One Piece

One Piece is a Japanese anime series based on the manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young man whose body gains the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil's Fruit, and his diverse crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy explores the ocean in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as One Piece in order to become the next Pirate King.

Toei Animation produced the series and it premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on October 20, 1999. Since then, the still ongoing series has aired more than 700 episodes and has been exported to various countries around the world. In 2004, 4Kids Entertainment acquired the license for distribution of One Piece in North America. 4Kids collaborated with Viz Media to distribute the series for home video release. This dub was heavily edited for content, as well as length; reducing the first 143 episodes into 104. Sanji's cigarettes, for example, were turned into lollipops, and the skin of a black pirate was changed to a tan mulatto/white color.

The series premiered in the United States on September 18, 2004 on the Fox network as part of the Fox Box block. 4Kids released a statement in December 2006 confirming that it cancelled the project. Following the 4Kids dub in 2007, Funimation Entertainment began production on an English-language release of One Piece.

The 4Kids dubbed episodes premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on April 23, 2005. The Funimation dubbed episodes premiered on Toonami on August 25, 2007 and aired until its cancellation on March 22, 2008.

During Momocon 2013, the Toonami staff stated that they had re-acquired the rights to the series and that One Piece would return to the lineup, in April 2013. On March 10 2017 Toonami announced that with a sad heart One Piece would be replaced by Tokyo Ghoul starting March 25, 2017. Jason Demcaro said it was not the crew of Toonami's choice to do so but they were forced to. Jason Demcaro did not say One Piece would never be back but did not confirm or even reply that their would be a return of the show.

The series returned to Toonami on May 11, 2013, May 18, 2013 with episode 207 of the “Long Ring Long Island” arc (or “Davy Back Fight” arc as it’s also known), due to the fact that a lot of the episodes preceding 207 were already shown on Toonami, and because every episode after 207 is in HD. The series is rated TV-14-DLV on Adult Swim.

During a Toonami: Pre-Flight episode, it was announced that One Piece would be ending its second run on Toonami on March 18, 2017.

Plot
The series begins with the execution of Gold D. Roger, a man known as the King of the Pirates. Just before his death, Roger announces that his treasure, the One Piece, will be up for the taking, causing the Great Pirate Era to begin. As a result, countless pirates set out to the Grand Line to look for the treasure.

Twenty-two years have passed since Roger's execution, and Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate inspired by his childhood idol and powerful pirate Red Haired Shanks, has since set off on a journey from the East Blue Ocean to succeed Roger and find the legendary treasure. In an attempt to organize his own crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, he befriends many different crew members, each with unique skills and abilities, that he meets on his journey to find The legendary treasure One Piece.

The Straw Hat Pirate Crew consists of: Monkey D. Luffy, a rubber-man and captain of the Straw Hat Pirates; Roronoa Zoro a swordsman and former bounty hunter; Nami, a navigator and a thief; Usopp, a sniper and a liar; Sanji, a womanizing chef; Tony Tony Chopper, an anthropomorphized reindeer and doctor; Nico Robin, an archaeologist and former member of the Baroque Works; Franky, a shipwright and self-made cyborg; and Brook, a living skeleton and musician.

Throughout the series The Straw Hat Pirates face off with many enemies including the Marines, bounty hunters, and many different pirate crews, including; Buggy The Clown and The Buggy Pirates, Arlong and The Arlong Pirates, Shichibukai Sir Crocodile and Baroque Works, and many more.

Characters
Monkey D. Luffy — The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and the primary protagonist of the One Piece series. In the beginning of the series, he accidentally eats the Paramecia-type Gum-Gum Fruit, causing his body to gain the properties of highly stretchable rubber. In addition to his Devil Fruit ability, Luffy eventually learns to use Haki. After his life is saved by Shanks when he is seven years old, Luffy decides to achieve the tantamount goals of finding the series' titular treasure and succeed Gold Roger as King of the Pirates. Ten years later, wearing Shanks' straw hat, he sets out to sea to gather a crew and sail the Grand Line, where the One Piece is supposedly hidden.

Roronoa Zoro — A swordsman who uses up to three swords, holding the third in his mouth. To fulfill a promise to his childhood friend and rival, "Kuina", he decides to become the world's greatest swordsman by defeating Dracule Mihawk. Before meeting Luffy, Zoro has become a bounty hunter. Zoro is saved from his executioners by Luffy, who decides to follow his dream. He makes it clear that he would turn on his captain if he ever stepped between him and his dream, although he later says that he can not fulfill his dream if he does not help his captain fulfill his.

Nami — A navigator and thief who recognizes and analyzes even the slightest changes in the weather. She is also an excellent pickpocket. Her dream is to draw a complete map of the world. She briefly betrayed the crew during the Baratie Arc, but rejoined at the end of the Arlong Park Arc after her past and true intentions were revealed. Throughout the series, Nami fights using a three-sectioned bo staff. Usopp later provides her with a version of this weapon capable of controlling weather, called the Climate Baton.

Usopp — A liar, talented inventor, skilled painter, and sculptor. Usopp fills the role of the Straw Hat's Sniper. In combat, Usopp primarily uses slingshots to fire various kinds of ammunition. During Usopp's early childhood, his father, Yasopp, leaves him and his mother to join the Red-Haired Pirates. Some time after this, Usopp's mother, Banchina, falls ill. Usopp starts telling his mother and other villagers lies, stating that his father has returned and will be taking them with him. His mother eventually dies, but Usopp, in his sadness, continues to tell lies. Despite all this, he does not blame his father for leaving him, but takes pride in his heritage. Usopp has an alter-ego named "Sogeking", a hero sniper, wearing a golden mask and cape.

"Black Leg" Sanji — The Straw Hat Pirates' cook. He knows how it feels to starve from first hand experience, so he will never refuse someone a meal. He has a strong sense of chivalry, because of which, he will never harm a woman, even if he dies. Sanji also seems to keep this code regardless of a woman's appearance. His dream is to find the "All Blue", a legendary sea, containing every kind of fish in the world. Sanji only uses kicks while fighting. He said that this is because a chef's hands are his most prized possessions and should not be risked in battle. Sanji begins using a fire-based kick technique known as Diable Jambe, in which he heats his leg by spinning around rapidly to increase his attack power. Eventually, he can fly using CP9's Skywalk technique and can use Diable Jambe without spinning around.

Tony Tony Chopper — A doctor and a blue-nosed reindeer who gained human properties by eating the Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit. He comes from Drum Island, where he studied medicine under Dr. Kureha. Using a self-developed drug he calls Rumble Ball, Chopper can assume more than the three forms provided by his Devil Fruit ability alone. When complimented, Chopper acts really happy while either telling the person who complimented him to stop trying to make him happy, or that he isn't very happy.

Nico Robin — An archaeologist originating from Ohara, home of the world's largest and oldest library; she becomes an archaeologist at the age of eight and learns how to decipher the writings on the ancient stones called Poneglyph, which are scattered around the world. However, the World Government destroys the island for housing archaeologists along with her returning mother, Nico Olvia, researching these stones. As a result, Robin cooperates with various pirates and other outlaws, eventually becoming a member of Baroque Works as its vice president, nicknamed as "Ms. All-Sunday" at the time, being briefly an antagonist to the Straw Hat Pirates before joining them. Like the scholars of Ohara before her, it is her dream to find and decipher the Rio Poneglyph, which is said to tell the world's lost history. Her devotion to history and its preservation goes so far that she will even risk her life to protect ancient artifacts and buildings. Robin ate the Paramecia-type Flower-Flower Fruit, allowing her to create temporary copies of parts of her body on surfaces near her. However, if her replicated parts are hurt, she feels the pain on her actual body.

Franky — Originally named Cutty Flam, he eventually starts calling himself Franky to hide his identity. He gains infamy as "Cyborg" Franky and becomes shipwright of the Straw Hat Pirates. Abandoned by his pirate parents on the Grand Line island Water 7 at the age of ten, Franky becomes an apprentice to the master shipwright Tom along with Iceburg, who later becomes the island's mayor. When Tom is taken away as a criminal by the World Government for building Gold Roger's ship, the Oro Jackson, Franky tries to stop them. In the process, he is severely injured and, to survive, rebuilds parts of his body using pieces of scrap metal, turning himself into a cola-powered cyborg with super-human strength. His dream is to build a ship, become its shipwright, and sail it to the end of the world. To that end, he builds the Thousand Sunny, a brigantine-rigged sloop-of-war, and joins the Straw Hat Pirates.

Brook — Brook is a living skeleton, resurrected by the Paramecia-type Revive-Revive Fruit, which grants the user a second life. He is an excellent musician, who claims to be able to play any instrument, although he is usually seen playing the violin. He is also a skilled fencer, who uses a shikomizue (a Japanese cane sword), in battle. Brook can hypnotize people with his music. His lightweight skeleton body allows him to jump extraordinarily high and to run across water. He has a very childish and energetic personality. When Brook's crew, the "Rumbar Pirates", enters the Grand Line, they leave their pet whale "Laboon" behind at Reverse Mountain, promising to return after sailing around the world. Fifty years later, Brook considers it his duty to fulfill his former crew's promise.

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Gallery
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Broadcast History

 * Japan (Fuji Television) — October 20, 1999 - Present
 * United States (Fox) — September 18, 2004 - November 12, 2005
 * United States (Cartoon Network) — April 23, 2005 - March 15, 2008
 * United States (Adult Swim) — May 11, 2013, May 18, 2013 - March 18, 2017
 * Canada (YTV) — July 8, 2005 - December 8, 2006
 * United Kingdom (Toonami) — 2005 - 2006
 * Australia (Cartoon Network) — 2005 - 2009
 * Latin America (Cartoon Network) — 2006 - 2008
 * India (Cartoon Network) — 2006 - 2007

Toonami Broadcast History
In the United States, the 4Kids dubbed episodes of One Piece premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on April 23, 2005. After the 104 4Kids episodes were aired, the Funimation dubbed episodes began airing on Toonami on August 25, 2007 and aired until the programming block's cancellation on March 22, 2008. After several years off of American television, the series returned to Adult Swim's Toonami block on May 11, 2013,  May 18, 2013 with episode 207 of the “Long Ring Long Island” arc (“Davy Back Fight” arc). On March 10, 2017, Toonami announced that One Piece would be replaced by Tokyo Ghoul starting March 25, 2017. Jason DeMarco has stated that it was not the crew of Toonami's choice to remove the series but that what ultimately led to the removal of the series were "many complicated legal and financial reasons, beyond the simple basic fact that it just never did well enough in the ratings for our programming department to be really happy with it."

Outside of the United States, the 4Kids episodes appeared on Toonami UK in the United Kingdom and the respective Toonami blocks in Australia and Latin America.


 * Toonami (United States) — April 23, 2005 - March 15, 2008 ; May 11, 2013, May 18, 2013 - March 18, 2017
 * Toonami (United Kingdom) — 2005 - 2006
 * Toonami (Australia) — 2005 - 2006
 * Toonami (Latin America) — 2006 - 2007