One Piece: Stampede Reveals Surprising Raftel Tie-in

One Piece: Stampede released earlier this year as part of a celebration of the anime's massive 20th Anniversary, and while the film's plot doesn't fit within the series' official canon that doesn't mean there aren't a few interesting nuggets revealed about the series itself. In fact, the film's central premise has a surprisingly direct tie-in with the mysterious One Piece treasure itself. Read on to find out more about this tie-in, but be warned that from here on out will be full spoilers for One Piece: Stampede. So read at your own risk!

Luffy and the Straw Hats, along with many of the notable pirate crews across the franchise, are gathering together at an island for a special pirate festival. But the allure of the festival is the central competition for a piece of Gol D. Roger's treasure -- that turns out to be a Eternal Log Pose forever pointing at Raftel.

As One Piece has teased in the past, Raftel is the last island of the Grand Line that Gol D. Roger's crew once found. It's said that this island holds the One Piece treasure, but the series hasn't really built on that mystery in the last few years. But One Piece: Stampede not only confirms that there's something left by Roger on Raftel, but that the island really is a physical place that can be directed to with a Log Pose.

The reason all the pirates are fighting for this is because it's essentially a shortcut to the end of the Grand Line, and Luffy's response to this is pretty interesting. Despite having concrete evidence of his dreams, when he gets a hold of the Log Pose he decides to break it. Luffy doesn't want any help or shortcuts, nor does he really want to know about the truth of the treasure.

But with this surprising tie-in, Stampede certainly cements itself as an important part of the franchise. Confirming Raftel is a real place, and apparently spelled as "Laugh Tale," now there's a clear end goal in sight...whenever that actually is.

Funimation screened One Piece: Stampede in the United States with English subtitles on October 24, 29 and 31, and with an English dub on October 26 and 30. They officially describe the new film as such, "Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat pirate crew are invited to a massive Pirate Festival that brings many of the most iconic characters from throughout the franchise to participate in competition with the Straw Hats to find Roger's treasure. It also pits the Straw Hats against a new enemy named Bullet, a former member of Roger's crew."

You can check out our spoiler-free review of the film here, and here's an excerpt to get you started, "One Piece: Stampede continues to surprise the longer it goes on. Each scene is brimming with excitement, and it's an experience that only a franchise like One Piece can provide. A film paying loving tributes to the past, the present, and even the future, One Piece: Stampede is incredible."