Netflix's One Piece might be a live action adaptation of the long-running series but it actually expanded the manga canon slightly after author Eiichiro Oda provided new artwork of a 20 year-old character to the showrunners.
Spotted by Library of Ohara on Twitter (below), co-showrunner Matt Owens posted the first ever artwork of the original Mr 7 on Instagram alongside the story of how it came to be.
Mr 7 was only mentioned by name in the manga, in 2001's Chapter 190, and Oda later drew a simple picture of the character's face in a question and answer segment (called SBS) of 2005's Volume 36. This can be seen in the top left corner of the art provided by Oda.
Matt Owens pitched the idea of the fight with Mr. 7 during his first meeting for the One Piece Live Action, and Oda was really impressed as he had forgotten ever making this character pic.twitter.com/llV2vsKZMJ
— Artur - Library of Ohara (@newworldartur) October 3, 2023
"I pitched a lot of ideas to Oda in our first meeting. One was about how to introduce Zoro in an action based scene to show off what he can do before we meet him in Shells Town," Owens said in the post.
"In an old SBS Oda mentioned that Zoro was previously recruited by Mr 7 of Baroque Works and killed him in combat. This was exactly what I was looking for: something within canon while never actually shown in the manga itself. Oda turned to one of his editors and said: 'Did I say that?' "
Oda was impressed with Owens' knowledge of One Piece and liked the idea, so finally drew Mr 7 in full for the first time ever. It's from this design that Owens and the Netflix team based their live action version of Mr 7, who appears in one of the opening scenes of Episode 1.
One Piece premiered August 31 and was quickly renewed for Season 2, with the CEO of production company Tomorrow Studios Marty Adelstein saying it can be ready within 18 months of the actors' strike ending.
Fans have debated how reindeer-human hybrid Tony Tony Chopper will work in live action, and creator, writer, and co-showrunner Steven Maeda told IGN it would certainly be a challenge. In a wider conversation around Season 1 and beyond, Maeda also addressed a major fan theory regarding another upcoming character.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
