While it just got a pretty faithful anime adaptation, what exactly is Monsters, the One Piece prequel? It carries some surprising connections even though it was originally a totally separate One Shot for Shonen Jump. The story of Monsters gives a peek into the past of the Grand Line, showing a beloved hero of Wano during a pivotal moment of his legend. The story of Ryuma the King is so much more than they let on in Thriller Bark, and his story is legendary for a reason.
This article contains spoilers for Monsters. Read it on Viz or watch it on Netflix before reading further!
What is Monsters?
Monsters was a one-shot story written for Shonen Jump by One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda back in 1996. This was even before writing the original Romance Dawn, the prototype for One Piece. The story here though centers around a samurai in a small town, passing through while trying to find some food. While he fills his belly, the story quickly turns to danger breaking out as a dragon descends on the town. With everyone running from the danger, it falls on Ryuma to save a young girl who fed him while exposing the terror that tricked them all.
The characters of Ryuma, Flair, and Cyrano take the main roles, with Flair being the young girl who saves Ryuma with a free meal. Cyrano, a master swordsman, supposedly went toe to toe with the dragon seven years ago, saving Flair from her village in the process. Now, the same fate falls upon the village where he meets Flair again, but this time he’s not prepared for something else to change the outcome. It turns out they decided on the wrong time and place, with Ryuma of Wano there to stop the great dragon that descends on them.
Ryuma
A legendary samurai in his own right, Ryuma in Monsters is just kind of a hungry goofball for most of the beginning. Apparently, he’s been without food for five days, on the brink of starving when he ends up staring in through a diner window. Flair, a young waitress, takes pity on him and gives him a free meal, earning his gratitude and earning a life debt to her. Ryuma promises to do whatever she needs, saying that his life is hers to use as she sees fit, and thanks for saving him. Little does Flair know that the strange swordsman sitting at her table is one who will save the entire town.
Ryuma appears later in One Piece, except as a rotting corpse on the island ship Thriller Bark. He’s been reanimated by one of Gecko Moria’s Shadow-Shadow Fruit abilities, with his incredible swordsmanship intact. Along with his blade Shusui, he’s made to fight for the Warlord, eventually coming up against his own descendant. The events of Monsters take place rather early in his life, though he’s already becoming a well-known name around the Grand Line and the world at large.
Cyrano
Cyrano is hailed as a master swordsman even before he saves the village surrounded by mountains. When the isolated town is engulfed in flames, with others from surrounding villages standing powerless to do anything, he rushes in valiantly. Except it’s actually just to rob everything from the town while making sure there are no survivors that can tell of him doing it. Cyrano ends up putting more villagers out than the fire does, cruelly slicing them down with little care for anyone’s lives. When young Flair asks him to help her parents before passing out, he instead kills them and carries her from the ashes. Now, he’s proclaimed as a hero in addition to master swordsman, and laps up the attention like a leech.
Turns out, Cyrano along with his associate DR are in league with the dragon that’s burning villages. They have an ancient artifact called the Dragon Horn that will summon a huge, fire-breathing beast when it sounds. They use the dragon to burn villages, driving the townspeople out while they steal everything from right under their noses. It’s a devious scheme, but he finally meets his match in the great samurai Ryuma from Wano. It turns out to be his final act, risking everything in the name of greed to be defeated by an unexpected foe.
Dragon’s Reign
There’s one thing more feared than any in the world of Monsters, and that’s the great dragon that burns villages. There are multiple around the world, but the one that’s the focus of this short is especially terrible. It’s a legendary dragon summoned by the Dragon Horn, bent to the user’s will for whatever they may want. In this case, the dragon follows Cyrano and DR as they command it in their conquest of villages. They make a plan, usually sending in Cyrano to scope things out before DR comes tottering in playing the madman. All it takes is one brief moment and DR sets off the Dragon Horn, kicking their plan into action.
Thanks to a previous run-in with Ryuma, they have the perfect person to blame it on. The samurai is already in trouble for slicing a solid bronze statue in half, but now the townspeople are especially angry with him for bringing a dragon down. Cyrano convinces all of them to abandon the village as he will stay back to fight the beast, risking his life to save them. Flair herself ends up staying back as well, too afraid to face leaving another home to a dragon. Thankfully, owing his life to her for feeding him, Ryuma stays behind to lend his help to her. It’s the downfall of Cyrano as Flair eventually notices he and DR working together.
Ryuma the King
Realizing what the two are doing with the dragon, Ryuma decides it’s time to confront them and fulfill his debt to Flair. He steps out, first going up against DR who begs for his life while promising treasure. Ryuma doesn’t even listen, barely drawing his sword before cutting the thief down. It doesn’t take much more effort for him to track down Cyrano, finding the master swordsman looting another house. With only a swift sword strike, he breaks right through Cyrano, taking him out in only seconds. It definitely takes the ‘master swordsman’ by surprise, and he falls to the ground before seeing what Ryuma has to say about the dragon.
Although it’s a fearsome beast with the ability to breathe fire, Ryuma goes all in on fighting the monster. He jumps high into the air, slicing it as it gnashes at him with teeth. Things look to be a difficult fight, with the dragon eventually taking off to fly into the clouds before Ryuma manages to launch himself at it again. As the samurai gains his footing on the dragon, he gives one more blinding fast slice with Shusui, his faithful blade, and takes the dragon’s head off. Flair, in amazement, doesn’t even know what to say, but Ryuma just considers his debt paid and tells her to keep her head up. Heading off with some food in hand, Ryuma looks back to see the village fires being put out, the people free to stay without the terror of dragons.
Zoro’s Ancestor
It’s finally confirmed in the Wano arc after being just fan theory for years that Ryuma is an ancestor of Zoro. Zoro’s family actually comes from a line of Wano’s Daimyo, the Yakuza bosses that headed up Wano’s regions. One left some generations before Oden though, disappearing in a seeming self-exile. Settling down here, he starts teaching the art of the sword to others, and eventually, his family ends up as Roronoa Zoro, who takes off to the Grand Line with Straw Hat Luffy.
Of course, they come up against each other in the Thriller Bark arc of One Piece. Ryuma’s reincarnated body is still extremely powerful too, holding all the skills with a sword that he did in life. Even then though, Zoro manages to beat him with only two of his swords, keeping the zombie samurai at bay long enough for him to recognize the talent. Deciding to finally break free of his Shadow-Shadow chains to rest again, Ryuma tosses his sword Shusui down to Zoro, who takes it on as one of his main weapons for the next two years.
The story of Monsters isn’t outright a One Piece prequel, or at least it didn’t start out that way. The designs of a lot of characters definitely show early concepts of One Piece characters worked out by Eiichiro Oda. It’s a fantastic piece of history though, and Shonen Jump just announced they’ll be releasing it along with a few of Oda’s other short stories. That means the original Romance Dawn one-shot that led to One Piece, but Monsters still holds a special place as the first.
