Eiichiro Oda randomly makes classic manga part of One Piece for hilarious reason

As if One Piece wasn’t already unruly enough, Eiichiro Oda has now confirmed a precursor manga as being part of his ongoing pirate epic.

Alongside being one of the best anime ever, One Piece is one of the longest too. Boasting over 1,000 episodes, and even more manga chapters, Luffy’s ongoing journey to becoming the Pirate King has been truly epic so far.

The manga kicked off in 1997, so it’s been running for almost 30 years. Eiichiro had some projects before then, and it’s one of those that he’s decided is now part of One Piece canonically.

“Since the Wano Country Arc has been completed, and its connections with the Thriller Bark Arc have been resolved, I thought it would be OK to have Monsters be an official sidestory, so I gave the OK for the anime adaptation,” he says in an interview featured in a new printing of Monsters.

Penned by the mangaka in 1994, Monsters is a one-shot from Eiichiro’s Wanted collection of shorts. It follows a samurai saving a small town from attack, and a stand-alone volume has been released for the 30th anniversary.

That’s not all, because the anime version came out earlier this year on Netflix, too, and now the celebrations including becoming One Piece canon. the animation was handled by E&H Production, not Toei, who produce One Piece. Even so, the connective vibe is there.

“Even though I gave them the OK without explaining how this story would connect to One Piece, when I saw the scene at the end with Zoro, I though, ‘Wow, this is perfect’,” Eiirchiro adds.

Of course, as with most One Piece spin-offs, you don’t need to read Monsters to understand the plot. But it’s worthwhile if you enjoy exploring the mythology, and you never know what might get referenced in future.

For what else is happening in the franchise, check out our guide to One Piece Chapter 1121 as well as our list of the saddest backstories.