Netflix’s One Piece Season 2 finally started its production in Cape Town, South Africa in July, bringing viewers much closer to see Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and his pirate crew reunite as they sail to the Grand Line. As a preparation for this event, the streamer has recently released the new characters and their respective actors, mostly composed of the Baroque Works villains, who will join the Straw Hats in their next journey in Arabasta. However, aside from the new enemies and allies, the One Piece anime voice actor Toshio Furukawa teases Ace’s appearance in the second season of the hit live-action adaptation.
Furukawa graced the recent Canadian anime convention Otakuthon and talked about his voice-acting career in the anime world. In addition to Dragon Ball’s Piccolo, Urusei Yatsura’s Ataru, Galactic Heroes’ Olivier, and many others, he also voices Ace from One Piece.
While talking about Luffy’s brother, as shared by X user @ohimetenshi, the Japanese actor expresses his love for this character due to the perfect combination of his strong personality and soft side. So, after voicing Ace for over two decades, starting in 2001 until today, he wants to continuously voice the role in Wit Studio’s upcoming One Piece anime remake on Netflix. Not only that, he also reveals that he will do the voice acting of Ace in the Japanese version of the live-action One Piece Season 2.
Though Ace died in the anime in Episode 483, released in 2011, he once again voiced the role in the One Piece anime recap Episode 18, which was aired in June 2024. Hence, Furukawa revealed that he couldn’t help but be saddened when he recorded Ace's dying scene. In fact, he even stopped recording after finding hard to contain his emotions. But when he asked the editors if Ace was truly dead, he never got the answer, with them saying they wouldn’t tell him even if the series ended.
Will Ace be in Netflix’s One Piece Season 2?
Though it remains to be seen if Ace will be part of One Piece Season 2, Furukawa’s revelation is a big hint that he will be finally introduced. Back in December 2023, news emerged that Netflix was looking for actors to cast as Ace. Reddit user @kvngjayy31 even suggested that the South African star Arthur Falko auditioned for the role after showrunners Matt Owens and Steve Maeda followed him on Instagram. To add more fuel to the fire, Falko has been open about his interest in playing the Fire Fist Ace and even posted an Instagram story training with Aidan Scott, who played Helmeppo in the first season.
Another evidence that Ace may be introduced in the second season is the adaptation of the Arabasta Saga. As Season 1 was all about The East Blue Saga, the first saga in Eiichiro Oda’s manga on which the show is based, Season 2 is expected to be about the second saga, Arabasta. Ace was first introduced in the Arabsta Arc.
As it is the fifth and last story arc of Arabasta Saga, he may be introduced in the latter part of the show. However, fans should only take this assumption with a grain of salt. As the first season didn’t complete adapting the whole story arcs of The East Blue Saga, leaving the Loguetown Arc unadapted and continuing in the second season, the Arabasta Arc may have the same fate. If this happens, it is possible that Ace will be introduced in One Piece Season 3 if it gets a third-season renewal.
Little details about One Piece Season 2 are now emerging. So, as Geeked Week 2024 is about to take place in September, there may be more updates about the live-action series to come.
