A Fan Fav Character Gets Surprising Origin Story in ONE PIECE Season 2 Sabina Graves | usagoldmines.com

Season two of One Piece expands an unexpected bit of canon in a big way, as the show’s second chapter introduces the brash punk pirate Bartolomeo (Nahum Hughes) way ahead of the established storyline order. Known as the massive meta-tinged Straw Hats fanboy from later arcs of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece saga, the green-haired, fanged wise guy’s lore begins in the first episode of the second season’s drop on Netflix. 

In the One Piece anime and manga, it’s known that Bartolomeo bore witness to the moment Luffy was struck by lightning and saved from Buggy’s execution attempt during the events of Loguetown. However, that tidbit is reimagined quite differently in the live-action, making the moment far more consequential to Bartolomeo’s relationship and later obsession with Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) on One Piece, opting for a bolder choice that gives the fandom’s metatextual insert side character more meaning. This change might be divisive and make some fans feel like it’s cannibalizing itself, but stay with me here; it’s meaty enough to work. 

Sure, in the original One Piece canon, Bartolomeo doesn’t show up until two years and some change after the events in Loguetown. During his first encounter with the Straw Hats within the Dressrosa arc, Bartolomeo reveals that, beyond his bare-chested, tattooed, gruff exterior, is a fanboy who names Luffy’s miraculous escape as the reason he gave up a life of mob crime in the East Blue. Witnessing the fateful moment, when the future king of the pirates laughed in the face of death and survived, is all we know about why Bartolomeo decided to follow in his hero’s footsteps on the high seas. And to not give too much away, it also serves as the reason behind Bartolomeo’s fealty when he steps in to help Luffy and the crew in the gladiator tournaments of a future One Piece arc.

The live-action Netflix One Piece series upgrades Bartolomeo’s destiny to give him a more fortuitous way into the series’ iconic Loguetown moment on Gold Roger’s execution platform. Bartolomeo becomes the person who inadvertently leads Luffy to One Piece season one baddies out for vengeance, Buggy the Clown (Jeff Ward) and Captain Alvida (Ilia Isorelýs Paulino). Hard-core fans, fret not; this narrative change is cleverly executed to still work within the framing of Bartolomeo’s other incarnations while still remaining true to the core of his personality.

In live-action One Piece season two, Bartolomeo meets Nami (Emily Rudd) in Loguetown after he attempts to pickpocket her when the Straw Hats gather supplies on the way to the Grand Line at the East Blue’s trading post—a place which also happens to be a major Marine hub. It obviously backfires since the Straw Hat navigator sniffs out the amateur street rat and encourages him to pick an easier mark, maybe someone who’s lost. Instead of landing on Zoro (who does get lost), Barto stumbles across Luffy. The kid who would be the pirate king had wandered away from grocery shopping with Sanji to look for Gold Roger’s execution landmark. Naturally, Bartolomeo recognizes Luffy from his wanted poster and sees beaucoup berries in his eyes. 

Bartolomeo and Luffy’s meet-cute moment on One Piece season two is huge because it really takes the opportunity to embellish the fan-inspired pirate’s origin with a deeper connection to Luffy. It takes a character who might have felt like he was mostly there to good-naturedly skewer fans and shifts him to more closely reflect the way fans have actually found Luffy’s story in One Piece, an affirming and life-changing tale. The low-level thief meets someone who immediately believes in him and trusts him, which he doesn’t expect, and you can see it gives him pause. Additionally, Barto’s experience with the Straw Hats reinforces his aspirations from the jump. Nami gave the rookie pointers, and Luffy asked him what his dream was.

So it feels even more heartbreaking when Buggy poaches Luffy away from Barto and forces him to take a front seat to see how the real bad guys operate. The crashout clown pirate and slippery high-seas diva work together to crush Luffy’s dream and regain notoriety. While Luffy and the Straw Hats inspired him, Buggy and Alvida discarded him immediately since, of course, there’s no honor among those thieves, at least. They’re so blinded by being bested that they have to snuff Luffy out. Nothing else matters. Their dismissal of Bartolomeo in the face of Luffy’s kindness and trust connects them all the more.

Then, it’s time for Bartolomeo’s big moment, his origin story, now changed to matter so much more. As Buggy puts it, the most powerful thing is a story, so they shackle Luffy to kill him on the very spot his idol, Gold Roger, died as a fatal final lesson against the foolish notions of dreams.

Much like in the manga and anime, instead of showing an ounce of defeat when Buggy drags him to the gallows, Luffy feels delightfully overjoyed to simply exist in the same place his hero spent his last moments as the pirate king. With a big grin and a proclamation in the face of death that he still wishes to be the pirate king before his friends, Luffy is happy. Buggy directs his anger at not breaking Luffy into his blade as he brings it down, but BOOM—lightning miraculously strikes the tower, and it falls. 

And just like in the anime and manga, Bartolomeo is there to bear witness to Luffy’s incredible escape. But now, everything has changed, because it was Bartolomeo who found Luffy and walked him to this early death sentence that he defied, and it was Bartolomeo who was personally touched by Luffy’s spirit. And so Bartolomeo’s One Piece origins now land so much more powerfully. Luffy’s act of radical faith and pure laughter inspires Barto to turn his life around. Not only because the universe really showed up on time to clear the clown-faced obstacle standing in the way of Luffy and his dream. But because Luffy, up on Gold Roger’s execution platform, and Barto, watching from afar, now share a personal connection.

What really got us is that last little beat where we see Bartolomeo pick up Luffy’s straw hat in awe. Any One Piece fan, whether they’re a long-time Straw Hat crew member or recently joined, remembers when they picked up the Straw Hats’ story and holds it dear. And sure, Bartolomeo feels like the silliest vessel to represent fans, but it speaks to how even the most unlikely of heroes can come from anywhere, the true spirit of One Piece.

Bartolomeo is still that guy with a big fanboy future ahead of him as he joins the seafaring ranks as a future pirate, but there’s a sincere beauty to his story now that we can all resonate with. We can’t wait to see him help spread the Straw Hats’ glory as gospel while he waits for another chance to risk it all for Luffy-senpai’s ascension in the future of the One Piece live-action series.

One Piece season two is now streaming on Netflix. You can read our full review of the season here.