You may have already seen it go by: IShowSpeed says he has been given official permission to livestream One Piece. Yes, you read that right. The well-known American streamer claims he is allowed to show every episode of the anime on his channel, without any copyright issues. Sounds too good to be true? That is what we thought too. In this blog we dig into what exactly he claims, how much of it holds up, and what the community makes of it.

What does IShowSpeed say himself?

According to Speed he has direct permission from a One Piece producer. That would make him the only streamer in the world allowed to livestream every single episode. And not only that: he even wants to do a mega-marathon in which he shows the entire series non-stop for weeks. Even while he sleeps.

Speed literally says:
“Nobody has never gotten that… No YouTuber, streamer… ever.”

What he means is that no other creator has ever been given these rights. Quite a claim.

Sounds great, but does it hold up?

Honestly? The story has holes all over it. A member of the official One Piece team has already said he does not believe Speed really has full rights. He says rights like that are held exclusively by big parties such as Crunchyroll, Netflix or VIZ Media. And that someone like Speed has probably been given permission for short clips by mistake, not for entire episodes.

On Reddit you can see fans have their doubts too. Some think he is simply bluffing, others secretly hope it is true. But nobody has seen any proof. There is also no official confirmation from Toei or other distributors.

So why is he doing this?

Very simple: to draw attention. And it is working. His announcement went viral. People are talking about it. His streams are being watched en masse. And even if it turns out not to be true in the end, he has already banked millions of views. Clever? Yes. Transparent? Not entirely.

What if he really is allowed to?

Suppose it does hold up – then that would be genuinely unique. Never before has an individual streamer been given official permission to stream a complete, popular anime. No clips, no reactions, just episodes as they are. That would be enormous.

But as long as there is no proof, we should handle it carefully. There is a good chance that he was either misunderstood, or that an employee promised him something by mistake that is not allowed.

What can you take away from this as a fan?

If you are a One Piece fan, we get that you are curious. Maybe you are even hoping it is true, so you can watch along for free. But be careful with claims like these. Until official confirmation comes from Toei or a streaming platform, this stays mostly hype with a lot of question marks.

Nobody doubts that Speed is a One Piece fan. He wears merch, talks about it with real passion and seems genuinely connected to the series. But is that enough to get permission to stream everything? We will believe that once it is in writing.

What is certain: this attention creates more visibility for One Piece in general. And that means the value of One Piece TCG products can climb sharply too. Think of booster boxes, rare cards or sealed sets: the more hype, the more demand.

So now is the moment to invest in One Piece booster packs. Certainly if you want to be ahead of the crowd. Because if this trend continues — or Speed really does get his way — the market could explode fast.