‘One Piece’ Season 1 Recap: What to Remember for Season 2

“One Piece” is finally back for Season 2, which means a quick refresher of all that happened in Season 1 is in order.

The first season of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the uber-popular anime and manga series introduced us to Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), a young pirate who is gifted with incredible stretchiness after eating a Devil Fruit. He is on the hunt for The One Piece — with that mythical pirate treasure, he’ll be able to claim himself King of the Pirates. Before he can start on that journey, though, he needs a ship and crew. Across Season 1, Luffy focuses on gathering a team worthy of the quest.

Here is everything you need to know about “One Piece” Season 1 before the second season binge commences on Netflix.

Assembling the Straw Hats

Nearly all of the first season of “One Piece” is concerned with Luffy assembling the core of his pirate crew before hitting the Grand Line in search of Gold Roger’s treasure. First, we got Nami (Emily Rudd), a thief and up-and-coming ship navigator who helps Luffy almost from the jump to free the pirate hunter and swordsman Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu) from capture by the Marines. That puts the pirate hunter in debt to the pirate and he agrees to help for awhile.

Next, the trio crosses paths with Usopp (Jacob Romero), who’s become a bit of a cry-wolf type in his little village, but finally gets a warning right. The group helps Usopp and his friend Kaya deal with a more nefarious group of pirates hiding in the village and earn both another crew member and their soon-to-be-iconic ship The Going Merry.

Finally, the growing Straw Hats get their fifth and final member of the first season on the floating restaurant Baratie. Inside, they meet Chef Sanji (Taz Skylar). After another attack by pirates – and a swordsman who has it out for Zoro – the crew ends up with a new cook and ally as they head toward their true adventure.

Betrayal

The finale of Season 1 ends with the newly formed Straw Hat Pirates running into a group of fishmen – obviously part fish, part man – who are running roughshod across the East Blue, led by their leader Arlong. Luffy and the gang fall into a collision course with Arlong and are shortly after betrayed by Nami – who had been working for the fishmen from the very beginning.

Nami is not a bad person, though. The Straw Hats learn that Arlong is responsible for the death of Nami’s mother when his fishmen pirates attacked her village. In an attempt to save her sister and the remaining townsfolk, Nami made a deal to buy her town back from Arlong for 100 million Berries. Arlong agreed and Nami has been working for the fishman to pay off her debt ever since.

The Straw Hats forgive their navigator and work to take care of Arlong and his crew, ridding the East Blue of their influence for good.

Foes Old and New

Luffy and the gang run afoul of a lot of powerful pirates throughout Season 1, but not all are created equal. There are some that will be important to remember for the future.

First is Buggy the Clown (Jeff Ward). Buggy also ate a Devil Fruit like Luffy, which gave him the ability to separate parts of his body at will. He’s one of the first real threats Luffy and the others face and despite being taken out, don’t count him out for a reappearance.

Before Luffy meets any of his Straw Hats, he runs into the pirate Alvida. Another Devil Fruit user, Alvida, sets Luffy on his path to run into Nami and Zoro, but not before squaring off against our stretchy hero. Although Luffy comes out on top, it’s another East Blue mover and shaker who has her sights set on him.

Finally, during the attack on Baratie, Zoro squares off with Dracule Mihawk – another swordsman famed for his skill. Zoro doesn’t hold his own quite how he’d like, but leaves more motivated for another meeting.

Heading to the Grand Line

The season ends with the Going Merry crew fleeing the remnants of Arlong’s fishmen and the Marines after they were called in. Luffy has been pursued by Marine Vice Admiral Garp the whole season. Garp just happens to be Luffy’s grandfather and is hellbent on getting him to join the Marines and lose his pirate ways.

With the Marines in hot pursuit, Luffy and the Straw Hats are as ready as they’ll ever be to cross into the Grand Line and start their search for the One Piece.

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