Monkey D. Luffy’s journey to become King of the Pirates is ramping up in One Piece Season 2 as he and the other Straw Hat Pirates venture into the Grand Line. That also means the villains will be ramping up, and among the more prominent adversaries they’ll face include the criminal organization Baroque Works and Wapol, the tyrannical ruler of the Drum Kingdom. With less than a month to go until the Netflix subscription-exclusive second season premieres on the 2026 TV schedule, One Piece executive producer and co-showrunner Joe Tracz discussed how these baddies work as a “dark mirror” to the protagonists.
Baroque Works will be an antagonistic presence for most of Season 2, with some of its notable members include Lera Abova’s Miss All-Sunday, Charithra Chandran’s Miss Wednesday and David Dastmalchian’s Mr. 3. While speaking to SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend, Joe Tracz said he was “most excited” about bringing these bad guys into Season 2 because they’re “like Tarantino-style Kill Bill assassins with crazy superpowers,” and they do it all in style. He then added:
What we really loved about them is the way they function as a dark mirror of our heroes. We’ve seen the Straw Hats come together, and they’re all supporting each other’s dreams. But now you have this group of agents who, to get ahead in Baroque Works, someone in front of you has to die, and that’s how you get promoted. We have a lot of fun with the idea that our Straw Hats are trying to work together, and you have these villains who are quick to turn on each other and sometimes work at cross purposes. It’s fun to watch, but it also reflects on what makes the Straw Hats special.
The five Straw Hats haven’t been together that long, but they definitely have each other’s backs no matter what. That trust will be key for them to barrel through the threats that await them in the Grand Line, including Baroque Works. While Miss All-Sunday will be the organization’s chief representative in Season 2, with Tracz saying that “[s]he’s the one issuing orders. She’s the one who’s confronting our Straw Hats,” it’s led by Joe Manganiello’s Mr. 0. It’s unclear how much we’ll see him in Season 2, but Manganiello, as well as Abova, have been upgraded to series regulars in Season 3.
Then there’s Rob Colletti’s Wapol, who ate the Munch-Munch Fruit and can take on the characteristics of any object he eats, including living humans. Joe Tracz laid out how Wapol is an example of what Luffy could become if he walked down a darker path in One Piece, explaining:
At the beginning of the season, Luffy asks the question, ‘What does it mean to be King of the Pirates?’ Then in the finale, he’s confronted with this king who believes that what being a king means is it’s my way or the highway. The reason why Wapol is the villain in our finale is because he’s someone who represents the absolute worst qualities a leader could possess. So for Luffy, who has found his crew as a captain, it’s like, what kind of captain is Luffy going to be?
But it’s not like the Straw Hats are only going to make enemies once they reach the Grand Line. Plenty of friends will be made along the way too, including the adorable Chopper, the walking and talking reindeer being voiced by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Mikaela Hoover. She and Sendhil Ramamurthy, who’s playing Nefertari Cobra, will also be part of Season 3’s main cast.
One Piece Season 2’s eight episodes drop Tuesday, March 10 on Netflix. It’s been over two and a half years since Season 1 premiered, and while I’ve kept myself entertained during that time with the One Piece anime, I’m glad that the live-action show is back. Seeing how well Baroque Works and Wapol are adapted is among the many things I’m looking forward to seeing.
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