One Piece Creator Settles Debate on Whether Strong World Is Canon

Shonen series like Dragon Ball will sometimes create movies that are “outside of continuity”, meaning that the stories aren’t considered a part of the main timeline that their television series and/or manga cover. One Piece has had its fair share of feature-length films in the Straw Hat Pirates’ decades-long history, with movies like One Piece Film: Red and One Piece Stampede considered to be canon. In a recent interview, creator Eiichiro Oda took the opportunity to talk about One Piece: Strong World, the tenth movie of the shonen franchise, and finally share his thoughts on whether Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates’ fight against Shiki is an official part of the timeline. 

On a regular basis, Oda will take questions from fans and respond via the Question and Answer session known as “SBS”. The latest entry of the series had Eiichiro attempting to decipher whether One Piece: Strong World was a part of the main timeline, “Well, you can ‘forcefully’ incorporate the whole movie but if you do that, it won’t be that much connected to the main story. However, regarding Strong World, what I think is, the Shiki that existed originally in the main story is the same person used in the movie. Yes, he’s in the main story from the start. However, if it wasn’t shown in the movie, Shiki was not supposed to have eaten the “Float Float Fruit”. I have a self-rule that I won’t make a guy that can freely fly and float in the air so I decided to seal away the Float Float Fruit (because this is a manga about pirates), but since it was used in the movie, I have to use it now on the original work. LOL. It’s true that a strange ‘reverse importation’ has occurred.’ 

One Piece: Canon Or Non-Canon

One Piece Film: Red was the latest movie of the shonen franchise and it was one that was definitely canon. Introducing Shanks’ daughter Uta, Toei Animation and Eiichiro Oda worked on original anime episodes to show the early days of Luffy and Uta long before the Straw Hat Pirates were formed. 

If you have yet to watch One Piece: Strong World, you can stream the film on Netflix and Crunchyroll. Here’s how the streaming services describe the now-canon movie focusing on the Straw Hat Pirates, “Legendary Pirate Shiki reappears in the East Blue planning to destroy the World Government. When he kidnaps Nami, the Straw Hats confront a strange land.”

Want to see if One Piece will release another anime film in the future? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook for all the latest updates on the Grand Line. 

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