Did you know? ONE PIECE was rejected by Shonen Jump 3 times before serialization!

First ONE PIECE editor Takanori Asada talked about Oda and One Piece in TBS internet radio today. He was responsible for chapter 1-177 (middle of Alabasta arc). Here is the summary of the interview translated by @sandman_AP.

Of course, Oda and Asada were onto something with the the series. After Shueisha agreed to publish One Piece, the manga went on to become a global phenomenon. To date, the series has sold more than 430 million copies worldwide, outselling titles like Spider-Man and X-Men along the way.

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has been collected into 87 volumes, with a few chapters yet to be included. It has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best selling manga series worldwide with 430 million copies sold worldwide.

Are you surprised to hear that One Piece was once rejected? Let me know in the comments