Eiichiro Oda's One Piece has earned fans all over the world thanks to the mangaka's talent for crafting an interesting story with fun characters to root for. Monkey D. Luffy's quest to become the Pirate King has captured the attention of anime and manga fans for decades, and a big part of the series' success has to do with how fun its protagonist is to root for.
Luffy isn't the only great character One Piece has to offer, though. Plenty of other main and supporting characters, from Luffy's own crewmates to adversaries and allies, are just as interesting, if not more so. These characters would absolutely make perfect protagonists in their own series set in the One Piece world.
Koby
In many ways, Koby has all the makings of a classic shonen protagonist. When we first meet him, he's fairly weak and incredibly timid. But when Luffy saves him from the Alvida Pirates, he sets out to fulfill his own dream of becoming a great Marine, similar to Luffy's dream of becoming Pirate King.
A series following Koby's exploits would be a fun watch. We could follow the specifics of Koby's rise through the ranks, the challenges he faced in obtaining his current rank of Marine Captain, his exploits with SWORD, and get more of his interactions with characters like Garp, Helmeppo, and other SWORD members.
Boa Hancock
A series following the former Warlord of the Sea and current Kuja Pirates Captain would definitely be an interesting one. Boa Hancock's role in One Piece has been fairly limited, but she's still an important supporting character who's had some great moments.
What would really make a Hancock-focused series interesting is if it focused on her past and early life. Hancock and her sisters were forced into slavery after having been kidnapped by slavers and sold to the World Nobles. Eventually, they escaped their captors thanks to Fisher Tiger, and later on, Gloriosa, Shakky, and Rayleigh, and returned to their home of Amazon Lilly. Seeing the early years of Hancock's rule as Kuja Empress and how she earned such a fearsome reputation would absolutely rule.
Ace
Though Ace has been absent from the main narrative for a long time, fans still love him just as much as they did when Oda killed him off fifteen years ago. One Piece fans would absolutely love to see more Ace, and the groundwork for an Ace-centric adaptation has already been set with the One Piece: Ace’s Story spin-off.
If the events of the novel and manga were adapted and if the series included some more info about Ace's exploits prior to his death, it could easily become a hit with fans. Ace has the charisma to lead his own series, and even though we know how his story ends, fans will always be interested in seeing more of him.
Vivi
We know that Vivi's led a pretty interesting life so far. She might be royalty, but Vivi is far from a spoiled princess. From infiltrating Baroque Works to joining the Straw Hat crew to save her home country, we've seen Vivi do plenty of great things in the series.
Vivi's the only Straw Hat to have left the crew so far. So while the others have been going on with their grand adventure, Vivi has been doing her own thing. Vivi isn't leading a boring life despite having left the crew, and is still primed to be an important character in the Final Saga. A series focusing more on her exploits would be a great way of reuniting fans with a beloved Straw Hat.
Whitebeard
After the recent extended flashback in the Elbaf Arc, we got to see a little more of the great Whitebeard. Though the focus of these flashbacks was more on Rocks, Harald, and Roger, we got to learn a little more about young Edward Newgate.
A series where we follow Newgate post God Valley, and see the early years of his crew, their exploits, and watch him turn into the Whitebeard the fans love would be an amazing spin-off for One Piece. Like with Ace, we do know how Whitebeard's story ends, but there's so much potential there that it doesn't really matter.
Shanks
Though Luffy is One Piece's main character and a big part of why so many people love the series, Shanks' popularity can't go overlooked. Aside from being a fan-favorite, Shanks stands as one of the most interesting characters that we just don't get to see enough of.
A former member of the legendary Roger Pirates, the captain of the Red Hair Pirates, one of the Four Emperors, and a member of the Figarland Family, Shanks is connected to some of One Piece's most important characters in some way or another, while also being one of the most important characters in the series himself. There's so much that you can focus on for Shanks, from his early life to his exploits before meeting Luffy, to whatever he's been up to throughout One Piece's main narrative that we don't know about.
Dragon
There's one character who fans have been dying to see more of aside from Shanks, and that's Luffy's father, Garp's son, the Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Army; Monkey D. Dragon. With monikers like the "Rebellious Dragon" and "The World's Worst Criminal", you can see why so many fans are intrigued by Dragon, and why his relative absence from the majority of the narrative has frustrated
many.
The God Valley flashback finally gave us a look at Dragon's early life, and it didn't disappoint. We know why he went on to become a revolutionary, but a series focusing on the specifics and other elements of his life, like meeting Luffy's mother and his revolutionary exploits both before and during the series, would be amazing.
One Piece
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Number of Episodes
- 1122
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.72
