‘One Piece’ Drops Hilarious Yamcha ‘Dragon Ball’ Easter Egg

One Piece is known as one of anime’s greatest series, but it isn’t the only one. Shows like Pokemon rank high up on that list as well, and Goku is hanging out there too. So, it only makes sense for the big-time series to pay homage to one another.

Unfortunately for Monkey D. Luffy, that means he had to take a hard loss this week.

This weekend, Toei Animation saw its latest episode of One Piece go live, and Luffy had a rough time of things. The captain continued his battle with Charlotte Katakuri, one of Big Mom’s feared soldiers. The commander is revered as a top soldier, and fans watched as Katakuri proved he was far stronger than Luffy.

With his special Devil Fruit gift at hand, Katakuri was able to copy all of Luffy’s attacks in battle. The mochi-centric power allowed the Big Mom pirate to wipe the floor with Luffy, and one scene had Yamcha fans doing a double-take.

As you can see above, one of Katakuri’s attacks left Luffy limp on the battlefield. When the dust cleared, audiences got a good look at the hero as he laid on his side. Luffy was in the center of a giant crater created by the blast, and meme lovers will easily recognize the shot from Dragon Ball Z.

Yes, it seems the infamous Yamcha Death Pose has made its return, and One Piece is to blame. Luffy is seen in the exact position Yamcha was in after he died in Dragon Ball Z. Luckily for Luffy, he didn’t take a Saibamen blast to the back, but his battle with Katakuri has only gotten started. There will be plenty of chances for the Sweet Commander to thrash Luffy as if he were Yamcha, so the Straw Hat needs to start channeling his inner Saiyan ASAP.

Did you catch this hilarious aside? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Eiichiro Oda‘s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan.

The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. Its popular anime has accumulated nearly 900 episodes, making it one of Japan’s longest running shonen shows. Currently, the series is exploring the ‘Whole Cake Island’ arc which has pit Monkey D. Luffy against Big Mom and her even bigger crew.