As a child, Oda practice drawing by sketching tons of characters from FUJIKO Fujio (A) and FUJIKO F. Fujio, he also inspired by vikings and aspired to become a manga artist since then. He submitted a character named Pandaman for Yudetamago's Kinnikuman, who was not only used in a chapter of the manga but would later return as a recurring cameo character in Oda's own works. At the age of 17, he submitted his work Wanted! and won several awards. At the age of 19, he worked as an assistant to WATSUKI Nobuhiro on the manga Rurouni Kenshin. He also had worked on Midoriyama Police Gang, Jungle no Ouja Ta-chan & Manyuuki. During this time, he drew two pirate-themed one-shot stories, called Romance Dawn. In 1997, One Piece appeared for the first time in the Weekly Shounen Jump magazine and promptly became one of the most popular manga in Japan.
