The conclusion of One Piece season 1 on Netflix is far from conclusive; Monkey D. Luffy still has many puzzles to unravel, chapters to adapt, and oceans to explore. One Piece season 1 was organised similarly to Eiichiro Oda’s well-known anime and manga series, with a series of brief arcs introducing the first five Straw Hat Pirates to the live-action ensemble. The struggle for Nami’s freedom against the dreaded Arlong pirates of East Blue marked the end of this introductory drama. Because of the brutal treatment by the fish-man, Luffy became enraged and used his deadliest Gum Gum skills to defeat Arlong and tear down his headquarters for the water park. Nami’s village at last experienced independence.
Luffy then encountered the B-plot, also known as his grandpa Monkey D. Garp, in the One Piece series finale. Garp’s assault was revealed to be a test to see if the novice pirate was prepared for the dangers of the Grand Line rather than an attempt to get his grandson arrested for piracy. Garp was satisfied with Luffy’s proof of guilt and permitted the Straw Hats to continue their journey after the group formally established their position as a pirate crew with a ceremonial barrel kick. The One Piece season 1 finale indicates fresh challenges that Straw Hat Luffy will face in season 2, thus danger is unavoidable.
Netflix’s One Piece Season 1 Ending Explained
A mystery individual is seen burning a hole through Monkey D. Luffy’s wanted poster in the last scene of One Piece season 1. This new live-action character is Captain Smoker, an unusually potent marine whose Devil Fruit enables his body to change into pure smoke, making Luffy’s fists useless. His pale hair and passion for cigarettes prove this. During the opening flashback of the first season of One Piece, a young Smoker can be seen watching Gold Roger’s execution. In terms of morals, the character is most like Garp. Smoker hates pirates and pursues them relentlessly, yet he is neither dishonest or evil like Morgan or the officer Arlong was bribing.
Smoker’s debut implies that Loguetown, the spot in East Blue where Gold Roger was killed, will be the initial setting for One Piece season 2. Smoker, the local Marine base commander, crushes many a crew’s hopes of reaching the fabled ocean before they even get there. This island is the last stop before pirates enter the Grand Line. This explains why in the One Piece season 1 conclusion, Smoker is seen destroying Luffy’s poster. Despite the lack of a personal relationship between the two, Smoker views Luffy’s quick rise to the top of the list of pirates sought after in East Blue to be particularly aggravating.
Vice-Admiral Garp’s pursuit of Luffy throughout the first season of One Piece was just intended to test his mettle before the next leg of his voyage, but when he realises Luffy’s resolve to become Pirate King is unwavering, Garp oddly laughs. This surprising response is a result of the fact that Luffy at this precise time makes his grandfather think about Gold Roger, the former Pirate King. In the opening flashback of One Piece, Roger is shown chuckling as Garp supervises his death. As revealed by the original anime and manga tale, the two were in fact friends despite being on opposing sides of the law.
The vice-admiral is immediately reminded of his late pirate friend as Garp is holding Luffy by the neck and his grandson chuckles while reiterating his intention to get the One Piece treasure. This insight connects to Dracule Mihawk’s observation to Garp earlier in the first season of One Piece, where the Warlord saw an eerie resemblance between Luffy and Roger. Viewers who only watch live-action episodes may be excused for thinking Roger is in fact the father of Luffy in this situation, making Garp the son. The characters do come from the same old clan, however this is not the case.
One Piece season 2 will likely start at Loguetown, as Captain Smoker’s introduction clearly suggests; yet, the conclusion of season 1 already reveals how the Going Merry arrives to the Grand Line. In One Piece’s concluding moments, Nami foreshadows the infamous Reverse Mountain when she is perplexed by the way that her map seems to show a river flowing up a mountain. Reverse Mountain marks the point in One Piece season 2 where Netflix’s show abandons East Blue and focuses only on the Grand Line, despite Nami’s initial assumption that this is a map error.
Regarding what lies beyond Reverse Mountain, Netflix’s One Piece has previously made a number of overt allusions to a dubious company called Baroque Works. Baroque Works will create an overarching long-term plot that culminates in the advent of a second Warlord of the Sea, breaking the show’s present episodic pattern, and its members will be the primary villains of One Piece season 2. One Piece season 2 has not yet been announced by Netflix as of this writing, however season 1 still provides a foundational role for subsequent storylines.
Despite solely going after criminals and other pirates, Luffy concludes the first season of One Piece with a massive 30,000,000 berry bounty on his head. The World Government sets bounties based on how dangerous a pirate is seen to be. This is due to the fact that the Straw Hat Pirates are seen as a threat to peace and order by the World Government rather than a threat to civilians. Luffy automatically receives a greater bounty after defeating Arlong, who had previously held the title of East Blue’s highest bounty. As a result, the bounty system in One Piece often functions as a tool to assess how powerful pirates are, albeit the comparison is not always precise.
Because the World Government does not yet consider the other Straw Hat pirates to be important enough, only Luffy has received a bounty. Luffy is the sole Straw Hat the World Government is currently interested in capturing, both as the leader of the crew and as the person who killed Arlong. That will alter when the crew’s reputation grows, and all of Luffy’s nakama will ultimately obtain substantial rewards of their own.
The conclusion of One Piece season one leaves open the question of what happens to Arlong after Luffy defeats him. Only Luffy appears from beneath the wreckage of the fish-man pirate’s previous house. When the Straw Hats struck, the surviving pirates escaped, and Vice-Admiral Garp orders his Marines to round them up. However, Arlong is not mentioned in these concluding moments. Despite the fact that Arlong hasn’t physically appeared in the One Piece manga since his defeat, the author Eiichiro Oda’s source material explicitly states that the villain was able to withstand the horrific Gum Gum Battleaxe used by Luffy.
The same is probably true for the One Piece TV series on Netflix, albeit it wouldn’t be absurd to suppose Arlong was killed by being crushed to death given the slightly darker tone and more mature approach. In either scenario, it is extremely improbable that the antagonist will appear in One Piece season 2. Arlong’s tale seems to be over in One Piece, with plenty of new foes to introduce and no precedence for his return in the original work.
When Nami joined the Arlong Pirates, she was compelled to get his insignia tattooed on her arm, as One Piece revealed during season 1. After Arlong is vanquished, Nami has the Arlong flag removed and replaced with a less aggressive design. Nami’s new tattoos stand for her newly discovered independence from Arlong, but the tattoo’s design, which features an orange and a pinwheel, has a deeper significance. The pinwheel was a toy that Nami’s village head, Genzo, gave her when she was a youngster, and Bell-mère, Nami’s adoptive mother, was known for growing tangerines. The tattoo in the Netflix tale pays more generic homage to Nami’s hometown.