Wow! This new typing style is…ugh. First post in the revised forum.
I hate to be a Negative Nancy here but the problem isn't us anime fans who can (and sometimes can't) afford One Piece and buy the sets anyway. The problem is that a lot of the "new" anime fandom is composed of free spirited, goth kids who think outside the "box" and for them illegal downloading has become the norm, not he exception. At the place I work and lot of the 20 somethings that work under me (and quite a few of them are con-going buddies) are more than willing to slap a few hundred at a con for goth outfits and other souveniers but ask them to support a flailing industry and they'll give you excuses about downloading fansubs, and what not. As big a One Piece fan that I am, the best I can do is recommend them to watch the series on "www.onepieceofficial.com". If Funi is hurting it's not because of lack of fans, it's because today's fan is far more resourceful when it comes to using the internet and that will eventually kill off the entire industry.
O-chan
There will always be internet piracy, but with the major crackdown over the last few years, I'd say it's the opposite. There are far fewer fansubbers than five years ago, and they have fewer people downloading. On top of that, if these kids don't buy/rent One Piece or watch it on the official Simulcast (which finally shows up properly on google now) after having seen or read how great it is, they were never customers to begin with, and almost nothing can change that.
@Zach:
Lance, Marketing Director for FUNimation, said on FUNi's Facebook page to "be patient" concerning news about One Piece. I think we should try and do that.
That doesn't mean we should stop bugging them, it just means to be more polite and less threatening. Lance may not be allowed to answer our questions right now, but by asking you've made him aware of how many people are interested.