One Piece Creates Baki The Grappler Crossover With Official Release

Baki-Dou: The Invinicble Samurai came to a close earlier this year, as Netflix released the second and final season of the anime that featured the son of the Ogre taking on Musashi Miyamoto. While a new anime chapter has yet to be confirmed, Baki’s creator Keisuke Itagaki has been keeping busy by releasing new chapters of the hard-hitting manga series. Despite remaining hard at work when it comes to Hanma’s tale, Itagaki is venturing into wild new territory as he takes a step into the Grand Line. As part of an official release, the Baki artist has taken on one of Luffy’s greatest foes.

With franchises like Dragon Ball and Pokémon finding serious success in the trading card world, it should come as no surprise that One Piece would look to get in on the action. First arriving worldwide in 2022, the game takes the heroes and villains of the swashbuckling shonen series and allows fans to add them to their card collections. Within this new medium, Baki creator Keisuke Itagaki has created unique artwork of the villainous Kaido, the main antagonist of the Wano Arc. Even though Kaido was defeated thanks to Luffy acquiring the power of Gear Fifth, he is still finding ways back into the spotlight, as you can see in the artwork below.

The Anime Crossovers of Baki and Luffy

While this might not be an anime crossover that sees the Straw Hat Pirates taking on Baki Hanma’s fighting prowess in an animated format, these two unique anime universes have crossed over with other franchises before. On the Grand Line side of the aisle, Luffy and his crew have met with the Z-Fighters of the Dragon Ball franchise in the special episode known as the “Dream 9 Super Collaboration Special.” Taking place long before the arrival of Dragon Ball Super, the crossover didn’t see the likes of Ultra Instinct and/or Gear Fifth make an appearance, but it did give fans the long-awaited Goku/Luffy fight that many never expected to see.

As for Baki, fans had the chance to see a Netflix crossover the likes of which have yet to be replicated for the streaming service. Baki Hanma Vs. Kengan Ashura saw the fighters from both universes take place in a tournament where winners and losers were chosen across the board in the special installment. While no new crossovers have been confirmed for either franchise, the battles of this special still resonate. Unfortunately, Baki The Grappler has yet to confirm if it will be receiving its own trading card game to follow in One Piece’s footsteps, though there are quite a few beloved characters from the franchise who would work well in this format.

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