The official One Piece website has released a special interview with the assistant producer of the upcoming “3D2Y” anime special, Tomosuke Teramoto.

What follows are a compilation of Teramoto’s answer based on Kappei Yamaguchi’s questions and comments, so keep in mind that while the contents can be taken as such, they’re not direct quotes!

Q: Until last year the 2 hour specials were part of the “Episode Of” series, right? Nami, Luffy and last year even Merry I believe. This time you’re changing directions to “3D2Y?” A: We used to work on stuff like the Episode of Nami or Merry but this time we started off from the idea that we wanted to try something new in that we wanted to work on a part that wasn’t made clear in the series itself and to which we could add Luffy’s 2 year “3D2Y” period. And so we exchanged ideas amongst each other on how we could make it rival the “Episode of” series, and with a bit of luck maybe even surpass it. The “Episode Of” series has its good parts, but we wanted to make a special episode with an “original story.” We, mainly the producers and script writers, thought about it a lot but came to the idea that nothing had yet been pictured from Luffy’s 2-year training period. We then asked the people in charge at Fuji TV and Shueisha and had meetings to start the first stage of the production process. After asking Oda-sensei if he was okay with the idea we had, we got his approval, and since it’s appearing on Saturday night prime time, it was decided to make it into a story revolving around Luffy.

Q: If it’s a Luffy centered story, then what about the other Straw Hats? A: This one’s a Luffy-centered story, but Usopp and the others will also be making an appearance! But as I mentioned before, the story this time starts from the point where Luffy starts his training, when Luffy was in a state where it wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get over the death of Ace at the Paramount War. After reminding himself that he’s still got his crew mates, the 2-year training with Rayleigh begins and then the original character becomes important to see how he’ll get over Ace’s death.

Q: Oh, A new character? A: The new character’s name is Byrnndi World and was drawn by Oda! He’s one of the prisoners who escaped from Impel Down’s level 6. We can’t reveal a detailed drawing of World just yet, but his back was shown in the main visual (for the 3D2Y special). World’s a very strong enemy who’s going to be getting in Luffy’s way, so while Luffy’s overcoming Ace’s death and thinking of his crew, World’s going to be antagonizing him. And this time we experienced the difficulties of an original anime episode: deciding on whether to write a story related to the original series or one independent from it. So we asked Oda to draw “the biggest enemy ever” World’s design and to have a look at the script.

Q: Since it starts during the Paramount war, there’s a lot of characters going to make an appearance; Kizaru, Akainu, etc… it’s really just like one exuberant “festival!” But talking about One Piece, one of the high points are its action scenes, so what about for this special episode? A: To make up for the parts where the Straw Hats aren’t appearing, instead there’s some other uncommon characters that are going to be participating in the episode. The guest characters appearing this time are really amazing! And there’s (also) going to be a lot of action scene highlights!

Because of Luffy’s two-year training, one of the must-see parts of the special is the gradual process of acquiring the Armament Haki during battle as well as seeing Hancock herself, who hasn’t really been portrayed fighting for long periods of time before, fight,.

Q: And Buggy’s also working hard this time, right? A: Right! Buggy’s really a character that doesn’t sit still. The main part of the story is Luffy and World but Buggy’s going to liven up the story quite a bit. In order to bring out that “Party Mood” Oda-sensei talked about, Buggy and Hancock will be playing an active role in particular. Also, each one of the Straw Hat crew will be appearing for a bit, but besides that, their respective voice actors all helped doing the animal voices et cetera, so….

Q: And in the end? A: Right! There’s also a surprise character making an appearance at the very end.