One Piece and Dante’s Inferno

By Jonah Miyashiro

Background

        One Piece is a shounen manga or Japanese comic written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of the main character Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates. Considered by many to be one of the three most influential manga created, One Piece is the only one still being serialized today. With its first chapter released in July 1997, this manga has become renowned around the world for its diverse storytelling, world building, art, characters, and humor. It's set in a fictional world with humans and other races such as dwarves, giants, fish men etc. and a plethora of island nations with varying forms of technology and government. The entire world is governed by an intercontinental organization, the World Government, with a powerful navy as its arm for enforcement. The basis for conflicts revolve around the World Government’s suppression of pirates. The show often stresses the moral ambiguity of the term “pirates” with some being your stereotypical bad apples while others are simply those who resist the authoritarian and often morally controversial World Government.

Although its main themes are set around action, adventure, camaraderie, and humor, One Piece integrates countless elements from cultures around our world as tools for advancing the plot and even social commentary. Oda is famous for disguising symbols and figures from history into the world of One Piece. An example of this is the leader of the Revolutionary Army, Monkey D. Dragon. Quotes from the mangaka (author) confirm that his design was heavily influenced by Latin American revolutionaries such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. In addition, the boat of the Revolutionary Army is called the “Wind Granma '', which is inspired by the “Granma”. A yacht which was used by Castro to transport the fighters of the Cuban Revolution from Mexico to Cuba (Sinclair, 2018). In a sense, Oda and Dante (the author) both take inspiration from numerous cultures and comment on politics under the guise of a story. Dante’s Divine Comedy is heavily inspired by elements of Greco-Roman mythology and history through aspects such as the geography of hell with the river Styx or including famous figures such as Aristotle. Oda’s One Piece replicates this form of inspiration and integration but in a more global sense, taking on imagery from classical mythology, Christianity, Shintoism, Buddhism, global history and so much more. In this paper I will discuss how One Piece takes inspiration from Dante’s Inferno through structure, setting, and symbolism.

Impel Down Arc

        Although the amount of material in One Piece is extensive and pulls from a multitude of cultures, there is one arc in particular which draws heavy inspiration from Dante’s Inferno: The Impel Down Arc. The setting is in Impel Down, an underwater prison created by the World Government to control the most dangerous of criminals including pirates. Its structure is of a large submerged tower with the base sitting at the bottom of the ocean. Guarded by viscous sea creatures and a strong current, escape is virtually impossible for anyone. Luffy, the main character, willingly breaks into the prison to free his brother, who is held captive at the bottommost level awaiting his execution.

        One of the main ways Oda draws inspiration from Dante’s Inferno is through the geography and structure of Hell. Both Hell and Impel Down share the iconic framework of descending levels or circles with severity of sin increasing the further you go down. Dante’s Hell is described “as a funnel or inverted cone descending in nine diminishing rings until the center of the earth” (Visions of Dante, unknown)). Simultaneously, Impel Down is depicted as a “submerged tower-like structure whose foundation is at the very bottom of the sea bed” (One Piece Wiki, 2018). Although not leading to actual hell, Impel Down’s descending geography, structured into separate levels, is something born from the mind of Dante and his creation of Inferno.

The Map of Hell by Botticelli depicts Hell as an inverted cone shape with 9 circles to the center of the earth where Lucifer is.

Botticelli, Sandro. “The Map of Hell.” Florence Inferno, 2013, https://www.florenceinferno.com/the-map-of-hell/. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.

There are different “themes” associated with each floor, some which resemble the scenery portrayed in Inferno. For example, the first level of Impel Down is known as “Crimson Hell”. The landscape consists of a large forest of crimson trees and is inhabited by poisonous spiders and guards that chase the prisoners. With a few minor differences, this floor resembles the scene in Inferno Canto 13 where it describes the second round of the seventh circle as follows.

No green leaves in that forest, only black;
no branches straight and smooth, but knotted, gnarled;
no fruits were there, but briers bearing poison.

Even those savage beasts that roam between
Cecina and Corneto, beasts that hate
tilled lands, do not have holts so harsh and dense.

(Canto 13, lines 4-9)

One Piece parallels this canto with some smaller changes such as the order of the level, overall color, and the beasts that roam it. Despite these changes the imagery of a dark and twisted forest as a setting in “Hell” shows great inspiration for Dante's work.

The first level of Impel Down: Crimson Hell

        Another interesting aspect of the prison most likely inspired by Dante is the general symbolism and identity behind the creation of the structure. In Inferno, as Dante enters through the entrance of Hell he in Canto 3 he is greeted with text explaining the origins of Hell.

THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY,

THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN,

THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS AMONG THE LOST.

JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH ARTIFICER;

MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY,

THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL

LOVE.

BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS

WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.

ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE.

Canto 3 Lines 1-9

 Through it we learn it was created by God as a prison for Lucifer.  Dante (the author) has already assumed that God has won the battle between good and evil. This interpretation that there is already a winner by the power of “good” is something Oda uses in his own design. Impel Down is a facility owned by the almighty world government, whose members remain above the rest of the population, enjoying luxurious lifestyles and power over the normal population. For those besides the main characters, the presence of the world government is akin to an omnipotent god.

Fortress guarding Impel Down. The symbolism behind it shows the world governments dominance and control over those who are “evil”.

Conclusion

        As an avid fan of One Piece I enjoy learning about the sources of inspiration behind Oda’s fantastical storytelling and art style. His method of incorporating smaller details from both mythology and history draw many of the same parallels as Dante. In this specific arc, Oda pays homage to one of the greatest pieces of Italian literature created, The Divine Comedia. Although parts have been changed to fit the narrative of One Piece, many broad ideas and themes still reverberate in the story. I believe One Piece and The Divine Comedia show the appeal of drawing inspiration from other cultures and histories to tell a story. Dante and Oda both have deep appreciation for historical figures, mythology, and politics. Their use of different characters and ideas puts so much more meaning into the story beyond the surface level. Just as Dante appreciated and was inspired by Grecco-Roman mythology, Oda was in return, inspired by great artists like Dante in his own work.

Works Referenced

“Visions of Dante.” Rmc.library.cornell.edu, rmc.library.cornell.edu/visionsofdante/themes_mappinghell.php#:~:text=Dante%20describes%20Hell%20as%20a.

Wikipedia Contributors. “One Piece.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Sept. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece.

‌Andrew Annandale Sinclair. “Che Guevara | Biography, Facts, Fidel Castro, & Death.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 27 Sept. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Che-Guevara.

“Wind Granma.” One Piece Wiki, onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Wind_Granma. Accessed 12 Dec. 2023.

‌“Impel Down.” One Piece Wiki, onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Impel_Down. Accessed 12 Dec. 2023.

‌“Divine Comedy – Digital Dante.” Columbia.edu, 2019, digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/.

“La Mappa Dell’Inferno (the Map of Hell) by Botticelli.” Florence Inferno, 22 June 2013, www.florenceinferno.com/the-map-of-hell/.

AHC. “Inferno.” Ahc.leeds.ac.uk, ahc.leeds.ac.uk/discover-dante/doc/inferno/page/2.

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