‘One Piece’ Showrunner Teases That Smoking Mid-Credits Scene Character and Season 2 Plans

SPOILER ALERT:This interview contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of One Piece, now streaming on Netflix.

One Piece lodged two cannonballs at its viewers in its first season, one coming halfway through the pirate manga TV adaptation, and the other at the very end.

First up was both a big reveal and a deviation from One Piece creator Eiichiro Odas original story: aspiring pirate king Monkey D. Luffy (Iaki Godoy) telling his Straw Hat Pirates gang that Vice-Admiral Garp (Vincent Regan), the chief marine who has been leading the massive search for them all season, is actually Luffys grandfather. While Garps identity in the Netflix show is exactly what it is in the manga, this revelation was moved way up in the One Piece storyline in order to get it into the first season, which in eight episodes covers roughly the first 100 chapters of the manga.

Obviously Garp was not in the first 100 chapters to any great degree, other than, I think, seeing him in the beginning, said One Piece co-showrunner Steven Maeda, who led the series alongside Matt Owens in collaboration with Oda. But one of the decisions that I made early on was wanting to have an antagonist in pursuit. And Garp seemed to lend himself so well to the idea of pursuers coming after Luffy and company. It was a change we made in order to keep the jeopardy up, and to feel like there were big stakes.

Iaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy. COURTESY OF NETFLIX And, of course, with Garp, the big reveal in the middle of the season is, Grandpa?' Maeda continued. Garp in the manga is not revealed to be grandpa until chapter 300-something, in a very different way.

But Maeda says he and Owens didnt make that choice which came with Odas blessing, as did all the other differences between the TV series and the manga just for the shock factor. He wanted it to be the surprise answer that explained why Garp, this hardcore Marine has been chasing after this kid.

And then exactly halfway through the season, thats why, Maeda said. This is about trying to protect him. This is about trying to teach him and its where Garp feels he has failed.

Bringing Garps story into the first season also allowed the One Piece writers to do more sooner with Luffys friend Koby (Morgan Davies), an aspiring Marine he meets in the shows pilot episode. Luffy meets Koby within the first few chapters the One Piece manga, but Koby doesnt show up again in the manga for many issues.

Vincent Regan as Vice-Admiral Garp, Morgan Davies as Koby. COURTESY OF NETFLIX Koby is very much the Marine version of Luffy, Maeda says. Hes a young guy who wants to be a Marine as much as Luffy wants to be a pirate, and it felt like it was wonderful symmetry to have them on these parallel paths, and friendly with each other but now friendly with each other and being on opposite sides.

The second surprise comes in the season finale after we say goodbye to Luffy and his assembled Straw Hat Pirates Nami (Emily Rudd), Zoro (Mackenyu), Sanji (Taz Skylar) and Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson) as they finally set a clear course for the great Blue Seas Grand Line, the rumored location of the one piece treasure of executed Pirate King Gold Roger (Michael Dorman). A mid-credits scene then shows the back of a mysterious figure with white hair, who is smoking two cigars at once, one of which he uses to burn the image of Luffys face on his bounty poster.

Who is this? Well, Maeda wont explicitly tell us. However, One Piece manga readers will likely guess that these very specific details point to the comics infamous villain Smoker who has white hair and is always seen smoking two cigars at once.

Iaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, Morgan Davies as Koby. COURTESY OF NETFLIX I dont want to confirm or deny at this point, Maeda said. But its a good mystery, I think, and should have people guessing and wondering whats going on.

In fact, Maeda wont tell us anything about where the story goes from here, and what he and Owens have plotted out for a Season 2, which has not yet been picked up at Netflix.

Its a worthwhile ask and answers will be forthcoming, Maeda said, adding that adapting decades worth of Odas ongoing manga is massive and its huge and they need a minute to catch their breath before steering farther out to sea and the writers strike would need to be resolved as well.

I dont want to speak on the continuation of One Piece at this point in time, just because this first season was such a bear, Maeda said. It was a wonderful challenge, but it took years out of our lives and I want to really let the focus be on that for the launch.

The interview with Steven Maeda was arranged through his publicist, in accordance with WGA strike rules.