Yakuza: Like a Dragon had the difficult task of reinventing the Yakuza franchise, bringing RPG elements to the game focused on beat ’em up style street combat. The idea was bought by the players, who ended up also noticing an air of one piece in the title of Ryu Ga Gotoku.

Confirming fans’ suspicions, in an interview with Crunchyroll News at Tokyo Game Show 2022, Masayoshi Yokoyamastudio head Ryu Ga Gotoku, confessed that like a dragon was actually inspired by one piece, as well as in other anime, Bleach.

🇧🇷🇧🇷like a dragon was heavily inspired by two of the anime one piece and bleach”, said.

”To me, Ichiban is basically Luffy. And surrounding him are Zoro, Nami and the rest of the team. The Straw Hats’ songwriting was so much on my mind during writing that it was a huge influence.

This is definitely unofficial, but in my heart, the game was basically my ideal version of what Yakuza: One Piece would be,” said Yokoyama. “That’s how I was inspired to do it!”.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the eighth title in the main Yakuza series, was released worldwide on November 10, 2020. The game is available for PS4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

One Piece Odyssey, a game inspired by the anime that brings the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates, is scheduled for release on January 13, 2023 and with versions planned for PC, PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.