Hilarious In Hindsight / One Piece

• The 4Kids dub was already a joke for, among other things, cutting out a story arc involving a whale named Laboon, and another involving giants. Two later arcs that came up about 200 to 300 episodes later involved plot points based on those stories. The first one involved a character being friends with the two giants from the missing arc, and the existence of the giants allowed another couple of giants to switch sides in a very important arc and, in the second, the author introduced a new crewmate, Brook, whose entire character motivation revolves around getting back and seeing Laboon.
• There's also the cover of Chapter 14, which shows Luffy as Dracula. Much later, this becomes an inadvertent Stealth Pun when you consider that "dracula" means 'son of the dragon', at least in older Romanian, which is quite accurate as Luffy is indeed Dragon's son.
• Minor early example: when Nami first met Luffy, she called him "Boss" as a way of getting Buggy's goons who were chasing her to go pick on Luffy instead. Three arcs later, she wound up officially joining the Straw Hats as Luffy's navigator.
• A voice-acting related one. Brook's VA, Chō, way before being known as Brook, voiced a character in the gag series Sexy Commando Gaiden named Tsuyoshi Tsobe also better known as Kyasharin or "Living Bones".
• Also a voice-acting related one; the protagonist himself, Luffy's VA (Mayumi Tanaka), is voicing a villain in Doki Doki! PreCure, the little boy Ira. The hilarious part? Eiichiro Oda considers the entire Precure series as his rival because his daughters love it more than his series. The fact that Luffy's VA is voicing a villain also adds the hilarity.
• Enel, a man who's deluded himself into thinking he's a Physical God, his appearance is explicitly based on Eminem. Flash forward a few years, and Eminem himself released a single... called "Rap God".
  • In the Netflix adaptation, Sanji is played by Taz Skylar, who many have noted bears a striking resemblance to Slim Shady himself.
• Very early on, at the end of the Arlong Park arc, as the doctor is patching up Zoro after the battle, he wonders if they don't have a doctor in the crew. Luffy retorts that they could use one, but a musician is more important since "pirates need to sing". They ended up getting Chopper (doctor) long before they even met Brook (musician).
• The correct spelling for Eneru's name is "Enel". Which is also Italy's biggest manufacturer and distributor of energy, especially electricity. The Italian dub went with "Ener".
• The Big Bad of the Long Ring Long Land arc is a pirate named Foxy.
• At the beginning of the Sabaody Archipelago arc, Sanji kicks Duval's face enough to rearrange his facial structure and turn him into a Bishōnen. Duval becomes incredibly narcissistic over his newfound appearance and drops a line about possibly riding a white horse. Several arcs later, we are introduced to Cavendish, an even more narcissistic Bishounen who does in fact ride on a white horse.
• The Return to Sabody Arc which features fake Straw Hats impersonating the crew to obtain minions becomes this when you realize Disney released a movie about their own version of pirates which involved a similar plot.
• One early post-Time Skip SBS was a reader jokingly asking if Sanji's new character design, which puts his bangs on the other side of his face, is actually "Sanji's long-lost brother Yonji". Come the Germa 66 Arc, and turns out, Sanji does have a brother named Yonji! Furthermore, it's revealed on the cover of Volume 84 that Yonji has green hair, and considering how much Sanji hates him, it suddenly makes a lot sense why he constantly mocks Zoro for his green hair.
• In the Punk Hazard arc, Brook was angry at a dragon because it was disappointed at the fact that Brook was just bones. Come Zou, and Brook is being chased by dog minks because he is just bones.
• A character from the anime's Filler G-8 arc was called "Commander Shepherd". Different spelling, yeah, but still, this was 3 years before Mass Effect.
• In Thriller Bark, Nami pretends to be a man named "Namizou". Some time later, Nami is on Zou.
• While Toei Animation was trying to sell the broadcasting rights to the anime in North America, Funimation produced a test dub with Eric Vale as Luffy. This becomes quite amusing when Vale, who ended up playing Sanji instead when Funimation got the rights after 4Kids, would eventually go on to voice Demalo Black (a Luffy impersonator) when the dub got to that point in 2017.
• The Whole Cake Island Arc: After gaining notoriety, one of the heroes is hunted down by his abusive, egotistical father who takes him as a prisoner against his will to gain power for himself, only cares about his offspring if they carry the genetic superpowers he wants, and is responsible for putting his son's mother on her deathbed. Also, said hero's foster father, while still rather rough around the edges, treated him better than his biological one ever did. We talking about Sanji or Peter Quill/Star-Lord?
• 4Kids Entertainment censored Sanji's cigarette by making it look like a lollipop many moons ago. Come Episode 791 some decades later on Whole Cake Island and a Sanji lookalike really is seen sucking on one!
• This◊ is what Sanji imagined Big Mom looked like when he first heard she's a female Emperor, way back during the Fish-Man Island arc. Now, it was already hilarious that she actually turned out to be an enormous, utterly horrifying behemoth. It became even more hilarious when an SBS revealed what Big Mom looked like she was 28◊, showing that Sanji actually wouldn't have been too far off if only he had met her 40 years ago.
• After their shadows are stolen on the Thriller Bark, how does Usopp manage to wake the Monster Trio up? By telling them that there's a "beautiful female swordsman bringing some meat". Fast forward to Dressrosa, where the Chain Mail Bikini-wearing gladiator girl Rebecca gives Luffy a lunch box. The Running Gag of Usopp's lies becoming true continues.
• Not long after Corazon debuted, scientists found an actual black flamingo.
• A fan artist famously created his own mock One Piece chapter (Chapter 999 to be exact), basically trying to visualize what the Grand Finale arc would look like. When the real Chapter 999 came out in 2020, it turned out the series was still years away from the big finale, and the chapter is absolutely nothing like what the fan artist envisioned.
• The 4Kids dub changed Luffy beating Crocodile with the moisture in the blood from all his wounds to Luffy beating Crocodile with the moisture from the sweat from all his exertion. Jump ahead nearly half the series to the Marineford Arc and Luffy can now very easily beat Crocodile with his sweat thanks to Gear Second.
• At one point in the story, Momo asks Luffy for some advice on how to control his devil fruit, but Luffy tells him he can't help him, as he is not a zoan, the Gum-Gum fruit being a paramecia. Then it is revealed that the Gum-Gum fruit is actually a Mythical Zoan called the Human-Human Fruit Model: Nika.
• Doflamingo's codename is Joker, based on the card. He also works for Kaido. Fast forward to Wano, and a minor villain named Batman is also on Kaido's side, meaning Batman and Joker are allies in One Piece.
• During the Enies Lobby arc, chapter 385 has Jabra repeat a rumor that Devil Fruit users house actual devils inside them, but Blueno claims this has been debunked by research. In chapter 1044, the Five Elders reveal that Zoan fruits, at least, actually do have a will of their own, and cite the Gum-Gum Fruit — actually a Mythical Zoan, the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika — evading them for so long as an example.
• During the Fishman Island after-party, Jimbei is giving the Straw Hats warning that Blackbeard is running amok claiming powerful Devil Fruit powers for him and his crew. Chopper freaks out, only to be told that nobody wants the Human-Human Fruit. Come Wano, and the Five Elders reveal that the one Devil Fruit they've pursued without success for 800 years is the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika.
• Blackbeard's crew is called the Ten Titanic Captains. Now, not only are all of the captains powerful and notorious, but they all get powerful Devil Fruits, meaning they can sink as well and embody ALL the traits of the Titanic.
• In an interview during the Wano Arc, the author commented that he had absolutely no idea how Luffy could defeat Kaido, that it would be something they'd have to find out together, adding that the readers probably would not be satisfied if the battle concluded with Luffy just punching Kaido really hard. So how did Luffy win the battle, in the end? With a REALLY BIG punch!
• In the second version of Romance Dawn, Luffy's grandfather (who would become Garp in the main series) is a pirate and actively encourages Luffy to be one. Ironically, in the actual manga, he's a famous marine who wants Luffy to follow in those footsteps.
• 4kids had Luffy and Usopp sing the American anthem, Star-Spangled Banner, which reflects the American flag. This is ironically done way before ^note even then, they never got the chance to they got to dub the Water 7 saga, which places the anti-authority themes front and center for the audience and features the famous command that Luffy gives Usopp: "Shoot down that flag."

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