Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the season finale of One Piece.With Coco Village burning on the horizon, and all secrets finally out in the open, it’s time for Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), Zoro (Mackenyu), Usopp (Jacob Romero) and Sanji (Taz Skylar) to help Nami (Emily Rudd) put a stop to the fishmen’s reign of terror, and get her revenge on Arlong (McKinley Belcher III) for his years of mistreatment. One Piece Episode 8, “Worst in the East,” opens on the now-assembled Straw Hat crew return to Coco Village in the morning to assess the destruction. The villagers also rally behind them, and though Nami tries to talk them out of it, they are determined to retake their home or die trying.
On Vice Admiral Garp’s (Vincent Regan) ship, he receives a visit from the corrupt Captain Nezumi (Rory Acton Burnell), who tries to brush off the reports of Arlong’s pirate activity, choosing instead to blame Luffy for the attack on Coco Village. While he resents Koby’s (Morgan Davies) accusation that he’s lying, Garp shuts it down and simply asks for Luffy’s whereabouts.
As the fishment plot their next move, the Straw Hats storm their headquarters, swords, slingshots, and kicks at the ready. While Zoro, Usopp and Sanji take care of the assembled crew, Luffy and Nami head right for the map room to reclaim their map to the Grand Line, where Arlong catches them and explains his plan to create a fishman empire to rule over the East Blue. Though Arlong fails to see the hypocrisy of exchanging one system of oppression for another — again, begging this question why this angle was strictly necessary — Luffy mostly takes exception to Arlong trying to use Nami like a tool, instead of respecting her own wants and wishes.
Of all the fight scenes in this season, this final one against the fishmen is by far the most fun. Usopp is chased into the woods by one of the fishmen, where he must use every tool at his disposal, particularly deception, to fight him off, proving truly how far he’s come since we first met him in Episode 3. His enthusiasm at taking the fishman down, followed immediately by the crushing realization that his first truly heroic act had no witnesses shows why Usopp quietly became the most endearing crew member over the course of the season, his relatable emotional honestly a standout among the rest.
As for Zoro and Sanji, the two spend as much time arguing as they do fighting, something that annoys Buggy enough that he asks them to reunite his head with his body so he can help, by which he of course means run away and leave them to their own devices. Their unofficial rivalry comes to an end when they take out the yard of fishmen together, ending with Zoro’s begrudging admission that in Sanji calling out his finishing moves like Luffy does, perhaps the chef will fit in with the crew just fine.
As for Luffy and Arlong, the two fight in the map room until Luffy brings the entire thing crumbling down around them crushing Arlong in the process. With the fishmen defeated, Nami and the rest of Coco Village are finally free, and the crew kicks back to celebrate. But because Garp never met a sweet moment between the crew he didn’t want to crash, the Marines arrive just in time to ruin things. He orders Koby to arrest the Straw Hats, but the cadet refuses, Helmeppo (Aidan Scott) surprising him, and the audience by also refusing to step in.
Garp confronts his grandson at long last, and the two have it out — not with words, but with fists. Garp packs more of a punch than even Arlong did, knocking Luffy through several broken structures without even staining his crisp white suit. Despite his efforts to literallt beat some sense into his grandson, Luffy refuses to give up on his dreams of finding the One Piece and becoming king of the pirates. Things click at last for Garp, who sees what Zeff (Craig Fairbrass) meant about Luffy being the next Gold Roger, and decides to let the Straw Hats go, ordering his men to pursue the fishmen instead. Koby looks stunned that it was as easy as all that to get Garp to back off – aren’t we all — and Garp bids his grandson farewell, revealing that this had all been a test to see how serious Luffy was.
Just before the Straw Hats return to sea, Nami visits Belle-Mere’s (Genna Galloway) grave to apologize, and say goodbye to Nojiko (Chioma Umeala) as well, all while sporting her new arm tattoo, now in the shape of a tangerine plant. Koby comes to say goodbye to Luffy as well, and shows him that while he hasn’t achieved his dream of finding the One Piece yet, a smaller dream of his has come true: he presents Luffy with his very own wanted poster, setting his bounty at 30 million Berry, the highest in the East Blue. The pair part ways, knowing they’ll well and truly be on opposite sides from here on out. Back on his ship, Garp decides to take both Koby and Helmeppo under his wing, a prospect they both accept.
Word of the Straw Hat crews notoriety reaches far and wide, to Luffy’s village and even to Kaya (Celeste Loots) catching sight of the back of Usopp’s head on Luffy’s poster. Buggy and Alvida (Ilia Isorelýs Paulino) get their hands on a poster and join forces to try and track Luffy down to claim the reward, making me wonder if anyone managed to find Captain Kuro (Alexander Maniatis) out there in the ocean after escaping Syrup Village. A future showdown with all the pirates they wronged in their early days would certainly make for interesting drama. Dracule Mihawk (Steven Ward) also brings word of Luffy’s newfound success to Captain Shanks (Peter Gadiot) and his crew, who force Mihawk into celebrating with them, and at this point I’m just realizing it’s a damn shame we didn’t get more of either Shanks’ crew or of Mihawk, but hope springs eternal. Now that the core ensemble is so well established, hopefully future seasons will bring more screentime for other groups besides the Straw Hats and the Marines.
Nami tells the crew this news means all of them will be hunted down more so than before, making the East Blue dangerous for them to linger in. That’s alright, though, because Luffy says they aren’t sticking around. With nothing left to stop them, they’re headed for the Grand Line. Back on board the Going Merry, the crew show Nami the little cluster of tangerine trees they brought for her, prompting her to show Luffy the surprise they all prepared for him. Usopp drops the mainsail, revealing the Straw Hats’ iconic Jolly Roger flag at long last. The crew gather on deck for a cast-off ceremony, propping their right legs up on a barrel declaring the goal each of them is chasing: to find the All Blue, to become King of the Pirates, to become the world’s greatest swordsman, to draw a map of the world, and to become a brave warrior of the sea.
After such an action-packed season, it’s almost a relief to see the finale slow down and take its time wrapping everything up so neatly, and so thoroughly. Of course, I have hopes for a second season and beyond — as much as I know 1000+ episodes in live-action are unrealistic. But if future seasons can achieve what this first one managed to do so well, condensing storylines and distilling them down to their heart, while expanding the opportunities for characters to play off of each other, and explore different group dynamics, then there’s no reason we shouldn’t have at least a few seasons of a tight, self-contained adventure series.
The season even ends with a tease ahead at a potential second season. Just as the episode ends, a short stinger shows a man shrouded in cigar smoke setting Luffy’s wanted poster on fire. That man, as fans of the Manga and anime can guess, is the head of Baroque Works himself, Mr. Crocodile, also known as Mr. 0. Whether we’ll get the chance to see the live-action crew take on this new challenge, and all that comes with it remains to be seen. But for now, their sails are set, and the Straw Hats are Grand Line-bound!
All eight episodes of One Piece are streaming now on Netflix.
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
