One Piece Creator Admits Pokemon Is Canon In the Series

Eiichiro Oda created One Piece decades ago, with the subsequent years exploring Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates as they attempt to make Monkey the new king of the pirates. Over the Shonen’s history, Oda has taken the opportunity to answer countless fan questions when it comes to the Grand Line, with a recent entry revealing a surprising factoid when it comes to the popular anime world: Pokemon exists in the world of One Piece. 

There has never been an official crossover that featured the Straw Hat Pirates battling against the popular pocket monsters, but a One Piece crossover is slated to arrive on Toonami later this month. On March 4th, the Toriko x One Piece x Dragon Ball Z crossover will arrive in North America for the first time officially, with the English Dub casts of both the Straw Hat Pirates and the Z-Fighters assembling to put together a tournament where the prize is the greatest food of all time.

One Pokemon Piece

In each volume of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda will answer fan questions under the section known as SBS, which stands for “Shitsumon o Boshuu Suru”, aka “I Am Taking Questions”, and in the latest entry, the mangaka confirms that while pocket monsters aren’t running around the Grand Line, it is a fictional story in the anime world: 

“Picture books” and “illustrated stories” do exist in One Piece. Picture books are just picture books but think of illustrated stories as the manga in the world of One Piece. Since there is no concept of speech bubbles, the story is told through text and dialogue within a frame, similar to manga. Some famous titles in the One Piece world include: “Sora, Warrior of the Sea”, “Fire Dog”, “Pokemon”, “Monkey Ball”, and “Marco-san”.”

While the Pokemon series isn’t in its “Final Arc” like One Piece currently is, Ash Ketchum is preparing to say goodbye as the star of the series, with the two new trainers, Liko and Roy, looking to take his place. 

Do you think we’ll ever see an official crossover between the Straw Hats and Pokemon? How do you foresee the Final Arcs of Luffy and Ash Ketchum taking place? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Grand Line. 

Via Reddit