Summary
- One Piece's rich world building includes bizarre animal species like the South Bird, Blue Gorilla, and Bananawani.
- Eiichiro Oda's unique creatures, like the White Walkie and Sphinx, combine features of real-life animals in fascinating ways.
- Den Den Mushis, telepathic snails in One Piece, serve as the main method of communication and add a quirky element to the world.
There are many factors that explain the immense success of One Piece, and its rich and creative world building is definitely one of them. Eiichiro Oda has not only fabricated a fascinating fictional world full of interesting locations and people, but one that also has its own unique flora & fauna.
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As a result of this inventiveness, several animal species in One Piece are extremely bizarre and unusual. After all, it’s evident that Eiichiro Oda has a lot of fun when designing these creatures, and yet he always manages to strike a perfect balance between reasonable biology and absurd goofiness. Nevertheless, some animal species in this series are way weirder than others, and these are the biggest standouts.
8 South Bird
Is It A Bird? A Compass? Or Both?
- First Appearance: Chapter 230 (Manga) Episode 149 (Anime)
Log Poses don’t work on the sky islands so, whenever someone wants to explore that mysterious territory, they’re forced to capture a South Bird, a particular species of bird that works like a natural compass because their heads are always pointing towards the south. Bizarrely enough, there’s no actual explanation for this odd behavior.
There are other similar species that also point towards North, East and West, but the South Bird had the biggest impact in the story, as it was the bird that the Straw Hat Pirates had to capture in order to successfully navigate Skypiea. The South Bird they used on their journey was quite mischievous, most likely as a result of its entire species being constantly hunted by humans in order to be used as compasses.
7 White Walkie
A Wooly Hippopotamus With A Bizarre Secret
- First Appearance: Chapter 135 (Manga) Episode 81 (Anime)
Eiichiro Oda has a fascinating tendency to combine features of different real-life animals in order to create unique fictitious creatures. The White Walkie, introduced during the Drum Island Arc, is a perfect example of this philosophy, as it is basically a curious-looking hybrid between a hippopotamus and a wooly mammoth that can withstand freezing temperatures.
One piece
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What’s especially interesting about White Walkies is that they usually hide their long legs inside their fur, just because they’re lazy and prefer to walk slowly. The villain Wapol seems to have a fixation with this animal, since not only does he use one named Robson as his main means of transportation, but he also wears a cloak made from the skin of a deceased White Walkie as well.
6 Blue Gorilla
Mysterious Primates That Are Used As Prison Guards
- First Appearance: Chapter 526 (Manga) Episode 423 (Anime)
Some fans may have missed this, but the Blue Gorillas that work as fearsome guards in Impel Down are not actually humans, but a strange species of animals that are being controlled by Saldeath. Curiously enough, he controls them by playing a flute, so they seem to have some sort of vulnerability towards music.
This is one of the most intriguing animal species in all of One Piece, as not much is known about their behavior, biology or origin. Even their real appearance remains a mystery, as they can always be seen wearing blue coats with a skull design on their faces. The only other information that was revealed about the Blue Gorillas is that they come from the North Blue, and not much else.
5 Sphinx
An Unusual Predator With A Funny Speech Pattern
- First Appearance: Chapter 529 (Manga) Episode 430 (Anime)
As the most guarded prison in the world, the World Government has a tendency to use dangerous animals as the guards of Impel Down. Level 2 is known as Beast Hell, where many deadly species can be found, but their boss is the mighty Sphinx, a gigantic predator with a feline body and a human-like face, just like the famous creature from Greek & Egyptian mythology.
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As expected from One Piece, despite its immense power, the Sphinx has a funny-looking appearance that perfectly complements its most particular characteristic: its speech pattern. Similar to parrots, Sphinxes can mimic whatever they hear from the humans that surround them. But, since they’re not very intelligent, they can only talk by saying the names of different Japanese noodle dishes. They’re native to Whitebeard’s home island, which is also named Sphinx.
4 Bananawani
Sir Crocodile’s Bizarre Yet Powerful Pets
- First Appearance: Chapter 127 (Manga) Episode 77 (Animal)
Staying true to his name, the villainous Sir Crocodile controls a bunch of giant crocodile-like creatures known as Bananawani. They’re infamous for being deadly predators that can even hunt down and eat Sea Kings, so they’re one of the most dangerous animal species in the One Piece world. There’s even a less aggressive subspecies known as F-Wani, which can be used as a means of transportation.
At first glance, Bananawanis are not that different from real life crocodiles, but they have one huge distinction that makes them stand out. As their name implies, Bananawanis have lumps shaped like bananas on their heads, and there’s no real explanation for this odd design choice. It's most likely Eiichiro Oda just added them in order to make this animal a lot goofier.
3 Island Whale
Enormous Whales With Entire Islands Inside Of Them
- First Appearance: Chapter 102 (Manga) Episode 62 (Anime)
The Island Whale is the biggest species of whale in the world of One Piece, and they can be found swimming in pods throughout the entire ocean, although they originate from the West Blue. They are quite physically strong and look exactly like real-life sperm whales, but they hide a fascinating secret in their interior.
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As their name implies, Island Whales are so large that they can host an entire ecosystem inside of them, as everything they consume slowly takes the form of several islands. People can even modify their interiors and comfortably live there, as was seen with Crocus, who takes care of and lives inside Laboon, the most iconic Island Whale in the series.
2 Naitamie-Norida Elephant
Gigantic Ancient Elephants That Can Walk On The Sea
- First Appearance: Chapter 802 (Manga) Episode 751 (Anime)
Zou is one of the most distinctive locations in the series, as the home of the Mink tribe resides on the back of an enormous elephant named Zunesha. Not much is known about this creature, but it was confirmed that he’s not the only one of his kind, as his species is called the Naitamie-Norida Elephant. These elephants are not only incredibly massive – to the point that they can carry entire islands on their backs – but they also have very long legs that allow them to seamlessly walk through the oceans.
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Naitamie-Norida Elephants must have quite an extensive lifespan, as it has been confirmed that Zunesha has been walking with Zou on his back for over 1000 years, making him the most ancient living being in One Piece. Furthermore, a promotional video for Volume 105 revealed that this species is also known as Elephus Dali, indirectly confirming that their design is most likely based off of Salvador Dali’s painting, “The Elephants”.
1 Den Den Mushi
This World Would Not Function Without These Telepathic Snails
- First Appearance: Chapter 94 (Manga) Episode 43 (Anime)
Eiichiro Oda is such a talented writer that he managed to make his audience suspend their disbelief and never question some of the most bizarre aspects of the world he created. This works surprisingly well but, sometimes, it’s easy to forget that there’s an entire species of snails in One Piece that function as the main method of communication in this world.
The Den Den Mushi are one of the biggest icons of the franchise, to the point that they were even included in Netflix’s live action adaptation, as people use them as telephones, cell phones, megaphones, walkie-talkies and even cameras. Weirdly enough, their existence is not usually acknowledged by most characters, even though they are sentient animals with biological needs.
Den Den Mushis have a psychic connection with each other that allows them to communicate telepathically, and humans have successfully managed to exploit this ability in order to use these snails as a means of communication. Fortunately, it seems Den Den Mushis don’t really mind being tamed and used, as this lets them get access to a large variety of food they wouldn’t otherwise be able to find in nature. The fact that telephones are sentient and need to be fed is one of the many facts that make the One Piece world so unique, fun and fascinating.
- 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
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Number of Episodes
- 1122
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV
