Season 2 of ‘One Piece’ is filled with epic battles and shocking reveals
Credit: Courtesy Of Netflix
One Piece’s second season featured even more adventure, but what became of the Straw Hat Pirates?
Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Gonoy) spent season 1 of Netflix’s hit live-action adaptation of the ultra-popular anime gathering members of his crew to find the One Piece treasure. They ended that season headed towards the Grand Line for even greater adventures, including traveling to the secretly pirate-hating island of Whiskey Peak and the giant Viking and dinosaur-infested Little Garden.
They do all this while being chased by an evil superpowered syndicate called Baroque Works and a marine named Captain Smoker (Callum Kerr) who is fixated on Luffy. However, the pirate meets some new friends along the way including Miss. Wednesday/Princess Nefertari Vivi (Charithra Chandran), an unconventional, but strong witch doctor, Dr. Kureha (Katey Sagal) and the size-changing reindeer doctor-in-training Tony Tony Chopper (Mikaela Hoover).
The season culminates with a multi-layered battle to save Drum Island and stop the now-superpowered King Wapol (Rob Colletti). The season finale also reveals the true identity of a secret villain and a quest that could save a Kingdom while bringing the Straw Hat Pirates closer to the One Piece.
Here’s everything to know about the ending of One Piece season 2.
How did One Piece season 2 end?
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King Wapol returned not just to retake the throne of Drum Island, but on a mission from Baroque Works to capture Princess Nefertari Vivi of Arabasta. Baroque Works had also given Wapol a devil fruit — the same type of fruit Luffy got to obtain his elasticity powers — called the munch munch, which allows him to “consume, transform and combine anything [he eats] into anything [he] wants,” which he uses to create an army of monsters.
Wapol ascends to the mountain where Luffy, Nami (Emily Rudd), Chopper, Sanji (Taz Skylar) and Vivi are as he tries to capture the princess. Sanji and Chopper fight off henchmen — including a man with an adhesive afro — while Luffy takes care of Wapol, eventually finishing him off with help from Sanji.
Meanwhile, Zoro (Mackenyu) and Usopp (Jacob Gibson) struggle to fend off Wapol’s army of 20 doctors-turned-monsters in the village. Finally, though, when Luffy and his gang kill Wapol, the armor of monsters he created also crumbles and they turn back into doctors who are now free to help heal Drum Island’s citizens.
The Straw Hat pirates and villagers rejoice as loose ends are tied up and secrets are revealed.
What was the significance of the cherry blossoms?
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The cherry blossoms are related to the origin story of Chopper, who became the newest recruit in the Straw Hat Pirates by the season's end. Chopper is a reindeer with size-changing abilities so when Dr. Hiriluk found him after being hunted as a beast, he took him in.
Hiriluk tells Chopper that his goal is to heal the whole village after living under the reign of King Wapol. He speaks of a man who was healed by being around cherry blossoms and seeing their beauty, which he hopes to recreate and heal the villagers.
He and Chopper work tirelessly to perfect a formula that can recreate this feeling, but fail until Hiriluk perfects the concoction shortly before his death. He tells no one, but Dr. Kureha finds this formula and keeps it a secret.
After Wapol is defeated, Dr. Kureha releases the formula into the air, which causes cherry blossoms to rain down upon the villagers and on the ocean of the Grand Line, where the Straw Hat pirates travel. The villagers regain hope and Chopper is overcome with emotion, remembering the doctor's goal of healing people as he is comforted by his new friends and crewmates.
“Once people lose hope, they give in to fear. We need to give them their hope back,” Hiriluk is heard saying in a voiceover as the cherry blossoms illuminate the sky. “The powerful emotion he experienced from looking at cherry blossoms had healed him. Nothing is impossible. We never, ever give up.”
Who is Mr. 0?
Throughout the season, the Straw Hat Pirates are chased by an evil, mysterious group called the Baroque Works. They all have names that generally refer to numbers and days of the week.
Whether it's Mr. 3 and his wax powers, Mr. 5 and his booger bombs or Miss Goldenweek, who can hypnotize people by painting colors that represent emotions, they all work for Mr. 0. As the season ends, Vivi reveals that she knows the identity of Mr. 0.
It turns out that he is a wanted criminal named Sir Crocodile, going under a secret identity. Mr. 0 is portrayed by Joe Manganiello and is set to be a major antagonist in One Piece season 3.
Where do Luffy and his crew go from here?
Credit: Casey Crafford/Netflix
Luffy’s ultimate goal may be to become King of the Pirates and find the One Piece treasure, but he has a new side quest: to help Vivi save her Kingdom of Arabasta and defeat Baroque Works. However, when Mr. 0 reveals that he will be trying to destroy the Kingdom to find the One Piece, it becomes clear that the Straw Hat Pirates will be fighting him in the next season.
“Everything we've worked for will soon come to fruition. We commence with Operation Utopia,” Mr. 0 said. “Arabasta will fall and I will come one step closer to obtaining the One Piece.”
Miss All Sunday reveals that she will be calling top officers from Baroque Works to help and that the Straw Hat Pirates have just been facing lower level agents so far. Not only that, but Captain Smoker now knows where the Straw Hat Pirates are headed and is off to hunt them down.
Luffy may be wanting to take a detour from finding the One Piece to help Vivi, but it sounds as though he'll be getting even closer to finding the treasure while fighting off more nefarious villains than ever.
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