There are few anime as expansive asOne Piece, which recently aired its1000th episodeafter airing for twenty years and counting. There’s an entire generation that grew up onOne Piece, watching from childhood well into adulthood. This great length is one of the first things people think of when it comes toOne Pieceand can feel like an insurmountable wall to picking up the show as it will take months to watch it in its entirety. The show’s large cast is just one aspect of this daunting show, which will be explored here, with a guide to the Straw Hat Pirates.
One Pieceis the story of Monkey D. Luffy, a young man with the ambitious goal of becoming the King of the Pirates and ruling the high seas. Alongside his trusted crew, Luffy sails the oceans, battling ferocious enemies and making lifelong friends as he hunts for the One Piece, the legendary treasure of the previous Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, which lies somewhere at the end of the world. Luffy’s enemies might include the strongest pirates of his era and the officials of the World Government’s strongest military force, the Navy, but nothing will stop him from achieving his goal.
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Monkey D. Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka)
Luffy is the main character, and he carries much of the show on his shoulders. Eternally optimistic and rather foolish, Luffy is a simple man with simple dreams, even though those simple dreams would reshape the world around him. Anybody who meets Luffy would find it hard to consider him a criminal, however. Luffy is always cheerful and trying to help out anybody he considers a friend - which is pretty much anybody who doesn’t attempt to attack him.
Friendship is at Luffy’s core as he’ll do anything to protect his friends and family, including breaking into the world’s most secure prison and declaring war on the World Government. His sheer passion for life is infectious in the best way, inspiring other characters to fight for whatever it is they want to achieve, no matter how ludicrous the goal might seem or how much others laugh at them for it.
Roronoa Zoro (Kazuya Nakai)
The first member to join Luffy’s crew, Zoro is a skilled swordsman who wants to push himself to the high peaks of his profession and become the world’s greatest swordsman. Before joining Luffy, Zoro made a living as a bounty hunter tracking down pirates and handing them over to the Navy to collect a profit. But after joining Luffy, Zoro became a member of the Worst Generation, considered to be the strongest rookie pirates on the sea.
Zoro is one of Luffy’s most loyal crewmates and a living embodiment of badassery. His innate serious nature lets him play off other, more comedic members of the crew while his mastery of Three-Sword Style sword fighting lets him battle alongside Luffy against even his strongest foes. The only place Zoro isn’t skilled in is his sense of direction, with him being the only member of the Straw Hats to get lost on a straight road in the history of the show.
Nami (Akemi Okamura)
Also known as Cat Burglar Nami, the young navigator became known for stealing huge sums of cash from pirates. Initially, she only joined Luffy’s crew to scam him to earn money to buy her hometown from the pirate, Arlong, but joins Luffy’s crew for real after Luffy defeats the fishman. Always looking for a way to make a quick buck, Nami’s innate skill at reading the weather and ocean has made her an indispensable part of the crew as their navigator.
Nami’s ultimate goal is to draw a complete world atlas, which would require her to sail to parts of the world nobody’s ever seen. This makes her a perfect companion to Luffy, who wants to sail everywhere. Nami also provides a voice of reason for the crew, reigning in some of the wilder personalities to help keep them focused as much as she can alongside the wild pirates.
Usopp (Kappei Yamaguchi)
Pirating is in Usopp’s blood as his father, Yasopp, is a crewmate of Red-Hair Shanks, one of the Four Emperors of the Sea. While he was too young to go to sea with his father, Ussop had always dreamed of meeting his father on the high seas as a pirate with a crew of his own. However, Usopp is an absolute coward and too afraid to sail out until Luffy invites him to join the Straw Hats, despite his cowardly nature and inclination to tell tall tales.
Usopp’s goal to become a brave warrior of the sea is a little vaguer than some of the other Straw Hats, but it’s also one of the more relatable. Usopp’s cowardice might seem weak in comparison to the other members of the crew, but it’s, in some ways, one of the most human attitudes in the show. Few people can smirk in the face of a dangerous foe like Luffy and Zoro, and these reactions make Usopp the most relatable Straw Hat to many viewers.
Vinsmoke Sanji (Hiroaki Hirata)
Sanji fulfills one of the most important roles on the ship: The cook capable of whipping up the vast quantities of food that Luffy consumes. The wayward prince of the nation of Germa, Sanji met Luffy while serving as a chef at the floating sea restaurant Baratie. He joined up with Luffy to achieve his dream of finding the All Blue, a legendary ocean where fish from all the world’s oceans live together, allowing a cook to make any dish he could dream of.
Sanji stands out as having a unique fighting style focused primarily on kicking, refusing to risk damaging his hands, or using his knife skills on anything but food as a matter of principle. Sanji also loves any woman he sets his eyes on, going insane and bending over backward for them. Sanji is one of the strongest members of the crew, with many fans dubbing the trifecta of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji the “Monster Trio.”
Tony-Tony Chopper (Ikue Otani/Kazue Ikura)
Another inhuman member of the crew, Chopper is a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit, aDevil Fruitthat gave him the ability to become a human. The people on his home island shunned Chopper as a monster, and he was taken in by a mad doctor named Hiriluk, who taught Chopper about medicine. Chopper carries the late Hiriluk’s will, aspiring to become the world’s best doctor who can cure any disease.
Chopper is the resident cute member of the Straw Hat Pirates and more of a non-combatant, though he never seems to fully escape a fight. He’s capable of fighting thanks to his Devil Fruit powers but prefers to leave the fighting to the Monster Trio while he hides and heals. His cheerfulness and naivety make him an incredibly endearing character, and he has the lowest bounty of the crew at a measly 100 Berries compared to Luffy’s 1.5 billion Berry bounty.
Franky (Kazuki Yao)
Franky is a cyborg who increasingly replaces his human body parts with robotic ones and is one of the greatest shipwrights in the world ofOne Piece.Franky builtThe Thousand Sunny,the high-tech ship that the Straw Hat Pirates currently sail on. Franky wants to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Tom, and build a ship that could sail around the world’s most perilous seas. He joined Luffy and his crew to make sure that theSunnycould make the trip while also adding a bit of muscle.
Franky is easily the most flamboyant member of the crew and puts everything he has into everything he does. He’s quick to sympathize with the underdog and shed a flood of tears while fighting for them. Franky is passionate and brilliant about his robotics and, in some ways, acts as an older brother to the crew, entertaining them while keeping them safe and afloat.
Brook (Cho)
Brook is the oldest member of the crew and happens to be a living skeleton. He died at sea and his Devil Fruit, the Revive-Revive Fruit, resurrecting him, though only after his body had already decomposed. Luffy and the Straw Hats found Brook drifting at sea in a broken ship before he joined their crew as a musician so he could sail around the world and meet with the whale Laboo, the only living member of his crew.
Brook is a skilled swordsman, though he lacks Zoro’s raw power in favor of speed and finesse with his trademark move cutting people and walking away before they realize it, similar to old-fashioned samurai movies. Brook’s age makes him one of the wisest Straw Hats, and he has a very different view of the seas than his crewmates as Brook was an experienced pirate while many of the biggest names on the sea like Gol D. Roger were mere rookies getting their feet wet.
Jinbe (Daisuke Gori)
Finally, we have Jinbe, the most recent character to join the Straw Hat Crew. Jinbe is one of the most significant members of the Straw Hats. Before joining, he was once a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, one of the three great powers on the ocean, and he served Emperor Big Mom as one of her most trusted subordinates. Also known as the First Son of the Sea, Jinbe’s a fearsome fishman and master of Fishman Karate.
Unlike other members of the crew who joined to fulfill specific desires, Jinbe was drawn to the Straw Hats by Luffy’s character. Jinbe initially agreed to project Luffy as a favor to Luffy’s brother, Ace, but quickly grew to respect the young pirate and realized that if anybody could change the world, it would be Luffy as he became the King of the Pirates. A character defined by his honor, Jinbe joined Luffy to help support the future King of the Pirates and start a new age on the high seas.
