Highlights
- One Piece explores real-world themes such as racial prejudice and inherited hatred, with fishmen being looked down upon by humans, leading to a cycle of hate and racism.
- Slavery is depicted in certain parts of the One Piece world, where slaves are obtained and sold to the World Nobles, particularly valuing fishmen and mermaids, who endure a lifetime of torture and humiliation.
- The World Government in One Piece exercises extreme censorship, controlling the narrative and suppressing information, such as the forbidden knowledge of the Void Century, displaying the marks of an authoritarian government.
Although One Piece is a fictional story set in a fictional world with fictional characters, that doesn’t mean there’s no real-world influence in it. On the contrary, from characters inspired by real people (e.g.: the original trio of Admirals are inspired by real Japanese actors) to fictional places that resemble real places on Earth (e.g.: Arabasta is similar to Egypt, while Water 7 looks like Venice), there are all kinds of real-world influences all over this series.
The one that we’ll talk about in this article, however, is neither people nor places. We’ll talk about themes. And not just any themes, we’ll focus on some of the most unsavory real-world themes explored in this long-lived series. So let’s get started, shall we?
Racial Prejudice & Inherited Hatred
One Piece is a series that has a vast, rich, and vibrant world. But while there are so many great places that deserve to be mentioned in One Piece, the most unique feature of this fictional world is the fact that there are so many different races of people that live in it. Other than human beings, there is also a race of Giants, beast people, fishmen, humans that have extra joints in their limbs, and many others. They are actually more akin to different “species” rather than “race”, but for the sake of clarity and brevity, let’s stick to the term “race” for the remainder of this article.
With such a diverse group of people, a form of racism inevitably exists in certain parts of the world, particularly in places that are fully controlled and populated by human beings. And the race that often becomes the victim of this racism is the fishmen. Compared to the other races on the planet, humanity in One Piece seems to look down on this particular race the most. Despite their massive strength and their ability to live underwater, most humanity seems to see them as nothing more than a group of talking fish. This terrible point of view has led to countless pain and suffering on both sides.
Unfortunately, just like racism in real life, children also inherit their parent's hatred, thus creating a multi-generational chain of hate and racism. They don’t have any problem with the fishmen, but thanks to their parents and the people around them, they still end up as a racist. Similar hatred is also shared by the fishmen towards the human. After all, those who experienced the cruelty of humans (such as Arlong and his crew) end up hating humans and unknowingly spread that hatred to a new generation of fishmen who never have anything to do with humans (such as Hody Jones and his gang). And that is how the cycle of hate and racism continues to exist to this day.
Slavery & Abuse of Power
While slavery is not as prevalent as racism, it still exists in the world of One Piece. However, unlike racism that happened all around the world towards the fishmen, slavery only exists in certain parts of the world (specifically the Sabaody Archipelago) and it can happen to anybody, regardless of race or gender.
Slavery in One Piece is basically a business. The slave merchants obtained the slaves from all kinds of sources and then sold them to the World Nobles (also known as Celestial Dragons). A person can become a slave if they fail to pay their debt or if they are captured by a group of hunters who then sell them to the slave merchants. Regular humans usually become slaves due to the first reason, while special individuals (strong or well-known people) and people from other races (giants, fishmen, etc.) become slaves due to the second reason.
Unlike the racism against the fishmen that happens all around the world, nobles and slave merchants love to have fishmen as slaves. After all, they are way more powerful than regular humans. But the most sought-after slave by far is mermaids. The nobles love mermaids and will do anything to have them as a slave, which is the source of conflicts on numerous occasions in One Piece. But whether you are a human, a fishmen, or any other race of people, once you become a slave, what awaits you is a lifetime of torture and humiliation.
So why does the government allow such inhumane practices to still exist in this modern day and age? Well, the truth is, not only the World Government does allow it, but they are also actively helping the nobles to fulfill their desires to own slaves. After all, the celestial dragons are the direct descendants of the founders of the World Government, and they have to be protected at all costs. That is why the nobles act as if they own the world. This is one of the examples of the abuse of power that happens in One Piece.
Censorship & Authoritarian Government
While a government that actively supports the slave trade is already such a big problem to the world, there is another much more dire issue that plagues the World Government that not many people know about. A hidden atrocity by the name of extreme censorship.
As the only governing body in the world and the one who controls the largest military power on the planet (The Marine), the World Government gets to decide what information goes out to the public. That is the reason why the rest of the world is clueless about the slave trade in the Sabaody Archipelago. It’s true that they allow certain freedom of the press to newspaper companies like the one owned by “Big News” Morgans. However, for certain information, especially those that can paint a negative picture about them and the celestial dragons, they are the ones who control the narrative.
For the World Government, the most forbidden information is the ones regarding the Void Century. Forget talking about it, they will exercise the full might of the Marine for those who simply try to research it. That was precisely what happened to the people of Ohara, and what is currently happening to Dr. Vegapunk. Despite his decades of loyalty and the countless contributions that Vegapunk has made for the World Government, once they found out that he was researching the Void Century, they deployed an entire fleet of Marines, including CP0 and an Admiral, to his doorstep. Ready to kill him on sight. That is the length that they will go through in order to censor the people. This is the undeniable mark of an Authoritarian Government in One Piece.
One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll.