“It’s hard to think of anyone better than him”: Eiichiro Oda Revealed His Favorite One Piece Character to Akira Toriyama and That’s Surprisingly Not a Straw Hat Pirate

Eiichiro Oda’s favorite character is not even a part of the main storyline of One Piece.

SUMMARY

The One Piece world, which has been expanding for nearly 30 years, has introduced a limitless number of characters.
In an interview with the legendary Akira Toriyama, Oda once disclosed which character he liked best.
Fans of One Piece would think it would be one of the Straw Hat Pirates, but in reality, he has another favorite character.

The One Piece world which has been growing for almost 30 years has introduced an unlimited number of characters who have helped in the growth of the series one way or the other. This has become a specialty of Eiichiro Oda, that even the most insignificant characters that he introduces in the story tend to impact the story in a major way.
Strawhat Pirates in One Piece
These characters are so well written that even though they are removed from the storyline, they tend to become popular among fans. The biggest example of this is Fire Fist Ace, Luffy’s brother who was killed during the Marineford arc. Although he is long gone, he is still one of the most prominent characters in the story.

From the array of characters introduced in the story, it must be hard for Oda to pick one to be his favorite. But he did reveal his favorite character once in a discussion with the legend Akira Toriyama. One Piece fans assume that it would be one of the Straw Hat Pirates, but actually, his favorite character is someone who is not at all relevant to the current story anymore.

Eiichiro Oda Reveals His Favorite One Piece Character to Akira Toriyama

In a discussion with Akira Toriyama, which was contained in the One Piece artbook, Color Walk 1 and later shared by Thegrandline, Oda was asked by Toriyama about his favorite One Piece character. To the surprise of fans, Oda’s favorite character was Gaimon, who was introduced during the Syrup Village arc.

Oda stated:

“Me..? Of course, I like Luffy. But, the character that I like the most is Gaimon. It’s hard to think of anyone better than him. Just a man who has been stuck in a treasure box for 20 years. I think that was an amazing setup myself.”

Gaimon – One Piece

Eiichiro Oda Explains His Process of Creating a Character

During the discussion, while talking about his favorite character, Eiichiro Oda also talked about his process of creating a One Piece character that he introduces to the story. According to the manga creator, whenever he is drawing a character, he writes a line or a phrase with the character which helps him further develop the character.
One Piece
Oda stated:

“I go with the ‘flow’. I cherish what ‘grooves’ I get into. First, I draw really rough sketches of the new characters. When doing that, I always write down a line or two with them. It just happens naturally, I don’t even think about it. The first thing the character says usually helps in the long run to build his personality.”

The One Piece characters have a habit of leaving a lasting impression because of the way each character depicts his background story, which although might be irrelevant to the main element of the story, develops an emotional bond with the audience that makes the characters unforgettable.