One Piece fans are flooding X (formerly Twitter) with “Bucket Hat Luffy” fan art following the tragic deflation of Monkey D. Luffy’s iconic straw hat in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade last Thursday.
The incident occurred just minutes after Luffy’s Macy’s Thanksgiving appearance when a tree branch ripped off Luffy’s hat. Unfortunately, the accident was captured during the official livestream of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, so both physical and online viewers could have been hit by the float and injured in real time. Thankfully, no other parts of the float were damaged and Luffy was able to make it through the rest of the parade. However, the hat itself failed to recover and switched from wide brim to wide brim throughout the remainder of the parade.
Fan reactions on social media ranged from comic absurdity to devastation. Now, in the wake of the tragedy, fans of the franchise have turned to creative therapy, creating a series of “Bucket Hat Luffy” fan art in support. Some works of art are designed to be happy, some are sad. Some of them look like they came straight out of Eiichiro Oda’s manga, and quite a few scenes feature Luffy going fishing with his new hat, which fits quite well.
One Piece chronicles Monkey D. Luffy’s journey to become Pirate King by discovering the legendary treasure, One Piece. Gifted with the ability to stretch like rubber after eating a Devil Fruit, Luffy embarks on adventures across dangerous seas. Together with the Straw Hat Pirates – a diverse crew with unique abilities and backgrounds – he traverses the Grand Line, with the series encapsulating themes of friendship, determination and resilience.
Eiichiro Oda launched the One Piece manga in 1997. The series quickly attracted attention and two years later, Toei Animation adapted the manga into an anime. It has now become one of the most popular series of all time and is still running with over 1,000 episodes. Last year was a big one for the series, which received a popular live-action adaptation on Netflix and the award-winning film One Piece: Red. All of this has heightened anticipation for One Piece’s first parade in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – and no one has ever heard of Luffy’s first bucket hat.
All 20 seasons of the One Piece anime are available to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Prime video. Footage of the Luffy Hat Parade event from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast is available for free on YouTube Global News.
Sources: X (formerly Twitter) and Comic Book.com