Romance Dawn by Eiichiro Oda

In Romance Dawn, by Eiichiro Oda, Monkey D. Luffy begins his quest from a small harbor village to become a pirate. As a young child, he accidentally eats the legendary gum-gum fruit, which gives him the power to stretch to unreasonable lengths. He sets out on his journey in his boat to sail the ocean, ultimately seeking to become the king of pirates. Along the way, he meets a cabin boy named Koby who is treated unfairly by the Ironmace Alvida, the lady pirate. Luffy saves him from her to allow him to pursue his lifelong dream of joining the navy and becoming an officer. Also, Luffy learns about the legendary pirate hunter, ROronoa Zolo, who had been captured by the navy. In a small naval base town, he attempts to save Zolo from the navy and offer him a spot on his crew. However, Zolo refuses to join Luffy's crew unless Luffy fnids and returns to him his three most important swords. After finding Captain Morgan, Luffy and Zolo fight and defeat him. Zolo agrees to join Luffy and together, they set off into the vast unknown of the ocean waters.

I thought his manga had an extremely well-thought out plot and storyline. Oda executed his sequence of events in a way that was easy to follow. In addition, he paid close attention to minute details that in turn added to the enjoyment of the novel. His story about pirates was the main point of interest that drew my attention to this particular manga. I recommend this manga to people of all ages who enjoy a plot-driven manga with dynamic characters.


-Reviewed by Ming Liu, grade 9.