One Piece: What Is Chapter 0 & Is It Canon? (2024)

The history of the One Piece manga is quite rich, and you can imagine how much content there is in a manga with 1,000+ chapters. While Oda is slowly approaching the final story of his magnum opus, there is still a lot to talk about. This article will discuss one special chapter that appeared on November 30, 2009 and was later collected in the cult classic Volume 0 of One Piece. The chapter we are talking about, of course, is Chapter 0, and in this article, you will find out everything you need to know about it and its status within the franchise.

  • Article Breakdown:
  • Chapter 0 is a special chapter of the One Piece manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It first came out on November 30, 2009, and was later collected as part of Volume 0, published on December 12, 2009.
  • Chapter 0 tells the story of the world of One Piece years before Luffy’s time, and it provides us with an insight into the past of the lore.
  • Chapter 0 is undoubtedly canon as it was written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda himself, which means there should be no doubt about its canon status.

Chapter 0 tells us about the history of the world before Luffy’s time

At Marineford, Garp was informed that Roger and Shiki were meeting at Edd War and decided to set sail immediately to try to arrive in time to arrest them. The Golden Lion offered Roger an alliance: the former’s military strength and the latter’s recovered ancestral weapon would allow him to conquer the entire world in a short time. Roger, however, did not accept the proposal, so enraged Shiki attacked him with all his ships, and despite his clear disadvantage, Roger’s crew set out to counterattack.

When the fate of the battle seemed already decided, a sudden storm destroyed half of Shiki’s fleet; this fact, in addition to an accident that occurred to the captain, caused the end of hostilities and allowed the Oro Jackson to leave. Two years later, Roger accomplished a feat considered impossible by reaching Raftel, thus becoming the pirate king. After this, the crew mysteriously disappeared.

Another year passed, and word spread that the Navy had captured Roger and planned to execute him in Rogue Town, his hometown. Shiki was furious at the idea that the Navy could kill his old rival, which he considered unworthy, and that his death would occur in the weakest of the four seas. For this reason, he attacked the Navy headquarters alone and was intercepted by Sengoku and Garp. After a very long fight that razed half the buildings on the island to the ground, Shiki was arrested and sent to Impel Down.

A week after Shiki’s capture, Roger was executed. His last words ushered in the great era of pirates. Reactions around the world were very varied. Shiki escaped Impel Down by cutting off his legs and returned to his crew. Sometime later, he reached Whitebeard on the Moby Dick and proposed an alliance, but the latter did not accept it. Shiki, disappointed, left but revealed that he intended to remain in the shadows for some time.

On the Merveille Archipelago, the “Hidden Land in the Clouds,” Shiki argued with Doctor Indigo. According to the scientist, it would have taken twenty years to complete the preparations for the plan to conquer the world. Shiki agreed to wait, confident that at the end of the long wait, he could bring hell to earth.

Chapter 0 is undoubtedly canon

Now that we have told you what Chapter 0 is about, we can reveal more details about its publication and its canon status. As we have said, Chapter 0 was originally published on November 30, 2009, under the title “Strong World” as a special chapter; it was released simultaneously with Chapter 565. The Chapter served as a prelude to the main story, providing more details about some events from Roger’s time, i.e., before Luffy’s time, and introducing Shiki to the series, thus serving as a prelude to the One Piece Film: Strong World.

So, having said all of this, do we know whether Chapter 0 is canon or not? Well, special characters are often tricky… if you look at some other famous examples, like Bleach, there is a whole “special” arc (Turn Back the Pendulum), which contains historical chapters written and illustrated by Kubo, which give us an insight into the lore from before the main timeline, but which are undoubtedly canon, as they are written and illustrated by Kubo. So, is it the same with Chapter 0 of One Piece?

Well, if you ever had any lingering doubts, then we can confirm that Chapter 0 is canon. Not only is it written and illustrated by Oda, which is enough per se, but it is also perfectly in line with the lore of the series, which means that there is absolutely no way that it is not canon. But why do people doubt its canon status if that is the case?

Well, Shiki is actually the source of this confusion in most cases. Namely, Shiki, as a character, was first introduced in the One Piece Film: Strong World, and movies are not canon, as a rule (there are exceptions, but more often than not, a movie is not canon). Since Shiki was initially perceived as a non-canon character, some fans thought Chapter 0, due to its focus on Shiki, is also non-canon and only serves as a tie-in to the movie. Still, as we have explained, that is wrong, as the chapter is indeed canon.

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One Piece: What Is Chapter 0 & Is It Canon? (2024)

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