One Piece hardly wants a lot validation amongst followers or the trade, garnering adoration and monolithic, record-breaking manga gross sales. However its creator, Eiichiro Oda, has been pretty candid in regards to the struggles to get there, a typical thread amongst mangaka shouldering the burden of Weekly Shonen Bounce expectations. Actually, the most important failure in his eyes got here from One Piece’s earliest days.
As obtained from an interview in One Piece Magazine’s October 3, 2025 version, Oda spoke straight about his work on the one-shot One Piece prototypes, referred to as Romance Daybreak. Past the “string of failures” Oda skilled after Monsters, he famous a disastrous manufacturing of Romance Daybreak Model 2. Whereas One Piece finally adopted, in his eyes, he was actually lucky.
One Piece Confronted Troubled Manufacturing and Early Phases
Earlier than the profitable serialization of One Piece in Weekly Shonen Bounce beginning in 1997, Oda’s numerous variations of Romance Daybreak had been his bid to interrupt out as a significant manga artist. His unique submission of Romance Daybreak, dubbed, Model 1, was pretty completely different from when it finally turned the manga’s first chapter. However the actual hassle adopted quickly after.
Romance Daybreak Model 1 was common in its 1996 launch, with Oda recognizing that his work had overwhelmed not less than one lively skilled mangaka to rank third within the survey. However after that, he was provided an opportunity to create a 45-page one-shot, from scratch, in two weeks with the assistance of his assistants. Oda acknowledged the true problem right here.
Since there was no time to fastidiously develop a grand story, I made a decision from the begin to make it a narrative that begins and ends solely on a ship. […] Anyway, it was whole chaos, so I do not bear in mind the outcomes in any respect. What mattered extra was the aid that in some way we prevented leaving a gap in Bounce. That mentioned, I spotted that alternatives actually can come out of nowhere, and you will need to have a agency conviction to completely seize that second.
-Eiichiro Oda
With such a decent deadline, attribute of Shonen Bounce’s time crunch woes amongst creators, Oda’s problem was whether or not this One Piece prototype may even be completed in time. Whereas he and his fellow manga assistants collaborated and received it out, he described the expertise as “whole chaos” and being glad he “prevented leaving a gap in Bounce.”
Oda nonetheless seems again fondly upon that have, with it resulting in the serialization of One Piece. Even then, the title was rejected a number of instances, however this type of resilience within the face of failure and manufacturing crunch is an all-too-common story within the trade. Oda defies the chances constantly, however even then, he dangers paying the worth.
One Piece’s Creator Confronted a String of Failures at First
Earlier than even the story of One Piece, Oda had a one-shot, Monsters, which was a prelude to years of failed tales between 1994 and 1996. Current publications like Wished! Eiichiro Oda Earlier than One Piece have introduced these tales to broader audiences, such because the Future Current From God and Ikki Yako one-shots, portray a well-recognized image.
Whereas I used to be having fun with my glowing, enjoyable life as an assistant, my very own manga stored getting rejected. After Monsters was revealed in a particular difficulty (1994 Autumn Particular), it was nothing however a string of failures.
-Eiichiro Oda
Oda’s character designs and ideas ring by way of every of those tales, like Zoro and Mihawk ideas in Monsters, or Garp’s stand-in for Romance Dawn Version 2, in order that Oda may finally carry again Shanks from Model 1. They smack of what would finally turn into One Piece, regardless of being unfold throughout a number of genres, missing the everlasting allure of Oda’s last product.
Circumstances like this persist throughout the medium, with fellow Shonen Jump creator Tatsuya Endo telling the same story for his one-shots previous Spy x Household. This included tight deadlines, sleepless nights, and even a ruthless toothache in a single case. Oda’s lamentations aren’t simply that the tales did not take off, however somewhat, that they did not regardless of his enduring comparable circumstances.
