Spoiler alert! This story discusses important plot points and the season finale of Netflix’s “One Piece,” so beware if you haven’t seen it yet.

A week after its streaming premiere, the live-action adaptation “One Piece” has been golden for Netflix, and executive producer Steven Maeda is glad the online fandom of the popular Japanese manga treasures the new pirate show.

“I was absolutely terrified, in a good way though,” Maeda says of his prerelease mindset. “I was well aware of the history of manga and anime adaptations. Anybody with a pulse knows that they haven't generally done well, and a lot of people are very vocal about it.”

But so far, it's been smooth sailing for the crew of the Going Merry: captain Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), swordsman Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu Arata), thief/cartographer Nami (Emily Rudd), slingshot honcho Usopp (Jacob Romero) and fighting cook Sanji (Taz Skylar). The series has hovered near the top of Netflix’s streaming charts the past week, and notched 18.5 million views in its first four days.

Maeda breaks down the early success of the show based on the long-running manga series (which debuted in 1997), and a potential “One Piece” second season.

Having an optimistic main character is the ‘One Piece’ secret sauce

Maeda says it was key to find the right balance by sticking “very close” to the manga while making a “very optimistic” and “hopeful” show for new fans. Another important factor: Luffy, “who is such a kind of shining light.”

Thanks to the Devil Fruit he ate as a kid, Godoy’s rookie pirate has super-stretchy abilities, though Maeda feels Luffy’s actual superpower is “his ability to pull people's dreams out of them and say, 'Hey, remember that thing that you always wanted to do that's in some way fallen by the wayside, because of life or circumstances? I'm going to do my thing. How about you come with me and you do your thing, too?’ And that is an amazing (reason) for a lot of the popularity of ‘One Piece’ over the years.”

Netflix series puts new emphasis on key manga supporting players

The first season's plot sticks very closely to the initial 100 chapters (of more than 1,000) in the manga series, except for one big change: Maeda moved up the pursuit of the heroes by Vice-Admiral Garp (Vincent Regan), leader of the pirate-hunting Marines (who’s also revealed to be Luffy’s grandpa), and Luffy’s Marine recruit friend Koby (Morgan Davies), which happens around Chapter 300.

It leads to an emotional fight between the “very tough father figure” Garp and Luffy in the season finale, and “a lot of discussion about how much of an antagonist to make Garp vs. how much of someone trying to teach a lesson,” Maeda says. It also puts Koby “more front and center” as his journey parallels Luffy's.

“Luffy wants to be the best pirate he can be. Kobe wants to be the best Marine he can be. They're on the same path in a way to achieve their dreams, but they're on completely different routes, and if both are successful, they will end up being enemies at some point across the ocean from each other.”

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But there’s no time for ship love on this pirate show's high seas

Maeda says it was important to maintain consistency between the manga and the TV series. Producers didn't want to create new pieces of Devil Fruit, which gives people powers depending on which one they eat, and they nixed any romance among the crew of the Going Merry. (Outside romances? Totally cool.)

“It’s a family, and they're really siblings,” Maeda says. “People have asked, ‘Hey, is there a thing going on between Nami and Zoro?’ If you want to read it that way, you absolutely can, but it’s not our intent at all.”

‘One Piece’ mid-credits scene teases a new villain

After Luffy’s Straw Hat crew defeats the dreaded fish pirate Arlong in the season finale, Garp takes aside Koby and fellow cadet Helmeppo (Aidan Scott) to train them for the fight ahead. The heroes sail on toward the Grand Line seeking the legendary One Piece, with Luffy excited about finally having his own wanted poster. But that same poster gets vandalized with a cigar in a mid-credits scene by a mystery man seen only from behind. 

This formidable future foe is Smoker, a Marine officer from the manga known for his white hair and penchant for perpetual dual stogies. Maeda says he “definitely wanted to have a cliffhanger and something that the Straw Hats were heading to, and so that was one of the many we talked about.”

Now on fans’ minds: When’s Season 2 of ‘One Piece’ coming?

While another round seems to be a no-brainer, Maeda isn’t ready to start talking about all that yet. “This journey was four years of my life that a lot of people binge in a weekend, which I'm so happy about. But at the same time, it was such an undertaking,” he says. “There are many, many discussions and decisions to be made, and I'll leave it at that.”

Luffy captains a pretty sizable bunch at this point in the manga series, and if he gets another crack at “One Piece,” Maeda already has a top choice for newest crew member: “Tony Tony Chopper, a talking size-shifting reindeer who is also a doctor,” he says with a laugh. “A difficult character to get on screen, but definitely one of my favorites.”

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