WhenJujutsu Kaisenwas running inShonen Jump, it was quick to become one of the biggest manga in the world alongsideOne Piece,thanks to its stylish action and mostly great writing, and it even surpassed it a few times, thanks to the boost in popularity its anime gave it.
There has always been an unspoken synergy betweenJujutsu KaisenandOne Piece, and a year afterJujutsu Kaisen’s finale, something is finally coming of that, asOne Piecejust dropped a surpriseJujutsu Kaisencrossover that’s nothing but hype, especially because of the surprisingly heartwarming reason behind its existence.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Creator Just Gave One Piece’s Biggest Villains The Glow-Up They Deserve
One Piece’s Five Elders Have Never Looked So Good
One Piece Day is an annual event where some of the biggest news for theOne Piecefranchise is revealed to the world, and for One Piece Day 2025, it was revealed thatJujutsu Kaisencreator Gege Akutami will provide illustrations of the Five Elders for the next set of theOne Piececard game.
Naturally, a preview of the cards was shown during One Piece Day 2025, and Gege Akutami did a perfect job with them, as his signature art style more than succeeded at emphasizing the monstrous and inhuman nature of the Five Elders in a way that not even Eiichiro Oda could accomplish.
The timing of it all is especially perfect;theOne Pieceanimeis approaching the debut of the Five Elders’ transformations for the climax of the Egghead arc, and while that’s still a few weeks away, it’s the perfect way of generating even more hype for what’s sure to be a major event.
Why One Piece’s Jujutsu Kaisen Collab Is Surprisingly Heartwarming
The Truth Behind One Piece And Jujutsu Kaisen’s Collab
What makesOne Piece’sJujutsu Kaisencrossover even better is the surprisingly heartwarming reason behind it. In a press release accompanying the announcement, Gege Akutami said that when he fell ill again afterJujutsu Kaisen’s finale, Eiichiro Oda recommended him to a nice hospital, so the artwork is Akutami’s way of thanking him.
Eiichiro Oda has spoken about how, despite fans seeingOne PieceandNarutoas rivals, he and Masashi Kishimoto are good friends, and that point can be seen here, as despite what fans may think, Oda and Akutami respect each other enough that they’d go out of their way to keep each other healthy, and that’s nothing if not heartwarming.
The brief period whenOne PieceandJujutsu Kaisenwere running at the same time was a truly historic moment in manga history; seeing the creators finally come together in an official way does as great a job as possible to honor that, and hopefully, this won’t be the last instance of that.
