One Piece: Zoro Statue Erected in Series Creator’s Hometown

One Piece's feared Pirate Hunter Zoro has been immortalized with a bronze statue.

The new statue was officially unveiled on Jan. 21 in Ozu Park, which is located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. The statue features the Straw Hat Pirate utilizing his unique Three Sword Style, with a katana in each hand and another clenched between his teeth. The new attraction is based on the character's post-time skip appearance and features numerous small details, such as the stitches on his chest. The bronze figure's unveiling was streamed to YouTube, in a ceremony that featured live music and dance performances from the area's residents.

The new statue is part of a tourism campaign being backed by series creator Eiichiro Oda, One Piece's publisher Shueisha, and the local Kumamoto government in order to promote tourism in the area. Oda was born in Kumamoto, the capital city of the prefecture, in 1975. Located on the southern island of Kyushu, the area is known for Mount Aso, one of the world's largest active volcanoes, and its numerous historical castles and shrines. In 2016, the region was devastated by a deadly earthquake. Oda and the local governments in the area have since erected a number of One Piece statues in order to revitalize the local economy and encourage tourists to return. The Zoro statue is the ninth in the series, following a bronze figure of the Straw Hat Pirates' navigator, Nami, which was unveiled in 2021. The campaign is expected to end with the unveiling of a tenth sculpture, which will be based on the helmsman Jinbe.

One Piece was first published in the pages of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1997 and is now the best-selling manga series in history, with over half-a-billion copies in circulation worldwide. The manga published both its 1000th chapter and its 100th collected volume in 2021, while the anime series broadcast its 1000th episode to much fanfare. The series tells the story of Monkey D. Luffy, a young boy who becomes the leader of a motley band of adventurers and warriors known as the Straw Hat Pirates. Together, they explore the world and compete with other pirate crews to unravel the mystery surrounding One Piece, a legendary treasure left behind by an infamous pirate captain.

Oda's manga is available in English from VIZ Media. The full anime series, which now totals over 1000 episodes, can be streamed from Funimation and Crunchyroll, while parts of the series are available on Hulu and Netflix. Toonami also recently announced that it will begin airing the series again as part of its late-night anime block.

Source: YouTube, Twitter