“ You’re putting your life on the line by pointing that gun at me.” Says pirate captain Red-Haired Shanks to a bandit before he disposes of the bandit.“One Piece” Volume 1 is a great start to the One Piece series. There are so many things that make it a great manga. For example, there’s the characters. In this book you encounter Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zolo. Monkey D. Luffy (Luffy) has many personalities. At times he can be very optimistic and carefree, even on the brink of death. At other times he can be very calm and smart. When he encounters a bad guy who he really doesn’t like, he gets very angry. Roronoa Zolo (Zolo) has an infamous reputation which leads people to think of him as scary and intimidating. He’s actually nice on the inside and always full of confidence. Zolo decided to join Luffy because of his promise to a childhood friend to become the greatest swordsman ever. Another great thing about the book is the story. The story begins in a flashback in which young Luffy promises his role-model, Red-Haired Shanks, that he going to become the king of the pirates and find the legendary treasure, One Piece. Then, Luffy accidentally eats the Gum-Gum fruit, which turns his body to rubber but takes away his ability to swim! The flashback ends when the pirates fight some mountain bandits to protect Luffy and Luffy discovers the true power of pirates. The story continues ten years later. Luffy sets off to gather a crew. During his search, he frees a demonic bounty hunter and defeats a axe handed naval captain. No biggie. That brings us to quality overall. The story is never boring. There are tons of new discoveries in every chapter. Also, it is action packed. The artwork is of very high quality. Each page panel is full of details. There are also lots of what I like to call, sound effects. In the end, author Eiichiro Oda did a great job combining multiple attributes to create a great series starter.