The women of One Piece have always been an area of missed potential. They’re maximized for sex appeal first and foremost, drawn with interchangeable silhouettes and allowed to kick ass so long as they duly cede the spotlight to the story’s male characters immediately afterward. This makes One Piece: Heroines, a duo of official light novels neither written nor illustrated by One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, all the more of a treat. Author Jun Esaka and illustrator Sayaka Suwa are clearly fans of the series and have taken this opportunity to write full-on fanfiction about the ladies of One Piece in a collection of comedic, entertaining, bite-sized vignettes.
Each volume contains four short stories and one flash fiction. They’re nonlinear, which makes it possible to read the stories in any order—in my case, I read the ones starring my favorite heroines first. Each premise is light and silly and tailor-made to show off each character’s charms and suit her special interests. In Tashigi’s story, she offers sword lessons to a young girl. In Robin’s story, she works with Koala to decipher an ancient language. Nami’s stories are about fashion and skincare (I didn’t realize I needed a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Nami and Brook discussing their seafaring beauty routines until I got it). My favorite story of them all is about Perona during her time living with Mihawk and Zoro, when the three of them have an all-out brawl over some choice bottles of sangria, and Perona gets supremely drunk. I always felt that this trio’s barely-discussed living situation was bound to be hilarious, and this was exactly the type of gratuitous exploration I’d always hoped to get. And they were roommates!
This by-fans-for-fans collection is full of fluffy fan service and almost nothing of substance. I’d be surprised if it even counted as One Piece canon! But I loved the way each story centered and elevated its heroine’s unique perspective on her own circumstances when she is usually assigned a purely supporting role. Each tale scratches that fanfiction itch of putting our best girls in situations and considering how they might get themselves out of them. What if Boa Hancock took it upon herself to become a romance expert (and what if she got it comically wrong)? What if Tashigi had the opportunity to show how she really feels about the Marines’ constant bungling? And sure, what if Nami figured out a way to turn Zeus’s cloud powers into the perfect sauna for her and Robin? Why not? Every option is on the table, and nothing is too trivial for these airy little vignettes.
All of the stories were funny and delightful, but they didn’t go far enough. Since they’re so short, there was only so much each of them could explore. For example, in Reiju’s story, hunger pangs compel her to try her hand at cooking her own food—and learning how difficult it can be to make dinner makes her reconsider her brother Sanji in a new light. Wouldn’t it have been interesting if this had led Reiju to reach out to Sanji to let him know that? Certainly, the moments that do offer insight into characters’ relationships with one another are the moments these books shine the brightest: from Nami and Robin’s bonding time to Tashigi (who is often unfairly maligned by her boss) slyly manipulating Smoker to show off his powers. Of course, with One Piece still running and its conclusion still in the future, I’m sure Jun Esaka was limited in how much freedom they had to deepen character relationships. Additionally, these relationship explorations mean that even though these are books about One Piece‘s heroines, the male characters continue to loom very large. Vivi’s tale is hardly from Vivi’s own perspective, but mainly about Koza as he helps a young boy write a love letter to Vivi, to comedic results. Meanwhile, Boa Hancock’s story doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test as she spends the entire tale laser-focused on Luffy, asking a new mother for advice about how to grow closer to him. (She mistakes the mom’s baby advice for husband advice, but with Luffy, it might actually work.) In other words, some of these stories are more about the heroes than the heroines.
Now that we know One Piece: Heroines is getting an anime adaptation, it’ll be interesting to see if it retains its nonlinear format. The stories take place at all different times in the One Piece canon, from Robin’s offscreen time with the Revolutionary Army to even the One Piece movie (Uta’s story). These were the perfect books to dip in and out of, reading one chapter at a time in any order, but I doubt that would spell success for a week-to-week anime. Each episode would be a complete whole, leaving little reason to tune in the following week. Additionally, the stories are so lightweight, exploring a single trait or thought experiment involving the life and times of each heroine, I’m not sure there’s enough for a standard 24-minute episode. But at least in book format, they serve as simple, lighthearted fun.
