8 Powerful Lessons From One Piece That You Can Apply at Sea

by | Last updated Nov 24, 2023 | Seaman's Life | 0 comments

While watching the anime, I learned eight powerful lessons from One Piece that I also apply on board. It helped me a lot in my personal growth as well as the relationships with my crew.

I had to include this since, whether you agree with me or not, they have some similarities. This may look childish but the point here is, the anime had positive impact in my seafaring career. That’s why I’m sharing the lessons with you.

For more than a decade, I always find time to watch or read their manga. The anime is actively running for more than 20 years already and the story just keeps on getting better and better.

Each ending of every episode brings new excitement to follow through the next week with lessons to learn along the way.

Take it or leave it, here are the top 8 Lessons From One Piece That You Can Apply Into Your Everyday Life at Sea.

1. Pursue your biggest dream with determination.

Your Will defines the accomplishment of your dreams. This is always manifested by Luffy, the main character. Whenever he faces a very seemingly impossible situation, he always reminds himself and everyone around him- including his enemies, about his ambition to become the next Pirate King.

The next thing you know is ass-kicking time!

Pursuing a career at sea takes one hell of determination. The cost alone of becoming a seafarer is very high. And when you are at sea, the pressure is on and you could be working everyday. Some situations may even want to bring you down.

Reminding myself with this lesson from One Piece and Luffy is important because it teaches me to never give up on my dreams.

2. Look for the right teammates who have big dreams like you.

While other characters in the anime have huge number of crews and ships in their fleet, the Strawhat Pirates only have ten. But each of those ten members have their own dreams and not just any ordinary dream.

They all want to die for their dreams because in the first place, those dreams are the only ones that kept them alive. Moreover, they all have different skill sets too. From cooking, ship-works, soul music, medicine, to cartography, they have a diverse range of talents that complement each other and contribute to their survival and success on their journey.

Isn’t this a far similar scenario with many types of merchant ships and their crew of 15 or 25? We always want to sail with the people on board who share similar values and dreams with us.

3. Take good care of your crew.

While they have petty silly fights with each other- from who ate the last dish to seeing someone’s panties, they always watch out for one another.

Everybody protects everyone and would willing to lose an arm or a leg just to save their friend. Remember how Luffy kicked Usopp’s ass for some ego fights?

Though that episode resulted in drama to the point that Usopp wanted to go out on his own, their friendship prevailed and strengthened their bond to a new level.

There are even times when one of their crews is forcefully taken away by a strong enemy. Logically, the best thing to do is to move forward never minding about what happened. But in Luffy’s case, he does his best to bring back a lost “Nakama” even if he has to face the World Government.

He knows that his crew is the best and each of them earns a special place in his ship. In return, his Nakama gives their full loyalty to him.

That’s how leaders should act when the situation calls. That’s what leaders do when caring for their followers.

While this may be an impossible scenario on board (fighting against strong enemies), the point is to take care of your crew mate.

You must practice these particular lessons from One Piece. If you take care of your crew, they will surely feel this and will eventually reciprocate.

4. Help other people along the way without expecting anything in return.

As the story progresses, the Strawhats would meet some other pirate crews, tribes, or group of people who are in distress. They could have just left them and pursue their own dreams but they don’t.

What would happen is that they go all out in helping. They put their lives on the line just to save those people without expecting anything in return.

Is this applicable in our daily grind? Well, you can’t always be in a situation which calls you to lay down your life for someone. But what you can do is to help people or strangers who are in need.

The Strawhats usually end up getting paid much more than what they’d contribute. And they became friends and allies with a bond  stronger than steel. Their connections all over One Piece universe is also wide. That is after helping people one episode at a time.

While we may not be fighting some enemies in foreign countries, I can still relate to this in another way. I always try to help my crewmates without expecting anything from them. As long as I’m not busy, I can offer my help whether it is work-related or not.

In turn, I get unexpected treats from them like free drinks in Seaman’s Centers or a case of beer at slopchest.

The Strawhat Pirates ready to fight their enemies during the Wano Arc.

5. Painful losses and failures makes you stronger.

The sea is not always calm. The most dramatic episode of One Piece could be seen during Goin’ Merry’s farewell to the Strawhats. It was so intense that even I as an audience got carried away. It was also very painful to watch because they consider their ship as their own “Nakama”.

Next would be Ace’s death in front of Luffy. Imagine your brother getting killed in front of you. That must have been really painful.

But these aching experiences only made them stronger than ever. It’s the same as life. There are those moments that we hit rock bottom and its really difficult to get over them.

These lessons from One Piece are so powerful it resonates with fans. If we learn to perceive the positive side of our predicament and focus on growth, the good will always surprise us with tremendous happiness.

My failures and losses on board turned out to be stepping stones, and sometimes, slingshot for positive growth in my life. We learn a lot when some inspector comes on board and we fail to answer their questions. As long as we take this positively and improve ourselves, we will be ready when they come next time.

6. Find mentors.

To unlock our hidden potentials needed for our journey in life or career, we need someone who would guide us along the way. We have to accept that no matter how great we feel we are, it is always wise to empty our cup and be a disciple again.

This happened to all of the Strawhats. After getting butt-kicked by Kuma, they accepted their weakness and found mentors whom they believe knows more about their powers and who has been out there.

It’s similar with us especially on board. Alone, we can only take ourselves to a certain level. But if we submit to a discipleship from someone whom we acknowledge better than us, we can soar to great new heights unlocking our potential.

Absorbing the lessons we learn from our mentors always yield good results for us.

7. Do not be afraid to take on the big guys.

Every time Luffy faces a fight, it is always with someone who is way stronger than him. Some of his crew mates may falter but once he declares his intention, there is no turning back, come hell or high water.

But along the process, the big guys usually end up getting beaten up. Luffy alone may not be enough to defeat him but with his team and allies, they can accomplish anything.

In our daily life, on land or at sea, we sometimes encounter big problems or stronger competition. It could be intimidating if we focus on what the other side have that we don’t have.

But if we start to take inventory of our own resources, the quality of our team and the efficiency of our teamwork, we can be confident in our performance and accomplish our goals effectively.

The Strawhat Crew and lessons you can learn from them

8. Have fun.

One of the lessons from One Piece I learned is to have fun.

We should not be too serious about life especially on board where the job gets monotonous. At sea, we can have fun and be happy with our crewmates. I even created my own 99 reasons why I love working on ships. That list helped me realize that there are so many things to be thankful for.

This is also one of the great reasons why I love One Piece. Aside from the epic fights, masterful story lines, and surprisingly cool adventures, each character have their own fun side.

They have this really strong swordsman but has no sense of direction. If you agreed to meet in the front yard of your house after two days, you will find him in a castle nearby helplessly trying to find the exit.

Or there’s this romantic cook who prefers being killed by a lady than to lay a hand on her. A skeleton who likes seeing panties.

A captain who eats everything that looks edible, even if it is poisonous. Put them in one ship together with other silly characters and you have a hell of a fun.

Whether they are at sea on their ships or going ashore, ashore they always know how to have fun.


Your team could be unique and dead serious about goals but it’s always helpful to inject gags that will lighten everyone’s mood. As what they always say, “Happiness is not the destination, it is the journey.” So sit tight, have fun and enjoy the process.

May the winds be in your favor.

Gibi

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