One Piece and Dr. Stone might not seem a lot alike at first. However, there are connections to be made. Both of them began publication in Weekly Shonen Jump. The artists of both series, Eiichiro Oda and Boichi show a fondness for Portgas D Ace. Both series also prominently feature guys with leek-colored hair and potential alternative sexual identities. Two of these can be further associated with one particular character — Yamato from One Piece.
Certain aspects of Yamato’s design and character may have been conceived with Boichi in mind. It seems like a coincidence, but the timeline for Oda and Boichi’s works do have some notable overlaps. Something about all of these coincidences seems more like a pattern.
How Are One Piece and Dr. Stone Connected?
Dr. Stone made its manga debut in March 2017. Its July 2019 anime adaption earning an ad in Times Square should speak to how popular it had become. This would give Oda plenty of time to see Boichi’s work and develop an interest in it before introducing Yamato.
The son of Kaido’s appearance was revealed at the end of One Piece Chapter 984, “My Bible” (July 6, 2020). At the time, she was only shown in black and white; for all anyone knew, she had pink hair with black highlights. While nothing could be said about her then-unconfirmed color scheme, her proclaimed connection to Ace was still noteworthy. Yamato’s color scheme was confirmed on Oct. 16, 2020. She was featured alongside Luffy on the cover of Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #46. This was the first place her leek-colored hair was shown, and the link to Senku could be made.
One Piece episode A incidentally began publication on Sep. 16, 2020. This spin-off was illustrated by Boichi and centered around the adventures of Ace. It’s important to remember how this artist was still drawing Dr. Stone every week. He probably worked this side job up to months in advance between chapters. This would have given him plenty of time to work and get to know Oda.
It’s worth noting how Senku’s hair changes hues between color drawings. Some pictures make his hair blonde with green highlights, while others make it white with blue highlights. Yamato’s hair, meanwhile, is consistently white with green and then blue highlights. One could say the latter’s hairstyle is a mix of the colors used for the former’s.
How Is Yamato Connected to Dr. Stone?
Of course, this One-Piece-Dr.-Stone connection has to go both ways for it to work. This would have to be proven by showing an instance of Boichi expressing his appreciation of One Piece without prompting. If he does it with Ace, that’s expected but acceptable. If he does anything with Yamato, that will prove it all the more.
Boichi’s love for Ace cannot be understated. For the cover of WSJ Issue 3-4, 2021, artists drew their protagonists alongside the One Piece character of their choice; Boichi naturally drew Senku and Ace together on Issue 3. This issue also featured One Piece Chapter 999, “The Sake I Brewed to Drink With You,” which elaborated on Yamato and Ace’s first meeting. Boichi either heard directly from Oda what would be in Chapter 999, or he chose Ace of his own volition.
Ace and Yamato continued to appear in Boichi’s work. Ace cameoed in the color spread of Dr. Stone Chapter 181, “New World Science,” to advertise episode A’s next installment; Chapter 2, “The Devil’s Child,” came out on Feb. 4, 2021. Even if it was for advertising purposes, featuring Ace directly in Dr. Stone like this was a bold move.
Nothing on Yamato’s side of all this is deep enough to be called a direct reference. However, her being connected to Ace around the same time as his spin-off was being worked on can’t just be a coincidence. Saying so would be like saying Shanks and Uta’s manga cameos coinciding with One Piece Film: Red’s premiere was only by chance.
Could One Piece Cross Over With Other Shonen Jump Manga?
The connection between One Piece and Dr. Stone could result in other such manga crossovers. Plenty of Shonen Jump artists would gladly work on One Piece content. That, or they’d include some One Piece reference in their story. Oda would likely return the favor, as he’s done for Naruto, KochiKame, and Dr. Stone.
After Boichi, the next most likely Jump artist to get a shoutout would be Shun Saeki, the artist for Food Wars and, currently, Tenmaku Cinema. He also drew the Shokugeki no Sanji spin-off, a series of one-shots of the Straw Hat chef cooking and serving food to people across the One Piece world. Some of them even foodgasm like they would in Food Wars. If Oda ever draws someone’s clothes exploding off their bodies because of Sanji’s cooking, it should be obvious who he’s referencing.
The Shonen Jump dual cover for Chapter 1000 also presents some ideas for new spin-offs. Some of the One Piece characters look like they could star in stories that fans would read. The artists who drew those characters could even helm the series as Boichi did for the Ace spin-off. The chances of a spin-off depend on the character and the artist. For example, a Boa Hancock story by Tsutsui Taishi (We Never Learn: BOKUBEN) or a Smoker story by Yoshifumi Totsuka (Undead Unluck) would be greenlit because of how popular the character is; the artists are also good, but the characters would be the main selling point. Conversely, a story about Don Krieg by Kohei Horikoshi (My Hero Academia) or Arlong by Gege Akutami (Jujutsu Kaisen) would go through because of the mangaka; what they’d do with these characters is too intriguing to pass up. Some stories can succeed because of both, like Ace and Boichi. Other pairings might work, but they’d be more of a risk.
Are Oda and Boichi Really That Close?
Of course, nothing has been confirmed yet. None of these artists are reported to have any direct association with Oda. As for whether Oda is willing to reference these other mangakas’ works, that’s also up in the air. He did, however, thank Boichi for his work.
It’s difficult to speak of Oda’s intentions for Yamato without anything concrete. However, he and Boichi, as fellow Jump artists, likely hold each other in high regard. A conversation between them would be filled with talk about Ace, Yamato, and their mutual respect. Looking at matters like this makes Yamato’s hair resembling Senku’s on purpose seem much more believable.
