One Piece Creator Teases New Details About Raftel

Despite how many reveals One Piece has made over the course of its monumental 20 odd year run, one of the biggest mysteries is still the titular One Piece itself. But as the years go on, series creator Eiichiro Oda has been inching us closer to this treasure, and one of the biggest clues has always been the legendary island of Raftel — which is said to be the one only Gol D. Roger’s crew have landed on at the end of the Grand Line.

The recent 20th Anniversary film, One Piece: Stampede turned out to have a direct connection with the Raftel mystery, and Oda teased that fans should take note of how Raftel is referenced in the film for a crucial new detail.

In a recent interview with YouTube group Fischer’s in Japan (who also have a cameo in the film), Oda mentioned that fans got a Raftel hint. As translated by @sandman_AP on Twitter, “Oda says Stampede has a hint about Raftel that fans One Piece fans would be willing to discuss.” @sandman_AP mentions how this is probably the romanization of the island’s name, as the proper spelling of “Raftel” had been a point of debate for a while.

A curious note is that the actual map of Raftel featured in the film was not drawn by Oda either, so fans are still left to debate over what this mysterious island looks like. As Raftel is a point of interest for the major finale of the series, it might be a long time before fans actually get a concrete version of it. Serving as the end goal for Luffy’s Grand Line journey, there’s a good chance fans won’t get to see Raftel until Luffy and the Straw Hats are “ready” to find it.

One Piece: Stampede is now out in to theaters in Japan as of August 9th, but there is currently no word on its release in the United States as of this writing (much to the chagrin of fans). Fuji TV officially describes the film as such, “The world’s greatest exposition of the pirates, by the pirates, for the pirates – the Pirates Festival. Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat Crew receive an invitation from its host Buena Festa who is known as the Master of Festivities. They arrive to find a venue packed with glamorous pavilions and many pirates including the ones from the Worst Generation. The place is electric.”