Highlights

Oda has created an incredible world in One Piece with well-written characters that resonate with fans worldwide.
Oda's favorite characters are Luffy and Gaimon, with Gaimon being a surprising but beloved character due to his unique backstory.
Oda also holds special regard for characters like Shanks and the other members of the Straw Hat Pirates, ensuring their proper treatment in the story.

Oda has created an incredibly vast world in One Piece and fans already know that because he's dedicated his entire life to making it the success that it is today. One Piece follows the story of Luffy, a young pirate who sets out to the sea in an attempt to become the Pirate King in the great pirate era by claiming the legendary treasure, the One Piece. On Luffy's journey, fans get to see him befriend quite a lot of incredibly amazing characters and fight against some other amazing ones as well.

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The world of One Piece is littered with some mind-blowing characters who are, more often than not, written impeccably well. It is incredibly difficult to have just one favorite in One Piece and Oda himself has struggled with that as well. However, he has already revealed his favorites to the fans a long time ago.

Oda's Many Amazing Characters

Given that One Piece is focused on the Straw Hat Pirates and their journey across the Grand Line, it is only a given that the Straw Hat Pirates themselves are given special attention. Oda tends to write all of his characters very carefully, however, the Straw Hat Pirates certainly rank at the very top because of how much attention they get in the story. Every member of the Straw Hat Crew is written amazingly well and they have backstories that resonate with the fans as well. Luffy himself is the embodiment of freedom while other characters represent different ideals in the story. Oda has carefully written these characters to perfection and it is no surprise that, today, there are millions of people all over the world who love them to death.

Other than the Straw Hat Pirates, there are also many other characters that Oda has written so well that he ended up falling in love with them as well. Some of these characters are the likes of Shanks, the red-haired Emperor of the Sea and, of course, Buggy as well. The likes of Oden, Whitebeard, Roger, Big Mom, among others, are some of the most incredibly written characters in One Piece and, as a result, these characters have amassed quite a lot of fans over the years. When it comes to Oda himself, however, there aren't many characters that he has revealed himself to really like, however, there certainly are a few.

Oda's Favorites – Luffy And Gaimon

When it comes to favorites, fans can mostly tell by reading the manga that Oda likes some characters quite a lot. This is only natural as every single story writer has characters within their own story that they quite prefer over others. Oda himself has quite a few favorites as well and he has already talked about them in the past. Long ago, Oda had an interview with Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball, and in this interview, he ended up revealing the characters that he likes the most from his own story. The answer is quite surprising to the fans, to say the least.

“Toriyama: Yep, yep. Oda kun, which of your manga characters do you like?

Oda: Me..? Of course, I like Luffy. But, the character that I like the most is Gaimon. It's hard to think of anyone better than him. Just a man who has been stuck in a treasure box for 20 years. I think that was an amazing setup myself.”

Evidently, Oda is a big admirer of Luffy and Gaimon. The latter is somewhat of a strange pick. Oda believes that Gaimon being stuck in a treasure chest and just chilling on an island is worthy of him becoming his favorite and one certainly cannot argue with that. Sometimes, fans have the most obscure character as their favorites and, it seems that for Oda, that character is none other than Gaimon himself. Perhaps, this is the reason why Oda wrote a touching backstory for him and, at the same time, why he revisited this character in one of the cover stories and made sure that his character progressed consistently with others as well.

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As for the protagonist of the series, no fan of One Piece is surprised that Oda's favorite character is Luffy. According to Oda himself, Luffy is an ideal child for him. He has the perfect qualities that he would want in a child and that is what makes him truly special to him. At the same time, Luffy is also the face of his entire story and, the character who one would say is the most straightforward in the entire story. Because of that, it is easy to see why Luffy is Oda's very own favorite.

Oda's Other Close Favorites

Other than Luffy and Gaimon, there are also other characters that Oda favors himself. One particular character is the red-haired Emperor, Shanks. Oda believes the Shanks is incredibly cool and, because of that, Oda has always drawn Shanks looking very charismatic in the story. Shanks appeared as an idol in Luffy's journey at the beginning, however, he has, since then, been reserved for only special occasions when it comes to appearances. Oda always made sure to give Shanks proper treatment where he looked like an incredibly amazing character. During One Piece's popularity poll, Oda was glad to see characters such as Shanks doing incredibly well, however, at the same time, he was also worried that Shanks might overtake Luffy, which, once again, goes to show his bias towards his main character as well as his love towards him.

However, it also goes to show that Oda does hold Shanks and special regard in comparison to others as well. This also shows fans that while Shanks might not appear in the story as much, fans can rest assured that Oda will handle his characters incredibly well when the time comes.

Of course, Oda also loves other members of the straw hat pirates quite a lot. Zoro is most likely going to be one of his favorite characters, as will the other members of the crew, such as Nami, Sanji, and Robin, among others. The truth is, Oda probably has many other favorite characters that he hasn't had the opportunity to talk about as of late. Once Oda gets to speak more, perhaps, fans will find out more about who his favorite characters in One Piece are.

Regardless, the fact that One Piece is in the final saga now means that Oda will get to bring the best out of his writing and showcase characters that he has previously saved, such as Shanks himself. At the same time, the final saga would also require the Straw Hat Pirates to be at their very best and fulfill their own dreams, which would be absolutely massive for their own character arcs and might elevate them in the eyes of both Oda and the fans themselves.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1101, is set to be December 10, 2023.