CW: Spoilers for One Piece
“One Piece” is the #1 best-selling Japanese comic book, or manga. It has been adapted into an ongoing animated television series—anime. It has over a thousand chapters and episodes respectively, as well as a media empire of spin-off movies, novels and video games. The seemingly simple story revolves around a group of pirates and their silly, naive captain, Straw hat Monkey D. Luffy, who are searching for a legendary treasure—the “One Piece”—in a fictional world made up of island nations. Many of these islands are allied with the World Government, an oppressive military organization that will stop at nothing to ruin Luffy’s dream of locating the mysterious treasure and discovering the secrets of the world’s history that it contains.
If you follow international news, you may be familiar with some of this recent discussion about “One Piece.” Not solely because of its international success as a manga, but as a commentary because of its story’s political consequences. Earlier this year, the Straw Hat Pirate flag was deemed divisive and a threat to national unity by Indonesian government officials per Al Jazeera. In Nepal’s capital, the seat of the state burned as the flag flew high on its golden gates per CNN. To those who have not hunkered down and taken the One Piece-pill, it may be confusing about how such a silly, even childish, show could become the face of so many movements.
The answer is very simple, really. The creator of “One Piece,” Eiichiro Oda, is a radical. My definition of a radical person is someone who tends to be ideologically opposed to the status quo. Besides Oda having a picture of Che Guevara—the renowned Argentine revolutionary—in his office, there is plenty of evidence that can be found without even reading between the lines of the plot.
Upon entering the Grand Line, a sea full of threats and adventures, the Straw Hat crew faces off with a government-backed mob boss who overthrew a benevolent king by lying to the people of his desert kingdom. Why would this federal agent do such a thing? To extract the kingdom’s underground resources to fuel a weapon, of course. Sound familiar? Just before that, the Straw Hats deposed a different king who selfishly restricted access to healthcare. Hundreds of episodes later, the Straw Hats save their archeologist crewmate after she was arrested by the World Government’s intelligence agency. Oda makes it very clear that the world of “One Piece” is ruled by corrupt scumbags, not only on the local and national levels, but even the World Government is run by a cabal of arrogant, slave-owning oligarchs. The citizens of this world are forced to view this ruling class, known as Celestial Dragons, as deities. Luffy, however, knocked one of them out for trying to buy his friend as a slave. Luffy intentionally burned their flag, waged war on their government and was involved in the destruction of three of their islands. His father is also the Supreme Commander of the literal “Revolutionary Army.”
If we take a step back, it is easy to see the parallels between the real-life actions of corrupt governments, especially of our own, and the events of this story. The arcs that I mentioned earlier involve inequitable health care privatization, clandestine state-sponsored coups, violent resource extraction, mass killings of intellectuals and general empire building. The United States has committed, either directly or indirectly, every one of these actions and more—in Chile, Argentina, Iran, Guatemala, resource-rich regions on nearly every continent and even on its own people. The World Government of “One Piece” is seemingly modeled on the U.S. style of global domination, even to the point of prioritizing the interests of its billionaire class—the Celestial Dragons.
Despite this overwhelming amount of evidence, the naysayers stand firm. A clip has resurfaced of influential steamer and leftist commentator, Hasan Piker, being featured as a guest on the anime-focused “Trash Taste” podcast. He gleefully claimed that “every single arc [of “One Piece”]…details leftist politics,” and that “Luffy is a terrorist”. Unfortunatlly, he was laughed at by the hosts and subsequently banned from the podcast due to pressure and harassment from their right-wing fans. This all occurred over two years ago, and it seems that Hasan has been vindicated in his analysis.
Messaging within “One Piece” has spurred a worldwide revolution against oppressive governments and opened up discussions about wealth and power inequality. Most sources carrying stories about these protests have labeled them as “Gen Z,” but really, they should be labeled as class-conscious. Nepal’s government was toppled after temporarily banning social media because of a trend in users criticizing the lavish lifestyles of the ruling class’ families. In 2023, 20 percent of Nepal’s population lived below the poverty line. Indonesia’s protests began after its parliament passed housing allowances for its members that were nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta.
Besides the obvious parallels, there is a much darker comparison to be made between “One Piece” and our world’s political dynamic. The World Government is publicly an oligarchic alliance between the member nations’ royalty, the navy and the Celestial Dragons. Over the course of the story, some characters learn this is a myth. The truth is that a secret king—Imu—has had unchecked power over the World Government for centuries and sits as the single most powerful individual in the world.
Who is this character analogous to? Is it the richest person, Elon Musk? A leader of an influential think tank, like Russel Vought, or a financier like Jeffery Epstein or Peter Thiel? No. As Imu’s identity is ambiguous in “One Piece,” our Imu has no identity. It is a value. It is the reason why some people get assassinated, and there’s a mass uproar, while genocides and massacres occur and few care. It is the underlying idea that some people are worth more and are entitled to more based on arbitrary lines like fame and status. We are hypnotized by this lie, but the revolutions, both material and intellectual, throughout history have shown that we can break free from this illusion. This is why “One Piece” provides such a radical and impactful message that resonates with people around the world.