We Are!

"We Are!" is a song by Hiroshi Kitadani, composed by Kohei Tanaka with lyrics by Shōko Fujibayashi. It was used as the first opening for the One Piece television anime, accompanying most of the episodes comprising the East Blue Saga. As a result, it became a sort of shorthand for the Straw Hat Pirates' earliest adventures (and, among the wider public, for the series as a whole).

After its initial run, "We Are!" reappeared as an insert song in several individual episodes, usually to mark significant story developments (and/or retrospectives). In addition, Toei Animation commissioned a number of remixes, two of which have served as openings for later portions of the anime.

Original
The narrator - in a straightforward adaptation of Chapter 1's first page - introduces Gold Roger, a pirate who had won boundless "Wealth, Fame and Power" before his capture and execution. With his last words, he had promised the same to anyone who could find his treasure.

A ship is seen unfurling its Jolly Roger sail, then another, then another, until the sea is dotted with pirate ships. Excitedly, the narrator states that the world has entered the "Great Age of Pirates."

The camera cuts to Luffy, sprinting up a hill and leaping in excitement, followed by quick flashes of his crewmates: Zoro glaring, Nami waving, Usopp posing, and Sanji dragging on a cigarette. Luffy then shows off his abilities, stretching one arm onto the Going Merry and rocketing the rest of himself onboard.

As Luffy closes in on the camera, the opening smash-cuts to the One Piece logo.

The Going Merry is then shown amidst a rough sea, surrounded by massive Sea Kings on all sides. A close-up of the ship's bow shows all of the Straw Hats grinning and unafraid, Luffy even hanging upside-down from the figurehead. The Merry is then depicted from a super-deformed perspective, a stretching little caricature "sailing" the world map.

Next, the Merry comes under attack by enemy pirates, and the Straw Hats demonstrate their fighting skills: Zoro fends off a horde of men with his Santoryu, Sanji defeats another horde with an upside-down spin kick, Usopp uses his Egg Star to stun a man, and Nami finishes the man off with her staff. Finally, Luffy - in an adaptation of Chapter 1's last pages - throws his signature Gomu Gomu no Pistol at the Lord of the Coast.

In-between flashes of upcoming figures - Buggy, Kuro, Don Krieg, Arlong, Alvida, Smoker, and Dragon - Luffy lands back aboard the Merry, standing tall with all his crewmates. Then, as their Jolly Roger proudly flies overhead, Luffy begins spinning his beloved his straw hat on his finger, the camera zooming in on it until Shanks suddenly emerges, Lucky Roux, Yasopp and Benn Beckman following in his wake.

The opening concludes with two more shots of the smiling Straw Hats - Luffy, Nami and Zoro in the first, Usopp and Sanji in the second - and a rear shot of the Going Merry with a seagull flying past. Finally, the title screen shows.

Straw Hat Versions
Several variants of this song have been produced with Straw Hat Pirates singing the lyrics. The earliest, originally released on 2004's Character Song Album 2, featured every member up to Nico Robin; this version was briefly used as an anime opening during the Enies Lobby Arc's "recap" period (Episode 279 to 283), accompanied by the same visuals as the first opening.

In 2009, an updated version was released, incorporating vocals from both Franky and Brook.

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4kids Preview
Originally aired at the promotional showing of One Piece for America, this version was one of the many theme song demos 4Kids produced for the show at the time. This version was sung by Russ Velasquez. The song's appearance in the convention led to many English speaking fans becoming excited over seeing the series. After 4Kids gained the rights to the series, this introduction was dropped in favor of the One Piece Rap.

Now it's time to set sail for a mystery

Don't know where we will go or what we're gonna see

ONE PIECE!

Gotta find a crew, and then I'll work 'em to the bone

There's just no time to rest, it's all mine, and mine alone

I've always believed this is my destiny

To be the greatest pirate the world has ever seen!

If you're not by my side, then you'd better run and hide

We'll defend 'til the end, all of our friends

On that you can depend!

Now it's time to set sail for a mystery

Don't know where we will go or what we're gonna see

We will never give up the ship or the hunt

One hope, one dream, one day...

ONE PIECE!

FUNimation Version
In the edited TV version of episode 152, "We Are!" played as the Straw Hats sailed the Knock Up Stream. In the FUNimation dub Jerry Jewel sung a new version of We Are. While this is an official English We Are, it is a rushed last minute version and a revised version was released when the DVDs came out. The official DVD version is sung by Vic Mignogna. The TV version is now used as an insert song in the uncut DVD sets.

Edited TV Version
English Translation - Jerry Jewell & Justin Cook

English Singer - Jerry Jewell

Uncut DVD Version
English Translation - Mike McFarland

English Singer - Vic Mignogna

Intro
Narrator: Wealth, fame, power... Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, attained this and everything else the world had to offer. And his dying words drove countless souls to the seas.

Gold Roger: You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place! Now you just have to find it!

Narrator: These words lured men to the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater than they've ever dared to imagine! This is the time known as 'The Great Pirate Era'!

{|width="100%" style=" border-collapse:collapse; " border="2"
 * -bgcolor="#abcdef"
 * align="left" width="50%" |Edited TV Version of Episode 152
 * align="left" width="50%" |Uncut DVD Version
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Original Opening

 * Pandaman makes a cameo in this opening. He is seen running with a sword along with the rest of the enemy pirates on the right side of the screen just as Zoro begins to use his sword attack.
 * Don Krieg's appearance was drawn with long hair, rather than his short hair as he appears in the series. The image used was used directly from his wanted poster as opposed to his current appearance.
 * Interestingly, Smoker's cigars were not edited in the 4kids version. Within the actual episodes, however, they were edited.
 * During his appearance in this opening, Smoker's hair retained the manga color white, instead of the grey anime color.
 * In Arlong's shot, the writing on Arlong Park says "Arlone" instead of Arlong.
 * Although shots of Alvida next to Loguetown's fountain, Smoker and Dragon are shown, this opening is not used during the Loguetown Arc, where these characters appear.

Other Openings

 * We Are! Straw Hat version is the last 1:50 run time opening.
 * At 5 episodes, this version has also lasted shorter than any other thus far.
 * This version is also the first opening to not include the song's lyrics.
 * Scenes of the remix opening were reanimated on later episodes. Various details in characters faces are different; the various characters on the background where early blue and later are colored, when Oars appears the screen is shaking, and when Luffy is using Gear Second his character is redrawn with his hat in another position.

Other Trivia

 * An instrumental version of this song is used as background music for each episode preview for the first half of the series, before being substituted by We Go! instrumentals for previews of Episode 518 and onwards.
 * In the Odex version, the song is exactly the same as the Japanese version. However, the narration at the beginning was translated.
 * While this was the first Japanese song to receive an English version, the third opening was actually the first to be aired alongside an English dub.
 * In Chapter 339 of the manga Gantz, a group of people who were being abducted by aliens sang the first verse of the One Piece theme song, to keep their spirits up.
 * The original opening was featured in Shonen Jump’s 45 Year Anime Opening Collection DVD.
 * In Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, Krillin received a call from Bulma and his cellphone's ringtone is "We Are!" but in tune mode.
 * In Episode 10 of Kiss Him, Not Me, the main character, Kae Serinuma, directly quotes the opening lines of 'We Are!' during a treasure hunt. In the episode's English dub, she misquotes the Funimation dub version of the song by asking her friends, 'Are you ready for adventure? Well, come aboard and bring along your hopes and dreams!'

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