One Piece fans compare Lionel Messi to Gold D. Roger's after the World Cup win

One Piece is full of characters who dream big and strive hard to achieve their dreams. For example, the series' protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, wants to be the King of Pirates. Zoro, his first mate, wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world. Straw Hats' navigator, Nami, wants to draw a map of the entire world. However, among them is someone who not only achieved his dream but laughed upon achieving it.

Gold D. Roger became the Pirate King and achieved the legendary treasure known as One Piece in the series. Moreover, he was a pirate who conquered it all and was single-handedly responsible for starting the Golden Age of Pirates.

With the recent 2022 FIFA World Cup seeing Argentina emerging as the victorious, Gold D. Roger's feats in the series are now being compared by fans to football legend Lionel Messi, with both being the best at what they do and sharing a few similarities.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the One Piece series.

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With Argentina winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Gold D. Roger's fans comment on how Messi has found his own "One Piece"

Gold D. Roger after discovering Joy Boy's treasure in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

As is known by One Piece fans, Gold D. Roger conquered the Grand Line, found Joy Boy's treasure at the end of his journey, and named the last island that held the treasure as Laugh Tale. He not only managed to achieve everything but was also called the King of Pirates. As finding the One Piece became the final achievement of his unbelievable journey, he was seen bursting into laughter.

Fans love the character and his determination to continue even after coming down with an incurable disease. His dreams were ambitious, and they caused the entire world to acknowledge him as the best pirate to have ever lived. Additionally, he left a legacy that led to the inception of the Golden Age of Pirates.

Meanwhile, football legend Lionel Messi has won it all with 4 UCLs, 10x La Ligas, 6 Golden Boots, 8 Ballon d'Ors, 1 Copa America, and one Finalissima trophy in his bag. He has broken every individual record with club and country and sits atop the footballing mountain. However, the one award that has eluded him for a long time is achieving the World Cup trophy. As known to every Messi fan, conquering the football tournament was the final piece of the puzzle for this legend.

Prayers from dedicated Messi fans worldwide were finally answered on December 18, 2022, as Argentina won the World cup against France, with Messi scoring twice in the game. It was a nail-biting match that went into the penalty shootout where Emi Martinez, their goalkeeper, settled it once and for all.

One Piece fans who also love football have compared Messi's achievements at the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Gold D. Roger finding Joy Boy's treasure on his final journey. As many fans had called it, this was Messi's last dance at the tournament, and he magnificently brought home the World Cup to his country.

Gold D. Roger sailed through the Grand Line twice to reach Laugh Tale. The "King of the Pirates" title was given to Roger after he conquered the Grand Line and found Joy Boy's treasure. Almost in fairytale fashion, Messi played in two World Cup finals to reach his ultimate destination of becoming a world champion.

As a result, Twitter has been flooded with memes comparing Gold D. Roger and Messi, with many users saying that achieving the World Cup trophy equates to finding the legendary One Piece. Meanwhile, others made memes out of Messi holding the FIFA trophy. One Twitterati jokingly wrote:

"BREAKING NEWS: Leo Messi has just awakened his Goat-Goat devil fruit!!!"

Being a significant marker of pop culture, anime is chock-full of characters who give us inspiration. Sometimes these characters overlap with real-life heroes, creating beautiful symbolism and excitement within the fandom. Messi became a real-life anime hero last night and wrote his name in the history books with his "One Piece" shining bright for the entire world to admire.