All interviews included in this article were conducted in July and August of 2022.
Anchors aweigh, the Grand Line is on the horizon!
Eiichiro Oda’s bestselling manga series of all time, ONE PIECE, hit Netflix Aug. 31 for its first-ever live-action adaptation. The epic pirate adventure saga follows the ebullient Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) as he gathers a ragtag crew of Straw Hat pirates-to-be: swordsman Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu), thief Nami (Emily Rudd), marksman Usopp (Jacob Romero), and chef Sanji (Taz Skylar). Luffy dreams of becoming the King of the Pirates and finding infamous pirate Gold Roger’s (Michael Dorman) mysterious treasure, the One Piece. The series was renewed by Netflix on Aug. 14.
“At the center of [the story] is Luffy, who is this little beacon of optimism who just will never be told no or beaten down,” series co-creator Steven Maeda said during production. “That’s the thing that makes [the story] special, that through all of this, Luffy is the one who perseveres and who keeps everybody on the right course. Even though they don’t know exactly where they’re going, they know what they want — he’s their guiding light in a lot of ways.”
Well, are you ready to meet the Straw Hats and their deadly adversaries? Make your acquaintance with the pirates, Marines, and villains of ONE PIECE below.
Luffy is captain of the Straw Hat pirates and a big dreamer. “He is a super cheerful guy, full of joy,” Iñaki Godoy told Netflix during production. “He is a great friend and he will fight for you and your dreams. He also loves to eat a lot, especially meat. That’s something that we share in common — we both love to eat a lot.”
As a child, Luffy ate the Devil Fruit known as the Gum-Gum Fruit, which granted him the ability to stretch his body like rubber. While the fruit gave him this extraordinary power, the sea can take it away and sink him.
His goal is to find Gold Roger’s treasure — the One Piece — and become King of the Pirates. He’s fearlessly optimistic, encouraging, and empowering everyone to follow their dreams. “The reason why pirates want to follow Luffy is because he lets people be who they wanna be, and he believes in them and what they want. You want that kind of person in your life, right? I think so,” said Godoy.
Maeda told Netflix that the team lucked out in finding Godoy to play Luffy. “There was no second choice to him.”
ONE PIECE creator Eiichiro Oda said that when he saw Godoy, he knew “That’s Luffy.”
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Nami is a fiercely independent thief who never allows herself to get close to anyone. She’s an expert navigator and cartographer whose weapon of choice is a Bo Staff. A lifelong anime fan, Rudd called Nami the “cool, calm, collected cat burglar of the group.”
Series co-creator Matt Owens views Nami as the smartest person on the Straw Hats crew. “She’s kind of like an older sister surrounded by a group of younger brothers,” he said. “And what’s funny is: That is absolutely the dynamic that has happened on our show. That has become Emily’s position, for better or for worse, with the other Straw Hat actors.”
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Known as the deadly “Pirate Hunter,” Roronoa Zoro dreams of one day becoming the world’s greatest swordsman wielding his signature trio of swords. “He’s a phenomenal fighter and having an actor like Mackenyu playing this role… every time I see him doing his own stunts, doing action, fighting, it’s one of the most exciting parts of the show, and Mackenyu really brings it,” said Owens.
Like Zoro, Mackenyu is Japanese and grew up idolizing the no-nonsense swordsman. “I was born in 1996, so ONE PIECE has been around my entire life… If you’re Japanese, it’s impossible not to know about it,” he told Netflix.
Zoro doesn’t tend to play well with others, but once his loyalty is gained, it’s unflinching. “Meeting Luffy is the biggest thing to ever happen to Zoro… though, of course, he’d never say that out loud.”
By the way, Mackenyu had his ears pierced for the show. “They were painful,” he said, with a laugh. “But for Zoro, I’d do anything.” And as for his green hair — “It’s my natural green hair, what are you talking about?”
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Usopp is a born storyteller, even if the tall tales he spins are of pirate adventures he hasn’t been on — yet. “He tells stories as a way of healing himself and as a form of medicine for the people around him,” Jacob Romero told Netflix. “The goodness of his heart was so clear to me.”
Like his father, Usopp is a sharpshooter and he certainly knows his way around a slingshot. He dreams of one day becoming a great warrior of the sea.
“He just nailed the reading from the get-go,” Maeda said of Romero’s audition. “We just saw qualities in him that were incredibly relatable because Usopp, in many ways, is the most relatable of the Straw Hats. He’s the one who’s scared when they confront some kind of big bad. He’s funny and he’s personable. We’re with him in his fear and also when he discovers bravery and wants to step up and do what we all wish we could do.”
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Sanji is a fashionable and talented chef who fuels his charm and flirtatious ways into his table service. When we meet him, he’s working at the restaurant Baratie under Chef Zeff. Sanji’s greatest dream is to find the All Blue, which is said to be the only place in the world where fish from all four seas — East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, and South Blue — can be found. For the record: He hates oregano and believes everyone in need should be provided with a meal.
An avid surfer and overall extreme sports enthusiast, Taz Skylar went all-out in his audition tape. In the show, Sanji relies exclusively on his legs when fighting so as to protect his hands for cooking.
So for four months before filming began, Skylar trained with tae kwon do specialists, MMA fighters, and a chef who had worked under Jamie Oliver. “It would just be: wake up, either kick, then cook, or cook, then kick, then go do Hamlet at the Young Vic [Theatre in London],” Skylar said of his early preparation for the role. “On the matinee days, I would just cook for the cast of the play.”
Maeda said that the team didn’t quite know what they were looking for when casting Sanji, but praised Skylar’s investment from day one. “When we saw Taz’s reading, we were like, ‘Let’s look into this young man further, because he really has a depth and warmth to his personality,” he said. “Taz has the biggest heart in the world, and so we thought that was a wonderful thing to bring to Sanji’s character.”
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Luffy meets Koby as an insecure and reluctant member of Alvida’s pirate crew on her ship, Miss Love Duck. “Koby starts as this very timid, very scared, very anxious, kind of overwhelmed character,” Morgan Davies told Netflix. “He’s, like, scared of his own shadow.”
Even though it puts Luffy in direct conflict with his dream of becoming the King of the Pirates, he encourages Koby to pursue his dream of becoming part of the Marines (the organization that patrols the seas to rid them of pirates).
“He’s Koby’s first friend… the first person that believes in him, and the first person that helps him get [to] where he wants to be,” said Davies. “Ultimately, they both are deeply good people who just want the best for everyone else."
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Helmeppo is the vain, inept, and spoiled son of Captain “Axe Hand” Morgan. “He’s a naughty little fellow,” said Aidan Scott.
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Vice Admiral Garp is legendary in the Marines — he’s the man who captured the notorious King of the Pirates, Gold Roger. Garp is very invested in trying to dissuade Luffy from chasing his pirate dreams and begins mentoring Koby through his journey as a Marine.
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Captain “Axe Hand” Morgan is in charge of the Marine base. He has a metal prosthetic in place of his lower jaw and an axe for a hand. Every part of his body is a weapon and he uses it to create fear, especially in his son, Helmeppo.
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Chef Zeff is a former great and fearsome pirate known for the red stain of blood on his boots. He now runs Baratie, the floating restaurant in the sea. He is a surrogate father to Sanji.
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Shanks is a mentor to Luffy and the beloved leader of the Red Haired crew of pirates. He taught Luffy that being a pirate is more than just fighting and taking.
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Alvida is a fearsome pirate who is murderous, ruthless, and obsessed with her looks. She will do anything to increase her bounty and prove she is someone to be reckoned with.
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As a young pirate, Buggy ate the Devil Fruit known as the Chop-Chop Fruit, and can now dismantle his body into pieces. Like Luffy, he was given these powers after eating this fruit, but the sea can take them away. He’s unhinged, maniacal — and don’t talk to him about his nose.
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We meet Klahadore when Usopp pays a visit to his old friend Kaya (Celeste Loots). Klahadore is Kaya’s butler, who’s looked after her since her parents died.
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Arlong is half-human, half-sawfish shark. He’s one of the most feared pirates of the East Blue. He hates humans and will do whatever it takes to find the One Piece.
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Dracule Mihawk is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea and deadlier with a blade than anyone else on the high seas.
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Osorio’s version of Luffy may not have his own pirate crew yet, but as Godoy told Netflix, “There’s a lot of things that I didn’t experience that the young version of me did.” And that includes bonding with Shanks and noshing on the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit. “I’m so honored to have him play the young version of this character,” Godoy said.
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Piazza’s version of Zoro provides the backstory for how he became the greatest swordsman to ever live.
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One thing to know about Nami is that at any and every age, she always knows how to work her five-finger discount.
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Playing Young Usopp is Saula’s first professional acting credit — and there’s no falsehood in this tale we’re spinning.
Sanji has always hated oregano — even from a young age.
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Set sail on the adventure of a lifetime when ONE PIECE premieres Aug. 31.
ONE PIECE is a live action pirate adventure created in partnership with Shueisha and produced by Tomorrow Studios and Netflix. Matt Owens and Steven Maeda are writers, executive producers, and showrunners. Eiichiro Oda, Marty Adelstein, and Becky Clements also executive produce.
