One Piece, Better Call Saul actor Patrick Fabian, and a song by Ye (the rap artist formerly known as Kanye West) have all become tied up in what might be the internet’s most elaborate dick joke.
Earlier this week, a meme that references NSFW images of various characters from the popular manga and anime One Piece became the origin of a trend that has taken TikTok and Twitter by storm. The trend has spawned several videos on TikTok exceeding one million views, and the phrase “THE ONE PIECE IS REAL” has trended on Twitter and resulted in an excess of 13,00 tweets.
It’s a lot to wrap your head around, but here is the gist of the trend: The video starts with audio of the One Piece character Whitebeard saying, “The One Piece! The One Piece is real.” After that, the audio from the song “Dark Fantasy” by Ye cuts in, with a choir singing, “Can we get much higher? So high.” As the audio plays, the video shows various images or clips of characters from the series, like Monkey D. Luffy or Trafalgar Law.
In the original video using the format, when the Ye song cuts in, the viewer is shown NSFW edits of the characters showing their penises. Now, a lot of the riffs on it just show images of various characters sans private parts, like Trafalgar Law and Tony Tony Chopper. (We won’t link the original here, but you can go find it if you want.)
Another iteration of the joke swaps Whitebeard’s voice out for an audio of the American actor Patrick Fabian saying, “The One Piece! The One Piece is real!” The actor, best known for his role as Howard Hamlin in Better Call Saul, said the line in a Cameo addressed to a random person whom he congratulated for passing the Ohio State Bar.
The trend was further catalyzed when a fan brought a sign referencing the meme to an event and got a photo of it.
One Piece follows Luffy, a pirate with rubber powers who sets off on an adventure to become the Pirate King. In the world of the show, the most elusive treasure is an object or collection called the One Piece, and it’s the object of every pirate’s desire. Some characters doubt its existence, but one day, a powerful pirate known as Whitebeard confirms its existence amidst a war, in the line referenced in the meme. If you’re still confused about why this is even funny, we can’t blame you, but suffice it to say that the character’s dicks are supposed to represent the elusive “One Piece.”
The trend exists at the intersection of various viral pieces of media and internet subcultures. One Piece’s bumper music formed the basis for a viral TikTok trend where people used the music to jokingly complain about their partners. Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spinoff in which Fabian appears, has been used for courtroom memes and reaction images. This particular meme is sort of kind of bro-y and cringe, but hey, that’s fandom baby.
