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'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.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/one-piece-new-protagonist-after-monkey-d-luffy/
