I Love One Piece, But Netflix's Season 3 Must Ignore Oda This One Time

Published Aug 23, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT Nick Bythrow is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant. He has been writing for the site since September 2022. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022, where he triple majored in Journalism, Communications, and Media Studies. When he's not writing about TV and movies for ScreenRant and his blog, Frayed Branches, Nick is penning speculative fiction and poetry on Amazon. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts. Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD for One Piece season 3 & the One Piece manga's Alabasta Saga!One Piece is incredible, but season 3 of the Netflix live-action series must ignore Eiichiro Oda's story for this one crucial moment. One Piece season 3 is set to tackle the final arc of the Alabasta Saga, with the upcoming episodes aptly subtitled The Battle of Alabasta. Season 3 wrapped filming in June of this year, with a 2027 release window already confirmed. The episodes will bring Luffy and his fellow Straw Hat Pirates to the Alabasta Kingdom as their battle against Baroque Works continues. One Piece season 2 ended by introducing Tony Tony Chopper, a reindeer who ate a Devil Fruit that becomes the group's doctor moving forward. It also laid the groundwork for Vivi's return to her homeland, alongside Crocodile's long-term plans for the Kingdom. Much like the previous two seasons, it seems like season 3 will be delivering an accurate story loyal to Oda's manga. While One Piece made some changes here and there, for the most part, the live-action adaptation has remained loyal to the original vision of its creator. But that doesn't mean Oda hasn't made some mistakes along the way. While the Alabasta Saga is a mostly perfect story, fans of the manga and anime adaptation will know that there's one particular moment that should be changed for the live-action adaptation. If anything, going against Oda's vision for this development will make the story stronger, and will help highlight just how different the live-action version can really be from the manga. Pell Needs To Stay Dead In One Piece Season 3 Toei Animation During the final confrontation of the Alabasta Saga, Crocodile begins to enact Operation Utopia, whose climax involves bombing both Alabasta's royal army and the rebels during a massive battle. This would ensure the deaths of every leader of the nation, allowing him and Baroque Works to become its leaders. This arc will serve as the basis for One Piece season 3, meaning events are likely to play out differently. Pell, the head guard of the kingdom whose Devil Fruit allows him to transform into a falcon, is deeply involved, eventually sacrificing himself to stop the bombing. However, in the manga and anime, Pell survives the bomb's blast after flying it into the air. It's one of the more widely criticized moments of the manga, since it ruined his incredible sacrifice and made the Saga feel less consequential for the heroes. It's made even less profound because Igaram, who was thought to have died during the Whisky Peak Arc, also makes a return to the Alabasta Arc, alive and well. It's redundant to make Pell have his own fake-out death, which is why One Piece season 3 should avoid this by killing him off for good. One Piece Has Already Fixed Holes In The Original Story Image via MovieStillsDB The live-action adaptation is no stranger to fixing holes in the original story already. For one, season 2 offered a deeper explanation as to why Barto idolizes Luffy so much, bringing some much-needed establishment to an element of the series that will pay off much later down the line. While the group was on Loguetown, Sabo was seen alongside Dragon, furthering ideas that will be expanded upon later. It also hasn't been afraid to kill off characters, such as Merry's death at the claws of Kuro, to showcase a deeper danger to his presence. Since the show isn't afraid to make some smaller changes, keeping Pell's death permanent would strengthen the end of One Piece season 3. His sacrifice will feel more meaningful, while also showcasing that the series isn't afraid to ignore Oda when it best suits the show. Although it'll be some time before the series can showcase Crocodile's plan and Pell's decision, it's still vital for the series to ignore the original author and have Pell's death be permanent to better reflect his sacrifice. Release Date August 31, 2023 Network Netflix Showrunner Matt Owens, Steven Maeda, Joe Tracz Cast Iñaki Godoy Monkey D. Luffy Directors Tim Southam, Marc Jobst, Josef Kubota Wladyka Writers Tiffany Greshler, Diego Gutierrez, Allison Weintraub, Lindsay Gelfand Franchise(s) One Piece Creator(s) Matt Owens, Steven Maeda, Eiichiro Oda