One Piece was first released in 1997 on Shueisha's Shonen Jump.
Since then, it has reigned as the company's best-selling manga for nearly three decades. Judging by its current popularity, it's safe to say that it will hold onto the title for years to come. However, One Piece's journey hasn't always been smooth. In a recent interview, famed former Sheisha editor Kazuhiko Torishima shared the story of how One Piece found its place in Shonen Jump.
The editor revealed that the magazine faced a huge drop in sales after Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball was completed. Torishima, who was the editor of Dragon Ball in its early years, later took over as editor-in-chief of Shonen Jump.
A few years later, One Piece was introduced by an editor who was about to leave.
Torishima and the other decision makers were initially against the idea, discussing it for hours, but after seeing the editor's passion for the story, they eventually decided to publish Oda's manga.
Not only did One Piece single-handedly stop Shonen Jump's plummeting sales, it also became the first of many great shounen manga to follow. Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter x Hunter and Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto were also published in the magazine.
This story is proof of how far One Piece has come and fans were inspired, knowing the hardships their favorite manga had to go through to get to where it is.
One fan expressed: “Trust Oda when it comes to creating a masterpiece, a work that resonates greatly in history”.
The success of One Piece has proven itself. Now the manga is finally entering the Elbaf arc with chapter 1126, and the anime is wowing viewers with each fantastic episode. Netflix is also ready to captivate fans with the One Piece anime reboot and the live-action One Piece 2 movie.
