Dragon Ball Z remains one of the biggest anime around the world, with the franchise’s resurgence in popularity beginning in the mid-2010s. One of the key factors that brought it back — and led to the rise of Dragon Ball Super — was the animated movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F. In making Dragon Ball an active franchise again, the movie also homaged another shonen anime giant.
The massively popular One Piece has become perhaps even bigger than Dragon Ball Z, and just as synonymous with anime as a medium. Thus, it’s no surprise that the two series share voice actors, namely between their biggest, and sometimes most overlooked heroes. Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F took advantage of this with an Easter Egg that briefly had Krillin sailing toward the Grand Line.
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F Made Krillin Into an Action Hero
The plot of Resurrection F has the evil Frieza returning to the land of the living, with Bulma eventually catching wind of this. Remembering how big of a threat he once was, she calls up all the Z-Fighters, even the weaker ones. That includes Goku’s best friend Krillin, who’s taken on a more official role since the end of Dragon Ball Z. Now a police officer, he rushes into action to stop crime wherever it strikes.
This is showcased in a quick scene where he rushes off to apprehend some bank robbers. Embarking on a high-speed chase, Krillin delivers an epic kick to stop then once they come to a halt. This epic grandeur surrounding Krillin is the exact opposite of the joke he’s sometimes treated as, and illustrates how much of a hero he is. Perhaps this scene’s coolest element, however, is the ringtone heard that connects Krillin to another anime hero.
Resurrection F Connects Krillin to One Piece’s Luffy
When Bulma calls Krillin to let him know about the return of Frieza, a ringtone familiar to anime fans worldwide is heard. The tune is an instrumental version of “We Are,” the most popular and recurring theme song in One Piece. It acted as the first intro song for the anime, remaining a firm fixture in later sagas as an instrumental insert song — even through remixes. An English version was created when One Piece was dubbed, but this was dropped for the show itself in favor of the infamous “One Piece Rap.”
Having Krillin’s phone play “We Are” is no random coincidence, however, as Krillin’s Japanese voice actor — Mayumi Tanaka — also voices Luffy in the Japanese version of One Piece. Thus, it makes total sense for him to have a One Piece ringtone — though it does beg the question of whether the series exists in the world of Dragon Ball. This is only one of several collaborations between the two shonen giants, with one animated special seeing Goku and Luffy teaming up with the blue-haired gourmet Toriko. It is rather ironic, however, that the hero of One Piece shares a voice actor with Dragon Ball’s most disrespected Z-Fighter.