I've been a reader of One Piece on and off for years now. The premise of "uhm actually, being a pirate is about having fun with your friends" is what kept me attached. Exploring the world with your friends while dodging the grip of a UN for Monarchs is a very cool premise. It's a really romantic version of piracy. In practice though the crew's journey seems to be them going to the most dystopian fucked up islands imaginable and doing a regime change. I feel like a different formula would've been cooler. But as the current president of the United States once said, I'll still keep drinking that garbage.
It's got an amazing world though. Water 7 and Skypeia are my favorite locations.
spoiler
Critical support to the anti-imperialist Doflamingo for standing up to the World Government :fidel-cool: jk
I've been a huge fan from a young age. There's a lot of anti-imperialistic themes throughout. The World Government flag has a resemblance to the Japanese Empire flag and Akainu talks like a Japanese right-winger.
The concept of exploring the world and starting a revolution is what kept me intrigued and continues to keep me interested.
Also the world government always reminded me of the US. Military bases everywhere, controls the media narrative, positions itself as a positive to the entire world; all while doing nefarious shit and being controlled by a very small minority.
That's an interesting perspective. Personally I avoid viewing media thru a political lens cuz it almost always ends up souring the experience.
I usually do too, but I got into One Piece at around the same time I was learning about US intervention where I live. The resemblance was too strong for me to ignore it.