Reddit mentions of One Piece: East Blue 1-2-3

This will save you about $100

http://www.amazon.com/One-Piece-Box-Set-Baroque/dp/1421560747/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1404627595&sr=8-4&keywords=one+piece

and if you want to save more, you can get all the 3 volume omnibus editions. They go to chapters 28-29-30 (in October, new one comes out every 4 months). That should save you about $180 if you do this rather than individual volumes and that's not including whether you get future omnibuses as well.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Piece-East-Blue-1-2-3/dp/1421536250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404627805&sr=8-1&keywords=one+piece+1+2+3

O wow, I didn't know this.

I'm wondering though, how much of a difference is this 1-2-3 from buying them separately as 1, 2 and 3? apart from the price, is there any perks on buying the volumes separately for the early ones?

edit: I just checked, it seems like the 3-in-1 One Piece volumes seem to not be part of the promotional buy 3 get 1 (darn) but some of the others are...

Do yourself and your friends a favor and start collecting the trades. I've realized that it's a lot easier for people to pick up a new manga when they have something physical to hold and read and not just a website or torrent. If they get hooked they can easily find the rest online.

If they're skeptical about picking up the manga from the beginning, maybe because of the art style or what not, try getting them to watch the first thirty or so episodes which goes all the way up to the beginning of the Arlong Park arc, then try to ween them onto the manga or convince them to stay with the anime.

In the end, just show them why you love it so much, mild spoilers is okay when they have so much to look forward to in the long run, although I try not to show them anything beyond Skypeia. Every time I've gotten someone into OP it's when I've shown them some of my favorite fights (Luffy v. Crocodile, Sanji v. Bon Kurei, etc.), and it seems to do the trick ;)

When I think of graphic novels, I think of manga. My friend purchased One Piece for my son and he loved them. He did read them by himself on the other hand (he was 8 at the time).

Aside from that, look for some of the classics as graphic novels. Most of Shakespeare and other classic novels are graphic novels and some are very well done and make good connections for kids with concepts that are often out of read in the traditional format.

Hate to be the boy-scout in the room but you could always just buy the omnibus on amazon. They sell them in three-volumes softcover books which comes up to a pretty decent price.

And now for the downvotes...