'One Piece' Goes Disney With Super Cute Mickey Mouse Anniversary Homage

One Piece isn’t the oldest on-going anime by a long shot, but the title holds a place in pop [...]

By Megan Peters

One Piece isn't the oldest on-going anime by a long shot, but the title holds a place in pop culture that none other can. This year, the shonen classic will celebrate its 20th birthday on air, and one fan decided to give Monkey D. Luffy a magical Disney treatment to celebrate.

Over on Twitter, an artist known as Rem Hutch gave One Piece a touch of Mickey Mouse flair. However, rather than Steamboat Willie, their reel introduces the world to Strawhat Luffy.

As you can see below, Hutch animated a short clip of Luffy in the style of Mickey Mouse's first appearance. The Disney mascot made his debut way back in 1928's Steamboat Willie, and Luffy got a taste of how that first look might have felt.

Tapping his sandals to a whistling tune, Luffy is animated in Hutch's clip much like Mickey was all those decades ago. The pirate is seen steering his own ship like a genuine captain, and fans can make out the Going Merry's iconic shape behind Luffy as the hero sails the open seas.

Sadly, there is no mention of the other Straw Hat crew members. Franky doesn't pull a Pete and pull Micky away from the steering wheel, and Nami is far removed from any sort of Minnie Mouse moment. Instead, this clip is all about Luffy's time at the steering wheel, and fans know the captain is enjoying the interlude... even if he would rather be eating Sanji's cooking.

Of course, One Piece is not nearly as old as Mickey Mouse; Eiichiro Oda created his manga in July 1997 while Mickey Mouse got his on-screen debut in 1928. Still, there is a connection tying Luffy to Disney's most famous mouse. The characters might not have much in common, but they are both animation icons. In the same way Mickey has come to represent Disney animation, Luffy has done the same for shonen titles like One Piece and even anime as a whole.

Can you believe One Piece's anime is already 20 years old? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.

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