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Staged every year to celebrate the anniversary of Eiichiro Oda's record-breaking franchise, the 2023 edition of the One Piece Day surpassed all expectations. Held at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center and transmitted live worldwide, the event released several amazing news.
The announcements included the official teaser of Luffy's Gear 5 form and its debut date in the anime, new opening and ending themes, the reveal of Eiichiro Oda's Monsters one-shot future anime adaptation, as well as the full trailer of the upcoming live-action set to air on Netflix. Undoubtedly, One Piece fans are pleased of the notable focus that the series is going to receive in the near future.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga for anime-only viewers.
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All the exciting news revealed during the event for One Piece's 26th anniversary explained in detail
The episode debut date and visual teaser for Luffy's Gear 5
Believed to be the Paramecia-class Gom-Gom Fruit in chapter 1044 of the One Piece manga, Luffy's Devil Fruit was revealed to be a Mythical Zoan, the Human-Human, Model: Nika. After Kaido knocked him unconscious, Luffy's heartbeat changed as the young pirate awakened a new transformation called Gear 5.
In a jaw-dropping moment, Luffy became an incarnation of Nika, the legendary Sun God hailed as the "Warrior of Liberation" for his capability to bring joy to those around him while fighting for their freedom. Like the original Nika, once unleashed, the Gear 5 form let Luffy perform unreal actions.
Unsurprisingly, this transformation was dubbed "the most ridiculous power in the world." Luffy not only obtained a physical boost far above that of the previous Gears but also started affecting living things and inanimate items with his powers, even extending the rubbery nature of his body to the surroundings.
Fearing that this power could ever awaken again, the World Government reclassified the Nika-Nika Fruit as a Paramecia and changed its nam in an attempt to conceal the danger represented by the reality-shaping abilities that would come with a potential Devil Fruit Awakening. As such, while in the Gear 5 form, Luffy's appearance changes, he can fight freely and literally following his imagination.
During the One Piece Day, it was revealed that Gear 5 will make his anime debut in episode 1071, which is set to air on August 6, 2023. Moreover, a brief teaser was shown, allowing fans to get a glimpse to how the iconic transformation will look in the anime adaptation.
Brand new songs and visuals will start airing as of August 2023
With their combination of engaging songs and animated scenes, intro and outro footages are pivotal aspect of anime series. And, Toei Animation's adaptation of One Piece is no different. Since the days of the iconic We Are! and Memories, the transposition of Eiichiro Oda's masterpiece has featured countless themes, which fans remember fondly.
With the Wano arc having already featured no less than three openings, i.e., Over the Top, Dreamin' on, and Paint, the conclusive events in the land of the samurai will feature another intro. What left fans in even further amazement, the new opening will be directed by none other than Megumi Ishitani.
Knowing Ishitani's exceptional talent, which One Piece fans already had a chance to appreciate due to her brilliant work on episode 1015, there's no doubt that the new opening will look great. Furthermore, after 17 years of absence, the One Piece anime is finally going to feature a new ending theme.
With the last outro being Adventure World, which aired for the last time back in 2006, the new theme will be Raise, which is performed by Chilli Beans. Both the new opening and the new ending will debut on episode 1071.
Ryuma's story will be animated
According to the announcement made during the One Piece Day, Eiichiro Oda's one-shot Monsters, first published in 1994 and later included in the 1998 volume Wanted!, will receive an anime adaptation. Although the release date for the show is yet to be disclosed, fans can already enjoy a brief teaser trailer.
Here, what's certain is that the main protagonist of the story will be "Sword God" Ryuma. Interestingly enough, One Piece's Ryuma is the same that was featured in Monsters. Unbeknownst to him, people hailed the mighty samurai as "King," the strongest warrior in the world.
Ryuma, who lived in a distant era several centuries before One Piece's present narration, was able to single-handedly drive back all pirates and World Nobles who tried to seize Wano. A testament to his immense might, Ryuma was even compared to the fabled Joy Boy.
Even centuries after his death, people still consider Ryuma as "Wano's Greatest Hero," despite the land boasting fighters of Oden Kozuki's caliber. Very honorable and strictly faithful to his own personal code, Ryuma died undefeated, leaving his sword Shusui, which, using his incredibly powerful Haki, he was able to turn into a Black Blade.
Apart from his strength, Ryuma is also well-known in the One Piece fandom for his striking resemblance to another fearsome swordsman, Roronoa Zoro.The two are nearly identical in terms of aesthetics, with the only difference between them being the color of their hair.
At one point, Zoro met Ryuma's corpse, reanimated as a zombie much weaker than the original, and yet still pretty powerful. As Zoro beat Ryuma's zombie, the latter gifted him with the sword Shusui, that Zoro wielded for a while, before eventually returning it to Wano.
Like Luffy is the reincarnation of Joy Boy, Zoro is commonly believed to be the second coming of Ryuma. Two of Zoro's strongest attacks, the One Sword Style: Dragon Blaze and the King Of Hell, as well as the three Sword Serpent: Dragon Damnation, are based on the iconic sword slash that Ryuma used in Monsters.
To make the connection between Zoro and Ryuma even more obvious, the upcoming anime adaptation will be titled Monsters: Ippyaku Sanjo Hiryu Jigoku, which is the same name of the Haki-enhanced attack that the green-haired swordsman used to overpower the Lunarian survivor King.
Netflix finally unveiled the full trailer for One Piece's live-action
After the first teaser trailer, which was released in June during the TUDUM event, Netflix chose the One Piece Day to release a three-minutes long trailer of the upcoming live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's story. The trailer featured some major moments will be part of the show, including Gol D. Roger's execution in Rogue Town, Luffy's meeting with Shanks, Zoro's first fight with Dracule Mihawk, as well iconic locations such as Arlong Park and the Baratie Restaurant.
Admittedly, the adaptation looks good, with a convincing mix of environments, costumes, props, and computer graphics. Based on the events of the East Blue Saga, the show will consist of one season formed of eight episodes, each expected to last around one hour. If the first season is successful, subsequent arcs may be transposed as well.
Set to air on Netflix from August 31, 2023, the live-action is a risky but courageous operation. Given that One Piece author Eiichiro Oda is heavily involved in the project as an executive producer for the show, the result may be worth-watching. As such, after the trailer, fans' enthusiasm for the show is skyrocketing.
