An alternate version of Earth, and one that is currently in the midst of the 'Golden Age of Pirates'. Ruthless cut-throat pirates rule the seas, and only the strongest have the chance to lay claim to the mythical treasure known as 'One Piece' that was left behind by the greatest pirate of them all Gold Roger. Years after the death of Gold Roger, a young boy by the name of Monkey D. Luffy has dreams of raising his own crew, finding One Piece, and declaring himself as Pirate King. After eating a devil fruit that grants Luffy the power to make his body like rubber, it gives him enormous strength and agility. When Luffy finally comes of age, he sets sail from Foosha Village in East Blue and sets upon his grand adventure to become the next Pirate King.
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Oda has hidden his self-insert character Pandaman in nearly every chapter of the manga for decades, and the live-action keeps the tradition alive, slipping him into the background more than once, including as a teddy bear a background character is seen carrying in Loguetown.
Sanji is spotted wearing an apron featuring Doskoi Panda, another one of Oda's recurring in-universe mascots, while cooking aboard the Going Merry, a small but deliberate touch for readers who know to look for it.
Season 2's first episode quietly teases property belonging to the Manmayer and Figarland families in Loguetown, two of the powerful Celestial Dragon bloodlines, with Figarland notably being the family Shanks himself comes from.
Showrunner Matt Owens pitched turning a single throwaway manga mention into a full scene, Zoro's backstory duel with a Baroque Works agent called Mr. 7. Oda reportedly turned to his own staff and asked if he'd actually written that, since he had no memory of it and had never even drawn the character.
Once reminded that he'd mentioned the character in an old fan Q&A session years earlier, Oda went away and came back the very next day with a concept sketch of Mr. 7, which the production then used as the basis for casting and designing the character for the show.
In its opening weekend the show hit number one on Netflix's chart in 84 countries at once, edging out the previous record of 83 that had been shared by Wednesday and Stranger Things Season 4.
Netflix's own numbers put the show at 18.5 million views and over 140 million hours watched in just its first four days, outpacing the opening of the streamer's earlier anime adaptation Cowboy Bebop by a wide margin.
Netflix greenlit a second season remarkably fast, with showrunner Matt Owens confirming the renewal in a public message to fans roughly two weeks after the show's premiere, by which point it had already crossed 37.8 million views.
Given Netflix's rocky track record with anime adaptations, expectations were shaky going in. The show ended up landing a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes from over ten thousand ratings, one of the highest audience scores any Netflix original had earned at that point.
Jeff Ward, previously known for playing Deke Shaw on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., was announced as Buggy the Clown, while McKinley Belcher III, familiar from Ozark, took on the fish-man pirate Arlong, rounding out the early antagonists opposite the Straw Hats.
