Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece Film: Red.An unexpected benefit of One Piece Film: Red is that Uta retroactively makes Luffy and Ace’s bond even better. Both Red and the One Piece anime’s tie-in to the movie established Uta as one of Luffy’s closest friends to the point that he refused to hit her even after her status as a villain is revealed, and he spent the movie simply trying to reason with her. Naturally, this extended into Uta’s death at the end of the film, as it’s made clear that he was nothing but distraught over her passing and was largely putting up a brave front to process it all.
Uta was one of Luffy’s closest friends in One Piece, and their friendship also works to make his bond with One Piece's Portgas D. Ace even better. When Luffy and Ace were kids, Luffy said that he was so persistent on being Ace’s friend because there was no one else he could be friends with, which adds up since Luffy didn’t know any other children. However, taking his friendship with Uta into account, Luffy probably wanted to be friends with Ace to help fill the void Uta left when she disappeared, and that would make Luffy and Ace’s bond even better because it helped Luffy get over losing his first true friend.
Uta’s Friendship Had A Big Impact On Luffy’s Early One Piece Adventures
In addition to strengthening his bond with Ace, Uta’s friendship with Luffy also played a big part in one of the oldest parts of One Piece. In the early arcs of the series, there was a running gag of Luffy insisting that his crew needed a musician more than anything, and while it was originally just Luffy being stupid, One Piece Film: Red gives it brand-new meaning. With how close Luffy and Uta were, Uta is probably why Luffy thought it was so important to have a musician, and his desire for a musician could even have been a way for him to feel close to her again.
Why Luffy & Ace’s Bond Was So Important In One Piece
Even without Uta’s influence, it can’t be understated how important Luffy and Ace’s bond was in One Piece. For Ace, Luffy was someone whom he could trust to never turn against him if he learned his father was Gold Roger, and for Luffy, Ace was someone strong enough to help him out in life but young enough for them to be able to do the same things. One Piece's Luffy and Ace were able to give each other someone to rely on at a time when they were alone in the world, and that mutual trust never left them into adulthood all the way up to Ace’s death in the Paramount War.
One Piece Film: Red did a lot to sell people on Luffy and Uta’s friendship, and the effects of it end up reaching far beyond just the film. In addition to retroactively being part of one of One Piece’s earliest gags, their friendship also serves to make Luffy and Ace’s bond even stronger by retroactively adding even more importance to it. Eiichiro Oda's One Piece doesn’t always focus on Luffy’s friendships outside the Straw Hat Pirates, but it’s good that the series is still doing a lot to show how important those are to him as it did with One Piece Film: Red.