It’s amazing how warm the One Piece live-action is being received by new and old fans alike, with season one breaking Netflix briefly. So, with the entire season out and a little time to watch it, newcomers to the series have questions. Mostly, will there be a season two, and what will happen when it comes? We have answers and plenty of theories, but proceed with caution as spoilers for the first season are present!
Will One Piece Get a Season Two?
Considering the massive positive reception it has so far, barely a week out from release, it looks likely. The problem right now is that nobody can announce or make deals when it comes to new seasons due to the WGA and SAG strikes ongoing in Hollywood. So, the sooner the studios start to play fair, the sooner fans can get more One Piece in live-action on their screens.
Fans want it too, so if Netflix cancels there may be hell to pay. The numbers released by Netflix reveal that One Piece brought in 18.5 million views in the first four days, about half that of Stranger Things season four. So, that’s definitely good numbers to get a renewal, and the cult of Buggy that’s forming on social media demands it.
Who Burns Luffy’s Poster?
The end of season one brought a few teases to the forefront of the next season. The most notable for fans and non-fans both will be the mysterious, double-cigar-smoking stranger. As he burns Luffy’s bounty poster with one of his cigars, things end abruptly with no reveal of who he is. Though no casting is clear for the character yet, this will be the Captain “White Chase” Smoker of the Marines. He’s a tough-as-nails soldier who believes in justice as black and white, with no moral gray area between. This is going to get a major test when he starts running into the Straw Hat Pirates.
One of the coolest things about Smoker is that he brings a new type of Devil Fruit into the show. While the first season kept things simple to ease newcomers in, there are actually three types of Devil Fruits. The Gum-Gum and Chop-Chop Fruits seen so far are Paramecia types, which usually let the user change some aspect of their body. Smoker is a Logia type, able to change into, surprise, smoke! He can change his entire body into smoke as well as produce it at will. This makes him a challenge for Luffy, as it’s really hard to punch a cloud of smoke.
Loguetown
Speaking of a fight between Luffy and Smoker, the first season cut out what was originally the finale of the East Blue saga. While Loguetown was the main setting for Gold Roger’s execution, it’s also the last island in the East Blue before the Grand Line. This makes it a last stop for many pirates, whether they make it into the Grand Line or not, for supplies and any other needs. The manga arc for Loguetown was relatively short, so will probably go into the premiere of season two when it does happen.
In the manga, the Straw Hats arrive at Loguetown to get supplies. Everyone wanders off, Luffy looking for the execution scaffold while Zoro searches out a sword shop to replace his broken ones. The other Straw Hats don’t do much, but Buggy and Alvida return to cause havoc while Smoker begins pursuit of the Straw Hats. If the series stays to the manga reveals, there may be hints at the Revolutionary Army leader Dragon as well.
Entering the Grand Line
This is going to be the first real challenge for Luffy’s crew, as the path into the Grand Line is just as dangerous as the sea itself. When Nami mentions that it should be impossible for a river to run up a mountain, she never knew about Reverse Mountain. This is one of the only entrances to the Grand Line, and a treacherous, rapidly flowing river that flows up a mountain before going even faster down on the other side. It’s a test of pirates that end up coming through, and will only be the start of danger they face. There’s also a massive whale by the name of Laboon waiting at the bottom of Reverse Mountain on the other side, so they should watch out for him.
The Grand Line itself is more dangerous than any sea or storm depicted in the series yet. Weather is a wildcard, able to change at any point with no warning. Shifts from sunny heat to freezing blizzards are all too common, with natural disasters around every turn. Regular compasses don’t work there either, as a special Log Pose is necessary to navigate the strange magnetic fields. Oh, and the Grand Line has a border on each side, the Calm Belts. The creatures that lurk there, Neptunians, make the King of the Coast look like a cute Disney character. Even worse, there’s no wind to guide ships once they cross into it, leaving most to drift and die.
One Piece Gets Weirder
Weird is certainly one way to explain the world of One Piece, as new fans have already seen some of the strange offerings. Ridiculous anime speed, stretchy powers, and sword slices strong enough to split ships are just the start of how strange things get. More Devil Fruits, with the Logia types from above and Zoan types that grant animal shapeshifting abilities, give an even greater variety of strange characters. That’s before getting into the new races and strange creatures present on the Grand Line.
Giants roam the seas, though are rare in the earlier Grand Line. Still, the Straw Hats meet former Giant Pirates co-captains Dorry and Broggy, who give Usopp some great resolve for his dream. Then there will be the usual strange people of One Piece, with everyone having their own strange quirks and flashy looks. Every island of the Grand Line also boasts different weather, with each island stuck in a different season. This will give the pirates something different to deal with when they encounter the snowy, mountainous land of Drum Island.
New Straw Hat Pirates
Drum Island will bring more than a chill though, as it gives the Straw Hats their first addition to the Grand Line. Tony Tony Chopper. He’s a blue-nosed reindeer who eats the Human-Human Fruit, which gives him the ability to speak and act like a human! Of course, there are going to be some difficulties due to the character, with nobody sure if they’ll use CGI or practical effects like the Fishmen were.
They’ll also get a temporary crew member in Vivi, a princess of Alabasta who asks the Straw Hats for help. She and her duck companion Karoo end up sailing with the Straw Hats for quite some time. Vivi becomes an honorary Straw Hat at this time, still keeping a great relationship with the current source material.
Buggy and Alvida
No shortage of praise can go toward Jeff Ward’s Buggy. Alvida was great too, but didn’t get nearly as much time to make an impression as Buggy. The two of them finally get their team up from the source material in the finale of season one, which should lead to a season two premiere at Loguetown. In the source material the two track down Luffy in Gold Roger’s birthplace of Loguetown, the last island before the Grand Line.
The moment that ensues, where they try to execute Luffy on the same scaffold as Gold Roger, is character-defining. Seeing the reactions of the Straw Hats as well as Luffy is great, and it’s definitely a key scene to use in the live-action when it comes back.
Baroque Works
By far one of the greatest improvements from the manga to live action was including Baroque Works from the start. This shadowy organization and its leader are the villains in the Alabasta saga from the manga, and seeing the fight between Zoro and Mr. 7 was awesome. That fight was only briefly talked about originally, with Zoro making an offhand comment about Baroque Works trying to recruit him in the past.
The organization ranks its power by numbers, with every member having a completely secret identity. For the female members of the group, they get days of the week or holidays as their codenames as opposed to numbers. The Straw Hats will come up against the top agents of Baroque Works quite a lot during their time in the Grand Line. Some will even come back later as allies if the live-action gets that far, with many who have become fan favorites.
Garp, Koby, and Helmeppo
This is the character trio everyone wants to know about, even longtime fans of the series. Koby and Helmeppo’s entire story has been altered from the manga, which was only displayed in single-panel cover stories for each chapter. Even then it plays out very differently, showing their training from Garp as a more comical thing. The next time Koby actually appears in the source material isn’t until after the Enies Lobby arc, where he has a massive glow-up into a strong Marine.
Some fans are questioning if Koby will be recast for his older, buffer version, but why would he need to be? Actor Morgan Davies fits how tall Koby becomes already, and with a decent haircut, while also losing the glasses, he can play the part great. Of course, Helmeppo will stick along as Garp trains the two of them, and they actually become very close friends.
When One Piece live-action eventually gets a season two, there will be plenty of story to cover, hopefully with an expanded episode count. Eight episodes were definitely enough for the East Blue saga, but the upcoming Alabasta saga is a little more dense. Even after that, there is a TON of material to adapt, but plenty of time for that as One Piece isn’t going anywhere!
