Nobody “casually” starts One Piece.

You either:

– avoid it for 10 years

or

– accidentally lose six months of your life.

Stage 1 – Denial

“I’m not watching 1000 episodes.”

Reasonable. Understandable. Healthy mindset.

Stage 2 – Curiosity

“Okay maybe I’ll just watch a few episodes.”

This is how it begins.

Stage 3 – Attachment

Suddenly you care deeply about a stretchy pirate and his emotionally unstable found family.

Stage 4 – Stockholm Syndrome

You start saying things like:

“The pacing gets better later.”

You are defending your prison.

Stage 5 – Obsession

You now explain lore to innocent people who did not ask.

You also now have a dog named Zoro.

You have become the One Piece fan.

Final Verdict

You don’t watch One Piece.

One Piece absorbs you.