Official One Piece Voice Actor Celebrates Luffy’s Birthday With Wholesome Original Artwork

To celebrate Monkey D. Luffy’s birthday, One Piece VA Toshio Furukawa creates an adorable portrait of One Piece’s iconic hero and his brother, Ace.

May 5 marks the official birthday of One Piece‘s iconic hero, Monkey D. Luffy. In honor of the occasion, Toshio Furukawa, who voices Portgas. D. Ace in the anime’s Japanese version, has dedicated a special piece of birthday artwork to his younger “brother.”

Furukawa shared the aforementioned artwork on his official X (formerly Twitter) page. As shown below, the post showcases Luffy cheerfully announcing his birthday to the world. While Furukawa’s style is quite different from that of One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, it still highlights the joyous and carefree personality that has endeared Luffy to fans all around the world. In the background, a silhouetted figure representing Ace politely requests the audience to “take care of” his younger brother. A prominent One Piece-centric X account called Pew (or @PewPiece) translated the Japanese text for their followers.

Portgas D. Ace’s Official Voice Actor Artwork Is Both Heartwarming and Tragic

One Piece chronicles the journey of Luffy, who dreams of finding the mysterious treasure of famed pirate Captain Gol D. Roger and becoming the king of all pirates. In both the anime and manga, Portgas D. Ace is arguably just as dear to the One Piece fandom as Luffy himself. While he is actually the biological son of Gol D. Roger, Ace grew up alongside Luffy under the watchful eye of Monkey D. Garp. Like his brother, Ace ends up consuming one of the infamous devil fruits, granting him the power to wield fire as a weapon in combat. After leaving home, Ace eventually joins up with the Whitebeard Pirate crew, becoming their second-division commander. Notably, he is one of the key players in One Piece‘s “Marineford Arc,” during which he famously risks his own life to protect Luffy from the villainous Admiral Akainu. In Furukawa’s artwork, Ace’s message can be interpreted as a subtle allusion to the character’s tragic fate.

Since its 1997 debut, One Piece has become the #1 best-selling manga of all time, with over 523.2 million copies worldwide (as of February 2024). Toei Animation’s popular anime adaptation premiered in 1999. Over 25 years and 1,000+ episodes later, fans from Japan, the U.S. and far beyond continue to tune in every week to see the adventures of Luffy and his Straw Hat pirate crew. In honor of the series’ continued success, Toei recently announced One Piece’s first-ever U.S.-based café, which features a colorful array of items inspired by the franchise’s world and characters. The café, located in Las Vegas, Nevada, will open its doors to the public on May 11 — just a few days after Luffy’s birthday.

One Piece’s Toshio Furukawa as Ace Has Also Starred in Dragon Ball, Demon Slayer & More

Toshio Furukawa has landed a number of major voice roles throughout his career, including Hantengu from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kai Shiden from Mobile Suit Gundam, Taro Soramame from Dr. Slump and Arale-chan and Ataru Moroboshi from Pierrot’s original 1981 anime adaptation of Urusei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious Aliens!). Aside from Ace, he is perhaps best known for his role as Piccolo from Toei Animation’s other shonen classic, Dragon Ball.