One Piece. Omnibus, Vol. 22

One Piece 3-in-1 Omnibus #22

by Eiichiro Oda

Join Monkey D. Luffy and his swashbuckling crew in their search for the ultimate treasure, the One Piece.

As a child, Monkey D. Luffy dreamed of becoming King of the Pirates. But his life changed when he accidentally ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, an enchanted Devil Fruit that gave him the ability to stretch like rubber. Its only drawback? He’ll never be able to swim again—a serious handicap for an aspiring sea dog! Years later, Luffy sets off on his quest to find the “One Piece,” said to be the greatest treasure in the world…

Luffy and his crew befriend some of the exotic mer-people on Fish-Man Island, a beautiful and dangerous underwater civilization. They learn that while some on the island are working toward a better relationship with humans, the Fish-Man Pirates are attempting to grasp ultimate power. Luffy and the Straw Hat Crew step into battle once again!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Adventure, Comics, Shonen, Action, Graphic Novels

608 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2017

About the author

Eiichiro Oda (尾田栄一郎, Oda Eiichirō) is a Japanese manga artist, best known as the creator of the manga and anime One Piece.

As a child, Oda was inspired by Akira Toriyama's works and aspired to become a manga artist. He recalls that his interest in pirates was probably sparked by the popular TV animation series titled Vicky the Viking. He submitted a character named Pandaman for Yudetamago's classic wrestling manga Kinnikuman. Pandaman was not only used in a chapter of the manga but would later return as a recurring cameo character in Oda's own works.

Please also see:
尾田荣一郎 (Chinese, simplified)
尾田榮一郎 (Chinese, traditional)

Reviews

[Cody Stringfellow · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️. I appreciate this arc more than most.

[Emily M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This trio of volumes concludes the Fishman Island arc, which is largely – though definitely not entirely! – an excuse for the Straw Hats to show off their post-timeskip power-ups, and for Oda to have fun drawing mermaids and deep sea critters. The overall vibe is captured quite well by this AMV, which matches anime footage to ‘Under the Sea’ from the Little Mermaid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-VIv...

As I’ve mentioned earlier, you might notice there that some of the character designs lean even further into “black coding” than the Little Mermaid did with Sebastian’s accent and “fluke is the duke of soul” etc. I don’t feel fully qualified to judge whether those designs are stereotypical to a harmful extent, but it IS clear that this is no mere aesthetic choice on Oda’s part. Because that line of “Up on the shore they work all day / out in the sun they slave away” from the song hits WAY harder here, where we know that there is a long history of enslavement and exploitation of mer- and fish-people by humans. And we have already witnessed the fact that, in some parts of the world, human racism absolutely still persists and the World Government allows human-and-fishman-trafficking to continue, despite it being officially outlawed.

In fact, volume 64 opens with Jimbei concluding his story about Fisher Tiger and Queen Otohime, who are set up like Malcom X and MLK martyred heroes, except even more on opposite ends of the “how should you act to help your people escape oppression?” ends of the spectrum. The first fishman pirate we met, Arlong, went far beyond Fisher Tiger’s “attack military targets and free the slaves yourself but don’t hurt civilians” approach to fully flipping the tables and establishing fishman rule over “inferior” humans. Jimbei tries to take responsibility for the harm done to Nami and her island as a result, since Arlong was once his sworn brother, but Nami (now understanding the context) tells him he wasn’t there, so it can’t be his fault!

Luffy, on the other hand…has fallen asleep during the long history lesson! He just wants to know who they are punching, and Jimbei tries to explain that that’s his point: Luffy can’t just go attacking the “New Fishman Pirates” – even though they’re trying to throw a coup – because it will just look like more human-on-fishman violence! They are about to come to blows themselves when Robin stops them and tries to unravel the disagreement.
“Jimbei: If you’re going to pummel Hordy, don’t do it as an angry human! Do it as the hero of this island!!
Luffy: Hero?! No way!
Jimbei (confused): What?
Luffy: We’re pirates! I love heroes, but I don’t want to be one!
(Goes on a rant about how being a hero means you have to give all the tasty meat to other people)
Jimbei (At the end of his rope): I’ll feed you all the meat you want if you do as I say!!
Luffy (Cheerfully): Deal!”

In the standoff with Hordy and his army in the Conch-orde Plaza (snort) Luffy and the gang get to show off all their cool new fight moves (and we get to see more of Jimbei’s pre-existing badassery as well).
“Hordy Jones: Look at you! What can you do with your measly little crew of 10! We have 100,000 on our side!...”
Luffy: (Makes half the army pass out with ‘conqueror’s haki’)…You can play at being a regular king all you want. But there’s only room in this world for ONE king of the pirates!...
Zoro: Come on, Luffy, 50,000? You have to share!
L: Oh, sorry.
Sanji: I’m taking 30,000, Mosshead.
Z: Shut up, Mr. Nosebleed.”

Zoro makes a tornado that can cut, Brook plays music that can put people in a hallucinatory trance, Sanji can “skywalk” (AKA fly with kicks) now, Robin can duplicate her whole body or make giant legs to stomp their enemies…One fishman pirate looks at all THAT nonsense, and then turns to Nami and says “Hey, this one looks weak!” Nami (who is indeed a navigator, thief, and cartographer more than a warrior), blocks his sword strike and retorts: “How rude! I just get scared easily! Don’t underestimate Weatheria’s Weather Science!” before pulling her climate baton and knocking him across the square with a gust of wind! One of the sweetest moments – if you recall Chopper’s trauma over being called a “monster” when we first met him – is this:
“Zoro: Hey, Chopper. The only humanoid form of yours is lookin’ pretty monstrous these days.
Chopper: Heh heh! I don’t mind anymore! The only reason I WANTED to be human was to make friends! (Grin) I’m fine being a monster for Luffy’s sake!
Zoro (proud big brother smile): Gotcha.”

There’s also a good multi-character-character-development-moment when:
A) Shirahoshi (the mermaid princess who has always been quite timid) spontaneously risks herself to draw away the giant ark Noah so that it won’t fall on Fishman Island and crush everyone.
B) Luffy stops and thinks for a minute instead of rushing off to fight maybe underwater (which would be disastrous for a devil fruit user), and
C) Sanji does not insist on trying to be the white knight who saves the princess himself, but instead immediately trusts Luffy to do it, using the Armee d’ L’Aire kick he’s used before with Zoro to launch Luffy up to the ark.

So how does this arc handle the racial conflict aspects?
I’ll be honest, the amount of page time spent in the story thus far on fishmen being prejudiced toward humans versus humans being prejudiced toward fishmen is kinda uncomfortable now that we know the full history! That’s especially true right now when, at least if you live in the US, takes in the news on the Israel-Palestine conflict lean real heavily toward “both sides”/“cycle of violence” (at best), despite the inequalities in power involved. And Queen Otohime’s attempts to get Fishman Island to go to the surface and get a seat on the World Government council honestly seem kind of insane given what we know about how shitty the World Government is!

However…I THINK that’s maybe important. WE know a lot more about this world as a whole than any individual character does! None of the good guy characters were there, for example, when Spandam (a government official) went off on how he’s pro-fishman-genocide because he doesn’t think they’ll ever be willing to be as compliant as the World Government want! Queen Otohime had even less experience, and so it wasn’t totally unreasonable for her to believe that there could be a way forward by working with the system, nor is it unreasonable for her people to admire her for her commitment to peace.

I also think Oda was trying to make a point with the level of hate Hordy Jones is capable of despite not knowing any humans or being directly harmed by them at all! Because…yeah, think about the people on the news or online who have no direct connection to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but are still using it as an excuse to be SUPER islamophobic or anti-semitic, conflating the actions of the Israeli government or Hamas with every Jewish or Muslim person on the planet! Think about all the people who have VERY definite opinions about other groups being dangerous, inferior, or both, despite very obviously having never had a real conversation with them or any genuine curiosity about their experiences. When people get in that head space, they are more interested in hurting their opponent than they are in helping “their” people, and may even do things that directly injure members of their own group in that quest to take down the other. And that’s exactly how Hordy Jones is acting!

I think this is why, when the people of Fishman Island are not sure whether to be happy about Luffy showing up and fighting Hordy (when the latter has revealed himself to be willing to see a LOT of fishmen die!) and ask if Luffy is on their side or not, Oda has Luffy reply: “Friend or foe? You can decide that for yourselves!!” and later has Madam Sharley tell the children that they should watch carefully what’s happening and make up their own minds. Because it isn’t what people SAY they are for that matters – it is their actions that really show you who they are!

In terms of how this will go ultimately: We already saw that the conflict between the Native-American-coded Shandians and the White-coded Skypeians could not be resolved JUST with Luffy punching “god” Enel – the Shandians had to get access to their ancestral land again and equal status on the sky island. OBVIOUSLY conflicts between humans and fishmen/merpeople are going to continue until the former fully stop fucking enslaving the latter and treating them as sub-human! Moreover, while Luffy is very chaotic in his approach to dealing with unjust power structures, he and the other Straw Hats now have multiple friendly and familial ties to the Revolutionary Army that is systematically opposing the world government and liberating islands from their rule. So, while the conclusion of this story has not yet been written, I feel it is pretty safe to say that it is NOT going to go like Harry Potter, where we pretend that no basic changes need to be made to the system so long as a good guy gets to be minister of magic or whatever. However, I guess I’ll cover the specifics of whatever the actual solution is when we get to it!

For how we leave the story now, the mer- and fish-people are not immediately trying to integrate with the surface world. But between their new human allies, the Straw Hats, and Princess Shirahoshi discovering that she has a power that would probably let her conquer the world if she wanted to, we can be reasonably confident that they are safe for now…and thus they have space to think about under what terms they want peace with the human government.



Looking forward in the story, there are two bits that stand out:
1) Luffy is fully leaning into the extremely-food-motivated side of his personality here, and ends up picking a fight with an Emperor of the Sea (AKA one of the most dangerous non-government-affiliated pirates), Big Mom, by personally taking responsibility for eating all the fishman sweets she wants as tribute from the island. This will come back to bite him. But, then again, SHE should probably know better than to go after Sanji (the Straw Hat’s cook), given that Luffy has made it clear he cares about friends, food, and fighting…and NOTHING else!
2) Robin, in her typical nerdy introvert fashion, missed a good bit of the adventures and the wrap up party while looking into the fishman island poneglyph. It seems to be a letter from someone called Joy Boy, apologizing for not being able to keep a promise, but saying that someone will. This will be VERY important later!

But first, the Punk Hazard arc, which gets kicked off by this:
Robin: Stop, Luffy! The majority of emergency alerts can’t be trusted! It’s likely to be a trap set by the navy!…
Usopp: Good thinking, Robin! We have to think hard before we –
Luffy: Hello? Luffy speaking! Future pirate king!

Also, just a favorite little tidbit from the Q&A:
“Q:In most manga and anime, the hero has the best…powers of all, so why did you choose something as weak-sounding as rubber for Luffy?
Oda:…I chose the goofiest power I could think of. I probably couldn’t handle drawing a straightforward, cool, tough hero for this long. No matter how serious and dark the story gets, Luffy’s still stretching and inflating and so on.”

[Shadowdenizen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
At the risk of angering One Piece fanatics, I felt this volume was a (tiny bit of a) let-down, compared to previous volumes.

While I'm still defintiely into the saga, and am continuing the read, while writing my review, I noticed that this is the longest amount it has taken me to get through one of these omnibus volumes...

[Martina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong ending

[Kimberley doruyter · Rating 3 out of 5]

this volume feels a little slow

[Luan Ramalho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gostei bastante do desenvolvimento da saga da Ilha dos Homens-Peixe e os dois capítulos de Punk Hazard já me deixaram mega curioso pra entender o que vem por aí... No hype!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

jimbeeeeeiiiiii 🥹🥹🥹😭😭😭

[Beatriz Linares · Rating 5 out of 5]

siwjdownwowjsos!!!!!!!!

[kthedestroyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good. It's not as great as same of the previous volumes but it's still very interesting. The ending of the Fishman Island arc is really compelling and I really like the roles of Zoro, Luffy and Sanji in it. We also have the beginning of the Punk Hazard arc and it's very promising so I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it.

Overall these were 3 really good volumes but not quite 5 star material. However, I am excited for the rest of Punk Hazard which might become really good in the following volumes.

There will be SPOILERS ahead!

Let's start with the Fishman Island arc, shall we? Namely, I want to talk about Zoro because man, he's so cool here. I mean... just look at him. He's so badass and hot and oh god, I can't. His design with that bandana on his head is back which is just amazing because he looks great when he's wearing it. And when he walks away from that fishman who then attacks him from behind his back only for Zoro to slice him up... gold. I also love that one part where Luffy wants to get to Hordy and him and Sanji guard his back... it's just really wholesome.

Speaking about Sanji... let's say a couple of things about him. The scene where Jimbei doesn't let Luffy to go save his friends and Sanji has the entire monologue about how they are not gonna let the Fishman Island get destroyed only to then refer to mermaids and saving this dreamland of his is just so good. I also love how the explanation for his fire powers, or whatever that is, is just the fact that he has painful memories from these last two years.

Of course, I need to talk about Luffy because he is such an amazing character. He just wants to eat meat and not be a hero but he still saves everyone because it's the right thing to do (and because then he will get his meat). I love he asks Jimbei to join the crew because yeah, it was the obvious thing to do. And then at the end when he defies Big Mom and tells her that he'll make the Fishman Island his territory... so good. Even that kraken Surume knew that Luffy was awesome and joined his side.

I also have to give honorable mentions to some other characters:
a) Usopp for being really strong and cool
b) Chopper for transforming without losing control of himself
c) Jimbei for donating his blood to Luffy
d) Madame Shirley for being Arlong's sister

So Punk Hazard seems interesting so far. Smoker is back which is great and I really like that they are on an island that is burning. Also there's an actual dragon which for some reason Zoro has decided to slice up and I can't help but think that there will be consequences for that.

[Diogo Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was... mostly good. Good plots, fun fights, everybody had at least a few moments to shine, some fun, some sad and some heartwarming moments. Also, a lot of hints of what's to come.

However, not everything is perfect. While there's a lot of good on this arc's message, dealing with it mostly from the bigger victims side feels... weird. In particular, when the biggest oppressor's side is ignored - maybe because that's the actual bigger enemy for the series. It's not a bad arc or message, but it does feel a bit off if you think even a little bit about it.

The newest arc also started, and... I'm still unsure about it. It's a wait for the next volume and see thing, I guess.

Overall, good volume with some questionable decisions.

[Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series: One Piece #64-66
Rating: 4 stars - It was really good

These three volumes complete the story of Fish-Man Island and sees the crew off to the New World. I enjoyed the Fish-Man Island story arc. This was a great battle that really showcased all the new skills the Straw Hats had learned over the past two years. This volume also finally gives us some information about the Poneglyphs that Robin can read and what the weapon might be. Now the crew is in the New World and at an island called Punk Hazard. I am very interested in reading this portion because I don’t really remember this island at all except that they meet Kin’emon.

[Kai Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I will keep this v short bc the library closes in 12 min. This is good but is definitely the worst saga of the series. I think the skip is done well but this arc basically only serves for the crew to show us all the new powers they got. We def get more info about the world government, the reverie and the status of the fishmen but I just think this arc is the most "this is just good not amazing" of all the arcs. It was rly cool to see the princess's power I know that will def be coming back up later / will be very very important.

[Victoria brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

The depth of this story continues to surprise me as our beloved characters run into generational prejudice, slavery and racism in Fishman Island. We delve into the scars hatred leaves across generations regardless of which “side” you are on and how new generations are impacted. The goofiness and constant friendship our heroes provide are a relief from the true horrors explored and (hopefully) healed a bit by our adventure. Yes, this is a manga but Oda explores and comments on some of the most difficult topics of the human experience

[Diyyan :)) · Rating 4 out of 5]

​Rating: 4.5/5

​This volume perfectly showcases the Straw Hats' growth over the two-year time skip. It’s incredibly satisfying to see how much stronger they’ve become as they systematically dismantle the Hody Jones crew.

​However, the real MVP of this arc is the bond between Luffy and Jinbe. Their dynamic is the emotional heartbeat of the story, transcending deep-seated prejudices and breaking the cycle of fear between humans and Fish-Men. A truly beautiful look at how friendship can bridge even the widest divides. Loved it.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had some trouble getting immersed in the Fish Man Island story arc (for reasons that I mentioned in my review of the previous omnibus), and knowing that the New World spine label carries on for at least a dozen more volumes, I was worried about being stuck in a plot line that just didn't interest me. Luckily, I was closer to the end of Fish Man Island than I thought, and I got back into the swing of things with the beginning of the new story arc. I'm looking forward to the change of scenery and am excited to see where the Straw Hats' journey goes next!

[Andorinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essa é uma resenha padrão para a minha leitura de one piece já que o app só conta como lidos os livros com resenha vou deixar esse texto aqui. Perdão a qualquer pessoa que queira ler uma resenha sobre o mangá, mas está sendo uma boa experiência e eu recomendo que leia, vale muito a pena.

Law meu amor comecei isso apenas por você.

[Anthony Wendel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The intense ending to the Fish Man island arc comes to an end in a glrious fashion. At the same tiem the crew can't help but get themselves out of one danger and immediately into something new. By the look of things, this new threat is going to be larger than life.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have conflicting thoughts on the resolution of the Fishman Island arc. Overall, a fun ride though.

[Nicolás Pinto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous finale of the Arc of Fish-Man Island. Love every moment and how it was a perfect showcase of the new level of strength for the entire crew. Epic and emotional as Oda-sensei get us used to.

[Undomiel Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

After now dark some of the previous volumes were, it was so nice to have such a light and fun set of volumes!

[Tuni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally getting caught up to where I left off TEN YEARS AGO. Fish Man Island definitely reads better all at once rather than week to week.

[Alexandre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vol 64 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Vol 65 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Vol 66 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Christine Andersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fish-Man Island is definitely not one of my favorite arcs so far :(

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best discussions of the vicious cycles of racism and its effects. was not expecting this from a pirate manga. Jimbei is the GOAT 👑

[Saish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado mucho Fish-man island peeero siento q me han dejado con ganas de saber más de los 100 años de vacío. Te dan miguitas nada más, este manga sí q es un proyecto para muyyy largo plazo.

[فرهاد ذکاوت · Rating 3 out of 5]

چقدر اون جملاتی که شاه در مورد شورشی‌ها و تخریب و بی‌اهمیت بودن مردم برای شورشی‌ها میگه آشناست.

[Varun Bhargava · Rating 5 out of 5]

One Piece, as usual, is a story that weaves itself. There are foreshadowing details into the future of the world within this manga, and there's fun. It's always enjoyable to catch up on it.

[Dani Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wimpyhoshi has my heart!

[Michelle N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahh I love one piece 🐟🐠

[wendigo bandito · Rating 3 out of 5]

Give me more one piece. At this point in the story i am pretty much addicted to continuing this seemingly never ending journey.