New Fortnite Season Might Not Be One Piece After All, New Official Ads Reveal

With the end of Chapter 7 Season 4 on the horizon, rumors had begun spreading regarding the theme of the upcoming Fortnite mini-season. Beloved manga and anime series One Piece was the most popular contender, especially after a mysterious pirate chest appeared on the island. Epic Games has begun putting up promotional posters, and the design suggests that the mini-season might just have a generic anime theme rather than being an exclusive One Piece crossover.

Fortnite is celebrating Halloween for the entirety of October. The Fortnitemares event will come to an end in the early hours of Nov. 1, alongside Chapter 7 Season 4. This will make way for the annual mini-season, which will allow players to smoothly transition into Chapter 8.

With Nov. 1 approaching, teasers for the upcoming mini-season have started. A giant pirate treasure chest was hacked into the island, and it began to debug over the past few days, slowly unveiling its appearance. One Piece was already speculated to be the mini-season's theme, and this fueled fans' hopes further.

Not all teasers were virtual, though. Fortnite posters started to appear on the subway in Madrid as early as Oct. 20. However, they weren't what players expected.

The Fortnite posters in Madrid feature what appears to be generic, cell-shaded anime-style skins created by Epic Games. The first poster depicts a black-haired anime character and a treasure map with the caption "Have you seen the treasure?" on it. The second poster shows a turquoise-haired anime character, previously spotted in a skin survey, before cutting off to an image of sand with the words "Join the hunt." Both posters include Fortnite's pirate llama logo.

The fact that the posters don't show any recognizable One Piece characters isn't a good sign for fans who were hoping to see Eiichiro Oda's best-selling series making its way to Fortnite. Although there's still a chance that a collaboration could still be happening, it's not as likely that this will be a full crossover season. Similar to Chapter 1 Season 8, which had the slogan "X marks the spot," this might just be a pirate season.