ONE PIECE CARD GAME Finally Reveals Its First-Ever Franky Leader Card
Image by James RichardsonFranky is finally getting his first-ever Leader card in the ONE PIECE Card Game, with the long-awaited release revealed as one of the headline additions to the upcoming Booster Pack 18.
The announcement was made during the ONE PIECE Card Game Special Stage at ONE PIECE DAY ’26, ending a surprisingly long wait for one of the Straw Hat Pirates’ core members to take control of his own deck.
Franky joined the Straw Hats following the events of Water Seven and Enies Lobby, becoming the crew’s shipwright and later constructing the Thousand Sunny that has carried Luffy and his friends through much of their journey.
That history makes him an especially fitting Leader for OP-18, with the new booster drawing heavily from Water Seven alongside a second theme centered around the Knights of God.
The newly revealed OP18-021 Franky is a green and purple Leader with 4 Life and 5000 Power, while his abilities put Stage cards at the center of how his deck will operate.
Every Stage card in the player’s hand gains +3000 Counter while Franky is leading the deck, turning cards that would normally have no defensive value in hand into a potentially substantial source of protection.
His once-per-turn main ability allows the player to return one DON!! card before playing a Stage card costing five or less directly from their hand, creating another reason for future Water Seven decks to lean heavily into Stage-based strategies.
Bandai has revealed both the standard Franky Leader and a parallel version, giving collectors an alternative treatment to try and collect.
The other half of Booster Pack 18 moves into much newer One Piece territory through the Knights of God, with Gunko receiving both a Leader card and one of the set’s most important high-rarity releases.
Bandai is introducing a new Knights of God Super Parallel treatment for the booster, with Gunko chosen for the first card revealed in the rarity.
Her Super Parallel character card is a purple 10-cost, 11000-Power Blocker whose on-play ability can return a Celestial Dragon character with 6000 Power or less from the trash to the field by returning one DON!! card.
Nico Robin is getting another of OP-18’s biggest collectible cards, with a new Super Parallel commonly known by players as a Manga Parallel also revealed during the presentation.
The card depicts Robin during the Water Seven period and gives one of the arc’s most important characters a place among the major chase cards announced for the set.
One of the day’s more unexpected Card Game announcements came from legendary Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano, who has created completely original illustrations of Loki and Saint Figarland Shamrock for OP-18.
Amano has been closely associated with Final Fantasy since the beginning of Square Enix’s RPG series, contributing early character and concept designs as well as the illustrated logos that have remained one of the franchise’s most recognizable visual elements.
His Loki and Shamrock artwork will each appear in both parallel and foil-stamped parallel treatments, giving the collaboration multiple versions for collectors to hunt down.
The ONE PIECE DAY presentation also brought a substantial update for Extra Booster “ONE PIECE Heroines Edition vol.2,” which once again builds an entire set around prominent women from throughout the series.
Seven heroine Leader cards have now been confirmed for the release, featuring Nefertari Vivi, Nami, Shirahoshi, Boa Hancock, Rebecca, Nico Robin and Jewelry Bonney.
New Heroines Special artwork was also shown, including cards for Nami and Robin, continuing the visually focused alternate treatments that helped make the first Heroines Edition particularly popular with collectors.
Image by James RichardsonONE PIECE Heroines Edition vol.2 is scheduled to arrive in Japan on October 31, 2026, while Booster Pack 18 will follow in November.
The Card Game will also benefit directly from the final results of the second WORLD TOP 100 popularity poll, as all 50 of its highest-ranked characters are set to receive new cards as part of the rewards attached to the worldwide vote.
Luffy finished first in WT100 ahead of Roronoa Zoro, Sanji, Nami and Trafalgar Law, while the top 30 will additionally receive new outfits drawn by Eiichiro Oda and the top 15 will appear in special anime eyecatches beginning in 2027.
The Card Game reveals formed just one part of a packed ONE PIECE DAY ’26, which also delivered two major theatrical movie announcements.
ONE PIECE FILM GOD VALLEY will arrive in summer 2027 as part of the manga’s 30th anniversary celebrations, taking its name from the legendary incident involving the Rocks Pirates, Gol D. Roger and a younger Monkey D. Garp.
A second movie titled ONE PIECE FILM BAAD is planned for 2029 as part of the television anime’s 30th anniversary celebrations, although its story and characters remain under wraps and artwork created by Oda is currently one of the few details revealed.
Nike also unveiled a global One Piece collection centered around three heavily redesigned Air Max Plus sneakers inspired by the Gomu Gomu, Ope Ope and Mera Mera Devil Fruits, accompanied by matching jerseys, caps, T-shirts and additional apparel.
Image by James RichardsonNetflix added four more actors to the cast of live-action Season 3, “The Battle of Alabasta,” with Emilio Sakraya playing Koza, Omid Abtahi portraying Toto, Jamie Ward appearing as Pell and Nabeel Khan taking the role of Chaka.
The new season is planned for 2027 and will move the live-action adaptation into the battle for Alabasta as Luffy and the Straw Hats become directly involved in the conflict threatening Vivi’s homeland.
WIT Studio’s THE ONE PIECE remake is also approaching, with the new adaptation returning to the beginning of Luffy’s journey and currently scheduled to make its worldwide Netflix debut in February 2027.
For ONE PIECE Card Game players, however, Franky’s long-awaited Leader debut gives OP-18 an especially significant addition, finally allowing fans of the Straw Hat shipwright to build a deck with Franky himself sitting in the Leader position.
If you enjoyed this article, you can see more from us directly in your Google feed by adding us as a preferred source.
This post may contain affiliate links, and Essential Japan may earn a commission if you purchase through them.
