Summary
The long-winded narrative ofOne Pieceis truly something to behold. The continual implementation of plot points, whether sketched out years prior or added on a whim, manage to blend together into a continually developing narrative that remains fairly fresh even decades later.
That said, the current narrative’s incomplete nature and a need to sell various forms of merchandise have led to several branching alternative plots that have nothing to do with the current direction of the story. The various forms of non-canon sometimes tie into the narrative in ways one may not expect, whether inadvertently predicting or contradicting it if they even interact with it at all, that is.
5One Piece Film: Gold
Profiling Profiteers of Government Corruption
Thematically,Film:Goldinhabits an interesting niche in the context of the greater series.One Pieceoftenlooks at the shortcomings ofthe World Government. This can be seen often by how easily crimes are ignored or accepted if the right kind of people commit them.Goldtakes place on a ship that serves as a demilitarized zone, and is officially recognized as being tied to the World Government.
Gild Tesoro is a robber baron who can effectively buy off anyone, or otherwise deprive them of their money at his casino, building up his resources on the backs of those who can’t pay up. One of his concierges can notably even rob people of their luck with a touch, effectively ushering more people into debt. After falling into this debt pit themselves, the Straw Hats are aided by one of his confidants, a similarly greedy thief named Carina, who wishes to take over the ship. From there, they team up to depose Tesoro, but Carina gets the last laugh, having stolen the ship and its wealth. The movie does an interesting job of putting into perspective a criminal figure who is neither a pirate (in the traditional sense) nor a noble, that benefits from getting the government to turn a blind eye to their crimes.
Although the exact context is different, the marines have been met with another precarious force in the canon narrative.The recently formed Cross Guildis attempting to bribe people with money to turn over marines. Although they are more firmly contextualized as “pirates”, they too showcase that perhaps the government isn’t always the biggest fish in the pond.
4One Piece Historical Drama Series: Luffy’s Detective Story
A Two-Part Special
Thisspecial episode differs from others, which are usually hour-long filler episodes recounting earlier arcs, aspects of the series, or otherwise covering non-canon events within the continuity of the series. However, this special episode breaks the format, instead taking place in an alternate version of 19th-century Japan. This episode restructures the cast, giving most of the characters new roles separate from the actual series. Luffy serves, ironically, as a form of law enforcement, with Usopp acting as his partner. The main villain of the two parts of this series is Buggy, who serves as a feudal crime lord.
This episode came out roughly 10 years before the introductionof Wano Country, a location that also takes after Feudal Japan. However, this detail is where the similarities end. The Wano Arc was on a very large scale and was deeply connected to the greater series in terms of its history and its consequences.Luffy’s Detective Storyis a much more relaxed interpretation ofOne Piece, with two relatively low-stakes episodes.
3One Piece Film: Z
A Look at Marine Mutiny
One Piece Film: Zfocuses on Zephyr or Z, a dissident marine admiral in his mid-70s. He notably formed a splinter movement, the neo-marines, who were against government protocol and effectively wished to eliminate all pirates on sight. This has led to them also being branded as criminals by the World Government. Z’s hatred stems from the government giving the rank of “warlord” to the pirate that took his arm and crew from him (who exactly this pirate has not been explicitly stated, but it is likely Dracule Mihawk, who had a history of wiping out crews and hunting marines.)
It is interesting to look at this film in contrast to the greater narrative ofOne Piecesince its release back in 2012. Although Z’s vendetta against pirates and their collusion with the government is much more personal, the sentiments are echoed in Issho, a freshly inducted marine admiral who debuted the following year. Issho, or Fujitora, as he is more commonly known, is against the warlords, in part due to the corruption stemming from the government letting them run unchecked. Eventually, the warlord system did end up being abolished. Additionally,the covert naval organization, SWORD, has been established, effectively giving certain marines a black ops unit to do what they please without repercussions of the greater system. It’s fascinating to think that in the context of the actual canon if Z stuck around for a bit longer, various avenues for his more aggressive anti-pirate campaigns would open up.
2One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2
An Interesting Rewrite of the Greater Narrative
One Piece: Pirate Warriorshas an interesting balance to walk. The series has to simultaneously maintain fidelity to theDynasty Warriorsseries it bases its gameplay on, whilst also keeping things interesting for theOne Piecefans. The second installment attempted this by branching from the original narrative.
The story offered is a post-timeskip narrative that borrows elements from the pre-timeskip, while also outright contradicting it in a number of ways. The result involves the villains being an alliance formed by Blackbeard and Gecko Moria, two characters who were later established as enemies in the canon storyline. To combat this alliance, a number of pirates and marines, with the Straw Hats and Whitebeard Pirates at their core, band together out of necessity. The inclusion of the Whitebeard Pirates, who lost their two most prominent members (shown in this game, at least) at the end of Marineford, is also a stark contrast. Other similar odd scenarios, like Garp betraying the marines to save his family, Blackbeard’s alliance consisting of none of his crewmates, and many characters being brainwashed into evil, highlight an attempt to make a story with a relatively smaller number of characters with established abilities.
Although the newerPirate Warriorsgames are also not particularly faithful, they have more characters at their disposal and make more of an attempt to emulate the source material. That said,Pirate Warriors 2does a fun job of seeing how established characters interact in a scenario completely counter to their status quo, in a fashion not too dissimilar from theWarriors Orochiseries.
1Shokugeki no Sanji
Six One-Shots from the Creators of Food Wars
Of all the spinoffs listed, this one is perhaps the most concretely connected to canon material. It is a collection of manga one-shots, that are, for the most part, largely based on the established lore of Sanji. That said, the exact events written and depicted tend to exist outside what we know of the series. Due to having a different creative team at the helm (namely, Yuto Tsukada and Shun Saeki), the art style and writing are fairly different from what viewers have come to expect fromOne Piece.
Ultimately, the series tends to stray away from the action of its source, focusing more on Sanji’s cooking acumen. This gives the series a bit more of a slice-of-life feel, which is much more closely in line with the creators' original works. Timeline-wise, the stories tend to be placed in proximity to actual events, such as right before the Straw Hats visited Baratie or during Sanji’s training with Ivankov. Whatever the story, Sanji’s cooking does not disappoint and often turns doubters into believers.
