Does ‘One Piece: Strong World’ Fit in the Canon?

If you’re a One Piece fan in America and want to watch one of the fourteen existing One Piece films, you’re going to face some frustration. The newer films are sometimes available to rent on YouTube. A few of them are available on DVD and Blu-Ray. But otherwise, you’ll have to resort to … less legal means, perhaps. Not suggesting anything, only pondering what one may or may not have to do. Anyway, the idea of simply streaming a One Piece film on a major platform was a fantasy—until recently. Because now, you can stream one of the best ones—One Piece: Strong World—right on Netflix.

Strong World stands out among the One Piece film oeuvre for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that it’s the only one written by the manga’s author, Eiichiro Oda. This also kicked off Oda’s streak of becoming an executive producer on all the One Piece films which followed. And, very importantly, it began the beautiful tradition of each One Piece film having gorgeous, coordinated outfits among the Straw Hats.

Oda himself was very sentimental about the film, because it was one of the last times he was able to write Luffy as a teenager. Strong World came out as Oda was in the middle of the Marineford arc, you see. In other words, it’s the last One Piece film before the time skip.

Exactly when Strong World could’ve taken place is a tricky matter, however. Since the film is pre-time skip, but also counts Brook among the crew, the only time it could’ve taken place is between the Thriller Bark and Sabaody Archipelago arcs. However, this clearly is not the case. If it were, for spoiler-y reasons, Zoro would be a hot mess. Which belays another point: Strong World is not canon.

In fact, a good rule of thumb is that none of the films are canon. Even some of the films which re-tell manga / anime arcs aren’t canon! For example, Episode of Chopper Plus, which is a reimagining of the Drum Island arc, somehow has Robin, Franky, and the Thousand Sunny in it—all of whom very much entered the Straw Hats after Chopper.

However, Strong World stands out because Oda created canon elements specifically for the film. The existence of the film’s antagonist, Shiki the Gold Lion, is actually canon. In One Piece canon, Shiki was the first person to manage an escape from Impel Down. He was also a member of the Rocks Pirates alongside Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaido.

Despite me throwing a bunch of One Piece lore at you, Strong World is actually a great place to start your One Piece journey. It’s an incredibly fun film that displays the delicate combination of absurdity and deep emotional ties which make One Piece so special. And, also, those outfits.

(Image credit: Toei Animation / Netflix)