‘One Piece’ Anime Shares Teaser Of Luffy v Katakuri Fight

One Piece is edging closer and closer to one of its most-anticipated moments in recent years. Not long ago, the anime introduced Charlotte Katakuri ahead of his sister’s wedding to Sanji Vinsmoke. Now, fans just got a taste of the villain’s upcoming battle with Monkey D. Luffy. And, as expected, the teaser has got fans drooling.

This weekend, One Piece made a comeback with its latest release, and episode 826 had plenty to chew on. The debut featured big moments for guys like Bege and Sanji, but its remixed opening is what made fans geek out the most. After all, it did include a preview of Katakuri’s epic battle with Luffy.

The clip, which can be found above, shows Luffy looking rather serious as he breaks a mirror behind him in the Mirro-World. Katakuri is seen standing before him, and the pair have a quiet stare-down before jumping into battle.

Once Luffy charges forward, he taps into his Haki as Katakuri uses his Devil Fruit power to launch attacks at the Straw Hat. Luffy is able to dodge the hits at first, but the Sweet Commander gets the upper-hand when one of his mochi arms socks Luffy right in the gut. The teaser ends with Luffy rebounding and charging at Katakuri with a shout.

The clip, which was animated by Yoshikazu Tomita, is a gorgeous one. Its fluid style is impossible to overlook, and its handling of Katakuri makes the Sweet Commander look properly terrifying. His battle with Luffy has been the biggest highlight of the ‘Whole Cake Island’ arc for manga readers, so its anime debut is a must-see for any One Piece fan. However, the show still has a ways to go before it delves into the battle full on. The anime’s latest episode adapted material from chapter 856, and Luffy doesn’t start his fight with Katakuri until chapter 878.

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has been collected into 87 volumes, with a few chapters yet to be included. It 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 430 million copies sold worldwide.

Are you ready to see One Piece kick off this battle for real? Hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to let me know and talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!