Who is Eiichiro Oda?
As a child, Oda was inspired by Vikings and aspired to become a manga artist. He submitted a character named Pandaman for Yudetamago's classic wrestling manga Kinnikuman. Pandaman was not only used in a chapter of the manga but would also return as a recurring cameo character in Oda's own works. He is known to add Easter Eggs in his manga for fans to spot, including Doskoi Panda.
In 1992, Oda at age 17 began his manga career starting as an assistant to three different mangakas for the weekly shonen manga magazine Shonen Jump. In the same year he submitted his first work called Wanted! for which he won second place at Tezuka Award. In August, 1997, he created his signature work, One Piece. Having been inspired by pirates, he made One Piece a pirate series.
