@NoraDora:
I think the 4kids dub was complete bullshit because of the misreading of OP's target (japan-teenagers from 15 and up, america- CN, ranging 7 and up).
You couldn't be more wrong. Whether you like it or not, One Piece is aimed at children in Japan, and they make up the largest part of the audience. In Japan, most people "grow out of" anime by the time they reach their teens… and move onto reality shows and dramas.
As for how I got into it, I was lurking on the GameFAQs board when I came across the standard Naruto vs. One Piece topic. There was one particularly convincing post (which I later discovered to be complete bull) that claimed Naruto was better than One Piece, citing examples such as the fact that Mihawk would always appear to save everyone's asses (wut?). With that, I decided to watch Naruto. At the time, I was using Kazaa Lite for video downloads, and let me tell you, torrents are much more convenient. I got through the Chuunin Exam before I got frustrated by how long it took to download and the difficulty in finding episodes.
As a result, I got into MST3K (since there's not exactly a continuity, missing episodes was no big issue) and finally decided to start watching One Piece. The episode finding difficulty was even worse than with Naruto, so after getting through the Kuro Arc I gave up.
Cut to a year or so later when I discovered the world of torrents with Bleach. As I caught up with Bleach, I decided to try One Piece subbed again when the dub started and I found that it was horrible, starting from Arlong Park, since people were saying that was the best early arc (yes, I bypassed Krieg and all of the episodes I missed). I ended up loving it, and after catching up to the current episodes at the time (at the beginning of Water 7, right at Franky's fight with Luffy) I waited a bit and rewatched it from the beginning, catching all of the skipped episodes.
@Zobofool:
One piece has inspired me to learn Japanese so I can enjoy the series even more!
Trust me, you'll need a better reason if you really and truly want to learn Japanese.
@marina:
Why? Aren't you glad to have discovered One Piece (and manga in general)?
Because stealing is cruise control for cool, mirite?