One Piece Live-Action is considered to have made the best use of the source material. Adapted from Eiichiro Oda’s manga, showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda incorporated every key detail from the work. This included the fish-inspired mast and fin-like bottom extensions in the Baratie ship along with its expansive interior decoration and design.
The Baratie arc constituted many chapters in the manga but ended only after a couple of episodes in the Netflix series. Tearing the wonderful set down was heartbreaking for Maeda. After all, they probably spent weeks structuring it and depicting it as accurately as possible to mimic the restaurant’s lavishness from the One Piece anime.
Steven Maeda Was Upset When The Baratie Set Was Broken Down During One Piece Production
Baratie is an iconic restaurant situated close to the entrance of the Grand Line. Run by Red-Legged Zeff, it is the place from where the Straw Hat Pirates recruit Vinsmoke Sanji, a sous chef whose character is played by Taz Skylar.
The restaurant was also the spot for many Easter eggs. Cocktails and menus presented to Nami and Zoro were similar to the manga. Given the amount of time consumed in creating the set, Steven Maeda revealed that it was heartbreaking to witness the Baratie’s set being torn down, during an interview with The Wire.
“It really is insanity as a television series in a lot of ways because you could theoretically spend an entire season or an entire series at Baratie, for example. It was such a big, wonderful set. Only using it for two episodes and a couple of scenes and then having to tear it down was a heartbreaker, for sure.”
Netflix’s One Piece Live-Action captured the fight between Sanji and Fullbody inside the Baratie while focusing on Zoro’s defeat at the hands of Dracule Mihawk outside the Baratie restaurant. Adding to the action-packed sequence was Arlong’s entry with the fishmen which led to the grand season finale between Luffy and the saw shark.
Also Read: Netflix’s One Piece Almost Didn’t Hire Iñaki Godoy as Luffy Because of One Major Problem
One Main Antagonist Was Ruled Out Of The Baratie Arc
Perhaps, the most number of changes made by Netflix in its adaptation were in the Baratie arc. The live-action skipped the fight between Ghin and Sanji even though the characters briefly interacted on screen. Also, Arlong never stepped foot inside the restaurant when it came to the original manga.
The biggest change that upset fans was the absence of Don Krieg. Serving as the primary antagonist in the Baratie arc, Krieg played a major role in developing Luffy and Sanji’s characters in the manga. He is one of the favorite villains due to his vast arsenal and callous nature.
Netflix not only skipped the epic clash between Luffy and Don Krieg but also seemingly killed off the notorious character. When Garp contacts Mihawk to take down Monkey D. Luffy, the swordsman is seen fighting the Krieg Pirates and even breaking their ship in half. He then delivers a grievous wound to Don Krieg off-screen.
The arrival of the Krieg Pirates in the Baratie was apparently avoided due to the limited budget of the series. That being said, One Piece Season 1 gained ‘mostly positive reviews’ on Metacritic.
