The fourth annual Anime Las Vegas 2026 couldn’t be without a One Piece cast panel, and with this panel, we’ve scrounged up the most notorious voice acting swashbucklers to talk shop about the industry and how their lives were impacted by the show that has spanned several decades, platforms and even timelines. No cause is lost if there is but one fool left to fight for it, and no role is too small if it’s part of a much larger piece, the One Piece. It’s here, it’s real and it’s only on Anime Fire.
The Cast Panel
For this panel, we had Patrick Seitz (Franky), Sean Hennigan (Gol D. Roger), Brandon Potter (Shanks), John Swasey (Crocodile), Jonah Scott (Charlotte Katakuri) and Stephanie Young (Nico Robin) with Michelle Maka as the Moderator. The cast talk about their instructions on how FUNimation operates and how their careers were jump-started by One Piece, what it takes to prepare oneself for the role, and which character would respect another.
Bouncing from One Booth to Another
In regards to their reaction to finding out what character they’d be voicing, for Patrick, One Piece wasn’t caught up to the Water 7 arc, so Franky hadn’t been introduced into the anime yet. Patrick said he was originally cast to voice Franky in the One Piece game for the Nintendo Wii, recorded several hours of lines for the game, which the studio FUNimation, who handled the production of One Piece, sent his recordings to Japan, and waited about five to six years for the anime to catch up to Franky in the show. But every few months or so, he would persistently ask the director at the time, Mike McFarland, if they still needed him for the role.
As for John, his first role for One Piece, he did Gan Fall as a substitute for a previous voice actor who had passed away, but was then later brought back in to record Crocodile, along with other characters from other shows, because of the way FUNimation was essentially juggling multiple shows at the same time. John was voicing up to six roles a day before even realizing he was working on One Piece again.
“He’s got Cola, I’ve got Cola, let’s do this!”
It gets intense with Michelle asking Patrick how he gets prepared for his (Franky) iconic super lines. There were days when he’d jump from booth to booth as per FUNimation’s request, and there were days when he’d commit to just Franky and One Piece. Patrick gets nostalgic about how he gets older with the character and that there aren’t any “super” lines for him to voice.
Which character in One Piece does your character respect the most?
Sean says Gol D. Roger respects Whitebeard because they’re two of a kind in the long run. John replies, “I don’t think Crocodile gives a crap about anyone.” Thankfully, Stephanie’s response was more meaningful in that Robin essentially mothers but also respects the whole crew, but above all else, she would respect Nami the most. Being the only women on the ship together, there is a sisterhood there, and there’s never been that element of competition with each other.
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