Humans

Humans (人間, Ningen) beings are the dominant race in the world, as they outnumber most other races, and are usually among the most technologically advanced and organized of the races. Most islands are inhabited by humans, even in the Grand Line, where most of the stronger races such as the mermen and giants are found.

The Slave Price for humans is 500,000 berries.

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 * —About Humans.

Appearance
Humans come in a range of sizes, ranging from "normal" to much taller (such as Jerry). Some, such as Newgate Ward and Moria Gecko, are extremely large for human standards; Moriah is 692cm (22'7") tall, far surpassing an average human's height by roughly five to six times. However, these humans remain small compared to giants. These large humans are roughly the same size as Wotans. Some humans have features that are unique, such as Usopp's long nose, which led to people mistaking him for a merman in Coco Village.

Further physical differences between humans varies greatly; islands not allied with the World Government form a number of tribes including (but not exclusive to) the dwarves, minkmen, Longarm Tribe, Longleg Tribe, and Snakeneck Tribe. Some humans have an ape-like appearance such as Masira, Shojo, the Utan Divers, Hamburg and the Coffee Monkeys; Masira claimed openly to be human and not ape, although he was not insulted when called a "monkey". Humans with demonic features have also appeared in the storyline (mainly in the Impel Down Arc) and have traits such as pointed ears, sharp teeth and intimidating facial features; Moria is notably demonic in appearance, having white skin, pointed ears and even small horns on his forehead. A few humans have even been seen with animal-like horns, resembling to that of goat or sheep, growing on their heads, such as Merry and Caesar Clown. Even amongst families, size and proportional differences may occur, the most prominent example being the Gorgon Sisters.

Biology
The majority of the strange tribes of the Grand Line are also human; but they can differ significantly in appearance from "normal" humans. Sandersonia Boa and Marigold were normal-sized humans when young, but currently stand noticeably above the size of normal humans, while their oldest sister, once only a little shorter than them, remained normal, if above-average, human size. Amongst the Kuja in particular, there is a notable phenomenon that every child born is female and no males are ever produced, although whether this is due to biology or gender specific culling is unknown. The alterations of other tribes' biology like this have yet to be explained.

Hybrids
Humans can breed with fishfolk to produce a human-fishfolk child. However, further interbreeding with humans appears to remove all apparent fishfolk features. After just two generations, the only fishfolk trait is a fast swimming ability, with all other physical traits being human. Humans can also breed with mermen to produce a wotan, such as Sapi and Dellinger. Humans, mermen, and fishfolk also share the same blood types, and can have transfusions provided the blood type matches.

Inter-species Relationships
The apparent weakness of the humans in the Fairy One Piece Tail world often makes other races, such as the mermen, think poorly of them. This can result in heavy amounts of racism towards humans, although not all mermen share this belief. Often, this is met by humans with returned racism towards the mermen, sometimes leading to bloodshed. As a result of a long history of bad inter-species relations, humans tend to think of mermen and mermen as nothing more than fish, and ignoring any chance of them being viewed as equals with humans. Mermen children have been seen to view humans as "scary", and in one case an adult mermen attempted to blame their vast numbers as a reason for their species ruling the world.

There is an apparent problem with the non-World Government allied tribes. Their freakish appearances (such as having long arms or legs) are often a lure for kidnapping crews (who are usually humans) at Sabaody Archipelago, who sell them as slaves because their prices are much higher than a regular human. The tribes and races caught up in the slave trade are often sold for a higher price than "normal" humans. Humans themselves are worth an average of 500,000 berries in the slave market. Members of these tribes may even regard "normal" humans as freaks due to the fact that where they come from, their own appearances are normal and that of "normal" humans is not.

The dwarves of Tontatta Kingdom are widely regarded by the citizens of Dressrosa to be 'fairies', and no real attention is paid to them. In the past, they were enslaved by the king of Dressrosa, but when that king left the new ruler allowed the dwarves freedom, and helped the people believe that they were only a myth. However, when Doflamingo Don Quixote took control, he enslaved the dwarves again.

"Do not dare to call upon us again, you filthy human."
 * —The World Nobles' view on humanity.

World Nobles are no different from any other normal humans. However, in their delusive arrogance of global diplomatic immunity and their esteemed heritage of being the descendants of the twenty kings who founded the world, they see themselves as above humans, believing themselves as gods. They are so detached from humanity that they wear special helmets to prevent themselves from breathing the same air as humans. The Don Quixote Family, who forfeited their World Noble statuses, were condemned as traitors to their blood and derogatorily regarded by the other World Nobles as humans; Homing believed himself as one, which was the reason he brought his family away from Marie Jois to embrace their humanities. Even so, his elder son Doflamingo believes to this day that he is above humanity, deriding his father's ideals of living as normal humans. The other World Nobles never accepted the Don Quixote Family again for fraternizing with humans, stating that the sacred status they abandoned cannot be regained. Because of their attitude, World Nobles see not just humans, but all races, as nothing more than inferior beings compared to themselves, a reason for the business boom in slave trades.

Overall Strength
Most of the inhabitants of the One Piece world are normal humans, and are one of the weakest races on the planet. While the average human is as weak as in real life, with enough training, they are able to become Superhumans- normal humans with high levels of physical strength. They can also train to gain incredible abilities. Some humans like Koala have demonstrated that humans can learn Merman Karate, despite not being Mermen themselves. Many humans have developed a variety of martial arts styles to defend themselves with such as Black Leg Style & Eight-Impact Fist. Additionally humans often wield swords and other weapons to compensate. Several human swordsmen are shown to be extremely powerful individuals such as Zolo, Rex, Shanks, Kyros, Ryuma (when he was alive), and world's strongest swordsman Mihawk Dracule. In addition, normal humans are more likely to consider eating Curséd Fruits to compensate for their lower physical abilities.

Their is also a Zoan Curséd Fruit called Human-Human Fruit which grants any animal that eats it human abilities such as intelligence, speech, and the ability to take a human hybrid form and full human form, as seen with its current user the Drum Island Reindeer, Chopper Tony Tony. Using his human intelligence the fruit granted him, Chopper Tony Tony developed the Rumble Ball to grant him further transformations.

Humans are also known for their intelligence and as a result can compensate for their lower physical abilities by out witting their opponents or use their intelligence to figure out how use their opponents' weaknesses/strengths against them. Several humans are geniuses in science and engineering, allowing them to develop unique powerful weapons & gadgets, or use their knowledge of various sciences (from biology to meteorology) offensively. Some humans like Vegapunk and Franky have demonstrated the ability to convert humans (and animals in Vegapunk's case) into Cyborgs, to further increase their abilities or repair damage to their physical bodies (like in Franky's case). Vegapunk's research in curséd fruits discovered exactly how Curséd Fruit powers are transferred over to a user, allowing him to develop Artificial Curséd Fruits and figure out a method to feed curséd fruits to inanimate objects, such as swords and guns. Several humans are shown to be geniuses when it comes to particular fields or expertise, even the human hating Arlong considered Nami's skills as a cartographer on par with the mermen "superiority" since they were superior to any mermen's.

Some humans are fortunate to be more than twice the size of a normal human being. Naturally, even with no training, these tall humans are amongst the strongest men and women in the world. However, compared with true giants, there can still be a massive difference between strength. When the Herculean Destroyers of the Franky Family (enormous by human standards) face off against the giants Oimo and Kashi, they were completely outmatched. Compared to this, Whitebeard, roughly three times the size of a normal human, blocked an attack from John Giant with little effort.

While the normal human is physically much weaker than races like giants and mermen, their wide range of attacks, skills, and abilities allow them to become versatile fighters. Even with the physical strength of other races taken into account, there are a handful of humans that can become strong, whether through physical prowess or tactical thinking. Arlong blamed the fact they had numbers as a reason for them ruling over Mermen, who are noted to be physically stronger overall than humans, as he believed that humans were the weakest species overall. However some extremely strong humans like Zolo and Kyros are shown to be strong and skilled enough to defeat a merman underwater, a place where normally mermen have an advantage over humans.

Trivia

 * In the world, humans can live up somewhat longer than real-world humans, such as Kureha is, at least 141 years old, though her case was more likely due to her medical expertise to maintain such good health.
 * Tony Tony Chopper classifies himself as a "man" because of his Curséd Fruit abilities from the Human-Human Fruit, although he is a reindeer by species.