The world of One Piece continues to expand in many ways. The second season of the Netflix live-action is on the way while One Piece’s anime continues to tackle the Egghead arc, and the manga is kicking off some major action in Elbaph at the time of this writing. Along with all of this, there have been tie-in manga and prose stories that give fans of the long-running anime series more of their favorite characters. Ace and Sanji, for instance, got their own manga; although the creator of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda, did not pen these as his creation.
More recently, a prose novel titled One Piece: Heroines by Jun Esaka is now available. It’s a collection of short stories, each one dedicated to some of the best female characters in One Piece, including Nami, Nico Robin, Princess Vivi, and Ghost Princess Perona. This is not just a fun exploration of these iconic women, but it also has the makings for the perfect anime spin-off, especially since most of these stories are set during the time skip between the Marineford arc and Return to Sabody arc.
One Piece's Time Skip Means There Are Plenty Of Untold Stories
Fans Want To Know What Else The Straw Hats Did Without Monkey D. Luffy
During the Sabody arc, the Straw Hat crew is separated from each other thanks to Kuma’s devil-fruit powers. From there, Luffy goes on a mission to save his brother before reuniting with the crew. However, due to the events of Marineford, it would not be another two years — longer than the crew had been assembled — that the Straw Hats would reunite and take on the New World. Readers know the key things each Straw Hat got up to as they all worked to be stronger in their own unique ways; however, a lot can happen in two years.
Robin, for instance, worked with the Revolutionary Army — an underutilized group in One Piece. A lot could have happened with the Revolutionary Army during that time, and One Piece: Heroines addresses one such story where Robin, Koala, and Sabo decipher a tablet. This not only gives One Piece’s Revolutionary Army more to do, but it also explores what Robin was up to during those two years. Similarly, audiences know Zoro trained under Mihawk during the time-skip, but Zoro does not get a full-on training arc. Instead, readers get select moments from his time with Mihawk and Perona, who also resides on Mihawk’s island and gets her own story in Heroines.
Outside The Straw Hats, One Piece Has Other Character Stories To Explore
One Piece: Heroines Gives Insight Into The Wider World Of One Piece
Perona, as another starring character in One Piece: Heroines, gets her own story set during the time-skip as she fights over the last bottle of wine with Zoro and Mihawk. The relationship between them is a fascinating one, and what happened during the time-skip deeply impacts Perona to the point that she goes from a Straw Hat villain to an ally of Zoro’s, helping him get to Sabody before any other Straw Hat. To see more of what happened during this time-skip would help inform this change in Perona while also showing readers what went down during the time-skip for her and Luffy’s right hand, Zoro.
Even Vivi, who is not an official member of the Straw Hats, gets her own story. Where Nami and Robin are away from the Straw Hats for two years, Vivi’s time away from them is longer since she has not seen them since Alabasta wrapped up. She stayed behind because of her royal duties, and come post-time skip, Vivi seems to be an even bigger player in the grand scheme of One Piece given Emu’s interest in her family. Getting more of Vivi, even in a story about her getting an unexpected admirer, could give readers some insight into what has been going on with her since her time with the Straw Hats.
The world of One Piece is massive, and there is so much to explore. One Piece: Heroines does just this with the women of One Piece. It also focuses on what they were up to during the time-skip, and this gives the writer of the book a lot of freedom to play with this world as it is a long enough time period to create new stories for these characters. There is also enough One Piece pre-and post-time skip that the writer knows what is on and off the table. Adapting such a book to a spin-off anime series, movie, or special — like One Piece Fan Letter — could also give audiences more of the Straw Hats before their long-awaited reunion, while also opening the door for more stories like this with other characters.
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