add insult to injury, Oda threw in another absurd character, Alvida, who had appeared much earlier in the series but was quite heavier. The inclusion of these two villains is so blasphemous because there’s actually an incredible moment when Luffy exhibits the same unsettling reaction that Gol D. Roger did during a realistic reenactment of his execution. First-time readers are encouraged to skip to that moment as it suggests that Luffy either inherited or could be the reincarnated Gold D. Roger (and based on the latest chapters, there’s ample opportunity for that to actually be valid).

The introduction of Usopp and the Baratie

For the other members of Luffy’s crew (Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp), readers only need to read their backstories, except Usopp. All that’s good to know about Usopp is that he’s an unabashed coward who doesn’t want to be. That’s because their interactions don’t impact the story until much later. For Zoro, all that matters is to know why he decides to join Luffy’s crew even though he wants nothing to do with pirates. But reading Zoro’s rescue is difficult since the villains holding him captive just yell at each other. Ironically, Usopp’s introduction is interesting since he’s portrayed as an incessant liar whose one positive reason for telling lies is to serve as an escape for a rich sick girl who can’t leave her mansion. But the fact that he spews lies and tells tall tales is dropped completely. This dynamic is completely replaced by his incessant cowardice, which becomes his schtick going forward. This is ironic because his greatest moment during this arc was when he was willing to paint himself as the villain so the villagers can continue on with their lives with complete peace of mind. That doesn’t impact his relationship with Luffy’s crew at all. (It doesn’t help that the majority of villains in this arc are completely ridiculous.)

Meanwhile, the most compelling moment in the Baratie arc with Don Krieg was how a band of pirates dying of hunger from their exploits on the Grand Land came to pillage the eponymous ship for food. Usopp didn’t do anything, Sanji’s best moments involved his philosophies on food, which in no way affected his relationship with Luffy’s crew, and Zolo’s battle against Hawkeye only served as another teaser for the Grand Land and to further exemplify his desire to be the best swordsman (which is all anyone needs to know about his character during these early chapters).

But all of this changes once Luffy and his crew enter the Grand Line and meet Miss All Sunday. She’s a villain who’s actually cunningly sly, is enigmatically confusing, and, most importantly, is in no way overexuberant. Although her underling No. 3 turns out to be almost as ridiculous as the series’ worst villains, it’s not enough to diminish the incredibly touching story of Brogy and Dorry, especially since he doesn’t relentlessly bombard readers with haha‘s until much later. Once Miss All Sunday comes to play, that’s when One Piece will start capturing readers’ hearts even those who have been boycotting the series for decades. These poor souls will even swallow their pride and call themselves a Straw Hat.

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