Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece Universe has been steadily growing since the franchise began in 1997. My husband tried to introduce me to Luffy through the 1999 series, but it wasn’t my thing. In August 2023, a live-action One Piece series on Netflix led by Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy arrived on the scene. It would take a few more years for him to convince me to enter his world. Once I did, I couldn’t help but fall in love. When I heard about the LEGO version of our favorite pirate crew, I had to jump aboard for the adventure.
With Netflix’s One Piece season 3 coming out next year, fans needed something to keep the treasure hunt fresh in their minds. We couldn’t simply watch the anime. No. We needed the live-action actors in LEGO form to retell the story with a little tweaks along the way. Jacob Romero Gibson returns as Usopp as he cracks open the storybook to tell Tony Tony Chopper the Straw Hat Pirates’ adventures so far. Mikaela Hoover joins Gibson as our lovable Chopper, who has questions and adds to the fun.
Although Gibson and Hoover are the only human forms we see, the rest of the cast are lending their voices to their LEGO counterparts: Iñaki Godoy as “Luffy,” Emily Rudd as “Nami,” Mackenyu as “Zoro,” Taz Skylar as “Sanji,” Charithra Chandran as “Miss Wednesday and Nefertari Vivi,” Katey Sagal as “Dr. Kureha,” Jeff Ward as “Buggy the Clown,” and Callum Kerr as “Captain Smoker.” If you missed their whimsical nature, Netflix and LEGO really treated us with this recap special in LEGO form:
How LEGO One Piece begins
Caution to viewers: Usopp is telling HIS version of the story, so there are some twists you may not remember. But have no fear; he still tells the story.
Our tale begins in the East Blue Sea, with Usopp telling Chopper that he brought the Straw Hat Pirates crew together. This leads them to search the Grand Line for the One Piece. Just as things get a little fishy, Chopper begs Usopp to tell the whole story, since Luffy formed the crew before Usopp joined.
Usopp stops the LEGO side, and we come face-to-face with Jacob from Netflix’s One Piece as he tells Chopper he wasn’t part of those earlier stories. Even though Usopp thinks of himself as the final puzzle piece, even he can’t deny how amazing the adventure was before he joined. We dive back into the storybook and meet our crew.
10 years earlier, Monkey D. Luffy is a little kid with a dream. He wants to be King of the Pirates and find the One Piece. In an excited rush, he tells Shanks about these dreams since he’s a pirate, but Shanks more or less blows him off.
This leaves Luffy defeated. He takes Shanks advice to find something to eat and celebrate. Instead of eating a simple chicken wing, he eats the Devil’s Fruit, which causes Shanks to scolds him. As he goes to get more food, with one hand held by Shanks, the entire village sees what the fruit did to him. He isn’t a simple boy anymore, but stretchy. Little Luffy isn’t all concerned about his new powers and never being able to swim in the ocean again.
Usopp hurries the story along: there’s Mountain Bandits, Luffy gets kidnapped, Sea King attacks, Shanks saves Luffy. After all of that, Luffy apologizes to Shanks, who doesn’t mind at all since Luffy is safe. He hands over his straw hat and tells him to promise he’ll give it back after Luffy builds his pirate crew, becomes King of the Pirates, and finds the One Piece. So, when Luffy is finally ready, he heads to Shells City to find his crew and a map of the Grand Line.
10 years later
We meet the first crew member, Zoro, a pirate bounty hunter. He is a wiz with swords as he wields three at a time against his latest enemies. Nami, a master thief, is in Shells City to steal the map to the Grand Line (yes, the map that Luffy is looking for, too). Luffy runs into Zoro and Nami while they are both looking for the map. He decides they are a crew and that they need to work together. Despite them not wanting to be a crew, they succeeded in getting the map.
Unfortunately, the other person looking for the map knocks them out and steals the map from them. Buggy the Clown captures the crew and the map. Showing off his Devil Fruit powers, Buggy the Clown throws knives at the Straw Hat Pirates, but it backfires. The ropes break free, Luffy grabs some weapons for the others, and they go head-to-head with Buggy the Clown and his circus friends.
Buggy comes out on the bottom, or up in the air, and somewhere far away. The Straw Hat crew beats him at his own game, locking most of his limbs in a tank and kicking the rest of him to who knows where. It’s time to blow this popsicle stand (circus tent) and get on with the adventure.
Usopp goes a bit over the top when he introduces himself. I would expect nothing less. He sends the bad guys off his island in a giant slingshot. He saves his village from the black cat pirates when Luffy and the others wash up on shore. Usopp interrupts the crew's woes about finding a ship without any money and offers to build them a ship, since he has some free time. He builds the ship lego by lego in record time.
Luffy loves it except for one detail. He stretches out his arm and pulls down a pirate flag with a skull wearing a straw hat. (Even Chopper knows that the ship wasn’t built that way.)
As they sail the East Blue, Luffy tries to get to know everyone by their dreams for the future. After finally convincing all of them to share (King of the Pirates who finds the One Piece, Braver Warrior, Map the entire Grand Line and the world, and Greatest Sword fighter), Luffy’s stomach determines their next stop.
Due Northwest is the restaurant with the big fish and the location of the next crew member, Sanji, who shares his dream is to visit the Old Blue and its fish. He whips them up a meal that is beyond amazing, even though his boss doesn’t approve. Their tiff is interrupted when the greatest swordsman in the world comes in, looking to take the Straw Hat crew into custody for what they did in another city. Not taking it seriously, Zoro challenges the swordsman to a duel to win the title.
Zoro goes down, but in turn the swordsman decides the world needs more wildcards like Luffy. He won’t be taking him into custody. He even encourages Zoro about his three-sword style and promises they will fight again. For now, he tells him to heal up and train his skills until they meet again.
Arlong Pirates attack
The crew carries Zoro into the kitchen and hauls him onto the counter. The head cook (mustache guy) tells them Zoro is in rough shape but will make it through this will a little bit of help. He grabs a few items and gets to work as the restaurant is attacked by the Arlong Pirates crew looking for Nami and the map. Luffy tries to play it off, but they all laugh at them for his effort. Things get so tough that Sanji joins the fight over food waste.
Unfortunately, all that is a waste when the leader makes Nami reveal that she used Luffy to get the map. They leave the restaurant with Nami and the map, while the Straw Hats tend to Zoro’s cries of pain. After Sanji pours soup into Zoro’s mouth, he springs up and is okay.
Luffy and Usopp hope Nami will run back through the doors. Finally, she does, with an apology and a reason to why she did it. She begs for help, and Luffy gives her the straw hat. They accept the fight against the Arlong Pirates and getting the map back. Sanji officially joins the Straw Hats as their chef as he says thank you and goodbye to his boss.
The Straw Hat crew interrupts the Arlong Pirates crew’s pool party. Battle round two heats up as emotions run high, especially Nami’s. Despite being a cook, Sanji joins in on the action once again.
But the Arlong Pirates may be too much for them, with all the tricks up their sleeves. Usopp sacrifices himself and leads “Fish-Face” into a trap that almost backfires. Somehow, he manages to come out on top, barely. Luffy goes up against the leader with his creative mind. Despite the odds, he destroys the building but comes out on top with the map in hand. He earns his straw hat back as they cheer about sailing off to the Grand Line.
The LEGO One Piece two-episode special now streaming on Netflix.
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