Lera Abova, the Russian model-turned-actress, has met the One Piece fandom with immense hype and love as she joined the notable cast for the Netflix adaptation. Though she is fairly a new face for most fans, she has faced a massive surge in popularity after the community confirmed that she ticks all the criteria to portray the role of Miss All Sunday.
However, beyond the glitz and glamour, the actress was suffering from a terrible situation regarding one of her close people battling leukemia and needing a life-saving procedure. However, the costs were overwhelming to bear, until she took to social media to ask for help from her nakamas.
Recently, the actress again took to her social media, where she shared screenshots of the fans, who are leaving her heartfelt messages after financially helping her. Thus, proving how all fan bases of the anime are not toxic, as they follow the just path of Monkey D. Luffy.
Lera Abova Was Overwhelmed With The Help From One Piece Fans
For the One Piece fans, Lera Abova has been a hot topic of conversation, as it was announced that in the second season of the show, she will play the role of Nico Robin, the seventh member of the Straw Hat Pirates. Despite initial skepticism, where they believed she might not be the right name to play the role, and being of Russian origin added to the problem.
The fandom as well as the actress has moved past those differences as they learned how she made her debut in the 2019 film, Anna, where she shared the screen with Cillian Murphy. Recently, the actress shared a story on her Instagram handle (@leraabova), asking for donations for her friend’s sister battling leukemia.
The news was later circulated by her fans on social media, asking people to make efforts to save the life of one of her close ones. The actress again took to her Instagram story, where she expressed her gratitude for the overwhelming help she received from the community, where they have already helped her to raise €5,846 thousand.
She further asked the fans to share support financially, or “just a repost” would be immensely helpful. However, what took her by surprise was in her next story, as she was overwhelmed with emotions, where the fans would leave her supportive messages that were a warm hug to her in a time of distress.
The actress was overwhelmed with the warm words as she wrote on her Instagram story via X,
wow, Nakama, no words! and there are many more! Thank You your support means the world, financially, emotionally- in any way really
Nevertheless, this selfless gesture has raised the standards in the Otaku community as the One Piece fans prove how every anime fan base is not toxic, and some would genuinely come forward to help their nakamas in troublesome times.
Lera Abova’s Meaning of One Piece Helped Her To Win Over the OP Fandom
Eiichiro Oda’s fans have always been selfless, as they would never hesitate to help their fellow community members, and even the actress realized it. However, it was her photoshopped picture that helped her get so close to the community members.
As a result, she was ecstatic to become a part of this franchise. During an exclusive interview as part of Geek Week 2024 via Still Watching Netflix, alongside her co-star Joe Manganiello, she said that becoming a part of this universe is a feeling that she can’t “really quite describe it.”
The interview comprised of the insights that went into portraying the role and how she managed to breathe life into the fictional character. However, much later in the same interview, she explained how Oda-Sensei’s One Piece is much more than a rubber boy fighting other pirates and pursuing his dream. She said,
At the end of the day, it’s not only about the One Piece. It’s about the battles and the friendships and the people you see, and the people you change and how you would change for people. And they are all strong characters. They’re interesting characters and they’re interesting and different, on their own and to each other. They’re really important to each other. And I love that. I think she fits perfectly in there.
Without a doubt, it is clear that the actress has embodied the beliefs of the series and the Straw Hats, who would always have each other’s backs as they are bound by blood.
One Piece live-action can be streamed on Netflix, the anime adaptation can be streamed on Crunchyroll, and the manga can be read on VIZ Media.
