As a kid, Oda was inspired by vikings and aspired to become a manga artist. He later submitted a character named Pandaman for Yudetamago's classic wrestling manga "Kinnikuman", who was not only used in a chapter of the manga but would later return as a recurring cameo character in Oda's own works. At the age of 17, he submitted his work "Wanted!" in 1992. And won several awards, including 2nd place in the coveted Tezuka manga awards. At the age of 19, he worked as an assistant artist for Nobuhiro Watsuki on the manga "Rurouni Kenshin", before winning the Hop Step Award for new artists. During this time, he drew two pirate-themed one-shot stories, called "Romance Dawn". In 1997, One Piece appeared for the 1st time in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine issue #34 and promptly became one of the most popular manga in Japan (after the "Dragon Ball" series). His biggest influence is Akira Toriyama. Also known as the creator of "Dragon Ball" and "Dr. Slump". Him and Toriyama have also made a one-shot manga called "Cross Epoch", a crossover containing characters from both Dragon Ball and One Piece.