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.
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 Three Sword Style, 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 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.
Grand Battle![]
The narrator delivers a slightly abridged (and fully re-drawn) introduction to Gold Roger, his execution, and the last words that began the Great Age of Pirates. The final, lingering shot on Roger then match-cuts to Luffy trapped on the same scaffold, twenty-two years later; as Buggy's cutlass swings for his neck, Luffy fearlessly yells his dream to be Pirate King, then apologizes for dying to each of his crewmates, instants before a mysterious lightning bolt strikes.
Quick-cut to all of the Straw Hat Pirates on the Going Merry, with the now-freed Luffy scrambling from the crow's nest to the figurehead. Soon, the ship sails up the gates of Reverse Mountain, all of the Straw Hats cheering their entry into the Grand Line.
This is followed by a montage of past enemies: Kuro lunging with his Cat Claws, Krieg swinging his Battle Spear, Arlong flashing his Kiribachi, and Alvida and Buggy racing along with their Devil Fruit powers (until one of Luffy's wanted posters blows by, whereupon Buggy immediately stops to nail it against the closest wall).
Cut back to the Merry, where Usopp cries out in excitement from atop the crow's nest. Gathering at the prow, the rest of the crew see an island of pure treasure gleaming in the distance.
After a second montage showcasing what powers await on the Grand Line—Mihawk, Smoker, Tashigi, Shanks, and Miss Wednesday (charging atop Karoo)—the Straw Hats are shown romping about the treasure-island, until another pirate crew descends. Their pockets already filled to overflowing, the Straw Hats cheerfully run, sights set on the next adventure.
The opening starts the same way as the original, with the title screen and narration about Gol D. Roger, the One Piece and the start of the "Great Age of Pirates". Following which, Luffy (in his Wano outfit) is sprinting up a hill before jumping into the air followed by quick flashes of his crewmates (also in their Wano outfits). Luffy then shows off his abilities, stretching one arm onto the Thousand Sunny and rocketing the rest of himself onboard. As Luffy closes in on the camera, the opening smash-cuts to the One Piece logo.
The Sunny is then shown amidst a rough sea, surrounded by massive Sea Kings on all sides. The scene cuts to a seven-year-old Luffy running towards the camera and age up to 17 and 19 years old, landing on the Sunny's figurehead. The Sunny is then depicted from a super-deformed perspective, a stretching little caricature "sailing" the worldmap.
Next, several shots of the Straw Hats fighting an unseen enemy, showing their various abilities, with a collage of clips from their adventure and personal past in the background, ending with Luffy charging an attack towards Kaidou in his beast form. Afterwards, quick flashes of Kaidou, Big Mom, and Blackbeard are seen. Luffy then lands back aboard the Sunny, standing tall with all his crewmates, and another set of flashes featuring Law and Kid, Yamato and Hancock, Rayleigh and Dragon, and Ace and Sabo is shown.
Then, as the Straw Hats' Jolly Roger proudly flies overhead, Luffy begins spinning his straw hat on his finger, the camera zooming in on it, showing the moment Shanks gave the hat to Luffy, and then the Red Hair Pirates following Shanks holding his hat again.
The opening concludes with two more shots of the smiling Straw Hats—Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Franky, and Jinbe in the first, and Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Brook in the second—and a rear shot of the Thousand Sunny with a seagull flying past. Finally, the title screen shows again.
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.
7-Member Version
9-Member Version
Straw Hats:
Straw Hats:
Arittake no yume o kakiatsume
Arittake no yume o kakiatsume
Sagashi mono o sagashi ni yuku no sa
Sagashi mono o sagashi ni yuku no sa
ONE PIECE
ONE PIECE
Nami:
Nami:
Rashinban nante jyutai no moto
Rashinban nante jyutai no moto
Netsu ni ukasare kaji o toru no sa
Netsu ni ukasare kaji o toru no sa
Robin & Chopper:
Chopper & Robin:
HOKORI ka butteta takara no chizu mo
HOKORI ka butteta takara no chizu mo
Tashikameta no nara densetsu jyanai!
Tashikameta no nara densetsu jyanai!
Luffy:
Luffy:
Kojin teki na arashi wa dareka no
Kojin teki na arashi wa dareka no
Biorizumu nokkatte
Biorizumu nokkatte
Omoi sugose ba ii
Omoi sugose ba ii
Straw Hats:
Straw Hats:
Arittake no yume o kakiatsume
Arittake no yume o kakiatsume
Sagashi mono o sagashi ni yuku no sa
Sagashi mono o sagashi ni yuku no sa
Poketto no koin, soreto
Poketto no koin, soreto
YOU WANNA BE MY FRIEND?
YOU WANNA BE MY FRIEND?
WE ARE, WE ARE ON THE CRUISE!
WE ARE, WE ARE ON THE CRUISE!
WE ARE!
WE ARE!
Zoro:
Zoro & Franky:
Zenbu mani ukete shinji chattemo
Zenbu mani ukete shinji chattemo
Kata o osarete iippo ri do sa
Kata o osarete iippo ri do sa
Sanji:
Sanji & Brook:
Kondo aetanara hanasu tsumorisa
Kondo aetanara hanasu tsumorisa
Sore kara no koto to kore kara no koto
Sore kara no koto to kore kara no koto
Usopp:
Usopp:
Tsumari itsumo pinchi wa dareka ni
Tsumari itsumo pinchi wa dareka ni
api-ru dekiru ii chansu
api-ru dekiru ii chansu
Ji ishiki kajyoo ni!
Ji ishiki kajyoo ni!
Straw Hats:
Straw Hats:
Shimittareta yoru o buttobase!
Shimittareta yoru o buttobase!
Takara bako ni KYOUMI wa nai kedo
Takara bako ni KYOUMI wa nai kedo
Luffy:
Luffy:
paketto ni roman, soreto
paketto ni roman, soreto
YOU WANNA BE MY FRIEND?
YOU WANNA BE MY FRIEND?
Straw Hats:
Straw Hats:
WE ARE, WE ARE ON THE CRUISE!
WE ARE, WE ARE ON THE CRUISE!
WE ARE!
WE ARE!
Arittake no yume o kakiatsume
Arittake no yume o kakiatsume
Sagashi mono o sagashi ni yuku no sa
Sagashi mono o sagashi ni yuku no sa
paketto no koin, soreto
paketto no koin, soreto
YOU WANNA BE MY FRIEND?
YOU WANNA BE MY FRIEND?
WE ARE, WE ARE ON THE CRUISE!
WE ARE, WE ARE ON THE CRUISE!
WE ARE!
WE ARE!
WE ARE!
WE ARE!
Luffy:
Luffy:
WE ARE!
WE ARE!
English Versions[]
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.[2] 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 Theme.
Intro[]
Narrator: Long ago in a city near the Grand Line, there was a man who was executed who was the King of the Pirates. Gold Roger was his name... His very last words drove men to the seas.
Gold Roger: My treasure? It's yours if you want it, but you'll need to find it first. I left everything I own in one piece.
Narrator: This is the Legendary Age of the Pirates. They're heading to the Grand Line on the greatest treasure hunt ever. Dreams will come true for he who finds... "One Piece!"
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[]
The Funimation-dubbed anime produced two English versions of the song:
The first, a sort of "stopgap" made for the television broadcast of Episode 152, was translated by Jerry Jewell and Justin Cook, and sung by Jewell. As of this writing, it has not been given any official release.
The second, produced for DVD releases, was translated by Mike McFarland and sung by Victor Joseph Mignogna. This version accompanied every release of the corresponding East Blue episodes as well as the release version of Episode 152, making it for all intents and purposes the only official English version.
Intro[]
[Narrator] Wealth, fame, power.
[Narrator] Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates,
[Narrator] attained this, and everything else the world had to offer.
[Narrator] And his dying words drove countless souls to the seas.
[Roger] You want my treasure? You can have it!
[Roger] I left everything I gathered together in one place!
[Roger] Now you just have to find it!
[Narrator] These words lured men to the grand line...
[Narrator] ... in pursuit of dreams greater than they've ever dared to imagine.
[Narrator] This is the time known as 'The Great Pirate Era'.
Edited TV Version of Episode 152
Uncut DVD Version
Setting sail and setting out
♪ Come aboard, and bring along... ♪
In Search of all our dreams!
♪ ... all your hopes and dreams. ♪
Eternal glories, wealth and gold,
♪ Together we will find everything
legend of legends...
♪ that we're looking for. ♪
ONE PIECE!
♪ ONE PIECE! ♪
Journeys without any hope
♪ Compass left behind, ♪
Seeking beyond hope
♪ it'll only slow us down. ♪
Crisp and light and layered
♪ Your heart will be your guide. ♪
In this search across the sea
♪ Raise the sails, and take the helm. ♪
Grasp the helm, head held high
♪ That legendary place... ♪
Gotta keep our spirits up!
♪ ... that the end of the map reveals ... ♪
As we sail these troubled waters
♪ ... is only legendary...
It's too long to explain
... until someone proves it real. ♪
Doubts set in, kick it out
♪ Through it all, through all the troubled times. ♪
This was the only opening theme that has sound effects. The Funimation version removes the sound effects due to the use of the instrumental version as the base of the English version.
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.
In the FUNimation dub of the Gold Roger's Legacy narration, the dialogue has been re-recorded, besides Gold Roger's dialogue.
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.
For the seventh opening, the FUNimation dub reuses the dubbed dialogue from the first opening, as akin to the Japanese version, leaving only the dialogue dubbed, ever since Funimation used the Japanese opening themes. This also applied to Episode 1000 under the Crunchyroll name, albeit re-recorded, besides Gold Roger's dialogue.
The aspect ratio remained at the original 4:3, as opposed to the 16:9 aspect ratio, which is mainly used, and is pillarboxed. The pillarbox borders with the word "ONE PIECE" are placed on the left and right sides of the screen to fit the aspect ratio, as to accompany the Straw Hat Pirates' flashback scenes.
However, it was cropped 2 times: The 2000 movie and the special edition print. The only difference is that the special edition print that it's near the top of the screen instead of the middle. However, while the movie uses a different version of the narration scene, due to having a different animation, along with a enhanced version of the scene of the scene where the ships set sail to the Grand Line, and a new scene showing Shanks giving Luffy his straw hat along with Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Nami appearing, and the Japanese film rating shown on the bottom right of the One Piece logo, while the special edition print adds the "Special Edition" wordmark in Japanese katakana (which was later removed in digital prints) on the One Piece logo and the widescreen version of ONE PIECE text card at the end.[4]
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 Episode 349 of the English dub, Brook can be heard quietly singing the English version of "We Are!" to himself at about the 9:30 mark implying the song also exists in-universe. This does not happen in the original Japanese version.
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.[1]
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!"
The Episode 1000 version heavily mirrors the original, with the only difference between several shots being the updated appearances and the 5 additional Straw Hat members (Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook and Jinbe). Other changes include:
The scene of the Straw Hats fighting does not show their adversaries, and the background is a collage of their past adventures and allies/rivals. It is also reminiscent to a similar sequence in Believe, albeit with the current crew rather than just East Blue Saga Straw Hats.
Throughout said collage, certain specific characters can be seen while certain Straw Hats are on screen:
Usopp: Kaya, Merry, Ninjin, Tamanegi, Piiman
Nami: Nojiko, Vivi
Brook: Laboon, Crocus
Chopper: Dalton, Dr. Hiriluk, Kureha
Robin: Jaguar D. Saul, Nico Olvia
Franky: Tom, Iceburg, Mozu, Kiwi, Kokoro, Yokozuna
The opening was also mirrored in the special collaboration episode of the Fuji TV comedy quiz game show, Hey! Spring of Trivia,[5] with several differences:
This was shortened as usual, omitting the verse part.
Gold Roger was replaced with Hey! Spring of Trivia MC, Katsumi Takahashi.
The Grand Line was replaced with the Fuji TV headquarters, where Hey! Spring of Trivia was broadcasted.
The ONE PIECE text card at the beginning was replaced with TRIVIA 2010, in the same text style mentioned, while the newspaper shows the set of the show before the recreation of the same events as the original.
The One Piece and Hey! Spring of Trivia logos are shown.
The "Trivia Family", Tamori (Kazuyoshi Morita), Katsumi Takahashi and Norito Yashima, all appeared as replacements in various scenes. More notably, Tamori replaces Luffy.
A unique variation of the Going Merry and the crew Jolly Roger, based on Tamori, replaces the standard version of the same ship. However, the standard version of the Going Merry was shown alongside Tamori's version near at the end.
Nami and Usopp's appearance scenes during the battle scene were removed, while Zoro and Sanji's appearance scenes have different animations, as both Katsumi and Norito replace both Zoro and Sanji, respectively.
In the first group shot before the end, Nami and Zoro were replaced by Katsumi and Norito respectively.
In the second group shot before the end, Sanji and Usopp were replaced by the entire Straw Hat crew at the time (pre-timeskip).
The ONE PIECE text card at the end is replaced with an exclusive scene showing Luffy and the "Trivia Family" to start the show.
The lens flare effects, the sun rays' effect and the watercolor were different.
The staff of Gintama made a parody of the Episode 1000 opening for a live event announcing the anime version of its spinoff light novel Class 3Z: Ginpachi-sensei. Series protagonist Sakata Gintoki plays Gol D. Roger, and recurring characters Prince Hata, Elizabeth and Hasegawa Taizou were also present during the execution scene. Charlotte Katakuri was also mentioned in one of the bounty posters made by the staff.[6]
Hiroshi Kitadani also sang the intro during the event.
A unique recording of We Are! is used as background music in Episode 1088, at the end of Luffy's childhood flashback and when he tells the Straw Hats about his dream. The full version of this recording was later included in One Piece OST - GEAR5, with the name "Luffy's Dream".
The opening narration was used during the opening scene of One Piece Fan Letter.
