Is One Piece A Modern Epic?

A contemporary ‘Odyssey’ or just a manga?

The other day, I was reading the latest chapter of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece and I suddenly started tearing up when I read about a super tragic backstory of a mysterious villain. After five minutes of ugly crying for a fictional character I thought I was supposed to hate, I realized something. One Piece is a modern-day Epic.