The Straw Hat Pirates set sail in first teaser for Netflix's live-action One Piece
One of the most popular stories in the world is coming to Netflix. We've known for awhile that One Piece, the long-running superpowered pirate manga and anime series created by Eiichiro Oda, was going to be adapted into live-action by the streaming service, much like Cowboy Bebop before it. But now we finally have a teaser, which was unveiled at the streamer's TUDUM fan event on Saturday.
The sneak peek makes clear that Netflix's One Piece is going to follow the broad strokes of Oda's story (which is the bestselling manga series of all time). A young man named Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) dreams of being the king of pirates, and sets sail for the ocean route known as the Grand Line in order to pursue his dream.
Any pirate worth their salt needs a crew of course, and the teaser shows that Luffy soon meets the skilled swordsman Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu) and navigator Nami (Emily Rudd). There are also brief glimpses of other Straw Hat Pirates members Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson) and the cook Sanji (Taz Skylar).
The first look ends with Luffy unleashing one of his signature moves, the Gum-Gum Pistol. That's the first reference in this teaser to the Devil Fruit, which Luffy and other One Piece characters consume to give them unique superpowers. Because Luffy ate the Gum-Gum Fruit as a child, his body is malleable and stretchy, like Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four.
Other characters have different abilities. The villainous Buggy the Clown, glimpsed briefly in this footage, is able to disassemble and reassemble his body parts at will after eating the Chop-Chop Fruit. There is no small amount of body horror in One Piece!
Viz Media The Straw Hat Pirates from 'One Piece' (L-R): Zoro, Usopp, Luffy, Nami, and Sanji.
It remains to be seen how well the live-action adaptation captures the visual dynamics of the anime and manga. Zoro, for instance, is only shown fighting with two swords here. In the original One Piece, the character is notable for his three-sword fighting style, which involves wielding one blade with his mouth. But that might be too difficult for human performers.
We'll see when One Piece hits Netflix on Aug. 31. For now, watch the teaser above.
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