Most mangakas write a story. Kishimoto wrote “Naruto and His Road to Hokage,” Toriyama wrote “I Will be the Strongest and Save the World While I Get There,” and Kubo wrote “I’m a Braindead Prick Taking Advantage of Teenagers Who Can’t Tell a Good Storyline from an Inexistant One.” However, Oda created a world with infinite possibilities. How did he do that? He created characters who are more than just that - You know their dreams, their backgrounds, their fighting styles, their relationships, hell, even how they laugh. How many characters can you say that for in other comics?
The world in which the story takes place is also a great factor to this - everyone’s fro a different place. There are islands that have rocketed into the future, there are islands that have been left behind in the past. There are islands frozen in winter, and islands stuck simmering under the summer sun. There are islands in the sky, islands in the water, and islands half-submerged in water. Islands with giants, islands with swordsmen, islands with snipers, islands with transvestites, islands with weathermen, islands with archaeologists, islands with warrior-women, islands with technologically-advanced cavemen, islands with technologically advanced eskimos, islands with slaves, islands with noblemen. And less than half of them have been revealed.
But the real jewel is the story that Oda writes. Like many good comic artists before him, he created personalities, and let the story write itself. Each chapter is filled to the brim with a mix of comic relief, badassery, and just plain epicness. “/watch?v=W_4CYkB4ZgY” is an example of the quality which we have come to expect. As you can see, the character dynamix is key - it would be completely different if ANY of the characters were anyone else. If the gorilla were someone else, it wouldn’t be a King Kong reference. If Robin were someone else, Sanji would probably leave them to fend for themselves. If Sanji were someone else, he would save Robin based on the fact that she’s a nakama, instead of “she’s a lady.” If Brooke were someone else, there’d be no skull jokes. And that’s the tip of the iceberg.