Anime / One Piece Stampede

Welcome to the Pirate Expo!

One Piece Stampede is the 14th film in the One Piece franchise. Was announced at the end of the Episode of Skypeia special and the name revealed in December 2018. Series creator and author, Eiichiro Oda, is once again a writer and consultant to the film (Though not a major one as in the previous three films, hence why this one doesn't have the "Film" in the title).

The story involves a treasure hunt for one of Gold Roger's treasures in the form of a Pirate Festival. Naturally, the Straw Hats get into the thick of it while going against other pirate crews, many from past adventures. However, unbeknownst to all is that the "hunt" is a ploy by Buena Festa, a war instigator and MC of the festivities, to lure pirates to the island where his partner in crime, Douglas Bullet, a former crewmate of Gold Roger, intends to wipe them all out.

The movie was released August 9th 2019. As with Strong World, Z and Gold, it has a anime tie in (though surprisingly just a two parter this time rather then the usual four), The Carbonic Acid King Arc. As well as a special collector volume for first time attendees (Japan-only naturally), "Volume Expo."

It was soon announced the movie will get limited international releases. In the U.S this was regulated to AMC theaters on Oct 24-31 both subbed and dubbed, making this the fifth One Piece movie to be dubbed.

The Blu Ray dub was released March 17 2020.

Trailers

1. 1st Teaser Trailer.
2. 2nd Teaser Trailer
3. 3rd Teaser Trailer
4. Official Trailer
5. Funimation Subbed Trailer

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One Piece Stampede provides the following examples.

• Advertised Extra: While most of the characters that appear are cameos, the trailers heavily featured the Enemy Mine team-up at the end which featured characters like Sabo, Lucci and Crocodile, who all get less than ten minutes of screen time combined.
• Beauty Contest: Nami wins one of the swimsuit variety in the opening credits, netting her a cool million Berries.
• Big Damn Heroes: Sabo ends up helping the Straw Hats and the other Supernovas escape by making a wall of flames, preventing the Buster Call ships from pursuing them.
• Bridal Carry: Law carries Robin this way when the two of them escape from Smoker while Sanji stays behind to fight him.
• Butt-Monkey: Wapol and Foxy don't have a large role, but whenever they're on screen, they're usually on the receiving end of an attack.
• Call-Back:
  • Just like in Water-7, Usopp loses a treasure to an antagonist who mocks his weakness, causing Usopp to worry about his place in the crew.
  • At the end of the movie, Luffy purposely shatters the Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale rather than using it, stating he doesn't want to take a shortcut to becoming Pirate King...just like how, all the way back at Whiskey Peak, he broke the Pose to Nanima Island that Miss All-Sunday offered him.
  • Zoro and Mihawk cutting Fujitora's meteor in pieces mirrors the scene where Doflamingo and Law do the same in the Dressrosa Arc.
  • In order to ride the Knock-Up Stream, the Straw Hats outfit their ship with a "flying mode" based on a flightless bird, just like they did at Jaya.
  • Bullet using his Devil Fruit to form a barrier around the island to prevent anyone from leaving is similar to Doflamingo trapping Dressrosa in his "birdcage".
  • Mihawk's appearance in the movie ends with him deciding to leave and citing that the fight isn't in his contract, much like he did in Marineford when Shanks showed up.
  • Smoker and Sabo's brief fight has Sabo commenting that, with their powers, it'll never end, much like Ace did way back in Alabasta.
  • Sanji vs Smoker is a callback to the manga version of the Logue Town arc in which he had tried to fight Smoker along with Luffy but neither could land a hit on him. In the movie, he has more success due to having long since got stronger since those times and now able to hurt Logia users.
• Chekhov's Gun: The star Usopp fires on Bullet's mech, which doesn't appear to have any effect. After the "dragon" form is dismantled, Bullet tries to recombine it with the mech he was intially using, but the Pop Green activates and tears apart the mech, leaving Bullet exposed and forced to fight Luffy directly, which leads to his defeat.
• Combination Attack: Smoker and Sabo have to attack Bullet at the same time with their Logia powers when Law and Crocodile create an opening.
• Continuity Cavalcade: Many, many canon and filler characters from the series show up in the movie at some point.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Buggy knows Bullet personally and immediately recognizes him upon seeing him again, since he was also a member of Roger's crew way back then.
  • Robin and Crocodile meet again, and he addresses her as "Miss All-Sunday", the code name she used when she worked for him.
  • Back at Sabaody Archipelago, Usopp started to ask Rayleigh what he knew about the One Piece, only for Luffy to quickly reprimand him, stating that he doesn't want to know these details because the adventure wouldn't be any fun if they already know the answer to it. After Luffy shatters the above-mentioned Eternal Pose, when some of the other Straw Hats scold Luffy for it, Usopp is the one who states the adventure wouldn't be any fun if they already know the answer, highlighting his Character Development since then.
• Continuity Porn: A selling point. Characters from various points of the series are key players and countless more make cameos.
• Cross Counter: Done by Luffy and Bullet at one point.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Usopp gets more focus in this movie than any film previously.
  • Smoker has been Out of Focus in recent years, but here he gets almost as much screen time as the Straw Hats and is by far the most prominent Marine in the entire movie.
• The Drag-Along: Keeping true to his tendency to fail upwards in the series, Buggy gets dragged along against his will to take part in the team-up final fight against Bullet. Not that the others are actually aware that Buggy is even there.
• The Dreaded: Kizaru remains the only Marine Admiral that the straw hats are thoroughly unwilling to engage in combat. Sanji and Zoro have an Oh, Crap! moment when they spot him readying up a Yasakani No Magatama. Were it not for Sabo and the temporarily returned Ace, Kizaru's attack would've done a tremendous amount of damage to our heroes.
• Dressed to Plunder: Smoker and Tashigi, though going undercover at the event.
• Enemy Mine: Bullet turns out to be such an immense threat that it forces both pirate and Marine forces to team up to fight him in the climax. In the final battle, some of the people Luffy teams up with to fight Bullet are his allies (namely, Law, Hancock, and Sabo), while others are enemies or at least decidedly non-allies (Smoker, Buggy, Lucci, and Crocodile).
• Fanservice: The Movie. Virtually every named character throughout the series makes an appearance in this movie, even some fan favorite filler characters.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: If you're a One Piece fan, more then likely you'll want to do this to spot all the blink and you'll miss them cameos of various characters.
• Funny Background Event: When Sabo, Smoker and Law are blaffed at Luffy's Leeroy Jenkins shenanigans (he charge against Bullet without bothering to hear Law's plan), Hancock is in the background simping for Luffy.
• Good-Times Montage: The first few minutes are a montage of the Straw Hats having fun at the Pirate's Expo.
• Greater-Scope Villain: As usual, the World Government. Bullet is motivated by his desire to avenge the defeat he suffered at the hands of a Buster Call, and while Luffy and co. are fighting Bullet, everyone else is trying to deal with the Navy attack and the encroaching Buster Call.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Trafalgar Law once again, like in the main series, as he spends the vast majority of his screentime in the movie hanging out with Luffy and/or other members of the Straw Hats. He goes to them at the beginning to warn them that Festa has sinister plans for the expo; half of the crew goes with him to investigate what these plans are; and he meets up with Luffy and works with him (and others) in the final battle.
• It's Personal: Luffy is insistent on being the one to defeat Bullet because he hurt Usopp and Law.
• Ironic Echo: As Bullet's plot is further revealed, Festa gives a twisted version of the famous "Wealth, fame, power" speech included when talking about how Gold Roger had become Pirate King.
• Just Toying with Them: Bullet is so strong that Luffy needs Gear 4: Snakeman just to keep up. Then Bullet reveals he has awakened Devil Fruit powers, and Drake realizes that Bullet was never taking the Worst Generation seriously. "You mean, all this time he's been toying with us?"
• Laser-Guided Karma: Bullet endlessly mocks Usopp whenever Luffy defends him and, on one point, Usopp standing his ground against his "dragon" form. It's Usopp's Pop Greens, which Bullet dismissed when he shot them at him, that destroys Bullet's ship/smaller mech, leaving him no option but to fight Luffy with nothing but his strength and Haki. Considering all the damage he took beforehand (using his powers and Haki connects Bullet to his mechs, so if they take major damage, so will he), Bullet has very little strength left in the final encounter and is beaten.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: After Law informs the Straw Hats that Festa is up to something, they decide to divide and conquer in two groups of five (though these groups later get further split up as they encounter other obstacles):
  • Luffy's team, consisting of him, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Franky, stays on the Thousand Sunny and continues with the treasure hunt as planned.
    • After the island falls back to Earth, Nami and Franky stay on the Sunny with Zoro soon joining them, while Luffy stays behind to fight Bullet because he beat up Usopp.
    • Chopper and Brook (see below) later find Usopp and Luffy, and take the former back to the Sunny while the latter heads off for a final fight with Bullet.
  • Law's team, consisting of him, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Brook, leaves in the Shark Submerge to go investigate Festa's plans.
    • After they run into Smoker, who temporarily captures Chopper and Brook, Sanji stays behind to fight him while Law and Robin go on ahead.
    • Crocodile confronts Robin and Law, the latter of whom leaves with him. Robin meets back up with her crewmates, and Chopper and Brook head off to find the other half of their crew while Robin and Sanji begin looking for a way to leave the island first.
    • Law and Crocodile meet up with Hancock, Sabo, Smoker, Buggy, and soon Luffy as well for the final battle.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": All the pirates get this when they see a fleet of Marine ships heading toward the island with virtually all the no-name characters quickly booking it.
• Meaningful Echo: "Snipers are here for support, after all."
• Meaningful Name: Twofold with the title of the movie. On one hand, it refers to insane amount of named pirates gathering in one place for a fabled prize of Gold Roger's, pretty much stampeding over each other to get it. On the other, it likewise refers to Festa's plan to have Bullet use his power to trample over the current pirate era so he can create his own, even referring it to a "stampede" by name.
• New Era Speech: Festa gives one once Bullet goes One-Winged Angel, and the full extent of his plans are known.
• No MacGuffin, No Winner: Slightly. Luffy beats Bullet and gets the grand prize, which turns out to be a Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale. However, just as Lucci and Crocodile separately close in to take it from him, he crushes it right then and there, largely out of personal reasons (namely wanting to get to the island without a cheat), but inadvertently spoiling each of their plans to get it as well.
• Palette Swap: Most of the Supernovas' "new" outfits are just color-changed versions of their usual ones. Same goes for several other characters as well.
• Pummel Duel: The final bout between Luffy and Bullet comes down to this. Bullet gets a hit in on Luffy's face and briefly stuns him. But Luffy recovers and returns the favor, ultimately knocking Bullet out.
• Put on a Bus: Law evacuated the rest of the Heart Pirates from the island before the start of the movie once he realized there were dark plans for the festival. As such, they don't participate in any of the onscreen battles and don't even show up in the movie at all until the ending credits when Law finally reunites with them.
• The Reveal:
  • Bullet claims at one point that "Roger's treasure" (the prize for winning the treasure hunt) is the One Piece. It turns out to be...An Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale, the final island where One Piece is located. Thus, though the treasure itself isn't the One Piece, it's a direct method to reach it much more easily.
  • Furthermore, the end of the movie reveals that Roger never meant to leave this Eternal Pose behind, so the Pose itself was never truly any kind of "treasure" to him; he found out one of his crewmates made it in case they ever wanted to return to the island, and threw it overboard, feeling that it was useless. It was swallowed by a Sea King and ended up on Delta Island by accident.
• Rivals Team Up: At one point, Luffy and the eight other members of the Eleven Supernovas who are his rivals/enemies (i.e. all of them except Zoro and Law) fight together against Bullet's giant mecha.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: In the final battle, Bullet continues his usual spiel how friendship is weak and you can only rely on yourself. Luffy naturally refuses to buy it and counters that he wouldn't have gotten as far as he did if someone didn't help him. This causes Bullet to flashback to when he was with the Roger Pirates and suffered another defeat by Roger, though Roger was more then willing to accept his request for a rematch any time, which makes Bullet genuinely smile. The memory leaves him stunned long enough for Luffy to pummel him and end the fight.
• Spell My Name With An S: The intended spelling by Oda of "Raftel," of all places, is revealed to be "Laugh Tale," as in, the island of the tales of those who laugh. An interview reveals that the animation directors asked Oda multiple times if this is the correct spelling, and he firmly said "yes" every time. In terms of Funimation's localization, the dub accepted "Laugh Tale" as the island's name, while the subtitled version persisted in calling it "Raftel".
• Status Quo Is God: Luffy ends up getting his hands on the treasure prize, which is an Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale. Since him—or anyone else in the series—having this would allow them to get to Laugh Tale way too easily and contradict the main series, Luffy ends up destroying it, claiming he wants to get the One Piece and become Pirate King the "proper" way, without cheating.
• Suddenly Blonde: Buggy during the climax. Though it could just as likely be a dye job. Still, whatever the reason, it’s a bit of an odd design choice.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Luffy's final beat-down on Bullet is accompanied by "We Are", the anime series' first opening theme.
• Taken for Granite: Boa Hancock makes her appearance turning Foxy and his pirates to stone.
• Treasure Hunt:
  • The main focus of the this movie. This is the third film that had the crew involved in one, with One Piece: The Movie being the first and Giant Mechanical Soldier being the second.
  • Festa's plan is to subvert this trope; Roger started the Great Age of Pirates by challenging people to "search the whole world" for One Piece. But with an Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale being in plain sight, no one will need to search anything; They can just go straight to Bullet and challenge him for it.
• Trespassing to Talk: Sort of. Law mainly stows away on the Thousand Sunny to escape from Buggy and co., who are chasing him after Bullet already injured him, and once he reveals his presence to the Straw Hats, he apologizes for intruding and plans to leave soon after. He does, however, take the time to warn them that the Festival isn't what it seems and Festa is plotting something big, and the Straw Hats decide to send half the crew with him to continue his investigation.
• Wingding Eyes:
  • Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper get these when Franky unveils the new flying model of the Thousand Sunny.
  • Luffy also gets them during the Supernovas' fight with Bullet when Bege unveils his "Big Father" technique (which Luffy has seen before, but still thinks is awesome).
• The Worf Barrage: During his first encounter with Bullet, Luffy busts out his newest Gear Fourth form, Snakeman, and strikes Bullet with Gum Gum King Cobra, the attack that finally defeated Katakuri...only for Bullet to quickly shrug it off.

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