This article contains spoilers for the One Piece series.
One Piece is the world’s best-selling manga ever, and it has maintained this consistently for quite a while now. Oda’s magnum opus has been ongoing for over 28 years, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon, even though the Final Saga has already kicked off. At the center stage of this series is, of course, the Straw Hat Pirates. Without them, One Piece wouldn’t be what it is right now.
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Despite all that, Oda revealed how he had no plans for one major Straw Hat, and that member is Nefertari Vivi, the Princess of Arabasta. Oda didn't have any great plans for her at first and decided a lot concerning her on the spot, something that has intrigued many fans.
Oda Was Not Going to Make Vivi Arabasta’s Princess
Vivi Was Made A Princess After Drawing Her Hair Down
One Piece fans might think that Oda always wanted Vivi to be a princess, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Nefertari Vivi, while not currently traveling with the Straw Hat Pirates, is in every sense of the word part of their crew. Both Oda and the fans consider her part of the team, and many believe she will eventually take her rightful spot during the Final Saga.
All of that aside, Vivi was almost never going to be a relevant character, which is quite shocking. Vivi was only supposed to be an agent of Baroque Works, probably forgotten afterward. But Oda started picturing a different vision for her once he drew her with her hair down. He said it made her look like a princess. This is pretty much how the Arabasta arc was created.
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Vivi was introduced as an agent of Baroque Works, but I had no idea of her setup more than that. When I drew her with her hair down, she looked like a princess. What would happen if she were the princess of Alabasta? That's how I started to think about the Alabasta arc. — Eiichiro Oda
The choice Oda made back then had huge repercussions in the story, especially in the Final Saga, where Vivi and the Nefertari family are incredibly important to the plot, especially when it comes to Imu and the World Government.
Oda Has Many Elements of One Piece Preplanned, Some Are Made Up on the Spot
Along With Vivi, The Supernova Were Also Decided On The Spot
Many One Piece fans praise Oda for his skills in foreshadowing and setting up future events in the series. While the praise is definitely due, Oda has also shown how good he is at improvising on the spot.
One big example of that is Vivi’s character, but it doesn’t stop there. The Supernova, who became quite important to One Piece post time-skip, were a last-minute creation by Oda, and a great one at that. Hopefully, Oda keeps on making exciting last-minute inclusions in the story moving forward as well.
One Piece Chapter 1158 will be out next week. As usual, One Piece is going to drop on Sunday. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12 AM JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on August 31. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1158 is August 31, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV
