It’s safe to say that 2023 was Eiichiro Oda’s year. The One Piece manga is reaching milestone after milestone, the anime is getting a remake, and the live-action adaptation was a success. But rumor has it that Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation is also joining the roster of good news.
The news was announced by Shueisha, revealing that in addition to the much-needed remake of One Piece by Netflix, animated by Wit Studio – known for Spy x Family and Ranking of Kings – a new anime is entering the library. However, considering that One Piece has only received any form of continuation through semi-canon movies, many fans didn’t even consider that the new series would be connected to One Piece.
In reality, that would be a fair assumption. However, Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation might have more to do with One Piece than you might be thinking, so allow me to explain.
Is Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation connected to One Piece?
Yes, Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation is indeed connected to One Piece, and you might even consider it a spin-off. Although the news came seemingly out of nowhere, the series will be adapting a one-shot that Oda created before serializing One Piece. It depicts the story of the legendary swordsman Ryuma and his past.
The one-shot, entitled “MONSTERS,” was drawn by Oda when he was 19 and published in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine’s extra issue, Autumn Special, in 1994. The visual key already gives out a few clues about the storyline, introducing Ryuma, Freya – the only survivor from a town attacked by a dragon – and Cyrano, a swordsman attempting to recover a stolen dragon horn.
One Piece fans have long been acquainted with Ryuma. We know that he was a legendary samurai hailing from the renowned Shimotsuki Family of Wano Country and that his majestic expertise in swordsmanship earned him the title of “Sword God.” He was also one of the antagonists of Thriller Bark.
Despite his appearance being an obvious nod to one of One Piece‘s protagonists – Roronoa Zoro – it wasn’t until recently that we finally received confirmation that Ryuma is indeed the ancestor of both Shimotsuki Ushimaru and Zoro. The confirmation came through a SBS question, answered by Oda, who unveiled Zoro’s ancestry off-screen.
The series is scheduled to stream in January 2024. In Japan, it will be available on Netflix and Prime Video, and in the United States, it will be accessible on Crunchyroll. So gather up, Straw Hats; the One Piece treasure trove isn’t expected to cease anytime soon.