One Piece: The Straw Hats' journey is shorter than anyone thinks, and it doesn't make much sense

Eiichiro Oda’s record-breaking One Piece has been entertaining fans for years, with the first chapter of the manga dating back to July 1997. Since then, the Straw Hat Pirates have never ceased exploring the seas in search of Gol D. Roger’s treasure. They have encountered countless characters and visited the most diverse locations along the way.

Despite its exceptionally long serialization, One Piece has always managed to stay fresh, captivating readers and viewers through a masterful blend of action, comedy, and epicness, all wrapped into an intricate, lore-filled worldbuilding. Even now, the story has so much to tell, with its conclusion approaching very slowly.

Fans have been following the Straw Hat crew’s adventures for nearly three decades, but within the One Piece fictional universe, the protagonists’ journey has only been going on for about three years, if not less. Admittedly, this is a short timeframe. It gives the impression that too much happens too fast in Oda’s addictive tale, truly challenging fans’ suspension of disbelief.

For fans, One Piece’s story spans decades, but in-verse, everything happens in a couple of years

How long has it been since the Straw Hats began their journey?

The Straw Hats enter the Grand Line (Image via Toei Animation)

Luffy leaving Windmill Village and setting to the sea marks the beginning of the East Blue Saga, during which One Piece author Eiichiro Oda doesn’t explicitly mention how much time passed. Still, it’s hard to see Orange Town, Syrup Village, Baratie, and Arlong Park spanning over a few weeks.

After leaving Loguetown and going through Reverse Mountain, the Straw Hats arrive at Whiskey Peak. From there, they take off the next day. They needed several days to reach Little Garden, meaning this trip was longer than a single day but probably shorter than an entire week.

The Straw Hats then spend one day on Drum Island, and it’s stated that it’s the third day of Nami’s illness. Five days later, they first come across Mr 2. With this in mind, only two weeks have passed since the Straw Hat Pirates got past Reverse Mountain and entered the Grand Line.

The Straw Hats in Skypiea (Image via Toei Animation)

As the crew’s journey continues, Zoro notes that they haven’t eaten in four days. After another day of travel into the desert, the Straw Hats arrive in Alubarna, where the Arabasta Saga reaches its climax. Following the victory over the Baroque Works, the protagonists rest for three more days, only to leave the country on the fourth.

The adventure in Jaya and Skypiea spans two days, after which the Straw hats spend several days partying. Later, they arrive at Long Ring Rong Land, where they remain anchored for four days. Three days later, they reach Water Seven. The following day, Nico Robin disappears.

One day later, the Straw Hats rescue Robin in Enies Lobby and return to Water Seven. There, they remain for about a week, as Monkey D. Garp arrives in the city two days after their return. The next day, Franky begins to build the Thousand Sunny, which takes three days.

The Straw Hats in Thriller Bark (Image via Toei Animation)

The Straw Hats leave Water Seven definitively, taking several days to reach Thriller Bark. Their adventure on Gecko Moria’s haunted island lasts one day. Three days later, the Straw Hats depart. After several travel days, they arrive at Sabaody Archipelago, where the crew gets separated by Bartholomew Kuma.

About two months have passed since the Straw Hat crew’s entrance into the Grand Line and two months and a half at most since Luffy left Windmill Village to start his pirate adventure. Three days after the incident in Sabaody, Luffy leaves Amazon Lily with his newfound ally, Boa Hancock.

Several days later, they arrive in Impel Down, where Luffy gets defeated by Magellan. He undergoes Ivankov’s treatment until the next day when the mass breakout occurs. On the same day, all the events of the Paramount War take place in Marineford. The timeline is quite certain, as when Luffy first arrived in Impel Down it was stated that Ace’s execution would happen six days later.

The Straw Hats in Sabaody (Image via Toei Animation)

Two weeks after the big conflict, Silvers Rayleigh goes to Amazon Lily to visit Luffy, and they head to Marineford alongside Jinbe. Subsequently, the story temporarily focuses on the other Straw Hats, and it’s stated that Franky has been missing for nearly a month. Thus, the entire Grand Line adventure took about three months.

The two-year time skip, during which each Straw Hat Pirate trains with a specific mentor on a different island, begins shortly. It’s interesting to note how that time significantly exceeds the one that the Straw Hats spent together.

Strangely enough, after the time skip, the narration becomes even faster. The Straw Hats regroup at Sabaody, reach Fish-Man Island, and leave it within a few days. The incidents in Punk Hazard and Dressrosa span over a similar timeframe.

One week later, after the end of the Dressrosa Arc, the Straw Hats arrive on Zou, where they learn what happened to Sanji. Two days later, Luffy, Nami, Chopper, and Brook take off for Whole Cake Island to rescue Sanji, while Zoro and the others head to Wano, aiming to infiltrate the land.

The Straw Hats in Fish-Man Island (Image via Toei Animation)

The trip to Big Mom’s place lasts a few days, and their adventure in the same location ends three days later. Then, the Wano Arc occurs. After a couple of days to reach the country, the events of the longest arc to date, including Luffy’s imprisonment in Udon, the preparations for the Onigashima Raid, and the deciding battle, span over two weeks.

After that, the Straw Hats, particularly Luffy and Zoro, spend a week resting to recover from their fatigue and injuries. Several days later, the crew leaves Wano and travels for another few days until reaching Egghead.

Dr Vegapunk’s futuristic island is the venue of a huge incident whose consequences would affect the balance of the world. Nevertheless, it’s explicitly stated that this pivotal event would conclude the day after the Straw Hats’ arrival on Egghead.

Thus, while it’s not possible to make a perfect estimate, the timespan for the Straw Hats’ post-time skip adventure can be quantified as a couple of months, meaning that the total length of their journey together amounts to about two years and a half, two of which were spent off-screen and with the crew members split.

A more harmonious timeframe would improve the One Piece narrative

The Straw Hats in Wano (Image via Toei Animation)

The extreme speed with which the events of One Piece happen in-verse, despite the story’s remarkable length and objectively slow pace, is widely noted as one of the franchise’s biggest flaws. Especially after the time skip, the Straw Hat crew’s rapid growth and world-changing achievements feel almost unreal.

Within just a few weeks, the main protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, went from being far weaker than Katakuri to surpassing Kaido, a growth rate that ridicules that of the established big names of the One Piece world.

Kaido, Big Mom, Blackbeard, and so on needed entire decades to obtain the position of Yonko, while Luffy achieved it at the age of 19, a little over two years after he became a pirate. As the second coming of Joy Boy and his sights set on the One Piece treasure, Luffy is set to rise even higher within a short time, becoming an incredibly young Pirate King.

Likewise, Luffy’s right-hand man, “Pirate Hunter” Roronoa Zoro, will go from being an ant compared to Dracule Mihawk to surpassing the World’s Strongest Swordsman in just a little over two years. Needless to say, this feels too quick.

The Straw Hats in Egghead (Image via Toei Animation)

With the series having entered its conclusive saga, the Straw Hat crew’s journey took too little time to reach its final stretch. This makes their adventure much less realistic, as in-verse any development happens too quickly to be metabolized, while in real life, fans who have been following the story for decades need years to see it progressing.

The fact that off-screen fights last for days, while every on-screen battle lasts minutes or, at most, hours, only increases the sense of bewilderment, truly making fans question the time management of the One Piece series.

The unbalance between the events’ rapid progression and the serialization’s slow pace is quite disorientating. A more appropriate and harmonious timeframe would only improve the narrative of One Piece, making the Straw Hats’ ground-breaking accomplishments more reasonable within the context of the franchise’s world while portraying a more life-like pirate adventure.

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All that would be required is to spread the duration of the arcs out over several days, if not weeks, instead of concentrating them into a single day. It would also help if the island-to-island travels took months instead of a few days. This would give the Straw Hats more time to train and improve their skills between each battle.

As things stand now, Luffy spent more time with Rayleigh than with Zoro, Nami, or any other member of his crew. The same goes for all the other Straw Hats, whose time spent with their mentors during the two-year time skip far exceeds the one they passed hanging together as a crew in One Piece.

To be fair, the Straw Hat Pirates seem almost too close, considering their relatively short time together. Granted, they risked their lives together on several occasions, which helped build trust even in a short time, but a longer timeline would only improve this aspect.