“One Piece” fans are eagerly awaiting the new season on Netflix, which obviously won’t leave out one of Luffy’s coolest moments.
After the launch of the “One Piece” adaptation, a fear was doing the rounds among fans: will the Netflix series deny us a trip to Loguetown? The famous barrel-kicking scene was still shown in the live-action version, but in the manga and anime it actually took place directly before the Grandline entered. Before that, however, the Straw Hat Gang ended up in the birthplace of the legendary pirate king, Gold Roger, in the original.
Fortunately, showrunner Steve Maeda quickly put things right: Loguetown was only missing from season 1 due to time and budget constraints. Accordingly, we can expect a trip by Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and co. to the city in Eastblue in season 2 of “One Piece”, which is also necessary. After all, it’s not just Smoker (Callum Kerr), who has already been introduced in a scene during the credits, who will be making his proper debut, but another important character, about whom we don’t want to give too much away right now.
But it’s not just new characters we can expect to see there, as a new report from Variety reveals: Alvida (Isorelys Paulino), Buggy (Jeff Ward) and Gold Roger (Michael Dorman) will return in season 2. The combination of this trio with the prospect of seeing Loguetown should immediately evoke an association in “One Piece” fans: one of the coolest Luffy moments will obviously make it into the Netflix series.
Luffy follows in the footsteps of Gold Roger
Warning: Slight spoilers for “One Piece” follow! –
In the manga and anime, the now allied Buggy and Alvida actually manage to capture Luffy on the scaffold where the Pirate King was executed. Despite his predicament, Luffy shouts to the people gathered in the square that he will be the new king of the pirates. This seems rather naïve, however, because shortly afterwards Buggy’s sword comes crashing down right on the neck of the captain of the Straw Hat Gang.
But Luffy doesn’t burst into tears in this supposedly last moment of his life, he doesn’t beg for his life, he doesn’t even seem desperate or frustrated: instead, he grins broadly, apologizes to his crew for the fact that he’s going to get caught – and even laughs slightly.
This image makes quite an impression on Smoker in particular, and the naval captain even seems downright shaken. After all, Gold Roger accepted his fate with just such a broad grin and a laugh when he was executed in the same place. We even saw this scene in season 1, where a parallel was drawn between the former pirate king and Luffy when the latter was attacked by his grandfather Garp (Vincent Reagan).
However, the scene in Loguetown goes beyond this, as it reveals a lot about Luffy’s character, and not just to people like Smoker, who saw Roger’s execution. The fact that the “One Piece” main character remains calm in the face of seemingly certain death, even grinning and laughing, proves that adventure is more important to Luffy than his well-being. He wants to lead an exciting life and if that comes to an abrupt end through his travels, it’s worth it for him. A trait that has earned him respect and loyal allies often enough throughout history, who risk their lives for him because they know he will do the same for them unconditionally.
To resolve the situation: Of course, Luffy doesn’t die on the scaffold in Loguetown; at least so far… Instead, lightning strikes the tip of Buggy’s sword, preventing him from beheading Luffy. Whether this was a twist of fate or someone had a hand in it is not yet clear. Fans have a theory, but we don’t want to reveal too much about it here. Otherwise we would have to go into more detail about the character mentioned at the beginning, who is likely to make his debut in Loguetown.
With this in mind: you’ll have to wait until late summer 2025 to find out more if you can’t make sense of these vague hints at the moment. That’s when season 2 of “One Piece” will start on Netflix.