Cartoon Network Makes Clever One Piece Reference in Craig of the Creek

One Piece is considered manga royalty at this point, and you know the series has made it when it gets a nod on Cartoon Network. Western animation owes anime a lot as Japan has pioneered some of animation’s most famous techniques. But for a show like Craig of the Creek, it turns out the spirit of adventure which One Piece embodies is the most important takeaway.

As it turns out, the Cartoon Network show paid homage to One Piece with a special nod. Craig of the Creek decided to shout out Monkey D. Luffy with a nod which is hard to miss if you are a manga nerd. After all, one of the show’s characters is seen holding a manga volume titled Two Piece, and yeah – that is as obvious as you can get.

You can see below that Two Piece is a manga in the Craig of the Creek World. Its backwards spin is hard to mistake, so it seems this show is carrying on its otaku flavor with this One Piece reference. On the cover of the manga, fans can see a familiar-looking heroine who is dressed like a certain Straw Hat Captain.

Two Piece seems to focus on a heroine who wears a flappy straw hat just like Monkey D. Luffy does, but that is not all. She has a the same coloring as the One Piece hero, and it is pretty exact. This girl could pass for a fem take on Luffy, and the only thing separating her from the pirate is here red-and-white bikini… thus the name Two Piece.

This easter egg is a fun one for fans to spot, but it is not the first time Craig of the Creek has paid homage to One Piece. In a previous episode, the cartoon made a very obvious reference to the Going Merry which was the first ship the Straw Hats sailed upon long before their current ship came into being.

Did you spot this special nod to One Piece? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!