This is Alabasta, one of the most iconic Islands in One Piece.
And this is Cairo, the capital of Egypt, The ancient temple of Edfu, the gambling city
of Las Vegas in the United States, traditional architechture form Mali in west Africa, the
Mehrangarh Fort in India and even the Taj Mahal.
The epic landmarks and beautiful landscapes of 4 incredibly different countries from all
around the world, merged into one fantastic island on the grand line with its own unique
history, culture and people.
I can't stress enough how impressive I find this.
Alabasta is a desert kingdom located halfway through the first part of the grand line with
a history dating back to the infamous void century 900 years ago.
At first glance the island seems to be purely inspired by Egypt, with pyramids and deserts.
But once I looked a little closer, it became clear, that there is so much more going on
here.
Rain Dinners, the large Casino run by Crocodile, is a condensed version of the Luxor hotel
in Vegas.
The main palace is inspired by India's most famous landmark, but the roofs have been replaced
with the golden ones of the so-called dome of the rock, an islamic shrine located in
Jerusalem.
This is fitting because according to Nico Robin it dates back over 4000 years.
The capital Arubana to me seems to be based on this ancient rocky fort in the north west
of India, that celebrates the Sacred Spirit Festival.
The tomb of the kings, the oldest part of Alabasta, that concealed the poneglyph, is
the spitting image of the ancient temple of Edfu, that is famous for the Edfu building
texts, that contain the history of the ancient kingdom of Egypt all the way back to the 'Early
Primeval Age of the Gods'.
Damn, that's cool, I definitely want to go there some day.
And how very fitting for a place that contains part of the true history of the one piece
world and its gods.
You have characters, like Pell and Chaka, that have Zoan fruits inspired by the sacred
animals of ancient Egypt, a falcon and a chakul.
The king himself is named Cobra and the main antagonist is Crocodile, the animals that
live in the nil river, which is ironic because he is the one who takes away the countries
water supplies.
And yet, what absolutely blew my mind was that Alabasta OFFICIALLY is inspired by India,
which, I'm sorry, but I find absolutely ridiculous, given all its Egyptian influence and it's
name literally being a pun on the words Arab and the white stone Alabasta in Japanese.
But anyways, what's up I'm Manu and in case you are wondering how I know this, there is
actually an official travel guide to the one piece world, that lists a lot of the real
life inspirations for all the fantastic places we visit, that actually only dropped in 2021
and that I haven't heard of for some reason until now.
I actually was doing research on this topic myself when I randomly stumbled upon it half-way
through.
I guess if you clicked on this video, you're as fascinated by the world that Eiichiro Oda,
the author of one piece, has created, as much as I am.
Because building a whole fictional world, that feels alive and real is actually one
of the most complex things you can do in story telling.
And since no one can create a whole world out of nothing, naturally – even if only
subconsciously – you will adapt and incorporate some real-world elements into your imaginary
setting and story, using them as a base of inspiration without copying things 1:1.
For me, this has two big advantages: One, It makes your world and your characters feel
familiar to your audience and two, it anchors your fiction in reality to make it more believable
and relatable.
And I think Oda-sensei, who despite barely leaving his office, is obsessed with learning
about the history, geography and culture of the world, has mastered this advanced technique
to a ridiculous level.
His world of islands and pirates is incredibly unique and new, but still everything feels
familiar and coherent.
As I showed you with the example of Alabasta, he achieves this by taking a number of real
life inspirations from all over the world and combines the attributes he likes into
something completely new.
So allow me to take you on a tour through the one piece world and all its fantastic
inspirations - in no particular order.
Some of these are based on the official book and others...let's say educated guesses.
And I want to start with Luffy's home, dawn island in the east blue.
Now most of the east blue is inspired by asian places.
Nami's home is inspired by Indonesia, Zoro's village is inspired by Nara in Japan and the
Baratie is inspired by Vietnam's floating restaurants.
This makes sense because it is literally called the east blue, Asia being in the east.
And when I looked deeper into this, it actually seems to be the , direction Oda-sensei went
with the entire one piece world.
The west blue for instance features, locations like Ohara, that is based on England, Ballywood
Kingdom, that is based on Hollywood of course and thriller bark, that is inspired by French
gothic architecture like the Notre dam.
Anyways, the Goa kingdom in the east blue also falls into this pattern, because it is
based on the Philippines with it's jungles and warm climate.
By the way one of the most beautiful countries I have been to.
The rich capital and the grey terminal seem to be a representation of smokey mountain,
a giant landfill in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, where people lived and worked
in heaps of garbage.
Just like in One pIece, the landfill experienced devastating fires.
In the story, it's the nobles that purposefully want to get rid of all the poor people living
there to not anger the celestial dragons coming to visit.
The capital city itself however seems to be based on the Indian state of Goa, Indias richest
region, once again contrasting the striking gap between rich and poor.
For Fusha village on the other hand it seems like Oda-sensei drew inspiration from the
English country side, once again merging three very different countries into one.
I wish I could nerd out a bit more about how awesome I find this combination, but for your
sake, let's move on.
This is the freaky island of Punk hazard, that not only looks like the worlds largest
poke ball, but is half Mordor and half North Pole.
Basically how my balls feel when I go into a Japanese onsen in winter.
Cant recommend enough.
Well you might or might not be surprised when I tell you that there is a place like in the
real world as well.
Because Iceland is pretty much a song of fire and ice as well, only that they were smart
enough to stopp after four seasons.
With some of the most unreal and epic landscapes in the world, here hot glowing volcanic lava
meets icy glaciers with only few inhabitants.
Similar to how Punk Hazard's conditions have made it a hard place to live.
But damn I want to go to Iceland so so badly.
Now Wano, the longest arc of the entire story, is of course inspired by Japan.
However there are so ridiculously many details from real Japan hidden in this arc, that it
would probably be an entire video of its own, so let me know if you want to see that.
Next we have a place that I have enjoyed talking about a lot in my videos recently, Drum Island,
home of chopper.
The island as a whole, that is always covered in snow, is mostly based on Northern America
and the Rocky Mountain region.
The iconic cone shaped peaks are most likely inspired by the devils tower in the north
of Wyoming.
And yes I cant believe that's a real place either.
The town of Cocoa Weed is basically a copy of the Canadian city Banff.
However interestingly enough, Big Horn the town where the straw hats arrive, appears
to be inspired by the cute city of Alberobello in Italy.
Meanwhile, and as a German I can't believe I missed this, Drum Castle, where Dr. Kureha
resides, is of course based on the legendary Neuschwanstein castle in the state of Bavaria,
where I'm actually from.
How embarrassing.
Oda-sensei really went out of his way to create a winter-wonder land here, giving it that
Christmassy vibe.
Before I go on to the next big one, here are a few smaller ones.
Whiskey Peak is inspired by Taos in New Mexico.
Twin peaks is basically Thacher Island, also in the US.
I talked about that in a recent theory about the one piece being inside a whale like Laboon.
The castle on top of the red line, Marijois, from where the Government Rules the world
is inspired by the, and I'm sorry for slaughtering this, Chateau de Chambord in France, a 2 hour
car ride away from Paris.
Both the real chateau and Marijois have vast gardens and a pure statement of power and
luxury.
Interestingly enough it is closely related to the French Revolution, where the revolutionary
army took it away from the governing nobility.
I wonder if that might become relevant in the story.
Zou the giant elephant, is most likely a twist on the whale with an island on its back trope,
but I believe Oda-sensei might also have seen an image of this famous rock that looks like
an elephant off the coast of Iceland.
The city of the minks on the other Hand is inspired by the monument Valley in Yemen.
There is also this island, called the Rommel Kingdom, that we see in Cavendish's flashback.
His alter ego Hakuba is based on the infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, and his hometown
in general in based on 19th century London.
And I personally, am inspired by you subscribing to the channel if you want more one piece
content like this.
This is Amazon Lilly, an empire only run by then women of the Kuja clan, located in the
calm belt, where Luffy was transported by Kuma.
While the women themselves are inspired by the legendary amazon warriors from greek mythology,
the island itself is actually inspired by the so called hanging temple in the north-east
of china, close the mountains of Mongolia.
Yes, I know, these look completely unreal, towering over 30 meters from the ground inside
that cliff, but they are an actual place, built over 1500 years ago.
I love how unique the combination of these two ideas is, making Amazon Lilly a truly
spectacular place.
Then we have Dressrosa.
You might already know that this island is heavily inspired by Spain and Spanish culture,
for example with viola's tango dance.
The architecture resembles that of the famous Gaudi, who's influence you can see all over
Barcelona.
Park Güell in particular looks a lot like the buildings we see throughout the country
under Doflamingo's rule.
And just how Crocodile was inspired by an animal that is connected to Egypt, Don Quixote
Doflamingo himself is a nod to both the flamingos living in the Spanish salines, but also to
the dance Flamenco.
Oh, and of course the famous story of Don Quixote.
Oda-sensei actually commented the following here himself:
When I took a close look at Doflamingo and tried to think of what country would suit
him.
I arrived at the conclusion that it's Spain.
I’ve mentioned that the countries of One Piece are all inspired by real-life countries
in another SBS before, but it’s the first time I got feedback from the residents of
such a country.
I can’t be irresponsible in the way I draw, but if you do see anything that seems like
a half-baked version of your culture or buildings, please forgive me.
Remember, it’s just a manga.
Haha, I wish more people would take that last sentence to heart.
The Giant coloseum on the other hand is of course inspired by the actual colosseum in
Rome or Ancient Greece.
Now let's move on to my absolute favourite location in all of One PIece: Water seven.
And not only because Enies Lobby and water seven are my favorite arc, but also because
the island itself is absolutely breathtaking.
It's a floating city with canals instead of streets, that is famous for its shipwrights.
This city is of course heavily inspired by Venice, that is also built on the water and
full with canals.
The venitians were famous for their ships, that they used to build a flourishing global
trading empire, reflected in water sevens skill with ship building.
If you ever have the chance to visit Venice, it's just as breathtaking as it look...maybe
even more so.
The masks of Venetian carnival are used incredibly creatively to introduce the Cypher Pol agencies.
The building of the galley-la company, that is run by Franky's step brother Ice Berg,
is inspired by the piazza dell'anfiteatro in the Tuscany in northern Italy.
The only thing that seems to be non-italian on water seven is it's clear resemblance to
the island Mont Saint Michael in the normandy in France, that depending on the tides is
completely surrounded by water as well and strongly resembles the shape of water seven.
But let's go back to Venice for a second.
Not only is the city slowly sinking into the ocean every single year, but it frequently
experiences the so called Acqua Alta, a phenomenon where the city is flooded by high tides.
I suspect, that this is the inspiration for the enormous aqua laguna, a tsunami like wave
that rolls over water seven every single year and causes to island to sink a little.
I can't help but wonder what secrets lie beneath the surface here as well.
As you know, I am convinced that there is a much bigger and deeper secret to this stunning
world of one piece and why so much of it is under water.
For example the connection between the Aqua Laguna and the going whole under Enies Lobby.
And what do the devil fruits have to do with all this?
One crazy, but very real possibility for example, is that the devil fruits actually originate
from a giant tree on Laugh Tale, that is under the sea just next to water seven.
And that’s why you really shouldnt ignore this video, because it will prove to you that
One Piece's world building goes way deeper than you could ever dream.