Is One Piece: Strong World canon? Latest SBS finally tells the truth

“Golden Lion” Shiki is one of the most discussed One Piece characters, and for good reason. An ambitious man who began his career as a member of Rocks D. Xebec’s crew, Shiki eventually became the captain of his own group, the Golden Lion Pirates, and decided to challenge Gol D. Roger. However, Shiki and his fleet were wiped out by a sudden storm during the Battle of Edd War.

He then attacked Marineford, but was no match for the combined might of Monkey D. Garp and Sengoku “The Buddha”. Even then, the clash between Shiki and the two Marine legends caused the destruction of half of Marineford. Following his defeat, Shiki was jailed in Impel Down, but eventually escaped the prison by cutting off his own legs to free himself.

Shiki’s character is fully canon, but most of his panel time comes from the anime-only movie One Piece Film: Strong World, in which he ends up being defeated by Monkey D. Luffy. Fans have always questioned whether this movie is canon or not, as it was quite disappointing to see a living legend such as Shiki losing to the likes of a pre-timeskip Luffy. Fortunately, One Piece author Eiichiro Oda has clarified the issue in the latest SBS.

As per the SBS of volume 109, Shiki’s character is canon, but the story of One Piece: Strong World isn’t

An overview of One Piece: Strong World

The Straw Hats as seen in the movie (Image via Toei Animation)

One Piece Film: Strong World was written by Eiichiro Oda to honor the tenth anniversary of the franchise’s anime adaptation. The plot is based on Shiki’s plan to conquer the world, starting with East Blue. As Shiki kidnaps Nami to utilize her skills as a cartographer, the Straw Hat Pirates seek to stop him from carrying out his ambitions.

Shiki’s powers turn out to be particularly troublesome, as he can use the Float-Float Fruit to make any non-living matter levitate. He was able to telekinetically manipulate any object he came into contact with, including weapons, structures, and even entire islands. Moreover, he could use this Devil Fruit ability to fly.

Shiki and Dr Indigo (Image via Toei Animation)

Nami escaped with the help of Billy, a bird that can produce electricity. Billy’s body had been altered by the experiments of Dr. Indigo, Shiki’s doctor and second-in-command. As soon as Nami reunited with her comrades, Shiki arrived and defeated them. He then offered Nami to rejoin him, promising her not to destroy her homeland, the Coco Village.

Before leaving with Shiki, Nami recorded a farewell message with a Tone Dial. As the Straw Hats began to play the message, Luffy got angry and refused to listen to the rest. Luffy and the others then attacked Shiki’s place to take Nami back, leading to a heated showdown.

The floating islands of Merveille (Image via Toei Animation)

Helped by Billy, Luffy eventually defeated Shiki by striking him with an electrically-amped Gear 3 technique, the Gum-Gum Gigant Thor Axe. The attack electrocuted Shiki and sent him smashing into the ground, destroying one of the islands of the Merveille Archipelago.

At the end of the movie, Luffy and Nami discussed the message she left on the Tone Dial. In reality, the message was a coded SOS, in which she was asking Luffy and the others to save her at any cost. Nami felt embarrassed by the message’s content and tried to stop Luffy from playing it again, causing the Tone Dial to be thrown off the Thousand Sunny.

Oda explains the truth in the SBS of One Piece volume 109

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The Japanese spectators of Strong World received a publication featuring Chapter 0, a special manga installment set about twenty years before the present One Piece narration. Chapter 0 is fully part of One Piece's established canon. It explains the events that led Shiki to begin his plan while also giving an insight into the beginning of the Great Piracy Era.

In the past years, fans have often debated whether or not the story of One Piece Film: Strong World is canon. Luckily, Eiichiro Oda himself has now settled the debate by making his official statement on the matter.

In the latest SBS column, the mangaka clarified that he could make the movies canon if he wanted to. However, that would force the readers to watch them in order to get the full story. For this reason, he doesn’t consider the movies to be canon.

Shiki vs Garp and Sengoku (Image via Toei Animation)

Eiichiro Oda added that he was the one who came up with the story of Strong World and that he ended up using Shiki’s character in the movie even though he originally intended him to be part of the main plot.

Taking into account the latest SBS, it’s safe to say that, just like the other movies, Strong World is not canon to the original manga and anime storyline of One Piece. To be precise, Shiki’s backstory and powers are canon, but what happened to him in the movie isn’t.

The story of Strong World is set after the Thriller Bark Arc and before the Marineford Arc, as it features Brook as a member of the Straw Hat Pirates but still has Garp and Sengoku as full-fledged members of the Navy.

In the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, the Straw Hats got divided by Bartholomew Kuma. Thus, the story of Strong World can only fit between Thriller Bark and Sabaody. However, it would have been difficult to fit the events narrated in this movie into One Piece’s main plot due to the major inconsistencies.

Luffy vs Shiki (Image via Toei Animation)

At the end of the Thriller Bark Arc, Zoro accepted Kuma’s challenge and took on Luffy’s pain and fatigue on top of his own. Zoro was able to withstand the tremendous trial without even losing consciousness, but the insane amount of strain put on his body left him with severe injuries.

It must be noted that those injuries left Zoro weakened even in the subsequent arcs. However, in Strong World, there’s no sign that Zoro is suffering from his previous wounds, which is a major inconsistency. Moreover, in the manga, Brook claims that his fight against Duval’s men is his first battle as an official member of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Although this is a much smaller detail that could be easily retconned, it creates another inconsistency, as the battle between the Straw Hats and the Golden Lion Pirates can only have occurred before Luffy and the others arrived in Sabaody.

Nami in One Piece Film: Strong World (Image via Toei Animation)

Another evident plot hole is the fact that someone’s crushing victory over Shiki would have been an event of global significance, especially as such a dangerous and notorious pirate lost to a rookie. However, the victory over Shiki is never mentioned among Luffy’s achievements, even though people often talk about the young pirate’s exploits.

In Marineford, which happens after the only part of the story in which the events of Strong World could possibly fit, Luffy met Garp, Sengoku, and Whitebeard, all of whom were familiar with Shiki. The fact that no one of these legendary individuals brought up the battle between Luffy and Shiki seems like another pretty big clue that such an event never happened in the canon One Piece story.

All in all, just like the other One Piece movies, Strong World can be considered a “what if” story. Shiki, Indigo, and the rest of the Golden Lion Pirates exist even in the original canon, but their struggle with the Straw Hats is just an imaginary scenario that never happened in the main timeline.