One Piece Creator Eiichiro Oda Rejected Netflix’s Plan to Replace Usopp’s Syrup Village Story With Gaimon Island

Netflix’s live-action One Piece Season 1 almost took a very different route with Usopp’s introduction. Former showrunner Steve Maeda has revealed that the production team considered replacing the Syrup Village storyline with an original sequence involving Gaimon’s Island after Netflix executives demanded significant budget cuts. During an appearance on Trash Taste Podcast #330, released on October 16, 2026, Maeda discussed the difficult production decisions behind the first season. The initial scripts covered 10 episodes, but a new executive wanted the…