One Piece Anniversary Special To Simulcast In The US

With One Piece celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2017, the franchise created by manga illustrator Eiichiro Oda is giving fans a chance to revisit the early chapters once again, however, this time it's all in HD. Funimation has officially announced that the upcoming One Piece TV special, Episode of East Blue, will available for their US and Canadian subscribers.

The upcoming TV special allows fans to take a nostalgic journey back to the East Blue, where Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates first began their journey all those years ago. Episode of East Blue will only run for 106 minutes, however, it will re-tell all of the East Blue adventures in HD.

Going back to where Luffy was inspired to become a pirate by a red-haired pirate named Shanks, who Luffy took the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit from and became a rubber man. Ten years later and Luffy begins his journey for real and starts to accumulate his crew.

First up Luffy finds Pirate Hunter Roronoa Rozo, then next is the Cat Burglar Nami, before the Sniper Usopp joins the crew and finally Sanji, a seafaring Cook make up the original four members. Together they counter several great pirates, along the way defeating the Merman Arlong, captain Don Krieg and the Devil Fruit user Buggy the Clown.

This made Luffy famous and wanted worldwide, as the crew prepared to set sail for the Grand Line for various reasons. However, for Luffy it was to find the One Piece left behind by the former Pirate King Gol D. Roger, as well as to take his place as King of the Pirates.

One Piece's TV Special, Episode of East Blue, will be available for streaming on FunimationNow subscribers in the US and Canada, this weekend on the 28th of August 2017, at 12:00 am PST.