One Pieceseason 2 will include a cameo that continues to set up the Straw Hat Grand Fleet after season 1’s subtle Easter egg.One Pieceseason 1 endedwith the first five members of Luffy’s Straw Hat crew finally assembled: Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, and Luffy himself. JoiningOne Pieceseason 2’s castwill be Lera Abova as Nico Robin, while Chopper will also be recruited as the Going Merry’s doctor, leaving Franky, Brook, and Jinbe for future seasons.
At the current point in Eiichiro Oda’s manga,One Piecehas only introduced 10 main Straw Hat pirates, but Luffy is actually the leader of a far bigger swashbuckling army: the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. Since Netflix’sOne Pieceis yet to even enter the Grand Line, this alliance is still a long way off. Nevertheless, season 1 veered from canon to subtly introduce one member of Luffy’s future armada, andOne Pieceseason 2will go even further with a cameo that leads directly to the formation of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.
One Piece’s Straw Hat Grand Fleet Explained
Luffy’s Firepower Gets A Big Boost
The fleet is founded at the beginning ofOne Piece’s Dressrosa arc, by which time Luffy has cemented his reputation as a pirate of great renown. Through defeating the Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo,Luffy rescues a large gathering of powerful pirates and world leadersbeing held prisoner. As thanks, a selection of these freed captives declare allegiance to the Straw Hat pirates - completely against Luffy’s wishes, it should be noted.
Luffy’s combined fighting force after the Straw Hat Grand Fleet’s creation is over 5500 strong.
None of these warriors become actual Straw Hats or travel alongside the main group, but each captain who pledges loyalty to Luffy sails underneath the Straw Hat Jolly Roger. Any time Luffy needs help in battle, his various fleet captains will be there to assist if called upon. In typical Luffy fashion,One Piece’s protagonist pays little attention to being the overseer of such a powerful force, and would have much rather been thanked with a giant plate of meat. For that reason,Luffy is yet to assemble the fleet inOne Piece’s manga, even when drastically outnumbered against Kaido and Big Mom.
Tontatta Pirates
Leo
Effectively, seven different pirate crews fall under Luffy’s banner, all of which are led bypowerfulOne Piececharacters. Of these seven crews, two are particularly large: the Happo Navy, totaling around 1000 members, and the massive Yonta Maria Grand Fleet, boasting a crew of 4300. Luffy’s combined fighting force after the Straw Hat Grand Fleet’s creation, therefore, is over 5500 strong.
One Piece Season 1 Already Included A Grand Fleet Easter Egg
Did You Spot Cavendish In One Piece Season 1?
The Straw Hat Grand Fleet may be far into the future of Netflix’sOne Pieceadaptation, but season 1 managed to drop a sneaky hint regardless. When Luffy and Coby arrived in Shells Town and saw a noticeboard covered in pirate bounties, one of the posters depicted the handsome-looking face of Cavendish. This golden-haired heartbreaker is one of the high-level captains who later offers their allegiance to Monkey D. Luffy after being captured by Doflamingo, making his Beautiful Pirates one of the seven crews comprising the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.
One Piece’s confirmation that Cavendish is already a famous pirate with his own bounty in season 1 fits the timeline like a glove.
Naturally,Cavendish did not appear this early in the originalOne Pieceanime and manga. The live-action series simply took advantage of hindsight to weave an Easter egg into the background. Nevertheless, the reference made perfect sense.
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One Piecefirst introduced Cavendish as a pirate who was on the rise while Luffy was just a rookie. Then the Straw Hats came along, and their swift momentum meant the Beautiful Pirates quickly became old news, leading to Cavendish holding a deep grudge against Luffy. That grudge is put aside once the Straw Hats save the day on Dressrosa, but live-actionOne Piece’s confirmation that Cavendishis already a famous pirate with his own bounty in season 1 fits the timeline like a glove.
One Piece Season 2’s Bartolomeo Cameo Will Be Another Step Toward Luffy’s Fleet
A More Direct Step Than One Piece Season 1 Made
WhereasOne Pieceseason 1 merely showed a Straw Hat Grand Fleet member on a poster,season 2 will very likely feature one of Luffy’s subordinates in an in-person cameo. During the manga’s Loguetown scenes, Luffy is apprehended by Buggy the Clown and a coalition of other early villains who attempt to execute him on the same wooden platform where Gold Roger’s life ended. Luffy escapes, of course, and leaves Loguetown to enter the Grand Line. Among the crowd watching Luffy slip from the grasp of certain death is a character by the name of Bartolomeo.
A Bartolomeo cameo in season 2 would set up the future Straw Hat Grand Fleet in a far more direct way.
Like Cavedish, Bartolomeo is another pirate captain who decides to throw their lot in with the Straw Hats at Dressrosa. Unlike Cavendish,Bartolomeo is less of a pirate captain and more of a Monkey D. Luffy fan club leader, with his entire crew dedicated to honoring the Straw Hats. Bartolomeo’s love for Luffy begins at Loguetown, inspired by the sight of the Straw Hat captain bravely staring death in the face and walking away unharmed.
One Pieceseason 2 is confirmed to cover the Loguetown chapters, and given the importance of the moment,Bartolomeo watching Luffy’s mock execution must surely be included. This could constitute just a passing glimpse of a character vaguely resembling young Bartolomeo, similar to season 1 showing Smoker at Roger’s execution. Alternatively,One Pieceseason 2 could go further by letting Bartolomeo’s awe-struck reaction and exactly how he decides to become Luffy’s number one fan play out.
Nahum Hughes is rumored to be playing Bartolomeo in Netflix’sOne Piece.
Cavendish’s bounty poster went largely unnoticed inOne Pieceseason 1, but a Bartolomeo cameo in season 2 would set up the future Straw Hat Grand Fleet in a far more direct way. Any shot of Bartolomeo looking amazed and inspired in Loguetown will only be paid off by the character’s return at Dressrosa and the fulfillment of his dream by becoming a captain of Luffy’s fleet.
How Many Seasons Will One Piece Need Before Reintroducing Bartolomeo & Cavendish?
This Cameo Isn’t Paying Off Anytime Soon
The biggest obstacle toOne Piecereintroducing Cavendish and Bartolomeo after the first two seasons will, of course, be time.Many, many arcs stand between Loguetown and Dressrosa, and the prospect of Netflix adapting them all is, at best, wildly optimistic. Given thatOne Pieceseason 2 will adapt the source material up until Drum Kingdom, with season 3 then dedicated to Arabasta, Dressrosa would likely form the basis ofOne Pieceseason 9, albeit only if the series reaches such an impressive milestone.
Bartolomeo inOne Pieceseason 2 is undoubtedly exciting.
Even ifOne Piececontinues to enjoy huge success for Netflix- enough to justify hitting nine seasons - the time needed to produce so many seasons could prove problematic. If nothing else, the main cast would begin aging far more than their characters are supposed to. Whoever posed for season 1’s Cavendish poster would almost certainly be recast, andthe actor who portrays Bartolomeo during his season 2 cameo isn’t necessarily going to returnseven seasons later either.
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Without jumping too far into the future, however, the prospect of seeing Bartolomeo inOne Pieceseason 2 is undoubtedly exciting. The anime and manga showed his Loguetown scenes only via flashbacks, so the opportunity to watch him react in the proper context ofOne Piece’s Loguetown arc, as the attempted execution plays out in real-time, means the live-action version can offer a totally different experience. It would be a worthwhile inclusion, even if Netflix’sOne Pieceends before Bartolomeo ever gets the chance to return.
