Since it was first announced, Netflix’s series adaptation of One Piece has been getting the hype. From the surprise poster and trailer drop to the actual season, the creators managed to sweep fans of the anime off their feet. But once it was released, it became a massive hit and even overtook Stranger Things and Wednesday. The live-action adaptation was even rated 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. But even with all the broken records, there were two parts of the show that left fans a little confused.

While the series stayed mostly true to the manga, the showrunners may have brought up some revelations that are supposed to come out only later. But one of the showrunners, Steven Maeda, recently gave fans revelations about the first season of One Piece.

Steven Maeda opens up about the One Piece mid-credits scene

Steven Maeda, who recently revealed this about the first season, opened up about the season’s finale mid-credits scene in the season’s eighth episode. The season ended with viewers saying their goodbyes to the characters as they head off on their next adventure. But before viewers had moved on, another surprise came after the screens faded to black for the credits.

A mid-credit scene showed viewers a mystery man with white hair who snubs his cigarette out on the bounty poster of One Piece‘s beloved Luffy. While the scene may have created hype for the next season, it also left a lot of questions floating around. But unfortunately, Steven Maeda’s interview with Variety did not help clear it up. In fact, the showrunner told interviewers that he does not “want to confirm or deny” the identity of the character as it was “a good mystery” and that he wanted to “have people guessing.”

So far, only the fans of the manga have made their guesses, and the most common choice has been the comic’s villain, Smoker. But that was not the only revelation that the showrunner made. He also addressed the deviation from the manga.

The difference between the One Piece manga and the series

In the same interview, Steven Maeda also addressed the fact that the series had drifted a little bit away from the manga, with the blessing of Eiichiro Oda. One of the biggest revelations of the season was when the chief marine in charge of the search mission was actually Luffy’s grandfather. But in the manga, Garp is not introduced until way later.

Steven Maeda explained that he and his co-showrunner, Matt Owens thought it would be better for the storyline to have that part moved up. He went on to say that “one of the decisions”  he had “made early on was wanting to have an antagonist in pursuit.” That is where Garp came in. Unlike the series, Garp is only revealed to be Luffy’s grandfather in “Chapter 300-something” in a completely different way in the manga.

But the interview did not end there. Before the showrunner got away from the cameras, he mentioned that the entirety of the second season had already been planned but refused to give fans any more details. As of now, the second series has not been confirmed yet, but it is evident that the credit scene has got viewers completely hooked.

What did you think about One Piece‘s mid-credit scene? Let us know what you think in the comments below.