Oda's Interviews

Norman

Here is my translation for Oda's message about Garp and Dragon in "ONE PIECE the 28th Log" which was released today.

Question: Which characters would you like to go into detail about if you had enough time?

Oda: Well, there is a helpful means named "cover story" in ONE PIECE for that purpose… Anyway, there remain some characters I want to go into detail. It would be interesting if I focus on Marines. I can come up with a magnificent story about Garp. I'd like to draw some relationship and talks between him and Akainu, Aokiji, Smoker, Hina, Coby who joined Marines one after another, Cypher Pol and Roger.

It would also be interesting if I focus on Revolutionary Army, mainly Dragon. Why do they intend to make a revolution? With what belief? How did they meet? The story about Luffy's birth would be interesting. Many of those stories would be serious.

All of the stories about their lives lead to Luffy!! OK!! I'll draw Luffy!![hide][qimg]https://i.imgur.com/16EeBL8.jpg[/qimg]

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I hope this means he will go into detail about them, at least the revolutionary army. But if he meant it like "I'd like to go into detail but I don't have the time…" then it sucks. He's been hyping them for so long.

maxterdexter

@Law-ya:

Does that mean that Oda has actual plans for Luffy's mother? Hmmmm

He used to be pretty dismissive/evasive about her.

I'm fine either way but I hope she doesn't end up being a celestial. Although, if he's going down the 'dead mother' route then she could be a tree for all I care XD.

Those comments were very likely aimed at Dadan.

Count Mario

I've always expected some sort of Dragon flashback detailing the first Goa king, Luffy's mother, and Luffy's birth. But I didn't expect Oda to actually tease that as if it's an option he may or may not do. That's interesting…

Although I'm still 99% sure it's going to happen. Everything big connects to Luffy too much for that not to happen. As Oda admits in the end of his message lol.

Now, a Garp/Marines-focused flashback would be something unexpected that I would love to see. Although I'm betting Sakazuki might have his own Doflamingo/Big Mom-esque flashback.

auem

At least both Dragon and Akainu will get comprehensive flashbacks,i am pretty sure about it.

LightningAce

@auem:

At least both Dragon and Akainu will get comprehensive flashbacks,i am pretty sure about it.

I'd like to know why Akainu is such a hardcore believer in Absolute Justice to the extent he'd blow up a ship full of civilians at Ohara.

I wanna know about Luffy's mother, and why Dragon started the revolutionary army ( assuming he did start it )
So excited,.

K. Kira XXIII

Plot twist [that i don't want]: Luffy's mom was the first leader of the revolutionaries and then she got killed and Dragon took her place.

Law-ya

@K.:

Plot twist [that i don't want]: Luffy's mom was the first leader of the revolutionaries and then she got killed and Dragon took her place.

Now that you've brought it up, I actually wouldn't mind. It has potential to be interesting at the very least.

Long John Silvers Rayleigh

@K.:

Plot twist [that i don't want]: Luffy's mom was the first leader of the revolutionaries and then she got killed and Dragon took her place.

You dont want luffy's mom to be important? Man we need some badass women, Heck bellemere was badass but still got killed just for nami's development when you boil it all the way down. Id have to see how that would be done but Im not sure her being some random revo woman with a hat already shown around dragon js better

K. Kira XXIII

It is a very used element in stories. Dragon is not a revolutionary, probably even thinking of joining the marines following his father. Then meets a woman, she ends up being the leader of the revolutionaries, they fall in love, she dies he takes her place.

So it's not that I don't want her to be important, I just would rather it not being this overused scenario.

MrBits

My crazy/impossible Monkey Family theory is that Dragon isn't actually Garp's son, but his Son-in-law who changed his surname when he married Monkey D. Mommy.

Only because I don't remember Garp ever calling Dragon "his son," just "Luffy's father."

Count Mario

@Long:

You dont want luffy's mom to be important? Man we need some badass women, Heck bellemere was badass but still got killed just for nami's development when you boil it all the way down. Id have to see how that would be done but Im not sure her being some random revo woman with a hat already shown around dragon js better

I'm 99% sure she's dead as motivation for Dragon's dream whether or not she was a big shot. So at best, Bell-mere 2.0. I don't really see what she would add to the story at this point if she was alive, especially when Luffy had Dadan and doesn't give a damn about Dragon as is. If Dragon is getting flashback, somebody has to die. And his baby momma is the one with the clearest target painted on.

Long John Silvers Rayleigh

@Count:

I'm 99% sure she's dead as motivation for Dragon's dream whether or not she was a big shot. So at best, Bell-mere 2.0. I don't really see what she would add to the story at this point if she was alive, especially when Luffy had Dadan and doesn't give a damn about Dragon as is. If Dragon is getting flashback, somebody has to die. And his baby momma is the one with the clearest target painted on.

But imagine if we got some badass scene where she is surrounded by dead enemy bodies, covered in blood, holding luffy as a baby, for long enough for dragon to show up.

Ok that's the BEST CASE scenario but still I dont want this to be like when gon just said "idc about my birth mom because my aunt is cool"

Count Mario

@Long:

But imagine if we got some badass scene where she

Ok that's the BEST CASE scenario but still I dont want this to be like when gon just said "idc about my birth mom because my aunt is cool"

Don't worry, it'll be like when Gohan wanted to wear his dad's clothes before fighting Perfect Cell.

Long John Silvers Rayleigh

@Count:

Don't worry, it'll be like when Gohan wanted to wear his dad's clothes before fighting Perfect Cell.

Heck you could even make his mom wear a vest and jean shorts, and there's were luffy gets his fashion sense

Shobu Yoruichi

Oda mothafucker, stop WCI and start doing this!!
Much more interesting, i recall Luffy's mom to be alive in a SBS, so your theories guys are misled.
Garp and Coby are very much excellent resources to hype me. Dragon is cool too.

Imagine a Crocodile story with Ivankov…! Fucking awesome.

Law-ya

@Shobu:

Oda mothafucker, stop WCI and start doing this!!
Much more interesting, i recall Luffy's mom to be alive in a SBS, so your theories guys are misled.
Garp and Coby are very much excellent resources to hype me. Dragon is cool too.

Imagine a Crocodile story with Ivankov…! Fucking awesome.

The mom alive interviews are 99% referring to Dadan. Curly hair and manly physique? yep, dadan.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Long:

You dont want luffy's mom to be important? Man we need some badass women, Heck bellemere was badass but still got killed just for nami's development when you boil it all the way down. Id have to see how that would be done but Im not sure her being some random revo woman with a hat already shown around dragon js better

You have no idea how much I loved the badass belle-mere (still do!). That scene with her pinning Arlong down with a gun at his mouth and a cigarette at hers was A+ for me. The very beginning of One Piece was a tad more promising for badass and diverse women.

Brings back my gripe with rebecca, I don't hate her but she was a bad Vivi re-hash. Both were pacifists but Vivi wasn't a "woe is me" character.

Big Black Hole

@Count:

I'm 99% sure she's dead as motivation for Dragon's dream whether or not she was a big shot. So at best, Bell-mere 2.0. I don't really see what she would add to the story at this point if she was alive, especially when Luffy had Dadan and doesn't give a damn about Dragon as is. If Dragon is getting flashback, somebody has to die. And his baby momma is the one with the clearest target painted on.

Nevertheless, since Luffy as the protagonist is one of the few persons whose family is made a big deal of, I kinda expect Oda to at least "complete the picture" by showing us Luffy's Mom at least once. He uses mini-flashbacks now very frequently, so I think there should be some room for this, even if it's just a few pages.

There's also one thing that never got out of my mind: When Garp talks to Ace in Impel Down, Ace mentions that both he and Luffy have "the blood of a criminal" running through their veins. That implies Ace knew that Dragon was Luffy's father. Now remember that Luffy didn't knew this himself until Garp revealed it to him. There are now two possibilites:

1. Garp probably just told this to Ace in Impel Down and I'm reading far too much into this.
2. Ace had some contact with Dragon or some other way where he learned this and which could be relevant to Dragon's backstory.

MiyamotoMusashi

@Big:

Nevertheless, since Luffy as the protagonist is one of the few persons whose family is made a big deal of, I kinda expect Oda to at least "complete the picture" by showing us Luffy's Mom at least once. He uses mini-flashbacks now very frequently, so I think there should be some room for this, even if it's just a few pages.

There's also one thing that never got out of my mind: When Garp talks to Ace in Impel Down, Ace mentions that both he and Luffy have "the blood of a criminal" running through their veins. That implies Ace knew that Dragon was Luffy's father. Now remember that Luffy didn't knew this himself until Garp revealed it to him. There are now two possibilites:

1. Garp probably just told this to Ace in Impel Down and I'm reading far too much into this.
2. Ace had some contact with Dragon or some other way where he learned this and which could be relevant to Dragon's backstory.

It was shown and hinted at that Garp talked to Ace privately often to make sure he understands that he has to become a Marine and since Ace is one of the two main motivators for Luffy to become a pirate (the other being Shanks of course), he probably told him to influence Luffy in the right way.

Norman

@Big:

Nevertheless, since Luffy as the protagonist is one of the few persons whose family is made a big deal of, I kinda expect Oda to at least "complete the picture" by showing us Luffy's Mom at least once. He uses mini-flashbacks now very frequently, so I think there should be some room for this, even if it's just a few pages.

There's also one thing that never got out of my mind: When Garp talks to Ace in Impel Down, Ace mentions that both he and Luffy have "the blood of a criminal" running through their veins. That implies Ace knew that Dragon was Luffy's father. Now remember that Luffy didn't knew this himself until Garp revealed it to him. There are now two possibilites:

1. Garp probably just told this to Ace in Impel Down and I'm reading far too much into this.
2. Ace had some contact with Dragon or some other way where he learned this and which could be relevant to Dragon's backstory.

I thought it was also interesting that Ace said "It doesn't matter if he knows or doesn't know…" after Garp told him he had told Luffy about his father. Maybe I'm reading too much into this (too), but saying it like that sounds like "he's not going to be much of a father to him whether he knew about him or not". Or then he's just trying to say that only having a criminal's blood in your veins will make you a criminal, even if you don't know about your relation to them.
Though it'd be much cooler if Ace had met Dragon at some point. I wonder what he'd think about him, consider how desperate Luffy was to have Ace as his friend, being fine getting beaten up because loneliness hurts worse... Ace's parents were dead, but Luffy at least had one parent alive who could've been there for him. It makes me also wonder what Sabo thinks about it.

Law-ya

@Norman:

I thought it was also interesting that Ace said "It doesn't matter if he knows or doesn't know…" after Garp told him he had told Luffy about his father. Maybe I'm reading too much into this (too), but saying it like that sounds like "he's not going to be much of a father to him whether he knew about him or not". Or then he's just trying to say that only having a criminal's blood in your veins will make you a criminal, even if you don't know about your relation to them.
Though it'd be much cooler if Ace had met Dragon at some point. I wonder what he'd think about him, consider how desperate Luffy was to have Ace as his friend, being fine getting beaten up because loneliness hurts worse... Ace's parents were dead, but Luffy at least had one parent alive who could've been there for him. It makes me also wonder what Sabo thinks about it.

The quote might be referring tot he fact that he's well aware that Luffy would not care a smidgen about who his biological father is, unlike Ace.

Ace has bias towards Luffy because he loves him so even though both of them are related to criminals, Ace only views himself with a "demon's blood". To Ace, Luffy is not a demon like him.

I feel like if Ace had met Dragon then there should be a good chance that he'd met Sabo, and if not because that too is possible, then Dragon should have realised how important Ace is to Luffy. The other revs must have also learned that Dragon is Luffy's father. Unless, of course, they met all alone and no other rev was there.

As for Sabo…it's intriguing. Had he had his memories of Ace and Luffy and retained that Ace hated his father then he might have had a different reaction to Dragon 'abandoning' Luffy. Then again, Sabo didn't seem to hate Garp for 'abandoning' Ace and Luffy so he could have been okay with that too.

Chams

Blood of a criminal could also refer to Luffy's mom… :ninja: if the theories of her being rev army leader are true
I don't think Ace met Dragon or he would have met Sabo. And Sabo only regained his memory with ace's death. Seing him in person would have jogged the memory earlier

maxterdexter

Well, her being the original revolutionary, and dragon being the noble who was "corrupted" by her, I'd dig that more than the other way around, especially with Garp being a marine, it would make more sense that Luffy's Mom was the "woke" one, and she got the son of a marine to follow her, rather than a son of a marine being that rebellious.

This also draws attention to the Monkey Matriarch, Garp's wife. We have very limited biological families of the strawhats, if we didn't had a grandparent then that would be it, but we have Garp, I want to know the woman that was crazy enough to put up with him.

I'd also put forth the theory of Dragon being the adopted son, and he took Luffy's mom's last name and became an adopted Monkey, but they do look like father and son.

LightningAce

@MrBits:

My crazy/impossible Monkey Family theory is that Dragon isn't actually Garp's son, but his Son-in-law who changed his surname when he married Monkey D. Mommy.

Only because I don't remember Garp ever calling Dragon "his son," just "Luffy's father."

He's clearly stated Dragon is his son.

desa

@Big:

There's also one thing that never got out of my mind: When Garp talks to Ace in Impel Down, Ace mentions that both he and Luffy have "the blood of a criminal" running through their veins. That implies Ace knew that Dragon was Luffy's father. Now remember that Luffy didn't knew this himself until Garp revealed it to him. There are now two possibilites:

1. Garp probably just told this to Ace in Impel Down and I'm reading far too much into this.
2. Ace had some contact with Dragon or some other way where he learned this and which could be relevant to Dragon's backstory.

Ace had some pretty dark times knowing he was the kid of Roger.I assume he told it yo kid Ace so they could bond and he would have someone to relate to.

sandman

Oda's 2 new interviews with someone and GReeeeN (vocal group)will be out on March 2nd/9th along with "Color Walk 8" and "Volume 333".
It's not announced yet whom Oda talked with in Color Walk 8, but it may be that he talked with Katsuya Terada judging from Oda's ToC comment this week. Terada drew one of the covers of Novel Ace last year.
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[/hide]source: Editors' live streaming on Twitter (February 14th)

Rivaille

@sandman:

Oda's 2 new interviews with someone and GReeeeN (vocal group)will be out on March 2nd/9th along with "Color Walk 8" and "Volume 333".
It's not announced yet whom Oda talked with in Color Walk 8, but it may be that he talked with Katsuya Terada judging from Oda's ToC comment this week. Terada drew one of the covers of Novel Ace last year.
[hide]https://i.imgur.com/FBnkd80.jpg
[/hide]source: Editors' live streaming on Twitter (February 14th)

Thanks, sandman. Do you know what the volume 333 will be about?

sandman

@Rivaille:

Thanks, sandman. Do you know what the volume 333 will be about?

You're welcome. Volume 333 is an extra volume like Volume 0, 777 and 1000. They will start distributing Volume 333 in Tokyo Tower (not bookstore) on March 9th only to those who buy "Live and Park Pass ticket" (about 30 dollars). We're not sure what the volume is going to contain aside from Oda's interview, but it seems 3-year-history of Tokyo OP Tower will be included at least. Honestly, I don't think Volume 333 will be more interesting than Volume 0/1000…
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Rivaille

Ok ok, thanks

dropper

Does anyone know what content was shown in this issue of Jump (1999) that made Oda tease the Shichibukai? He featured them as prototype designs but I had no idea they were shown on a front cover….

Lord Monkey D.

I think its was just chapter 100.

dropper

@Lord:

I think its was just chapter 100.

Interesting. Still doesn't explain the Shichibukai pre-designs.

Lord Monkey D.

@dropper:

Interesting. Still doesn't explain the Shichibukai pre-designs.

Only Boa is a shikibukai, one is Dalton, one is a giant don't know about one of them.

Ask greg.

Kaido King of the Beasts

@dropper:

Does anyone know what content was shown in this issue of Jump (1999) that made Oda tease the Shichibukai? He featured them as prototype designs but I had no idea they were shown on a front cover….

http://www.kanzenshuu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/toriyamaworks_028-wj.jpg

http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/SBS_Volume_54#Chapter_528.2C_Page_126

imperioonepiece

@Lord:

Only Boa is a shikibukai, one is Dalton, one is a giant don't know about one of them.

Ask greg.

Who's Dalton? 16 characters.

Count Mario

@imperioonepiece:

Who's Dalton? 16 characters.

The king of the Sakura Kingdom, Chopper's island. The guy who could transform into a bison. Who used to begrudgingly serve under Wapol. Who Wapol has sworn revenge against at the upcoming Reverie with his new Black Drum Kingdom in tow.

Lord Monkey D.

@imperioonepiece:

Who's Dalton? 16 characters.

ARTEMlS

I think he meant who of the other ones from that cover is Dalton.

imperioonepiece

Yes, I meant who of those designs in the cover is Dalton.

Lord Monkey D.

Or at least I think thats Dalton to the right of Boa.

One on top looks like a giant, below him I don't know.

its not any of the early shikibukais designs in One Piece green.

Like Dolfa was supposed to be a rapper at first.

Greg

They're all rough designs.

Like many, many (many) elements of the story, over time bits and pieces of them may have become other characters.

Some of them we may not have met. (I'm looking at geared up samurai hoping that's Oden or giant as Loki ^0^)

And maybe some of them we already have but we just don't know it yet. Like the long coat could be Mr. 5. The armored samurai might have become Kinnemon, etc.

Goes to show how solidified his idea for Hancock was, which is pretty slick.

Robby

@dropper:

Does anyone know what content was shown in this issue of Jump (1999) that made Oda tease the Shichibukai? He featured them as prototype designs but I had no idea they were shown on a front cover….

[qimg]http://www.kanzenshuu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/toriyamaworks_028-wj.jpg[/qimg]

Oda was asked by his editor to preview some upcoming characters pretty much because it was chapter 100 and the anime had just been announced, but Oda didn't really want to promise or solidify things he might not actually get to for a while, so he drew their backs.

Among them Hancock is the only one we really know has appeared in the story. The rest could be anybody.

Razh

The other woman looks like she might appear on Elbaf.

The guy with a hand cannon always reminded me of Yasopp. The gun, the stars… He actually looks the most interesting of the bunch to me.

dropper

They're all quite reminiscent of early Oda characters from his other short stories. His character designs have come a long way and have improved dramatically. Those characters would have been introduced much earlier if Oda didn't expand the initial time frame for finishing One Piece. I wonder what arcs he would have been cut and when they would have reached the new world.

Big Black Hole

The person left to hancock with the red trousers…

The body structure with the thin legs, the giant upper body and what is he holding? Could this be a bisento?

Reminds me a little bit of him...

Greg

By golly, you're right! Does remind one of him! However note the hair which suggests it's a Japanese-influenced character.

That said, it's possible this is a case I mentioned above of past scrapped designs informing new ones so very good call!

Johnny B. Decent

The weapon that guy is wielding is a Nagamaki. It's a katana where the length of the hilt and blade are of equal lengths, making it between a longsword and polearm.

ScotchInformer

Nothing Important in Interview, Between Oda and Katsuya Terada, on Color Walk 8!

sandman

Here is my summary for Color Walk 8 including Oda's message and interview which was on sale today. Oda talked with Katsuya Terada in the interview.

Oda: I was eager to become a mangaka since childhood. One day, I was shocked to read a message from a famous expert mangaka, who wrote, "You can enjoy drawing manga at most as long as you draw it as hobby. People shouldn't become professional mangaka."

As someone who wanted to become mangaka, I felt angry to read that message. "How dare you advised others not to become mangaka despite the fact that you enjoy your living as a professional mangaka!!" Forgive my rudeness to that great mangaka since I was just a kid.

Then, I became mangaka. I'd like to tell the great mangaka who already passed away, "I knew it. Mangaka is a really enjoyable job."

I can't neccesarily confirm my words about it since manga industry changes as the time goes by, but I can at least say that it is thanks to my audience that I'm enjoying my mangaka life now.

This is my 8th illustration book!
Thank you so much for always supporting me.

Eiichiro Oda

Translation for the interview between Oda and Katsuya Terada.

Oda thinks he already drew most of what he wanted to draw in color spreads, which worries him recently.
Oda has been reading Jump since 8/9 years old where "Kinnikuman", "Fist of the North Star" and "Captain Tsubasa" was serialized.
Oda is hooked on collecting digital brush tools. Finally he has found his favorite one. Recently he drew some illustrations in Jump in digital. Oda is impressed that digital drawing tools have improved so much that he sometimes can't see the difference in illustrations drawn by digital and non-digital.
Oda enjoys "time lapse drawing" function in iPad Pro. About ONE PIECE manga chapter including color spreads, Oda keeps in mind not to draw them digitally.
Oda can draw better drawings when he is busy, but one day he drew boobs in Luffy's body when he stayed awake all night. (This episode was mentioned in an interview in 2002 as well.)
Oda admits that his favorite faces in real world are the same as what he wants to draw in manga.
Oda is wondering these days how many years he can give his full power to his work. He says one of the reason he approved the live adaptation project in Hollywood was that he thought it would be the "final opportunity" considering his stamina. Oda thought he will not have enough stamina to have complicated meetings with foreign staffs after several (2-9) years.

MiyamotoMusashi

@sandman:

Here is my summary for Color Walk 8 including Oda's message and interview which was on sale today. Oda talked with Katsuya Terada in the interview.

Oda: I was eager to become a mangaka since childhood. One day, I was shocked to read a message from a famous expert mangaka, who wrote, "You can enjoy drawing manga at most as long as you draw it as hobby. People shouldn't become professional mangaka."

As someone who wanted to become mangaka, I felt angry to read that message. "How dare you advised others not to become mangaka despite the fact that you enjoy your living as a professional mangaka!!" Forgive my rudeness to that great mangaka since I was just a kid.

Then, I became mangaka. I'd like to tell the great mangaka who already passed away, "I knew it. Mangaka is a really enjoyable job."

I can't neccesarily confirm my words about it since manga industry changes as the time goes by, but I can at least say that it is thanks to my audience that I'm enjoying my mangaka life now.

This is my 8th illustration book!
Thank you so much for always supporting me.

Eiichiro Oda

Adding more parallels between him and Luffy, Oda is the mangaka we need but not deserve

Chrior

Definitely, he sounds like such a nice and polite man. I wish I could just give him a handshake and tell him what a great professional he is. He respects his audience so much.