One Piece Film: Strong World

Strong World is the 10th film in the manga/anime series One Piece written by series creator Eiichiro Oda himself.

News of the movie first appeared during a showing of the Episode of the Island of Perpetual Winter, which a teaser for the tenth movie was revealed. The movie was originally meant for a spring release in 2009. But complications with the script pushed the release date back. Eventually the movie premiered on December 12, 2009

As stated, the film is an original story written by Eiichiro Oda himself in honor of One Piece's Tenth Anniversary (In previous films Oda only supplied character designs and approved story ideas. For this one Toei personally asked if he would write the story). The movie is apparently set after the Thriller Bark Arc, as Brook is shown alongside the other Straw Hats, making this his first movie appearance. Sengoku, Garp, Shanks and Whitebeard are revealed to be in the film as well.

As a promo for the movie, the first 1.5 million japanese moviegoers who went to see the One Piece Film Strong Worldreceived the "0th volume" (One Piece: Kan-Zero) of the manga. The "One Piece Kan-Zero" bonus gift depicts the world of One Piece from 20 years ago. It's said this volume is directly related to the plot of the movie — in particular, the Pirate King Gol D. Roger versus the legendary pirate "Gold Lion" Shiki.

Synopsis
East Blue in crisis? The news hits the Straw Hat Crew along their journey. With their hometowns facing a crisis, Luffy and his friends put their adventures on hold and search for a way back to East Blue, when suddenly a mysterious flying pirate ship appears out of the sky. The man riding that ship is none other than the infamous Devil Fruit user, Gold Lion Shiki, the same legendary pirate who managed to escape the great undersea prison Impel Down, and stood among such famous pirates as the Pirate King Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard. After abducting Nami, Shiki sends Luffy and his crew hurdling down to earth. Separated, the crew finds themselves placed in a battle of survival with terrifying beasts on a flying archipelago. Meanwhile, with tears in her eyes, Nami begs Shiki to let her join his crew.

Creatures that evolved on their own respective islands? What happens to the Straw Hat pirates? What is Shiki after? An adventure where the Straw Hats place their very lives on the line begins now!

Pre Movie Arc: Little East Blue
Episodes 426-429

A special anime-only arc (consisting of four episodes) was made which will follow into the movie afterwards. The arc begins twenty years in the past when Shiki managed to bust his way out of Impel Down by cutting off his legs. Then he uses his Devil Fruit power to escape into the air. The story then moves to present day, a submarine carrying a mariachi style band of pirates known as the Amigo Pirates makes it way through the ocean. The leaders of the bunch, Largo and his brother Corto, are offered to join Shiki's assembly. However they must fulfill a certain condition.

Meanwhile the Straw Hats are fishing, trying to refill their rations when they're attacked by a large horned beetle. After a brief skirmish, the beetle takes Luffy, along with Ussop, Sanji and Zoro, to a nearby island. There they meet its owner, Yoko, who dubs the beetle "Boss" as well as shows a disdain for Luffy as he is a pirate. Soon the rest of the island's residents make themselves known, revealing that they actually know of the Straw Hats and their exploits. They lead them back their village, mentioning Yoko's past in the process (her father was a marine who helped protect the village; but was killed while defending it from pirates, hence her hatred of them). Once the group reaches their destination, they find the whole town modeled after East Blue, even called "Little East Blue". Ussop soon calls Nami on the Den Den Mushi, stating that the villagers wish to meet her. She obliges, hopping on her Sky Waver toward the island. Meanwhile the Amigo Pirates are closing in on the island as well, aiming to capture Boss as he is a runaway from Shiki's hideout.

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Sanji explore around a bit, visiting the replicas of their respective homes as the villagers show them around. All the while Yoko spies on them, continuing to show her disapproval of their presence. Nami meanwhile meets a few fans of hers, all boys, who show her a statue they carved using her bounty poster as reference (as well as also intentionally making her naked). Nami is not amused by the shrine. Eventually the town throws a buffet for the Straw Hats, to which Luffy stuffs himself silly. However in the midst of the celebration, Corto and the Amigo Pirates appear and crash the party demanding Boss. When the citizens refuse, the Amigos prepare to attack only to be taken down by Zoro, Sanji and Luffy. Just as Luffy is about to finish Corto, Largo suddenly appears and blindsides Luffy, with a net attack he suddenly shoots out of his hands that traps the Straw Hat Captain in a spiked net, which pokes and scratches at him with every movement.

Largo then reveals he eaten the Ami Ami Fruit (Net Net Fruit) and can make different nets out of the matter of anything he eaten, as he had done with Luffy's net after eating a hammer. Zoro and Sanji attempt to attack Largo themselves but he creates different nets for them and captures them as well before stringing all three Straw Hats up to a tree. Largo and Corto once again demand Boss or otherwise they'd exterminate the town. Boss suddenly apppears and, not wanting Little East Blue to be destroyed, agrees to give himself up. Just as he is about to fly into a cage Largo made for him, Luffy manages to tear open his net and punches him to the ground, angrily reminding him of their planned rematch. It is at this point that Boss begins his molting process. Once done he burns the nets of Luffy, Sanji and Zoro who, once free, ready themselves for a final battle against the Amigos.

Luffy activates Gear Second and with some help from Sanji, punches Largo deep into the forest. He then chases him through the forest to the shore where they continue their fight, while Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and the citizens of Little East Blue along with Boss take care of Corto and his men. Back at the shore, Largo uses his Ami Ami no Mi powers to turn his body into a net and captures Luffy inside himself. Luffy, however, uses Hone Fuusen to tear the net, and then uses Gomu Gomu no Gigant Pistol to defeat him; slamming him into his own submarine and deep into the water. In the aftermath, Luffy and Boss have their rematch till both tired themselves out ending the battle in a tie. Yoko, with some help from Nami, comes to learn that not all pirates are bad after seeing the Straw Hats willingly defend Boss and Little East Blue. Largo, Corto and the Amigo Pirates are captured by the citizens of Little East Blue and put into a cage that Franky had originally made for Boss. With that the Straw Hats sail on with Luffy promising Boss and Yoko that he'll return someday. Meanwhile, Shiki is informed on the Amigo Pirates' failure to capture Boss (unaware of the Straw Hats' interference), but he casually explains that "one escapee doesn't affect the execution of my plan at all" as he view monitors of various animals with glowing eyes. Shiki then announces that the time to set his plan into action has begun.

Box Office

 * One Piece Film Strong World, the 10th One Piece anime film, opened with 1.038 billion yen (about US$11.7 million) this past weekend. By comparison, Ponyo took in 1.025 billion yen (US$11.55 million) during its opening weekend last year. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opened on 844 screens in Japan this past July with 990 million yen (US$11.2 million). Last year's One Piece film, Episode of Chopper Plus:Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura, earned only 920 million yen (US$11 million) during its entire run less than the 10th film earned in just two days.
 * One Piece Film Strong World opened on 188 screens throughout Japan. 103 of those screens had sold-out showings throughout the weekend. The film's per-screen average was 5.52 million yen (US$62,200) — the record for a nationwide release in Japan.
 * On the first day, the film made 553 million yen (US$6.24 million), and it made 485 million yen (US$5.47 million) on the second day. In all, the film was seen 820,000 times.
 * Part of the reason for the huge audiences was the One Piece Volume 0 manga that was given to the first attendees. Toei has decided to add another printing of 1 million copies for the manga. Unlike previous One Piece films, Oda had personally overseen the new film's production.

Trivia

 * Oda had designed the Straw Hat's costumes. So far, they have been seen with three designs: formal suits, adventure suits and onboard suits.
 * This is the first movie for One Piece that is written as a new story that is written as so it could be canon and not filler.
 * This movie's promotion lead to a significant increase of sold volumes: All single 56 volumes of the manga that have been published so far ranked within the Top 200 Oricon selling charts in the week of December 7th to 13rd, 2009. Shueisha already had announced before the movie's premiere that Volume 56 was being published with 2.85 million copies in its first print.

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