Two days, One Piece.
Another One Piece Day has come and finally hoisted anchor to set sail until next year. But this year’s two-day event continued to deliver in bringing entertainment and news to attendees at the Makuhari Messe convention center and everyone around the world via a livestream on YouTube.
It was an especially festive One Piece Day as the manga celebrated surpassing 600 million copies in circulation worldwide this year. And in honor of that milestone, the second-ever World Top 100 character popularity poll was held. Over 13 million votes were cast around the globe, ranking 1,567 of the epic story’s characters.
As the results were announced throughout One Piece Day, it probably came as no surprise that top honors went to Monkey D. Luffy for the second time, followed by his right-and-left-hand men Rorona Zoro and Sanji in second and third places respectively.
▼ A yuru-kyara mascot Luffy was there to accept the crown.
At the start of the poll, creator Eiichiro Oda announced that he would create new special outfits for each character in the top 30, and during the event, the new Luffy outfit illustration was unveiled for the first time. The other new outfits will make appearances in the anime, trading card game, and on various merchandise.
There was also a live reading by 17 of the main voice actors in One Piece’s Elbaph Arc, including Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy) and Kazuya Nakai (Zoro). Afterward, each actor also looked back on some of the other characters they lent their voices to over the series many years.
And speaking of cast members, there was also a big announcement regarding the live-action Netflix series. New cast members for season three, The Battle of Alabasta, were revealed to be Emilio Sakraya as Koza, Omid Abtahi as Toto, Jamie Ward as Pell, and Nabeel Kahn as Chaka.
▼ Clockwise from top left: Emilio Sakraya, Omid Abtahi, Nabeel Kahn, and Jamie Ward
And as always, One Piece Day came to a close with major musical performances. Series mainstays Hiroshi Kitadani and Maki Otsuki once again graced the stage performing their legendary theme songs, as well as some fan favorites used throughout the series, such as Otsuki’s “Never Was Alone in This World,” used when Nico Robin and Saul reunited.
▼ Hiroshi Kitadani
This year’s first guest performer was AiNA THE END, who performed three songs, including the current arc’s theme song, “Luminous,” and “Blue Shining Star,” which is the theme song for One Piece Heroines.
Rounding out the bill was 36km/h, who played this arc’s closing theme, “Future,” as well as “Hello,” which was the ending theme to the voice comic for Eiichiro Oda’s one-shot Monsters.
One Piece Day 2026 came to a close with a traditional group singing of “We Are!” bringing this pirate party to a triumphant close.
And after that, came the worst time of year, the longest possible time until the next One Piece Day. For now, we’ll have to make do with all the lesser holidays like Constitution Memorial Day.
Images: ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation
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