‘One Piece’ To Air Anime Exclusive Filler Arc

Over the years since it started airing in 1999 on Fuji TV, "One Piece" has mostly stayed true to the manga and avoided filler arcs as much as possible. Thus far, the hugely popular shonen anime only has 15% filler, but that number is going up as it will soon air an anime-only story.

Unlike similar titles like "Bleach" and "Naruto," "One Piece" has largely stayed away from non-canon filler stories. However, it looks like it will follow the path of its fellow shonen anime as it will air an original story beginning Mar. 19.

 "Shonen Weekly Jump" announced the news in their latest issue, Comic Book wrote. The anime magazine said that Luffy and his friends will encounter new Marine soldiers in the "One Piece" arc titled "Marine Rookie." They will meet them while they are on their way to save Sanji from captivity. However, their mission is hampered by the crew's captain himself and his voracious craving for food. That is why they run out of food supplies during their voyage and thus, they head to a Marine base to steal foodstuffs. But in the process, Luffy is apprehended by new Marine recruits from Aokiji's team.

Hiroshi Oyama, a producer at Toei Animation, said that idea came about when they spoke with Eiichiro Okuda, Crunchyroll shared. Meanwhile, the designs for the new "One Piece" filler arc were also published. Furthermore, the cast of voice actors for the additional characters has also been revealed. Natsuki Hanae, who voiced Ken Kaneki in "Tokyo Ghoul" is Grant, Hiroki Yasumoto who has worked on "Bleach" is Bonham, the voice of Saitama in "One-Punch Man" Makoto Furukawa is Sappa. Lastly, Yohei Tadano who has voiced various anime and non-anime characters is Vice Admiral Prody.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the iconic anime "One Piece." The creator, Okuda, teased fans by saying that there will be a lot of surprises for the anime's anniversary.