There are few anime as expansive as One Piece. Spanning nearly a thousand episodes, the series has aired almost every week since its premiere in 1999. With such a great length and so much lore built up over those twenty-one years, jumping into One Piece can be incredibly daunting. As a starter, here’s everything you need to know about the world and political powers of One Piece.
One Piece is about Monkey D. Luffy, a carefree spirit with a lofty ambition: To find the legendary treasure known only as the “One Piece” and become King of the Pirates. Luffy assembles his pirate crew of misfits who have ambitions as grand as his as he sails the seas, facing fearsome foes in the Navy and rival pirate crews to accomplish his dreams.
Geography
The Blue Sea
To begin with, we have the Blue Sea. The world of One Piece is dominated by water, with the only continent being the Red Line and all other landforms consisting of islands. The Blue Sea wraps around the entire world of One Piece and is neatly split into four seas by the Red Line and the Grand Line, both of which will be explained in this article. These four seas - the East Blue, the West Blue, the North Blue, and the South Blue - contain most of the world’s population. One Piece’s story began in the East Blue before Luffy and his first crewmates sailed into the Grand Line.
Each of the Four Blues have long histories and significant figures, such as the North Blue, which was once controlled by the Vinsmoke family, or the East Blue, which contains Loguetown, the island where the first King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger, was born and later executed. However, as much of One Piece’s story takes place in the Grand Line, relatively little about the Four Blues has been explored in the narrative, but they are far safer and more peaceful than the Grand Line.
The Red Line
The only continent in the world of One Piece, the Red Line is impressive enough to stand up to the prestige that comes with such a title. The Red Line wraps around the entire globe, effectively splitting the Blue Sea in half around the prime meridian. It runs perpendicular to the infamous Grand Line and is all but impassable, covering the entire ocean floor and stretching well into the sky. There are a few known passage points to cross the Red Line: One is the Reverse Mountain, a strange anomaly where a river flows up the side of the Red Line. Pirates commonly use Reverse Mountain to enter the Grand Line, including Luffy. Other passages include a gap under the Red Line that leads to Fishman Island and the only official passage at the Holy Land of Marijoa, the capital of the World Government.
The Grand Line
The Grand Line is where most of One Piece’s story takes place. Running perpendicular to the Red Line across the equator, two Calm Belts border the Grand Line. Calm Belts are special seas where monstrous wildlife known as Sea Kings thrive and attack any ship that crosses them. This makes entering the Grand Line incredibly difficult unless one uses a passage in the Red Line like Reverse Mountain. The Grand Line teems with pirates looking to make a name for themselves and has unique islands and weather anomalies. The only crew to explore the entire Grand Line and live were the Roger Pirates, which is how Gol D. Roger became the first King of the Pirates. Somewhere at the end of the Grand Line is the last island, Laugh Tale, the home of the One Piece. The Grand Line is split into two parts: Paradise and the New World.
Paradise is the first half of the Grand Line. Navigating this sea is incredibly dangerous thanks to the weather anomalies such as the Knock-Up Stream, a current that causes the ocean to explode skyward and fling ships into the air. The islands scattered across the Grand Line also impede navigation. Each island generates its own magnetic field, making navigation with a regular compass impossible. Instead, you need a Log Pose, a device that will read an island’s field and point its needle to the next one. At the end of Paradise is the Red Line, specifically the section with both Marijoa and the passage to Fishman Island. “Paradise” got its name from pirates who returned from the second half of the Grand Line, called the New World, because the first half is much safer.
The New World is where One Piece’s story is currently taking place. As dangerous as Paradise could be, the New World is even worse with more dramatic weather, including an island where lightning pours from the sky like rain. The New World is also home to the Four Emperors of the Sea, fearsome pirates unlike anything in Paradise. Navigation is also far trickier in the New World as the magnetic fields from islands become less stable, requiring a specialized Log Pose with three needles to navigate safely. The New World also has some islands that Log Poses can’t register, including Punk Hazard and Laugh Tale.
Political Powers
The World Government
The World Government is composed of more than 180 countries and has lasted for more than 800 years. The capital of the World Government is the Holy Land Marijoa, home to the officials that founded it, and the World Nobles, also known as the Celestial Dragons, who are descendants of the first royal lines to form the World Government 800 years prior. The Celestial Dragons consider themselves gods and all other humans to be lesser creatures, frequently purchasing humans and other races as slaves for their amusement. The World Government has also demonstrated a willingness to commit atrocities to keep their power, such as when they destroyed the island of Ohara and all but one resident because they had researched the history of how the World Government was founded.
The Revolutionary Army
The Revolutionary Army is one of the greatest military powers in the world and they openly stand against the World Government’s atrocities and seek to bring them down. Led by Monkey D. Dragon, Luffy’s father, who is considered to be the most notorious living criminal, the Revolutionary Army has had a small role in One Piece’s story to date. While they have played a hand in certain arcs such as the Dressrosa Arc, much of their plans and detailed goals are still a mystery.
The Three Great Powers
The Three Great Powers are the Navy, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Four Emperors. These powers reside in the Grand Line and are responsible for keeping peace on the oceans as the Seven Warlords were allied with the Navy - even though the Navy is the only group directly influenced by the World Government - which allowed them to keep a strength proportional to that of the Emperors.
The Navy
Funded by the World Government, the Navy is one of the first adversaries Luffy and his crew face. Outwardly proclaiming to be pillars of justice and the first line of defense against the pirate menace that threatens the world, the Navy has also proven to be full of corruption and often carries out heinous acts in the name of justice or at the behest of the World Government - including the destruction of Ohara. They’re also patrons of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
The Seven Warlords of the Sea
The Seven Warlords of the Sea are pirates given animosity by the Navy in return for following orders. The program was intended to help cull pirates by adopting some of the stronger ones to the side of the Navy, but few of the Warlords honored their agreements. Most of them just used their animosity to gain greater power such as Crocodile, who attempted to overthrow the kingdom of Alabasta, and Doflamingo, who successfully took over the kingdom of Dressrosa. Recognizing that the Warlords program failed, they were eventually stripped of their titles and the program was discontinued.
The Four Emperors
The Four Emperors live in the New World and are the most powerful pirates in the world, along with their crews who are often several hundred members strong across multiple ships. Any one of the Emperors is too powerful for the Navy to directly confront without plunging the world into chaos. Many of the pirates in the New World must ally themselves with one of the Emperors for protection though a few seek to make a name by defeating the Emperors, including Luffy, who has started fights with two of the Four Emperors, Big Mom and Kaido.