Read Japanese manga with us: One Piece. See below for a complete vocabulary list and transcript.
One Piece is a Japanese manga about a young man named Monkey D. Luffy (モンキー・D・ルフィ) who, with his band of "Straw Hat Pirates," searches for the ultimate treasure called, "One Piece." With this treasure, he will become the King of the Pirates.
Join Clay and Yumi as they walk through the first few pages of the first issue.

VOCABULARY

- 10年後【じゅうねんご】 ten years later
- どん (dramatic effect of dropping something heavy or important)
- とうとう finally; at long last
- 行っちゃいました【いっちゃいました】 went (completely--often with feeling of regret)
- 村長【そんちょう】 village leader
- さみしくなる will become sad; will be sad
- わ (feminine ender)
- 村【むら】 villageはじ embarrassment; shame
- 海賊【かいぞく】 (sea) pirate
- になろう (I'll) become (a pirate)
- なんぞ such a thing as
- 本気でとは such a; regarding
- 今日は【きょうは】 as for today
- 船出日和【ふなでびより】 a fine day to sail; good weather for leaving port

- 出たか【でたか】 finally come out; you've made your appearance
- 近海【きんかい】 coastal waters
- 主【ぬし】 lord; master
- 鍛えた【きたえた】trained
- オレの my
- 技【わざ】 skill; trick; technique
- みろ look upon; see
- ゴムゴムのピストル Luffy's technique; the elastic pistol

- 思い知ったか【おもいしったか】 do you realize; do you understand
- 魚【さかな】 fishめ (derogatory ender)
- まずは first; first of all
- 仲間【なかま】 friends; companions; crew
- 集め【あつめ】 gathering
- そして and then
- 海賊旗【かいぞくき】 pirate flag

- 海賊王【かいぞくおう】 pirate king
- になる will become
- よっしゃ yes! yippie; gotcha; alrighty; okay
- いくぞ I'm going to do it; let's go!
- まだ not yet
- 見ぬ【みぬ】 can't see
- 彼の【かれの】 his
- 巻き込まんと【まきこまんと】(crew) involved with (him)
- 小さな船【ちいさなふね】 small boat
- かくして in such a way
- 大いなる【おおいなる】 grand; great
- 旅【たび】 trip; travel
- 始まった【はじまった】 began
- のだ (explanatory ender)
TRANSCRIPT
こんにちは、由美です。(Hello, this is Yumi) and this is Clay.
Today we're going to break down a new manga.
It is One Piece
and as I admitted before, I'm not very much an expert on manga or
anime, but I have read the Wikipedia entry on One Piece.
So now I'm an expert on One Piece. Well maybe not,
but I did read the introduction in the section we're about to read today
and we'll see if we can learn a little bit in Japanese.
What is One Piece?
So the introduction which we're not going to cover, talks about ルフィ is the name
of the boy now the young man, but as a boy and he wants to be a pirate.
But what happened in the introduction?
海賊王という人がいまして、海賊の王様ね There was a king of pirates (kaizokuou)
そ、海賊の王様がつかまって、死ぬときに Yes, the pirate king was captured, and when he was to die
自分の財宝、みんなにあげちゃう。見つけなさいといって死んだ。 He will give his treasure to everyone. He said to go out and find it and then he died.
He was executed.
A treasure that... He challenges
people to go find. And I believe this is what is called "one piece," isn't it?
と思います。 I think.
I think Wikipedia said that this is called "one piece."
But anyway, so the pirate is executed
and then we shift to ルフィ (Luffy) Monkey, what's his name?
モンキー・D・ルフィ
and what happens?
その子はゴムゴムの実というのを食べちゃって He eats a fruit called, "gomu gomu fruit"
体がゴムみたいに伸びる体になって His body becomes elastic like rubber
So it becomes the elastic kid where he can ---.
そうそう。手がぬ~って伸びる。 Yes, his hand stretches.
で、ただ泳げなくなっちゃう。 But, it's just he won't be able to swim.
And that's not very useful.
If you're a pirate, Pirates have to swim well.
As a child he didn't know how to swim, but it also said that if you eat this ゴムゴムの実
ゴムゴムの実, if you eat this special treasure, this fruit, then you will never be able to swim.
But he wants to be a pirate on the seas.
それで、山賊と海賊 And then, mountain bandits and pirates.
山賊とルフィがケンカしてときにその海賊のかしらが When Luffy and the mountain bandits were quarrelling, the leader of the bandits
が助けてくれたのね。 (he) helped him.
All right.
And this is hero.
But we should mention what's the difference between 山賊 and 海賊?
山賊は山、山というか、ま、あのう、海じゃないところ。 "yama zoku" are mountain, or I should say, a place that's not the sea.
土の上、普通の町とか山の中とか On the ground, a regular town, or in the mountains, etc.
そういうところにいって、人のものを盗んているとか、おそったりする、悪い人。 (They) go to such a place and steal people's stuff or attack people--such bad people.
Like a mountain bandit or bandit on the highway man or something.
And so the san is actually Yama (mountain) and Kai is umi (sea), still both Zoku,
but one is mountain bandit or mountain pirate and the other is ocean pirate.
So pirate.
そうです。そしてその海賊の友だちというか、 Yes, and that pirate friend, if I can call him that
かしらに助けてもらったときに When the leader (of the pirates) came to help (Luffy)
その人は海の主に、海のモンスターに、腕を食べられちゃった。 That person (leader) had his arm eaten by the sea lord or monster.
So this big fish monster eats his
mentor's arm and then suddenly we are ten years later.
Are we ready for that? Okay.
So ten years later and this is where the story really picks up?
十年後。どん 10 years later.
So the "Don" it just opens ten years later
とうとう行っちゃいましたね。村長。さみしくなるわ。 He finally went, didn't he village chief? We'll miss him.
And now this we didn't mention her,
but she's the bartender and a good friend to Luffy and also the
pirate, his mentor who did leave a couple of years prior to this, I guess .
とうとう, Finally or after a long time.
So it's been expected that he would leave that Luffy would leave.
But she says とうとう now 行っちゃいました→行ってしまいました
It's an abbreviated form.
So he's finally gone.
Sonchou is the village chief and he's kind of dressed like a beach bum.
But he's the village chief
(What's the difference between) さみしくand さびしく?
同じです。 They are the same.
So they're the same.
I'm sad or I will miss him so much.
なる implies that from now and then she'll continue to miss him. Sadness.
村の恥じゃ、海賊になろうなんぞ It's the shame of the village for him to become a pirate.
So 村の恥 so the shame of the village
I guess he's talking about Luffy is... What shame!
That he's brought upon the village なんぞ→なんて (why? Such a thing! (exclamation))
so such a thing is becoming a pirate.
It's the shame of the village.
本気で行っちまうとはな He really meant it and left.
Now this are his friends.
They're saying, oh, he really left 本気で with... He really 行っちまうは、行ってしまう
He really left. They always thought he was kidding and he
was always saying, I'm going to be a pirate one day, but he actually did leave.
All right.
クークー
Sound of the Birds
やー今日は船出日和だな。ぎーこぎーこ Oh, today is perfect weather for sailing.
So やー, is Luffy
just kind of relaxing and enjoying the day.
And he says 今日は, as for today,
船出 is the boat going out to sailing and 日和【changed from ひより】 is good weather.
It's good weather for sailing.
So it's a good weather for sailing.
And ぎーこ
これは、あの、船をこいでいる音と思います。 I think this is the sound of rowing the boat.
オールでこいている音と思います。 It's the sound of the oar paddling, I think.
Okay.
グルルルザバァ。わっ
and here's the monster that ate his mentor's arm.
出たか近海の主。相手が悪かったな So you've made your appearance, Lord of the Coastal regions. Too bad for you.
出たか You appeared.
Finally you've come
近海 that's nearby ocean or maybe
near the shore or the surrounding area, but not deep into the ocean like 沖
I guess. 沖縄の沖 would be farther out.
沖じゃない It's not open seas
would be further out.
So 近海の主 is the Lord of the nearby seas? (coastal waters)
Okay.
相手が悪かったな (Too bad for you) your opponent is me
自分が相手だから、運が悪かった。 Since I'm your opponent, you have bad luck.
No, I'm (He says this) to the fish.
The fish you're unlucky because your opponent, meaning me, is too strong.
Too bad for you.
You got this opponent.
So he's kind of like bragging
十年鍛えた、おれの技をみろ
十年 so for ten years 鍛えて
he's been training.
Now is this physical or can this also be mental training too?
うん、でもこの場合は体を鍛えたということだね。 Yes, but in this case, it is training his body.
Been working out and trying to to get stronger.
おれの技をみろ So, my ... 技... is a t rick or skill or my skill?
So look at my skill.
What skill I have after ten years of training.
ゴムゴムの Elastic...
So the ゴムゴム is the same as the ゴムゴムの実.
ゴムゴム の実 okay.
So the ゴムゴムの実 is the fruit that he ate that enabled him to have elastic powers
ゴムゴム in Japanese that means kind of elastic.
ゴムがね。 "gumu" does.
ゴムが、伸びるゴム "gumu" is the elastic gumu
Just like "gum"
ピストル ズドーン pistol
this is a pistol punch he had mentioned earlier
in the introduction that his punch, he was so strong.
His punch was like a pistol .
And his mentor said, that that's not much.
そのときまだ小っちゃかったからね。弱かったの。 He was still small then.
But now his pistol punch is very strong.
バチン That's the sound of his arm coming back into position
思い知ったか。魚め。ざっぱーん You've finally realized, stupid fish.
思い知ったか
do you realize it?
Do you understand now finally, do you understand?
So you understand my power?
I guess, or my strength, you should respect me .
魚め
So, the め here is a very rude way of calling an enemy or belittling someone
そうね。バカめとか Yes, like "baka me"
ネコめ、 stupid cat
ネコめも、悪い事しているネコ "neko me" for a cat that does bad things.
When the cat does bad things, she's a ネコめ
はい、まずは仲間集めだ。ぐるぐる Yes. First, I must gather my crew.
10人はほしいなぁ!! I want 10 people.
まずは First and foremost, 仲間 companions, or in this case, I guess his crew
集め gathering
so the gathering or the collecting or
finding of his crew and 十人 I want ten people.
そして海賊旗 And then a pirate flag.
そして and then a 海賊 pirate 旗 is flag.
So pirate flag
よっしゃ、いくぞ! All right, I'm ready! Let's go!
So he's excited he's ready to go いくぞ means.
I'm going to do it. Let's go.
海賊王におれはなる!どん! A pirate king, I will become! Bam!
Pirate King.
I will become.
So this is kind of an inverse way of saying it normally you would say おれは海賊王になる
So it's kind of like mixing up the language. (for emphasis)
But one reason why we we can do this in Japanese is because of the particles.
We have the に and the は so we know who the topic is and what he will become. になる: Pirate King
まだ見ぬ、彼の仲間達を巻き込まんと小さな船は海をゆく A small boat sails the sea, hoping to bring the crew whom he has yet to see.
So this is more of a literature writing
style type of Japanese まだ見ぬ not seen yet.
So 見ぬ is the same as 見ない (don't see).
It's a negative ender.
But it's very kind of classical.
Maybe like Shakespeare.
And if you would in English.
彼の仲間達 so, his companions. So not yet.
He hasn't seen his companions or found his companions yet .
巻き込まんと
巻き込もうと Okay, so I still haven't got them together.
小さいな船は海をゆく A small boat sails the sea.
And in his small boat you will go on the sea.
かくして大いなる旅は始まったのだ! Thus begins a grand adventure!
かくして→こうして thus; in such a way; like this
In such a way.
大いなる Grand or great 旅 trip or travel
は始まった has begun のだ for explaining .
He's begun his grand trip.
So, I hope you enjoyed this first little look at One P iece and we will have
to learn, read more and maybe watch the anime
because we have a no idea what's going to happen on the next page.
We haven't looked that far.
Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below and we appreciate it.
Thank you. Bye bye.
That`s so good the explanations + subtitles, I have to admitted that both are the best, I also learnt so much with your bundles
Thanks! I’m glad to hear it helps. I’d like to do more manga breakdowns. I don’t know if I can always do subtitles like this (it took a lot of work!), but we’ll try.
I’m not a manga person (yet), but this is fantastic for this beginner + student. You guys are great!
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it. We are planning on working on a few more next week.
I love One Piece! Please do the other 99+ manga! Thank you! 😀
Thank you! Working on it. 🙂