At the special 20th Anniversary celebration of One Piece in Japan on Friday, it was announced that a Western, live-action adaptation of One Piece was in development at ITV Studios and Tomorrow Studios. If the latter sounds familiar, it's because Tomorrow Studios was also recently in the news due to the recently announced live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation.
The event was actually televised and one of the hosts read out a statement from Oda himself (he did not attend) which you can watch and read below.
That statement translates [
via ANN]
In the last 20 years the conversation about a live-action adaptation has come up many times. I decided to go forward with the adaptation about three years ago. There were many twists and turns. I met a good partner. Today is the just about the 20th anniversary. The announcement of the new work is actually just a coincidence. I am very happy. Firstly, "I will never betray the fans who have supported me for 20 years." This is my condition. There may be many who are uneasy, but please, give me your voices of hope. Please be excited for the follow up reports. Please look forward to it!!
In addition to the TV show, the 20th Anniversary of One Piece is being celebrated with a fan art contest, new anime special, a festival at the Tokyo One Piece Tower and a new video game.