Highlights

One Piece and Naruto are both incredibly popular stories that have inspired millions of fans from all over the world.
The authors, Oda and Kishimoto, have a mutual respect for each other's work and have even taken inspiration from one another in their own stories.
Despite the rivalry between the two series, the authors are actually good friends and support each other, showing the importance of respecting and appreciating the work of others.

One Piece and Naruto are two of the most incredible stories that anime and manga fans have grown up with. These stories are certainly among the very best and millions of people from all over the world have come to adore them for what they have to offer. Of course, as is the case with the major popular series, the fans of these stories often get into heated debates as to which story is better. However, the authors of the story don't seem to see it like that.

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Both Oda and Kishimoto are actually very good friends and Oda has even taken inspiration from Kishimoto on a few occasions in his own story.

One Piece And Naruto's Impeccable Hold on Fans

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When it comes to Naruto, it is quite an influential series and fans know that very well. Naruto has always been incredibly popular, especially among the overseas fans. In this regard, Oda once considered Naruto to be somewhat more popular than One Piecewhen it comes to overseas popularity. However, that seems to have changed over the years. Regardless, Naruto's grip on fans from all over the world is nothing short of impeccable and just goes to show how incredible this story has been throughout its entire run. Similarly, One Piece has inspired millions of people all over the world. It is widely considered to be one of the very best stories ever written, if not the best.

One Piece is far more popular in Japan itself, however, in recent years, the show is booming in popularity overseas as well, which is quite apparent. Together, these two stories have inspired countless people all over the world and, at the same time, given birth to many up and coming shonen anime and manga series as well. Regardless of what fans think about the other series, One Piece and Naruto will always be generational and their influence will never fade. If anything, as more time passes, the influence of these stories will only keep on growing, as it has over the last few years.

The Rivalry Between One Piece And Naruto

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One Piece and Naruto have always been in a rivalry. This is largely due to the fact that these stories started serialization in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine around the same time. One Piece began its run in 1997 while Naruto began its run in 1999. In fact, Oda once famously stated that the character Sanji from his manga was actually supposed to be named Naruto. However, around this time, Kishimoto was planning his own manga and, because of that, Kishimoto changed the name of his character. This is quite a good example of how these two authors were competitive when their manga started serialization.

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Previously, Oda has stated that he believes that Naruto is more popular overseas and, in a sense, he feels that Naruto did one up One Piece. However, looking at One Piece's popularity overseas now, it is quite clear that it far surpasses Naruto. At the same time, Kishimoto himself believes that One Piece set the bar too high for him to reach and that even though he tried his very best, he could never reach the same height as Oda's magnificent series.

Kishimoto (2016): I wanted to surpass OP in manga, but the ceiling called One Piece was too high for me.

It is clear that both authors have great respect for the other series and that they themselves hold it in a very high regard. In fact, Oda himself mentioned that he took inspiration from Kishimoto once while writing his own story and, in that sense, these two have always helped as well as pushed each other to higher levels.

How Oda Took Inspiration From Kishimoto

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When Narutoexplored the past of Kakashi, fans got to see some very intriguing characters, such as Obito, Rin, and even Minato. This flashback was set in the Third Great Ninja War and fans got to see Konoha at war with Iwagakure. One of the powerful ninjas of Iwagakure had the ability to turn invisible. This character was the one who ended up kidnapping Rin as well as slashing Kakashi across the eye.

Later on, he also ended up creating more problems for the ninja team when they tried to rescue Rin and, eventually, everything what he did led to the “demise” of Obito. When Oda witnessed this, he was very impressed with the way how Kishimoto portrayed his invisible man.

When One Piece reached the Thriller Bark arc, Oda introduced a character called Absalom who had the power of the Suke Suke no Mi. This is a Paramecia type of Devil Fruit that allowed him to turn invisible, making him an invisible human. Absalom was quite strong and created all sorts of problems for the Straw Hat Pirates in this arc. While his strength was quite decent, it was his invisibility that caused more problems and it was up to Sanji to deal with him and the threat he posed.

Oda: The one that surprised me the most was when one of Kishimoto-san's bad guys turned invisible and went underwater. All you saw was this silhouette, and I thought that was really well done. I used that as inspiration for my own invisible character. (Laughs)

Kishimoto: Well, you've got an eye for these things. Still, it makes me happy to hear you say that. (official translation from "Michi" book).

Of course, invisibility became a very important aspect of the story later down the line in One Piece. After Absalom, this Devil Fruit was given to the second ship captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, Shiryu. He is going to be one of the final antagonists in One Piece and likely going to clash with Zoro at some point. In that sense, Kishimoto really helped out Oda with properly illustrating a massive ability. That's not all, as members of the Germa Family, such as Stealth Black, also relied on this same power of invisibility.

Furthermore, Dr. Vegapunk also has a similar ability and, taking all things into consideration, it is great how Oda has incorporated this fantastic art style into his own story. Similarly, Kishimoto has also likely taken inspiration from Oda on many occasions and this just goes to show the mutual respect these two artists have for each other's work.

Fans of the two series might not like each other, however, it must be remembered that Kishimoto and Oda are very good friends and, when Oda was hospitalized during the Dressrosa arc, Kishimoto actually visited him and was surprised to see Oda drawing a color spread. The two have always seemed to be very close to each other and it is great to see fellow mangaka not only love and respect each other's works but also be very close friends in real life. The fans would do well to take a lesson and start respecting the work of the other author as well.