# Pirate Irony There Be Treasure > Pirate Irony There Be Treasure is a March 2023 TikTok shitpost trend layering pirate-themed greenscreen silhouettes, gold doubloons, and treasure animations with a shouted "There be treasure!" vocal, applying the chaotic Hood Irony aesthetic. Pirate Irony is a TikTok video trend from March 2023 that applies the chaotic, low-quality aesthetic of Hood Irony to pirate-themed content. Creators layer free-to-download greenscreen silhouettes, gold doubloon graphics, and treasure chest animations over shitpost-style edits, typically set to a pirate voice shouting "There be treasure!" The trend grew out of the Casino Irony (Gamblecore) subgenre and spread across TikTok, Twitter, and iFunny within weeks of its first post. ## Origin The trend traces back to TikToker @nokia95015, who posted the first Pirate Irony video on March 8, 2023[2]. The creator had a history of making Gamblecore (Casino Irony) content and pivoted to pirate-themed visuals while keeping the same Hood Irony editing style. The video featured greenscreen silhouettes fighting, gold doubloons, treasure chests, a pirate ship sailing, and multiple layered sound effects including the now-signature "There be treasure!" shout and the SpongeBob rendition of "Drunken Sailor"[2]. Over the course of one month, that original post picked up roughly 436,500 plays and 99,800 likes. The "There Be Treasure" sound effect itself predates the trend. It was pulled from a YouTube video titled "Pirate Sound Effect – 11 Version" uploaded by the channel Sound Effect Database on October 13, 2021[1]. At the 0:08 mark, a male pirate voice says "There be treasure!" in the clip that would later define the genre's audio identity[1]. - **Platform:** TikTok (original videos), YouTube (source sound effect) - **Creator:** @nokia95015 (original TikTok creator), @swashbuckler601 (early adopter) - **Date:** 2023 ## Overview Pirate Irony videos follow a specific visual formula borrowed from Hood Irony and Hood Lobotomy. They stack free greenscreen silhouettes (usually figures fighting or dancing), pirate-themed clip art like treasure chests, gold doubloons, and sailing ships, all layered over each other in deliberately chaotic compositions. The audio typically features royalty-free pirate voice sound effects, the most iconic being a gruff voice declaring "There be treasure!" Other common audio includes "Arg" exclamations, doubloon sound effects, and the SpongeBob SquarePants version of "What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?"[2]. The whole point is sensory overload. Like its parent genres, Pirate Irony leans into the "moldy" shitpost look where everything is low-resolution, over-compressed, and stacked so densely that individual elements blur together. The pirate theme gives the format a distinct identity within the broader irony posting landscape. ## How It Spread The first known addition to the Pirate Irony aesthetic beyond the original creator came from TikToker @swashbuckler601, who posted a video on March 19, 2023, earning over 8,500 plays and 800 likes within a month. The following day, @swashbuckler601 uploaded a second video in the same style that hit 8,600 plays and 950 likes. The cross-platform jump happened on March 29, 2023, when Twitter user @kickfliptomboys reposted @nokia95015's original video with a caption making fun of One Piece fans, comparing the edit to episode 30 of the pirate anime. That tweet pulled in about 4,600 likes over two weeks. On April 4, 2023, iFunny user @ghoss reposted the Twitter content, racking up roughly 11,400 smiles in just eight days. The iFunny boost created a feedback loop back to TikTok, where new Pirate Irony videos began surfacing with higher engagement numbers than the originals. ## How to Use Creating a Pirate Irony video typically involves: 1. Start with a TikTok or short-form video editor 2. Layer multiple free greenscreen silhouettes (fighting figures, dancing characters) over each other 3. Add pirate-themed visual elements: treasure chests, gold doubloons, pirate ships, maps 4. Keep everything deliberately low-quality and over-compressed for the "moldy" aesthetic 5. Drop in the "There Be Treasure" sound effect and other pirate audio clips like "Arg" or doubloon noises 6. The SpongeBob "Drunken Sailor" song is a common background track 7. Stack as many elements as possible for maximum visual chaos ## Cultural Impact Pirate Irony fits into a broader trend of "-core" irony subgenres that emerged on TikTok in 2022-2023. Casino Irony (Gamblecore) came first, applying Hood Lobotomy aesthetics to gambling imagery, and Pirate Irony followed the same formula with a nautical twist. The format's success showed how quickly niche irony aesthetics could be reskinned for new themes while keeping the same underlying structure. The One Piece connection through @kickfliptomboys' tweet also highlighted how anime fandoms and shitpost communities overlap, with the joke landing specifically because One Piece fans are known for intense devotion to a pirate-themed series. ## Fun Facts - The "There Be Treasure" sound effect sat on YouTube for over a year before anyone used it in a meme. It was uploaded in October 2021 but didn't go viral until March 2023[1]. - The original video by @nokia95015 got nearly 100,000 likes, but later videos by other creators that were boosted by the iFunny repost cycle actually outperformed it. - The iFunny repost by @ghoss earned almost 2.5 times more engagement (11,400 smiles) than the Twitter post it was copied from (4,600 likes), despite being a straight repost. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Pirate Irony? Pirate Irony is a TikTok video trend that applies Hood Irony-style chaotic editing to pirate-themed visuals, using greenscreen silhouettes, treasure chest graphics, and pirate voice sound effects like "There be treasure!". ### Where did Pirate Irony come from? It originated on TikTok on March 8, 2023, when user @nokia95015 adapted their existing Casino Irony (Gamblecore) style to pirate-themed content[2]. ### What does Pirate Irony mean? The "irony" refers to the deliberately low-quality, over-the-top editing style borrowed from Hood Irony and Hood Lobotomy. It's not sincere pirate content but an absurdist shitpost aesthetic using pirate imagery. ### How do you use Pirate Irony? Layer free greenscreen silhouettes, pirate clip art, and the "There Be Treasure" sound effect into a chaotic, deliberately low-quality short video[2]. ### Is Pirate Irony still popular? The initial wave of Pirate Irony peaked in March-April 2023. As a niche subgenre of irony posting, it saw its highest activity during that period. ### What is the "There Be Treasure" sound effect? It's a royalty-free pirate voice clip from a YouTube video called "Pirate Sound Effect – 11 Version" by Sound Effect Database, uploaded on October 13, 2021[1]. ### What is Piratecore? Piratecore is an alternate name for Pirate Irony, following the "-core" naming convention used for TikTok aesthetic subgenres like Gamblecore. ### How did Pirate Irony spread to other platforms? Twitter user @kickfliptomboys reposted the original video on March 29, 2023, and iFunny user @ghoss further amplified it on April 4, earning over 11,400 smiles. ### What is the connection between Pirate Irony and One Piece? A viral tweet compared @nokia95015's Pirate Irony video to episode 30 of One Piece as a joke about the anime's pirate theme, which helped the meme reach anime fan communities. ### What is Casino Irony / Gamblecore? Casino Irony is the predecessor genre that @nokia95015 was making before pivoting to pirate-themed content. It uses the same Hood Irony editing style but with gambling imagery like slot machines and poker chips. ## References 1. [Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith]() 2. [Pirate Irony / There Be Treasure - Know Your Meme]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/pirate-irony-there-be-treasure Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library