Before One Piece was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shounen Jump, Eiichiro Oda created a one-shot manga called Monsters, which was released in 1994. It features a legendary samurai named Ryuma, who is also known as Ryuma the King. Here’s where you can read Eiichiro Oda’s Monsters manga featuring Ryuma.
The Monsters manga is only one of the few one-shot stories Eiichiro Oda made before One Piece came to life.
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What Is the Plot of Eiichiro Oda’s One-Shot Monsters Manga?
Eiichiro Oda’s one-shot manga titled Monsters may be short, but its story is canon to the One Piece lore, as confirmed in SBS Volume 47.
The Monsters manga follows Ryuma, an incredibly talented samurai who wandered into a village in search of something to eat.
He finds himself in a restaurant, where he comes across a waitress named Flare and a beloved knight named Shirano, known for surviving a dragon attack and saving a young girl’s child.
The conflict began when Shirano’s sheath touched Ryuma’s. It’s not a big deal for most people, but for a samurai-like Ryuma, it means he’s been challenged into a life-or-death duel.
One thing led to another, as Ryuma discovered that Shirano is not the kind of heroic samurai everyone thinks he is.
There’s more to him than meets the eye, and the villagers need to know the truth about what happened in the past.
Unlike One Piece, which features pirates, Eiichiro Oda’s one-shot manga features samurai fighting a knight and a dragon.
In case you didn’t know, Ryuma is the same legendary samurai Roronoa Zoro faced during the Thriller Bark arc of the One Piece manga. He was known as the Sword God, who got reanimated to serve Gecko Moria.
Ryuma is also the direct ancestor of Roronoa Zoro as well as Shimotsuki Ushimaru, the last daimyo of Ringo in Wano.
Where to Read the Monsters Manga Featuring Ryuma
Great news for One Piece and Monsters 103 fans! The Monsters one-shot manga by Eiichiro Oda is now available to read for free on Viz Media's official website.
Fans may read all 46 pages of the Monsters special one-shot manga on Viz without any subscription required. This release comes days after the anime adaptation officially premiered on Netflix worldwide.
The Monsters manga, which features the samurai Ryuma, was originally published in the Autumn Special of Shonen Jump back in 1994.
It was then reprinted in 1998 after it was included in Wanted!, Eiichiro Oda’s compilation of pre-One Piece stories.
Eiichiro Oda's Monsters Anime Adaptation Release Date
The Monsters anime adaptation premiered on January 21, 2024, on Netflix globally. The original net animation (ONA) is officially titled MONSTERS: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation.
As the Monsters manga is a one-shot, its adaptation is also only one episode long. Monsters 103 is directed by Sunghoo Park (Jujutsu Kaisen, Ninja Kamui) and produced by E&H Production.
E&H Production is a new anime studio that aims to make engaging animation for the entire world. E stands for entertainment, while H stands for human.
In addition to the Monsters anime adaptation, E&H Production is also working on Project Bullet/Bullet.
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