Longtime One Piece lovers believe that they have spotted a major villain from Eiichiro Oda's anime in episode 1 of Netflix's live-action adaptation.
Summary
- Netflix's live-action adaptation of One Piece has remained faithful to the source material, delighting fans who have been disappointed with previous anime-to-live-action adaptations.
- Season 1 of One Piece has not only focused on the origin of the Straw Hat Pirates, but has also set up potential characters for season 2, including a potential appearance of the antagonist Crocodile.
- There is speculation that the woman seen in the opening scene of the show's first episode could be a younger version of Crocodile, with evidence from the original manga's early designs and an intriguing theory about Crocodile's gender.
Netflix's One Piece season 1 has been faithfully adapted from the East Blue Saga of Eiichiro Oda's original manga of the same name, and eagle-eyed viewers noticed that a potential season 2 antagonist made their debut as early as episode 1. After a string of failed anime-to-live-action adaptations, Netflix's One Piece is a breath of fresh air for Oda's followers who have read the manga and watched the anime since the beginning. The creator's hands-on involvement has played a huge role in the success of the show, as it has allowed it to remain remarkably true to the source material.
One Piece, starring Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji, has taken the community by storm, winning millions of viewers' hearts for its spot-on casting and design, anime scenes adapted shot by shot, and thoughtful storytelling. While season 1 has primarily focused on how the original Straw Hat Pirates come together, it has also set up the potential One Piece season 2 characters, including the Smoker who appears in the mid-credits scene. However, there is one more almost bulletproof theory about who Luffy might face in the next chapter.
One Piece Theory Claims Baroque Works' Crocodile Appeared In Season 1
At one point, Luffy comes across Sir Crocodile, associated with the crime syndicate called Baroque Works, and this One Piece character may have already been introduced well before his time in Netflix's adaptation. The theory claims that Crocodile is among the people who are watching Gold Roger's execution in the opening scene. In episode 1, the famous pirate is to pay for his crimes with his head, but not before he encourages others to go look for his One Piece treasure, and his execution is watched by a few soon-to-be familiar faces. The younger versions of Shanks, Mihawk, and Smoker are all right there, but so might be Crocodile.
In the One Piece anime, all four of these characters appear in Roger's death scene, and the live-action moment is strikingly similar to its anime counterpart, down to the positions and facial expressions of Shanks and Mihawk, which serve as one of many Easter eggs in Netflix's One Piece. The only character present in the scene that remotely fits the description of Crocodile is the woman with dark hair and an earring who is standing in the crowd, listening to Roger's speech. This theory isn't so far-fetched because this woman can turn out be a younger Crocodile whose gender is heavily debated in the manga and anime as well.
Why One Piece's Crocodile May Have Been A Woman
There is another One Piece theory about Crocodile's flipped gender that may explain why this character may be the woman in question in Netflix's adaptation. Firstly, his self-proclaimed title "Desert King" Sir Crocodile feels a little on the nose, as if the character may be overcompensating for something, which in his case may be the fact that he used to be a woman. Secondly, there is the strange conversation that takes place during the Impel Down Arc where Emperor Ivankov, who has the ability to change people's gender, mentions that he knows some scandalous secret regarding Crocodile, which he can use as leverage.
On top of these pieces of evidence, Eiichiro Oda's early designs of the younger character seem to support the theory, too. In the One Piece creator's sketches that depict some characters as children, Crocodile looks either androgynous or distinctly female, which could mean that the character used to be a woman, but was changed into a man, potentially by Ivankov's hand -- either willingly or by force. Those viewers who believe in the theory even claim that One Piece's Crocodile could be Luffy's mother, which has prompted the Crocomom nickname. Neither theory has been confirmed by Oda or any other representative so far.
Will Crocodile Be A Woman In One Piece Season 2?
While this enigmatic woman with one earring from episode 1 can turn out to be the younger version of Sir Crocodile himself, thus confirming that the character is in fact trans, it's unlikely that the Desert King will become the Desert Queen in Netflix's One Piece season 2. Crocodile is a major villain who is an essential element to the anime's Arabasta Saga, which will have to at least begin (if not be entirely covered) in the live-action adaptation's season 2. He is Luffy's longtime adversary, and they have quite a lot of extremely violent fights throughout the story arc.
If Netflix gender-swapped Crocodile and intended to leave the character this way, making him a woman in present day as well, this decision could spark backlash from the community, as it would be another huge change to the One Piece original manga's canon. In addition to this, a female Crocodile might prove to be just a tad too controversial for the show's season 2, especially if it features the same level of violence between Crocodile and Luffy during their fights that was shown in the manga and anime. It simply wouldn't be appropriate and would represent all the wrong ideas.
One Piece's Mystery Woman May Be Another Character
Although it's entirely possible that the mystery woman in One Piece episode 1 is a younger Crocodile, she could be another character altogether. Netflix's adaptation is fairly truthful to Oda's source material, since it was one of his non-negotiable requests to keep the deviations from the original manga to a minimum, but the woman could easily turn out to be Boa Hancock, the Pirate Empress who goes from Luffy's almost-enemy to his trusted ally in the matter of episodes. It's unknown whether this character was at Roger's execution, but her pirate nature makes it easy to imagine that she could've been there and heard about the One Piece treasure.
Another potential candidate for the enigma of a woman is Shakuyaku, better known as Shakky, a former pirate-turned-bartender and another ally of the Straw Hat Pirates during the Sabaody Archipelago Arc. Just like Hancock, Shakky fits the physical description, as she is also depicted as a brunette. Unlike Hancock, Shakky is also a suitable contender age-wise, as she could've been the young woman at Roger's execution, whereas Boa would've been about seven years old at the time. However, Shanks was aged up in Netflix's One Piece in the same scene, so if it was Hancock, her age could've been changed as well.
Steven Maeda, One Piece's showrunner, has addressed the popular theory, according to which the woman in episode 1's execution scene is Crocodile, encouraging the audience to interpret the character however they like. Whether the mystery woman is a gender-swapped young Sir Crocodile remains unclear for now, and the audience will have to wait at least until the streaming platform drops the much-anticipated season 2 of the live-action adaptation. The good news is that Netflix has already renewed One Piece for season 2, so there is bound to be some kind of answer to the Crocodile theory sooner or later.
