One Piece Announces Special Mercedes Partnership

The world of One Piece is getting a little bit bigger in August of this year, with the fifteenth film of the franchise, One Piece: Red, hitting theaters in Japan. To help in promoting the upcoming movie, it seems that the Straw Hats, Red-Haired Shanks, and the other swashbucklers of the Grand Line are partnering with Mercedes to push some automobiles, with the Shonen film slated to hit North America and countries outside of Japan this fall.

While official anime cars are few and far between, there are plenty of anime fans that have taken the opportunity to recreate their vehicles with paint jobs and decals that honor the biggest franchises that have arrived over the history of the medium. In this new partnership between One Piece: Red and Mercedes, it doesn’t appear as though fans will have the opportunity to buy a vehicle that has been remade in the image of Luffy, Shanks, or one of the many characters, old and new, that will make up the roster of the movie, though we’re sure this endeavor will have surprises for fans.

Twitter User New World Artur shared the new promotional image that sees Monkey D. Luffy and Red-Haired Shanks staring one another down above a Mercedes, creating a rather unique marketing endeavor to help in pushing the fifteenth film in the legendary Shonen franchise: 

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Besides the upcoming movie, One Piece has spent its recent chapters bringing the War For Wano to a close, with Eiichiro Oda taking a break before the Final Arc of the series takes place in the manga. With Yamato joining the ranks of the Straw Hat Pirates, there are plenty of loose ends to cover before the Shonen franchise comes to an end and fans can’t wait to see if Luffy is able to actually achieve his dream of becoming the King of the Pirates.

We doubt that One Piece will be slapping their characters into cars any time soon, as the Straw Hat Pirates continue riding aboard the Thousand Sunny, their pirate ship of choice.

What do you think of this wild marketing endeavor? 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.