We can safely assume that Netflix's live-action One Piece season 1 ended, roughly 95 manga chapters had been translated into live-action. Unfortunately, the Going Merry's streaming service voyage has a very long way still to go.

At the time of writing, One Piece is on chapter #1145, and while Oda has promised the story is in its final stages, there remains much for Monkey D. Luffy to do. Even at a conservative estimate, Netflix's One Piece would, at its current rate, need to hit double-figure seasons in order to have any hope of adapting everything. One Piece season 2.

Netflix’s One Piece Will Most Likely End Without Covering The Full Story

Live-Action One Piece Fans Should Prepare For A Premature Ending

To avoid future disappointment, it makes sense to accept the very probable reality that Netflix's One Piece will not be running 20 years from now, adapting Luffy's battle against Kaido and the shocking reveal of Shanks' evil twin brother. Even if one assumes One Piece's 12-season goal would actually be enough - a huge "if" in and of itself - reaching such a milestone would require a number of improbable factors to neatly line up.

One Piece season 1 was a hit, sure, but adapting the whole story would mean breaking the Netflix mold altogether.

Firstly, One Piece must bring Netflix sustained success. The platform has earned something of a reputation for canceling popular shows, with GLOW, Shadow & Bone, and The OA all painful memories of Netflix's hungry guillotine. Even the streamer's most successful releases, however, have failed to last as long as One Piece would need to. Stranger Things is ending with season 5, Squid Game with season 3, and the longest-running Netflix original is currently Virgin River with seven seasons. One Piece season 1 was a hit, sure, but adapting the whole story would mean breaking the Netflix mold altogether.

Even if Netflix is happy to keep the Straw Hat flag flying for 12 seasons, it is entirely possible that One Piece comes to an end of its own accord. Perhaps One Piece's cast begin seeking new adventures on other projects, or start aging too fast for their characters. Maybe the production team moves on and Netflix opts to end the series on a high rather than risk creative collapse under a new regime.

For One Piece's live-action adaptation to keep running until the manga's end, therefore, it would need the following: Oda wrapping the story up relatively soon, huge continuing critical and commercial success on Netflix, a solution to the cast getting older than their characters, and a willingness to keep plugging away at the project for another 20+ years. Those elements almost certainly won't align in the way One Piece needs them to.

Option 1: Does Netflix's One Piece Create An Ending Of Its Own?

A.K.A. Luffy Riding A Dragon & Burning The People Of Raftel

Mirroring the manga, One Piece season 1 set up a number of plot threads that are destined to be resolved at the very last stage of Luffy's journey. These include Luffy becoming the Pirate King, Zoro beating Dracule Mihawk, Luffy suring Shanks, and Sanji finding the All Blue - none of which have happened in the manga yet. If Netflix's One Piece, for whatever reason, concludes early, audiences will be denied resolution to all of these important stories, which would come as an especially frustrating development for viewers whose only exposure to One Piece is the live-action version.

An inconclusive climax would be infinitely preferable to a bad one.

Netflix may, therefore, be tempted to write its own ending that ties off all the major plots. Maybe Luffy reaches the final island of the Grand Line in season 5 or 6, after the Water 7 and Enies Lobby arcs. He battles Shanks to become Pirate King, Zoro takes on Mihawk just for fun, and the All Blue is conveniently nearby to keep Sanji happy. This way, at least, the live-action One Piece series could exist as a story in its own right with a proper ending.

Dracule Mihawk later becomes Zoro's mentor in the One Piece manga.

A custom ending would, however, be a terrible idea. Such a rushed finale risks ruining an adaptation that has thus far been praised for only making tasteful adjustments to the source material. Game of Thrones has already demonstrated how badly things can go when writers tack their own endings onto an existing piece of ongoing fiction, and for One Piece in particular, an inconclusive climax would be infinitely preferable to a bad one.

Option 2: Where Would Be A Good Place For One Piece To End?

There Are Two Places One Piece Could End On A Satisfying Note

The other option is that One Piece simply continues to adapt Eiichiro Oda's manga accurately, then ends wherever it ends, knowing and accepting the story will be left incomplete. The same happened for Prime Video's The Expanse, which came to a halt after six seasons of closely following the books, and even in its final season, was still sowing seeds for an endgame that wasn't going to materialize. Netflix's One Piece could do something similar - the big problem would be finding a sensible point to stop the story.

One possibility is to use Enies Lobby as the series finale circa One Piece season 5. The Straw Hats' battles against 9 - especially Luffy vs. Rob Lucci - are by far the most epic combat sequences in One Piece up until that point, allowing the live-action series to finish with a bang. Enies Lobby could work as a thematic ending too. The Straw Hats rescuing Nico Robin and cementing her as a true member of the crew, then also getting a brand-new ship to replace Going Merry, would represent the closing of a chapter and give One Piece a logical place to end.

The Summit War would be live-action One Piece's best possible ending.

The more exciting option would be to stretch until One Piece season 7 or 8 and make the Summit War Netflix's live-action showstopper. An epic battle pitting Luffy, backed up by numerous allies that include the Whitebeard Pirates, against the full might of the marines, the Summit World is still considered by many to be One Piece's finest moment. Furthermore, the Summit War leads directly into a two-year time skip, creating a natural break in One Piece's timeline.

If it can last long enough to get there, the Summit War would be live-action One Piece's best possible ending. Quitting before the time skip would also allow some brave soul to revive One Piece years down the road, meaning Netflix could recast the Straw Hats, pick up where the original show left off, and adapt the second half of Oda's gargantuan tale for the next generation.