Since the release of One Piece in 1997, the mystery around the titular pirate treasure in the anime series has baffled fans. Twenty-nine years later, weebs have finally come a little closer to finding the answer.
As of yet, nobody knows what the “One Piece” is. But the answer has been determined from the very beginning of the series. For the first time in almost three decades, One Piece author Eiichiro Oda has written down the secret on a piece of paper — marking the first written documentation of the ending of the series.
Oda recently collaborated with the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) for a special project celebrating the recent sale of 600 million copies of One Piece, beating the equivalent milestone of Superman achieved over 88 years.
In a recent video shared by One Piece's official YouTube channel, Oda is seen writing the answer to the question that has kept fans perplexed, “What is the One Piece?” for the very first time.
After recording himself writing on the sheet of paper, Oda placed it inside a locked chest, which was then dropped 651 meters below sea level at an unidentified location. The chest will remain submerged until the final chapter of One Piece gets published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. To ensure further protection, the chest is sealed inside a pressure-resistant glass sphere.
A special advertisement was published in The Asahi Shimbun and The Yomiuri Shimbun to spread the word. In the video, Oda tears the page containing the information in half. A replica of the upper half carrying the question, “What is One Piece and who is Monkey D. Luffy?” was published in the newspaper advertisements. The other half containing the answer rests safe inside the tiny chest on the seabed.
Besides JAMSTEC, a group of researchers from Japan's Cabinet Office of Strategic Innovation Promotion Program Phase 3 (SIP) was involved in the project. In a bid to minimise disturbance in the marine ecosystem, both the teams carefully supervised the burial of the chest on the ocean floor and the shooting crew that shot the footage underwater.
Oda has never disclosed the One Piece treasure in detail, even though he has assured fans over the years that it is not anything immaterial like loyalty or friendship.
Set in the world of pirates, One Piece follows Monkey D. Luffy, a young boy who sets sail with his wacky crew on a perilous journey across the Grand Line to find the legendary treasure One Piece and become the Pirate King. During his quest to achieve freedom in its truest sense, Luffy overcomes formidable enemies, creates meaningful bonds and unravels the world’s secrets.
One Piece will return with its upcoming Elbaph Arc on April 5. The anime went on a three-month hiatus from January. Prior to its break, the Egghead Island Arc concluded in December 2025.
Starting this year, One Piece will follow the release schedule maintained by other anime series. The arcs will be divided into two parts for a maximum of 26 episodes per year in order to “incorporate more content, tempo, and pacing of the original manga”, the makers announced last year.
