While at first I found the manga to be simply okay, the more I read, the more I grew to like it and while I found the first few arcs to be generic shounen (2 to 3 stars worthy), the Baroque Works arc was absolutely phenomenal and earned the current 5 stars! Digital Reads A Curse For True Love : the thrilling final book in the Once Upon a Broken Heart series

Buggy and Nami introduction is awesome as well. Luffy shows off and Zoro is still insane. Buggy + Luffy is always great and Nami is pretty cool, but doesn't properly shine till Arlong's Palace. I finally decided to reread One Piece from the beginning in color. My rating is completely pointless, though, as I've been reading One Piece since I was 9 and I still think it's a masterpiece.Going into this I had very little knowledge of the series, I knew the main character could stretch, and he wanted to be a pirate. I like doing long running series to read. It's fun to sit down before I go to bed and red a couple chapters. Eiichiro Oda debuted in WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP in 1997 as a comic creator and artist with ONE PIECE. One of the most popular comic artists in Japan today, Oda started out by winning the Hop Step Award (a monthly award given by Jump for amateur artists) as well as the esteemed Tezuka Award. His art style is reminiscent of Akira Toriyama, Sergio Aragones, and the movie Yellow Submarine. Alabasta: 10/10; another OP peak. Great villains, great stakes, and some solid plot twists. Really enjoyed this as a kid and love it now as well Little Garden: 8/10; the giant stuff and Usopp stuff is great. Sanji is cool here, and Baroque Works finally starts to feel like a threat. This box set includes volumes 1-23, which comprise the first two story arcs, East Blue and Baroque Works. With exclusive premiums and great savings over buying the individual volumes, this set is a pirate’s treasure for any manga fan!

Although I always hear that the beginning is pretty rough to reread, I actually enjoyed most of this a lot. I will be honest and say I skipped Coby and Alvida's introductions, cause I've read those chapters so many times and I'm not a big fan of them. I think I also have to highlight the absolute craft of the author who is clearly a master at his work. He strikes perfect balance with his characters that are so colourful and camp while not totally ridiculous; the stuff he comes up with is terribly imaginative and charming, be it the powers, animals like the bowing bear (my absolute favourite), the world or the characters...Orange Town: 6/10; establishes some cool recurring motifs of One Piece. I like the dog subplot and good intro to Nami. In retrospect though, there’s so much, especially about Buggy, that’s just not well fleshed out yet