[Spotlight] Top 5 Historical References in One Piece

Haridya said:
Top 5 Historical Inspirations in One Piece


Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka behind the popular shounen manga “One Piece”, is

infamous for symbolism, references, creativity and subtle foreshadowing. One

Piece possesses a number of historical references regarding racial encounters,

wars, history, mythology and cultures.

Over the last eighteen years we have seen giants, little people, countless super

powered pirates, ancient cities in the sky and an island 30,000 ft. below the

surface. This list will feature our top 5 favourite connections made in One

Piece.

1) Skypiea Arc and Native Americans

The Skypiea Arc is littered with references to the colonial era, specifically the

encounters between the Aztecs and Spanish conquistadors. Oda, however, also

throws eastern cultural references into the fray, creating an ever more

widening world of One Piece. The island of Jaya, which later takes the name

“upper yard,” perhaps refers to the island of Java in Indonesia or Island of

Papua which also has a bird shaped head. The Aztecs are represented by the

Shandia tribe, who bear a striking resemblance to Aztec culture with their

iconic battle styles, weaponries, tattoos and appearance. Their most featured

characters are Wiper and Aisa. Their fighting style is guerrilla warfare with

primarily shields and spears later to powerful weapons like rifles and dials

which each have specific purposes .They considered the giant snake Kashigami

to be a god while connected to the island of Jaya and interestingly enough her

descendent Nola was titled the master of sky in upper yard. This is religious

reference to “Quetzalcoatl” the feathered serpent deity of the Aztecs. They

performed ritual sacrifices in dire situations. The Spanish conquistadors are

represented by the Skypiea inhabitants, namely Gan Fall with his conquistador

armour and his steed Pierre.

The Spaniard’s reasoning is portrayed by Enel who believes

his goal of collecting all the gold is a spiritual mission, and he believes

he is an invincible god. Enel’s appearance is very Eastern with his long eared

jewellery and monk like attire, though he carries various gold ornaments and

accessories on him, a clear reference to most religious heads. This is another

way Oda mixes different cultures to form unique characters. The initial conflict

between The Shandias and Skypiean is reminiscent of the Spanish or British to

the natives of the Americas. When part of Jaya was shot up, the Skypieans

upon hearing their bell toll took over the land as they considered the soil on

the island or Vearth , sacred and holy as plants did not grow anywhere else

without it in Skypiea, turning it into “upper yard”. The ruling governor of the

Skpieans has the title, god of Skypiea. The leader is called by that and the

Skypieans do not question the title holder’s actions. This is very familiar to the

Spanish style of ruling where the church held substantial power in decision

making. The Shandias were driven out and sparked a 400 year long war. The

character who indirectly guided the straw hat crew to the realm of Skypiea

through his descendant was Montblanc Noland. His story of finding a city of

gold is similar to the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana who believed to

have found the city of El Dorado. The ecology of upper yard can loosely be

considered to represent formerly undiscovered and some forested areas of

southern America. The upper yard has scattered stone walls and pyramid style

alters which have Aztecinspired hieroglyphics. The Main Ruins of Shandora

located in upper yard looks like a now abandoned city in the clouds, a shout

out to Machu Pichu.



2) Shichibukai and Privateers

The Shichibukai or the eight warlords are most likey references to privateers.

Privateers are pirates who were authorized by their country’s government to

attack foreign vessels during wartime. Many times, they were known to be

more effective than their country’s navy because of their unorthodox

techniques. They were forbidden from attacking vessels of their own country.

Privateers took part in four major wars – the Anglo-Dutch War, the War of

Spanish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession and the American Civil

War. While members of the Shichibukai themselves do not really resemble any

known privateers (with exception to Black Beard), the system seems to be very

familiar. Furthermore, the Marineford war did play out very similar to the

Spanish succession war with respect to the Shichibukai at least. Both wars had

the government using pirates as a major portion of their army. An even bigger

commonality was the betrayal of Black Beard. Edward Teach, just like his

anime counterpart, served as a privateer during the war1. Midway through the

war however, he betrayed his government and started plundering all the ships,

which is similar to Marshal. D. Teach’s betrayal of the world government.



3) Impel Down and Divine Comedy

Impel Down is heavily inspired from Alighieri Dante’s work, Divine Comedy.

First, Impel Down is an inescapable prison which is a reference to the words

written on the gates of hell, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." The levels

of Impel Down are split into upper and lower hell and get worse as one

descends just like Dante’s description of hell. The first two levels of Impel

Down seem to have no resemblance to the Divine Comedy but the next four

do.

The Third Circle of hell in Dante’s version punished people who committed the

sin of being gluttonous. Here the sinners were starved for their overindulgence

in food and drinks. Here Dante observed that the sinners were in a sightless

and heedless state or near death state. Impel Down’s third level is known as

the starvation hell where prisoners are given little water and food to keep

them in a near death state.

The Fourth level of Impel Down seems to be a representation of the outer ring

in Dante’s seventh level of hell. The seventh level of hell contained a pool of

boiling blood where, murders and plunders were immersed to be tortured.

Impel Down similarly has a “Pool of Blood” which, inmates are forced into.

The Fifth level of Impel Down represents the ninth circle of hell from Dante

poem. Here people who committed the sin of treachery were either

completely or partially frozen. This is similar to the Fifth level of Impel Down

where, people who remained motionless completely froze and others suffered

from severe frostbite. This is technically the last level of both the Impel Down

and hell because, the last level is supposed to be unknown.

The Sixth Level of Impel Down is supposed to be a representation of the very

centre of hell. Here people who committed the ultimate sin, treachery against

God are supposed to reside. This where, Lucifer, the biggest threat to God is

supposed to reside. In the sixth level of Impel Down prisoners whose mere

existence represents a threat to the world government are jailed. Here Lucifer

is represented by the level 6 prisoners and God is represented by the World

government.



4) Amazon Lily and Amazon Warriors

This arc took inspiration from two Greek myths – the Gorgon sisters and the

Amazon warriors.

The Boa sisters are a representation of the gorgon sisters. There were three

gorgon sisters – Medusa, Stheno and Euryale. They were beautiful maidens

before being cursed by Athena, who made them into hideous monsters. The

Boa sisters have been cursed in two ways – by their devil fruit power and by

their marks from slavery (Celestial Dragons).

The eldest of the Gorgon sister was Stheno however, since Boa Hancock (the

eldest of the Boa sisters) is better represented by Medusa, I’m going to assume

Stheno to be represented by Boa Marigold. Stheno was known as the most fierce and independent among the gorgon sisters. Marigold can be considered

the fiercest among the Boa sisters because of her devil fruit power, which gives

her the power to transform into a king cobra (probably the fiercest snake).

The Middle sister in the Gorgon trio was Euryale who is represented by Boa

Sandersonia. Euryale being a Gorgon had the trait of snake hair which

Sandersonia has too. However, the fact that only Sandersonia screamed and

cried out during the reminiscence of the past makes it clear that she is a

representation Euryale. Euryale was known famously for her bellowing cries

after Medusa’s murder.

Finally we have Medusa who was the youngest of the Gorgons but,

represented by the eldest Boa Hancock. She was the most famous Gorgon who

is known for her power to turn people into stone. She was the only Gorgon

who could do this just like Hancock. Finally Medusa was the only mortal among

the gorgon sisters, in my opinion Hancock’s near death experience from the

illness (love sickness, *bangs head on keyboard*) could be Oda’s way of

showing her mortality.

The Kuja warriors are an obvious reference to the amazon warriors who were

an only women warrior clan. Even their Island is called Amazon Lily. This is

further elaborated as their main weapon is a bow, which is also the main

weapon of the Amazon warriors.

However, I wondered why Oda would pile together the Amazon warriors and

the Gorgon sisters. At first I thought it was simply because they were both

Greek myth about women but, that did not quite cut it. After a little digging I

truly understood how good this combination is. Historical representations of

Medusa indicate that she was a high priestess of a Libyan tribe of Amazon

warriors. This is a title equivalent to Boa Hancock’s title of Pirate Empress.



5) Van Auger shooting the seagulls

In Van Auger’s intro, who is the sniper of The Black Beard pirates, we see him

shooting three seagulls. This is not only an awesome way to show his power,

but, also has historical depth. The marine lore from British Isles is full of superstition based on seagulls. Many medieval sailors believed that seagull

were the souls of people who drowned at sea. This is because seagulls are

attracted to ships and appear like spirits when seen at night against the dark

sky.When seagulls were seen floating near the window of an ill or missing

sailor it was usually taken as a sign of death. However, the most amazing

attention to detail shown by Oda is making three seagull fly overhead the ship2.

This is read by most sailors as an omen of death. When the three gulls got shot

by Auger it symbolized the danger posed by The Blackbeard Pirates to The

Strawhats.

Apart from this I would like to direct attention to Van Auger’s name which is

derived from Roman mythology. An auger was priest who interpreted divine

messages through signs in nature. They were known to predict the future by

reading animal and bird entrails. While Auger was not shown with the gull’s

entrails this maybe another sign of danger The Blackbeard Pirates posed to The

Strawhats.




By Haridya Iyengar and Pranav Kumar