Is Netflix's One Piece Cast Friends in Real Life? 

One Piece 's Monkey D. Luffy initially had a hard time assembling his Straw Hats crew. Not everyone was immediately excited to join his team: Roronoa Zoro would try to brush him off, and Nami straight up told him to get away.

However, in the end of the first season of Netflix 's One Piece, we had a solid team with an unbreakable bond, who are not just pirates forced to work together: they are real friends.

Is it true for the real-life Straw Hats crew members, though? The cast of One Piece does boast incredible chemistry, especially in all those promotional videos where they watch each other's audition tapes or try foods from different cultures, but can they truly be called friends?

Turns out, they became friends long before One Piece adaptation was released. Matt Owens, the series' showrunner, revealed in a recent Reddit AMA that the cast befriended each other during pre-shooting training. The group was already friends with each other when they started shooting!

"The cast was down in South Africa for training, rehearsals, costume fittings, etc. months before we even started shooting. They would go hiking together, explore Cape Town together, and you could see they closeness developing. They formed real friendships that translated to the screen beautifully," Owens revealed.

The showrunner also shared that Emily Rudd, who portrayed Nami, is "everyone's big sister," and honestly, this is the most heartwarming thing we read, especially given her character's attitude in the beginning of the season.

So it's safe to say that the Straw Hats will be heading into the second season of One Piece as a real crew! The premiere date is yet to be scheduled.

Source: Matt Owens via Reddit