One Piece season 2's cast will 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 Piece has 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's One Piece is 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, and One Piece season 2 will 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 of One 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 leaders being 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 in One Piece's manga, even when drastically outnumbered against Kaido and Big Mom.

Effectively, seven different pirate crews fall under Luffy's banner, all of which are led by powerful One Piece characters. Of these seven crews, two are particularly large: the Happo Navy, totaling around 1000 , 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's One Piece adaptation, 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 original One Piece anime 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.

One Piece first 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-action One Piece's confirmation that Cavendish is 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

Whereas One Piece season 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 Piece season 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 ing glimpse of a character vaguely resembling young Bartolomeo, similar to season 1 showing Smoker at Roger's execution. Alternatively, One Piece season 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's One Piece.

Cavendish's bounty poster went largely unnoticed in One Piece season 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 to One Piece reintroducing 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 that One Piece season 2 will adapt the source material up until Drum Kingdom, with season 3 then dedicated to Arabasta, Dressrosa would likely form the basis of One Piece season 9, albeit only if the series reaches such an impressive milestone.

Bartolomeo in One Piece season 2 is undoubtedly exciting.

Even if One Piece continues 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, and the actor who portrays Bartolomeo during his season 2 cameo isn't necessarily going to return seven seasons later either.

Without jumping too far into the future, however, the prospect of seeing Bartolomeo in One Piece season 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 of One 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's One Piece ends before Bartolomeo ever gets the chance to return.