Technology/Time Period of One Piece

[SSJ2]

Something I was thinking about was the extreme inconsistency in technology in One Piece, and it's made me question when One Piece is meant to take place.

Starting from the beginning, there was an ancient civilization on the moon called Birka which had advanced technology. We know from Enel's cover story that they descended to earth and inhabited the sky islands. There is also the Ancient Kingdom (who could be related to these moon inhabitants) who was capable of building the Ancient Weapons far beyond the scope of anything seen in the current age.

Now flash forward to the current era, and we have Vegapunk who is said to be 500 years ahead of the current age in science and technology. He has mass produced pacifistas with laser weaponry, was able to create dragons, has discovered the lineage factor and the ability to manipulate devil fruits, and has seemingly created a new weapon that diminished the need for the Shichibukai (SSG).

Given all of this advanced tech, why are there no cars, planes, computers, phones, etc.. We had an ancient civilization capable of space travel, and currently the government possesses high level technology. Have they purposely withheld the widespread use of technology in the One Piece World, or is One Piece meant to be set in the past but Vegapunk is the only anomaly?

 

[Future Warrior]

Id think you can accurately compare OP world to real life. Franky’s cyborg body is far beyond anything modern society can do. Oda can pretty much go crazy with his ideas by combing elements like Sci Fi with ancient fantasy. Sort of like DB.

 

[SSJ2]

Yea I'd agree. You even have cities like Water 7 that far outstrip anything we have done in the real world in terms of engineering. It's just bizarre that everything else seems pre-modern with pirates running rampant and boats being the only way to travel.

 

[Papasmurf]

Maybe it's because there's never been an attempt by certain parts of the world to colonize the rest, plus most countries seem to be confined to small islands.

 

[SSJ2]

That's a good point considering there are even prehistoric islands in the Grand Line. It's probably not worth it for the government to share its technology with the outside world.

 

[Symbiote]

The snails are the phones. If I remember right they even used them to project the war to everyone watching at Sabody so I guess you can say they have some sort of satellite system to connect them all?