Wanted! Eiichiro Oda Before One Piece

Lore & Background

The anthology contains five short stories: Wanted! (1992), Future Present from God (1993), Ikki Yako (1993), Monsters (1994), and Romance Dawn (1996). Wanted! follows gunman Gill Bastar, who is haunted by a bounty hunter's ghost and later used as a secondary character in One Piece. Future Present from God features pickpocket Branco, whom God forces to evacuate a department store after a mistaken meteorite strike. Ikki Yako tells of a cowardly monk who slays a man-eating monster that ate his master. Monsters stars wandering samurai Ryuma, who defeats a dragon and reveals himself as King, a swordsman second to none. Romance Dawn introduces Monkey D. Luffy, who uses gum-gum devil fruit powers to rescue a friend from pirates.

Reader's Guide

The collection is significant as a historical exhibit of Eiichiro Oda's earliest professional works, showcasing the development of themes and characters later used in One Piece. Monsters was retroactively included as a precursor to One Piece, and Romance Dawn developed characters and concepts that would appear in the series. The English release, titled Wanted! Eiichiro Oda Before One Piece, was translated by Stephen Paul and became the seventh best-selling manga volume in the United States in November 2024. A panel review from Anime News Network gave mixed opinions, noting the stories are interesting as an exhibit but not generally engaging. Monsters was published digitally in English in January 2024, coinciding with an animated adaptation, Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation. The second version of Romance Dawn was adapted into an animated episode that debuted as episode 907 in October 2019, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the One Piece anime.

Did You Know?

• Wanted! won a second prize Tezuka Award in 1992 when Eiichiro Oda was 17 years old.
• Gill Bastar, the protagonist of Wanted!, later appeared as a secondary character in the One Piece manga.