History Main / PiratesVersusNinjas

In the nerd fiction of the late [[UsefulNotes/TurnOfTheMillennium noughties]] and the early [[UsefulNotes/TheNewTens New Tens]], pirates' [[{{Archenemy}} most hated enemies]] usually seemed to be ninjas, and vice-versa. The fact that real life Caribbean pirates and Japanese ninjas didn't even live in the same ''time period'', much less the same hemisphere, is irrelevant thanks to the RuleOfCool. That being said the idea of a ninja/pirate matchup is not really ''that'' absurd; while they would have never met a stereotypical Caribbean pirate, ninjas ''did'' coexist in the same region and time period with a different stripe of pirate, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wokou Wokou]], and [[TruthInTelevision it is not out of the realm of possibility there were conflicts between the two profession]]. In fact, some bands of ninja actually operated as pirates themselves on the side. Go figure.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2EXiN26OZA This ad for Juicy Drop Pop]] has a pirate vs. ninja fight it out using said product.

* The "Brown Islands" setting in the ''TabletopGame/DiscworldRoleplayingGame'' sets up the possibility of a pirate-ninja clash. Some flavor text in the second edition of the game features an angst-ridden ninja who has been assigned to infiltrate pirate society...

* Saudi Arabia and Somalia's fight in ''WebComic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'', considering that Somalia is a pirate, and Saudi Arabia is a 'ninja'[[note]]Earlier Denmark had mistaken Saudi Arabia's burka for a ninja outfit. Somalia, of course, actually is a pirate.[[/note]]

* In the ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive NP'' story "Tedd Video Game Opinions", when Tedd is saying that outfits in video games that let you infiltrate a certain faction should ''also'' give you negative reactions from that faction's enemies, the illustration shows [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/teddgameopinions-021 a charactere in pirate costume running from ninjas]]. {{Lampshaded}} in TheRant:

* Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_versus_Ninjas a page about the phenomenon]], discussing the debate over "who would win."

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' had the Halloween 2015 American Splatfest themed after this. The event's introduction called out the sheer silliness of this "rivalry".

* ''Film/TheGamersDorknessRising'' had a short sequence in which Pirates battled [[UpToEleven pizza-delivering Ninjas]]... in the Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast offices. [[TabletopGame/NinjaBurger This game]] ''[[SincerityMode actually exists.]]''

[[quoteright:349:[[ComicBook/PiratesVsNinjas https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pirates_vs_ninjas_2.png]]]]

In the online fiction of the late [[UsefulNotes/TurnOfTheMillennium noughties]] and the early [[UsefulNotes/TheNewTens New Tens]], pirates' [[{{Archenemy}} most hated enemies]] usually seemed to be ninjas, and vice-versa. The fact that real life Caribbean pirates and Japanese ninjas didn't even live in the same ''time period'', much less the same hemisphere, is irrelevant thanks to the RuleOfCool. That being said the idea of a ninja/pirate matchup is not really ''that'' absurd; while they would have never met a stereotypical Caribbean pirate, ninjas ''did'' coexist in the same region and time period with a different stripe of pirate, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wokou Wokou]], and [[TruthInTelevision it is not out of the realm of possibility there were conflicts between the two profession]]. In fact, some bands of ninja actually operated as pirates themselves on the side. Go figure.

In fiction, pirates' [[{{Archenemy}} most hated enemies]] usually seem to be ninjas, and vice-versa. The fact that real life Caribbean pirates and Japanese ninjas didn't even live in the same ''time period'', much less the same hemisphere, is irrelevant thanks to the RuleOfCool. That being said the idea of a ninja/pirate matchup is not really ''that'' absurd; while they would have never met a stereotypical Caribbean pirate, ninjas ''did'' coexist in the same region and time period with a different stripe of pirate, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wokou Wokou]], and [[TruthInTelevision it is not out of the realm of possibility there were conflicts between the two profession]]. In fact, some bands of ninja actually operated as pirates themselves on the side. Go figure.

A SubTrope of CoolVersusAwesome. May be involved in a CavemenVersusAstronautsDebate.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' features a match-up between Sanji the pirate cook from ''Manga/OnePiece'' and Rock Lee from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[SeriousBusiness over a plate of curry that Sanji made and Lee criticized]]. [[spoiler:Sanji wins.]]
[[/folder]]

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/PiratesVsNinjas https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pirates_vs_ninjas_2.png]]]]

* Pirates and Ninjas are two of the factions in ''Smash-Up'', a card game where the players combine two decks representing a faction like "Aliens" or "Dinosaurs" and [[CoolVersusAwesome fight it out against another player's combination]]. So you could have Pirates and Tricksters vs. Ninjas and Aliens, or [[EnemyMine Pirates and Ninjas]] vs. Dinosaurs and Robots.

* ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' features a match-up between Sanji the pirate cook from ''Manga/OnePiece'' and Rock Lee from ''Manga/Naruto'', [[SeriousBusiness over a plate of curry that Sanji made and Lee criticized]]. [[spoiler:Sanji wins.]]

Pirates' most hated enemies usually seem to be ninjas, and vice-versa, even though in real life Caribbean pirates and Japanese ninjas didn't even live in the same ''time period'', much less the same hemisphere. Apparently it's just for the RuleOfCool. (For added irony, some bands of ninja even operated as pirates on the side in RealLife. Go figure.)

* While Japanese ninjas never encountered Western pirates, the ninjas did coexist in the same region and time period with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wokou Wokou]] (East Asian pirates).

* Saudia Arabia and Somalia's fight in ''WebComic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'', considering that Somalia is a pirate, and Saudi Arabia is a 'ninja'[[note]]Earlier Denmark had mistaken Saudi Arabia's burka for a ninja outfit. Somalia, of course, actually is a pirate.[[/note]]

* Averted in PurpleEyesWTF's video Pirates and/or Ninjas. Despite heated debate in a crossover between Naruto from LittleKuriboh's Ninjabridge series and Luffy from the video author's show None Piece, the characters come to terms with each other in a way only a video made by PurpleEyesWTF can.

** ''Ask A Ninja'' [[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5542014 was actually asked to do a review]] of ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' for Creator/NationalPublicRadio's "All Things Considered".

* Fanfic/CodeGeassAwesomeOfTheRebellion introduces a Pirate Geass and a Ninja Geass, used by [[TheHero Awesome]] and [[TheRival Zaber]], respectively. Awesome specifically got the Pirate Geass because it was the only thing that could rival the Ninja Geass.

'''Cheetah Lee:''' [[CatDogDichotomy Cats and Dogs]]?\\

'''Cheetah Lee:''' [[CoolVersusAwesome Dinosaurs and Laser-Penguins]]?\\

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance must face off against the forces of the Beasts Pirates and the corrupted Wano government led by Orochi. On both sides of the conflict, there are pirates and ninjas facing off against each other.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance must face off against the forces of the Beasts Pirates and the corrupted Wano government led by Orochi. On both sides of the conflict, there are pirates and ninjas facing off against each other.

** And the McNinja clan got started when a pirate band attacked Ireland in winter and the villagers counterattacked using frozen four-leaf clovers as shurikens. A ninja who presenced everything decided they had the potential to become true ninjas.