One Piece Is Officially Getting A New Protagonist After Monkey D. Luffy

Monkey D. Luffy is the protagonist of One Piece and was officially introduced to us on July 18, 1997, in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #34, which was the edition of the magazine that carried One Piece Chapter 1. Since then, all the way up to now, every single major mainline One Piece project has seen Luffy at the forefront as its protagonist. However, this is now changing with One Piece's next official movie, which is One Piece Film: God Valley.

Officially announced on August 23, 2026, One Piece Film: God Valley is going to make history as it becomes the first mainline One Piece project that does not see Luffy as its protagonist. Instead, Eiichiro Oda and the staff at Toei Animation have officially confirmed Gol D. Roger, the former Pirate King, to be the new main character instead of Luffy, and that is incredibly exciting on many levels.

One Piece Has Confirmed Gol D. Roger As The Protagonist Of The Next Movie

One Piece's last movie was Film Red, which was officially released in Japan on August 6, 2022. Since then, over four years have passed, and One Piece has not received a new movie, which is out of the ordinary. Usually, One Piece sees the release of a new movie every three years, but on One Piece Day 2026, which was officially held on August 22 and 23, we finally got confirmation of the next movie project for the franchise. In a surprising move, One Piece is getting a fully canon movie for the first time, and this movie will adapt the God Valley Incident in full glory.

“I'm not sure if the timing was good or bad, but two years ago, I had a kid. To keep them totally safe, I sent my family away back to my hometown, and told them to count on the ‘Davy Clan.’ My hometown is…God Valley.” — Rocks explains his involvement in the God Valley Incident, One Piece Chapter #1159

In the manga, the God Valley Incident was officially set up on September 8, 2025, and it fully wrapped up with the release of chapter 1166 on November 24, 2025. This run of eight chapters was incredibly exciting but, at the same time, very chaotic. In the manga, the God Valley Incident lived up to the hype, but at the same time, we could tell that these chapters were somewhat rushed by the author due to it being a flashback and taking us away from the present storyline, as well as the protagonist of the series, the Straw Hat Pirates. Now, however, Eiichiro Oda and the staff at Toei Animation are collaborating on the God Valley movie project. This movie is going to focus on some of the most powerful characters that we have seen in the world of One Piece. It is also going to be much grander than the manga, with direct involvement from the author to expand upon the God Valley Incident tremendously.

"Here's the full truth. Garp and Roger teamed up to break apart the Rocks Pirates on God Valley to protect the Celestial Dragons and their slaves. The island of God Valley is no longer drawn on the maps of the world." — Sengoku spreads the God Valley propaganda, One Piece Chapter #957

Most importantly, this new movie project will not see the Straw Hat Pirates as the protagonists. The God Valley Incident happened 38 years ago in the world of One Piece, when the vast majority of the Straw Hat Pirates were not even born. As such, this movie will have a completely new protagonist. While most fans assumed this protagonist to be none other than Rocks, Eiichiro Oda and the Toei Animation staff have actually already confirmed the protagonist to be Gol D. Roger and the Roger Pirates. This is clear from looking at the title of the movie. Usually, the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates is woven inside the “One Piece” logo.

However, for the God Valley movie, the Straw Hat Jolly Roger has officially been replaced by the Jolly Roger of the Roger Pirates. In other words, instead of the Straw Hats, we will be following the Roger Pirates in the new movie, and it is going to be an incredibly exciting journey. At the same time, the villain of this movie is going to be none other than Rocks, as he gets Domi Reversed by Imu. Meanwhile, Garp is also going to be the main focus and will probably act as the deuteragonist of the movie, which we are all incredibly excited about.

One Piece Film: God Valley Will Unveil The Power And Bond Of The Roger Pirates

Since Monkey D. Luffy is not going to be the protagonist of One Piece's new movie, this allows Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation an opportunity to flesh out other important characters. In this case, it is the Roger Pirates. The Roger Pirates are an enigmatic crew who did the impossible long ago in the One Piece world, becoming the only crew to complete the circumnavigation of the entire globe. This crew has long been shrouded in mysteries and myths, and very little of it has been revealed to us in the story. Through the God Valley movie, Eiichiro Oda is going to expand upon the Roger Pirates tremendously.

Garp and Roger: Bring it on, Rocks!!!

Garp: What the hell have you turned into?

Roger: I won't let you go after my crew!

— God Valley battle begins, One Piece Chapter #1164

It must be noted that, for the God Valley Incident to be made into a proper movie, the lore pertaining to the Roger Pirates and the God Valley Incident itself must be expanded significantly. This means that the bond between the members of the Roger Pirates will be elaborated upon, and all the major fights that unfolded in God Valley will also be extended dramatically. This makes for an absolutely phenomenal movie experience that we absolutely cannot wait to hit the theaters in 2027.

Why Roger's Story In God Valley Will Tie Into Oda's Manga

One Piece's upcoming God Valley movie, which is set to be released in summer 2027, is going to be fully canon. This movie is going to adapt Eiichiro Oda's manga itself but, at the same time, expand upon it tremendously. Oda himself is directly involved in this project, and one of the main reasons for his frequent breaks as of late was officially confirmed to be the movie projects. Since Oda himself is heavily involved in the God Valley film project, we will see a lot of exciting new details about the Roger Pirates, the Marines, and perhaps even Rocks D. Xebec. All these details will eventually tie into the manga directly, and we absolutely cannot wait to see that in the future.

"Those voices were telling the truth. Someone will eventually come and surpass us all. We were just too early." — Gol D. Roger reveals someone will surpass his crew, One Piece Chapter #968

It must be remembered that the true adventure of the Roger Pirates has not yet been shown to us in the story, but Oda will surely expand upon this crew even more than he already has at some point in the future. When that happens, all the exciting new reveals from the God Valley movie will tie into the main story as well, and we absolutely cannot wait to see all that. One Piece is also getting another movie titled “One Piece Film BAAD” in 2029, but this movie will likely see the Straw Hat Pirates involved, given that the title has the Jolly Roger of the crew woven into it directly.

All the new manga chapters of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece series are available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.