New anime-original arc debuts on March 19

The official website for the One Piece franchise revealed more details on Saturday for the new anime-original "Marine Rookie" arc that will start on March 19, including a main visual and character designs.

The new arc will feature new Marine soldiers making their appearance. (Note: the kanji characters used to mean "rookie" in the arc's title are the same kanji used for the Eleven Supernovas who are the top rookie pirates in the series.)

The cast for the new characters in the arc include: (Note: character name spellings aren't official.)

Natsuki Hanae as Grant, who has a strong sense of justice and who looks up to Aokiji. He is a devil fruit user.



Hiroki Yasumoto as Bonam, a member of the Longarm Tribe. Among the three soldiers, he acts as the older brother figure.



Makoto Furukawa as Sappa, a dual-sword wielder. He has a fear of strangers, but he loves women so much he is very outgoing toward them. He completely changes once he's drawn his sword.



Youhei Tadano as Vice-Admiral Prodi, who seems to be an old friend of Garp. He runs the marine base on the island Fron. He is a drunkard and a glutton, and he's irresponsible, but he's an old man with a good heart. He fights using artillery.



The arc will focus on Luffy and those who are with him traveling to rescue Sanji on Whole Cake Island. After Luffy uses up all their food during their journey, the group infiltrate the marine base island of Fron to resupply. Suddenly, three rookie marines who used to be part of Aokiji's unit appear before Luffy.

One Piece is approaching the end of the Zou Arc, which premiered on July 28 in the show's 751st episode. The anime had featured a short anime-original "Silver Mine Arc" after the Dressrosa Arc ended before launching into the Zou Arc.

Source: Comic Natalie