Rewatching a few episodes of One Piece made me wonder:
How much time did the Straw Hats spend with each other before the timeskip? [It's not necessary for all of them to be present. I'm looking for the time span between the Episode 3 (when Zoro joins the crew) and Episode 405 (when the Straw Hats are separated by Kuma)]
How much time has it been since the timeskip (till the start of Zou arc)?
Several people have wondered this same thing before, and have done plenty of research on the topic. Below I've compiled a couple of the more popular ideas on the passage of time in the One Piece universe.
There was a similar question asked on Reddit:
To which Redditor /u/jaydoubleyoutee responded:
Time in the East Blue is close to impossible to map out. Grand Line is a bit easier though. Loguetown, Reverse Mountain, and Whiskey Peak are the same day. They leave Whiskey Peak the 2nd day. Then several days pass when they reach Little Garden so I'm guessing it's been a week now. They are attacked by Wapol on the 8th day and reach Drum on the 9th. Four days pass and they meet Mr. 2. Five days til they get to Alabasta. The war breaks out two days later. Luffy sleeps for 3 days. They leave the next day, then get to Jaya the same day. They get to Skypiea the next morning and defeat Enel the day after that. So it's been like a month at this point. Then they reach Longring Longland and stay for four days. Three days later they reach Water 7. The next day is the Aqua Laguna. That night they raid Enies Lobby up until the next day. Luffy rests for two days when Garp shows up. Sunny is built in three days and they leave. Several days later, they reach Thriller Bark. They defeat Moriah at sunrise the next day. They sleep for one whole day when Brook joins. They leave two days later. So all this is between three and four weeks. Several more days pass when they arrive at Sabaody. Luffy is sent flying by Kuma and reaches Amazon Lily the next day. He wakes up from the mushroom after a day and befriends Hancock. Five days later they reach Impel Down. The next day is the war. Two weeks pass when Luffy wakes up at Marineford. So about a month has passed since they left Thriller Bark when Luffy decides to train for 2 years. Post-timeskip, it's only been three days. They reach Fishman Island and stay for a day. They leave and go to Punk Hazard. The third day is now on Dressrosa.
A comment, coincidentally by the same Redditor, on this question explains the 3 days post-timeskip:
Day 1: Straw Hats arrive at Sabaody. Go to Fishman Island. Beat Hody and challenge Big Mom. Tea Party in 4 days. Will take Pekoms and Tamago 3 days to get there.
Day 2: Camie asks for the day off, so it can't be Day 1 since she had that day off too. Straw Hats leave Fishman Island and make an alliance with Law on Punk Hazard.
Day 3: Law says on Day 2 that the paper in the morning will have Doflamingo's resignation. They reach Dressrosa that day. Pekoms and Tamago are still on their voyage to Big Mom.
Another way that people have tried to pinpoint the amount of time is the moon cycles that Oda depicts during night time scenes in the manga. Here is an excerpt from the One Piece Wikia on this matter:
In One Piece, Oda has depicted the moon several times, it has been discovered the moon's phases progress with the storyline's own timeline and therefore it can be used as a judge for the number of days that have passed on their journey. However from the first sighting in the Syrup Village Arc (waxing crescent) to the start of the Amazon Lily arc (waning crescent) would work out to be only 21 days by this guide. Although due to certain conditions on one of the phases seen, it could be as much as 42 days.
One point to be made is that we know the characters have only aged 2 years, the length of the timeskip. So the time spent pre-timeskip is definitely less than a year. Based off the information I've shared above, it's more likely to be just a couple months.
It definitely feels very strange when you consider how long we've been watching their journey, and I think Oda sensee agrees since he made this joke in SBS Volume 24:
Q: It takes while for time to pass in manga, doesn't it? Since it's a weekly thing. So, should we wait like 2 more years for Luffy's birthday?
A: No, no, no. He has a birthday every year, just like everyone else. It's just that, in Luffy's case, every year is his 17th birthday. Doesn't that make you jealous?
This reddit comment has gone through the manga and noted the days. I have confirmed some by diving into the manga at certain points. Below is the comment, copy pasted. All credit to the original commentator, please.
I tried to go through the Manga...
East Blue Saga : about 15 days, Grand Line : About 77 days, New World : about 41 days
Total : 2 years 134 days or about 2 years and 4 months
** - (didn't seem to have food to travel for more than a day)
Day 1 : Luffy leaves Fuusha Village
Day 2** : Luffy is sucked into a whirlpool and ends up in Alvida's base
Day 3** : Luffy and Coby free Zoro
Day 4** : Luffy and Zoro reach Orange town, meet Gaimon
Day 5** : Luffy arrives at Syrup Village
Day 6 : Luffy defeats Kuro
Day 7 : Usopp joins, Strawhats get Merry, Usopp paints the Strawhat Jolly Roger, Strawhats meet Johnny and Yosaku
Day 10 : (Johnny says it takes 2-3 days to reach Baratie) Strawhats reach Baratie
Day 11 : (it says 2 days later) Don Krieg attacks Baratie and is defeated, sanji joins, Nami arrives at Arlong Park, Zoro is captured, Nami frees Zoro, Luffy arrives at Arlong park, Luffy defeats Arlong, party through the night
Day 13 : Cocoyashi village still parties
Day 14 : Luffy leaves Cocoyashi village
Day 15 : Luffy finds out his bounty, Luffy arrives in Loguetown, is almost executed, leaves loguetown
Since entering Grand Line..
Day 1 : Arrive at Twin Capes, get Log Pose, head to Whiskey Peak, reach Whiskey peak at sun down, spend the night at whiskey peak.
Day 2 : Leave Whiskey peak in the morning, arrive at little garden, leave little garden.
Day 5 : (Kureha tells Nami that she had been infected for 3 days) Arrive at Drum kingdom, leave Drum kingdom at night.
Day 10 : (stated that 5 days have passed since leaving Drum kingdom) Meet Bon Clay on their way to Alabasta.
Day 14 (atleast) : (Luffy says its been 4 days since he last ate) Arrive at Alabasta, meet Ace, reach Yuba at night
Day 15 : Leave Yuba in the morning, change plans and head to rainbase.
Day 16 : (Vivi said Rainbase was a day's walk from Yuba) Reach Rainbase, head for Alubarna, Luffy beats crocodile.
Day 19 : (Vivi says Luffy was sleeping for 3 days) Luffy wakes up, Strawhats leave Alubarna at night to find Merry.
Day 20 : Bid farewell to Vivi and leave Alabasta, find Robin on their ship, a ship falls from the sky, Strawhats head for Jaya, Luffy beats Bellamy.
Day 21 : Strawhats ride the Knock-up Stream to Skypiea, spend the night planning on finding golden city.
Day 22 : Luffy defeats Enel, party at night
Day 23 : Strawhats leave skypiea
Day 24 (maybe) : Strawhats arrive at Long ring Long Land, win the Davy Back fight, lose to Aokiji.
Day 28 : (It says that Luffy and Robin needed to rest for 4 days after being frozen) Strawhats arrive at Water 7, Usopp fights Luffy, Robin tries to assassinate Iceburg at night
Day 29 : Strawhats try to meet Robin at night, face CP9, lose, set out for Enies Lobby
Day 30 : CP9 is defeated, Strawhats bid farewell to Merry.
Day 32 : (It says 2 days since the incident) Franky promises to build Sunny, Luffy meets Garp
Day 35 : (It says 3 days after waiting for Sunny) Strawhats leave Water 7 on board Sunny.
Day 36 (probably) : Strawhats enter thriller bark, beat moria before dawn
Day 37 : Zoro takes Luffy's pain, Brook joins the crew
Day 39 : (It says 2 days later) Zoro wakes up, Strawhats leave Thriller Bark.
Day 44 (may be) : (It says several days later) Strawhats reach the Red Line, rescue Hacchi, head to Saboady, get sent away by Kuma.
Day 47 : (Sentoumaru says people sent by Kuma fly for 3 days) Luffy arrives at Amazon Lily, fights Boa sisters, parties at night, finds out about Ace's execution, leaves Amazon Lily at night.
Day 53 : (Gloriosa said Ace was about to be executed in 6 days) Paramount war, Ace dies, Luffy escapes on Law's submarine
Day 67 : (It says 2 weeks since Paramount war) Luffy wakes up, meets Rayleigh, decides to take a 2 year time skip
Day 72 (may be) : (assuming it takes 5 days to reach marineford from amazon lily) Luffy sends the message 3D2Y to the crew
Day 77 (maybe) : (5 days return journey) Luffy starts training on Rusukaina.
2 years later...
Day 1 : Arrive at Saboady, reach fishman island, defeat Hody, party through the night.
Day 2 : Leave fishman island, arrive at Punk Hazard, defeat Caesar, leave Punk Hazard
Day 3 : Doffy's resignation announced, crew arrives at dressrosa, defeats Doffy, half the crew head to zou.
Day 13 : (they say Jack left 10 days ago because of Doffy's defeat) rest of the crew arrives at Zou, parties though the night
Day 14 : Kinemon reaches the top of the elephant, Robin deciphers the road poneglyph, Jack attacks Zou, Zunesha defeats Jack, half the crew leaves for Tottoland
Day 21 : (assuming it took 1 week to reach Tottoland) Luffy arrives at Cacao island
Day 22 : Luffy arrives at Whole Cake island, fights Cracker through the night
Day 23 : Sanji beats Luffy, Luffy fights the enraged Army, is captured, escapes, eats Sanji's food
Day 24 : Luffy meets Bege, Tea party is ruined, Luffy fights Katakuri, the crew escapes Tottoland at night
Day 25 : Luffy is announced the fifth emperor, Revolutionaries save Lulusia kingdom
Day 27 : (2 days after Lulusia kingdom is saved) Reverie begins
Day 31 : (we get the news of the 4th day of reverie) Moria invades Blackbeard's island, Act 2 begins, Luffy beats Dobon
Day 32 : Komurasaki dies
Day 33 : Komurasaki's wake is cancelled
Day 34 : Komurasaki's funeral, Yasuie dies, Big mom arrives in Udon, Udon is conquered by Luffy, Big mom and Kaido clash
Day 36 : Big mom and Kaido form an Alliance
Day 41 : (one week since Reverie ends) Raid on Onigashima begins on the day of the Fire festival
Just look at Coby. Before, he is just a kid when Luffy and Zorro met him. But when they meet him again in Water 7 arc, he is already a teenager.
