Tokyo:

The AI ​​program ChatGPT has taken exams, written news articles and produced code. So perhaps no surprise that “One Piece” author Eiichiro Oda has turned to it for inspiration.

The man behind the record-breaking manga that is often called one of the best known in the world appeared to be suffering from writer’s block last month.

“Hello. This is the author. I can’t think of a story for One Piece next week. Could you think of a story? A super good story, please,” he asked the program, according to a video his contributors posted on their website. Twitter account.

Within seconds, ChatGPT spun a story where heroes meet new friends and duke it out with new enemies, including “Shadow King”.

The program tried to sell the story to Eiichiro Oda, telling the creator that the proposed plot features a mysterious tribe, new comrades, and a renewed focus on an existing character to showcase her intellect and demeanor that his readers would enjoy.

But Eiichiro Oda’s immediate assessment was unrelenting: “Sorry. It’s boring,” he typed, demanding a better idea.

Second time around the program was rewarded for producing a storyline in which an alien joins “One Piece” characters and “Pirate King” Luffy to fight a witch and rebuild his home star that had been destroyed by an evil starship .

“Thanks. I’ll draw as is,” Eiichiro Oda wrote in response, joking that his next installation in the saga will be based on the new storyline.

“One Piece” follows straw hat-wearing Luffy and his crew as they hunt for the titular treasure coveted by all pirates.

The last episode started on July 25 in Japanese weekly manga magazine Shonen Jump.

Since the first volume appeared in 1997, the series has released more than 100 volumes and broken sales records.

Eiichiro Oda held a Guinness World Record for having the most copies of the same comic series published by a single author.

The 100th volume of the series was released in France last year with a print run of 250,000 copies, a number of rival works that have won the prestigious Prix Goncourt literature prize.

The “One Piece” universe contains cultural and geographic references that give it a universal dimension, including ancient Egypt, Venice and medieval Japan.

Engaging characters and modern themes of breakneck industrialization, racism, slavery and geopolitical intrigue add to the series’ appeal.

Producers hope the upcoming release of a Netflix series adapted from the “One Piece” universe will help break new ground and bring the story to the global streaming platform’s more than 200 million subscribers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)