Wait, Did Netflix's One Piece Just Reveal We're Meeting One Of The Straw Hat Pirates Way Earlier Than Expected?

It’s been a long wait for One Piece Season 2, with the first season of this Netflix subscription-exclusive adaptation dropping back in August 2023. Thankfully, that wait will come to an end next March on the 2026 TV schedule, and among the things fans can look forward to from the next batch of episodes is Tony Tony Chopper, voiced by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Mikaela Hoover, joining the Straw Hat Pirates. However, now it looks like the next One Piece season will spotlight another member of our favorite pirate crew way earlier than when we meet them in the manga and anime.

Netflix has released the title cards for One Piece Season 2’s episodes on X and other social media platforms, and one in particular caught the eye of fans who are familiar with the lore crafted by Eiichiro Oda. Let’s take a look at it first:

That bull-looking skull and crossbones is designed to look like the Jolly Roger from the Rumbar Pirates, who traversed the Grand Line decades before Monkey D. Luffy began his journey to become King of the Pirates. That violin is a reference to the Rumbars’ musician, and later second captain, Brook. To delve into some minor spoilers, Brook joins the Straw Hat Pirates much later on during One Piece’s run, albeit looking a lot different than when he was with the Rumbars.

Brook was introduced during One Piece’s Thriller Bark arc as the Rumbar Pirates’ sole survivor. Like his crewmates, he was initially killed by an attacking pirate crew, but he lived on because he’d eaten the Revive Revive Fruit. However, because the Rumbar Pirates were exterminated in the misty region known as the Florian Triangle, Brook’s soul got lost and didn’t find his body until it had decomposed. So now Brook lives his second life as a walking and talking skeleton who makes bone puns and fights alongside the Straw Hats when he’s not entertaining them with his musical stylings.

Now for those of you who’ve only seen Netflix’s One Piece, you may be wondering how this live-action adaptation will get away with introducing Brook so much earlier. Well, that’s because we actually met the Rumbar Pirates during flashbacks from the Reverse Mountain story arc, i.e. when the giant whale Laboon is introduced. We didn’t Brook during this portion of the manga and anime, but that’s because Eiichiro Oda hadn’t created him yet. The live-action One Piece is now in a prime position to include a pre-skeleton Brook, which is good since we also know that he shared a special connection with Laboon when the whale was a baby.

Alas, I have my doubts that we’ll ever see Skeleton Brook on Netflix’s One Piece considering how much further down the line the events of Thriller Bark happen. But hey, I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth, so fingers crossed this title card tease does indeed mean the character will be featured from back when he was fully human. We’ll find out once One Piece Season 2 premieres on March 6, 2026.