An alternate version of Earth, and one that is currently in the midst of the 'Golden Age of Pirates'. Ruthless cut-throat pirates rule the seas, and only the strongest have the chance to lay claim to the mythical treasure known as 'One Piece' that was left behind by the greatest pirate of them all Gold Roger. Years after the death of Gold Roger, a young boy by the name of Monkey D. Luffy has dreams of raising his own crew, finding One Piece, and declaring himself as Pirate King. After eating a devil fruit that grants Luffy the power to make his body like rubber, it gives him enormous strength and agility. When Luffy finally comes of age, he sets sail from Foosha Village in East Blue and sets upon his grand adventure to become the next Pirate King.
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Because so much of Sanji's identity is tied to food, Taz Skylar didn't just train in taekwondo and MMA before filming, he also spent time training with an actual chef so his cooking scenes would feel authentic rather than staged.
Eiichiro Oda reportedly reviewed Iñaki Godoy's Zoom audition tape personally, and told the actor later that the moment he saw it he started laughing because Godoy looked exactly like the Luffy he'd drawn, and he couldn't picture anyone else in the role.
Taz Skylar has talked about being genuinely surprised that a throwaway pre-fight line about 'the blonde at table 8' turned into a running joke among fans, some of whom now dress up as the line itself at conventions and quote it back to him.
For the first season the production didn't stop at one hero ship, they built life-size versions of the Going Merry, Shanks' Red Force, and Alvida's duck-shaped Miss Love Duck, all constructed on the same lot in Cape Town.
Tomorrow Studios producer Marty Adelstein suggested during production that the show's spending could end up making it one of the most expensive television dramas ever made, largely thanks to the scale of the practical ships and sets.
Visual effects studio Rising Sun Pictures handled over 170 shots for Season 1, and a lot of that work went into scanning the real, on-set Going Merry through photogrammetry so they could build a matching digital version for wider shots and stunts.
The show's title sequence, which sweeps over a pirate map before settling on Loguetown harbour, was an entirely digital build running roughly 2,000 frames, populated with more than 20 individual ships crafted by the visual effects team.
Season 2, subtitled Into the Grand Line, moves the Straw Hats past Reverse Mountain and into locations like Whiskey Peak, Little Garden and Loguetown itself, taking the story from the East Blue into the far more dangerous waters beyond.
The teaser for the second season opens and closes with the mournful cry of Laboon, the giant whale who guards the entrance to the Grand Line, a nod fans of the manga picked up on immediately given how central that whale becomes to the crew's journey.
One shot in the Season 2 trailer echoes Loguetown's nickname from the manga, the Town of Beginnings and Endings, referencing the fact that it's both the birthplace and execution site of the legendary pirate king Gol D. Roger.
