Netflix’s ‘One Piece‘ Season 2 is already building massive anticipation, especially after the first teaser ended with the Straw Hat Pirates staring at a gigantic black whale in the fog. That whale is Laboon, and for long-time fans, his appearance means more emotional damage is coming.
While Season 1 focused on assembling the Straw Hat crew and capturing the thrill of adventure, Season 2 steps into past bonds, loss, and loyalty. And no character represents that emotional weight more powerfully than Laboon.
Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Introduces Laboon The Whale?
To understand Laboon’s role in Season 2, you only need one piece of backstory. According to the story, before Monkey D. Luffy set sail, Laboon was a young Island Whale from the West Blue who became separated from his pod. In his loneliness, he encountered the Rumbar Pirates, a crew known for their music and cheer. They fed him, sang to him, and a musician, Brook, even named him Laboon.
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When the Rumbar Pirates decided to enter the Grand Line, they believed the journey would be too dangerous for the still-growing whale. And before they left him in the care of Crocus, they promised to sail around the world and return to him. Years passed, but no ships returned bearing the jolly laughter of the Rumbar Pirates.
Eventually, Crocus told Laboon the truth that the crew was gone. Gone, forever. But Laboon refused to accept it. Grief took over, and he began ramming his head against Reverse Mountain, desperately trying to break through the Red Line and return to the West Blue in search of his friends. The deep scars across his head come from decades of these collisions. In the world of One Piece, Laboon is officially classified as a Type A: “Big Friendly” creature, but his scars reveal abandonment.
In One Piece Season 2, Laboon will appear shortly after the Straw Hats leave Loguetown and enter the Grand Line through Reverse Mountain. It begins as a chaotic situation, the Going Merry crashing into a massive whale, but soon, more emotional reveals follow. Luffy, angered at Laboon for damaging the ship, soon gets to know about his history from Crocus.
But surprisingly, he doesn’t pity him. Luffy instead challenges him and marks Laboon’s scars with the Straw Hat Jolly Roger and promises to return one day for a rematch. It’s Luffy’s way of telling Laboon to stop hurting himself and start looking forward again. Besides solidifying Laboon’s existence, this shows a new and emotional side of Luffy to us.
What Is The Significance Of Laboon The Whale In Season 2?
Laboon’s friends never returned. But the most fascinating layer arrives later in the story, the Thriller Bark saga introduces Brook, an “undead” pirate whose body is bones but whose soul remains thanks to the Yomi Yomi no Mi (Revive-Revive Fruit). As we already know, Brook was a Rumbar Pirate who coined the name ‘Laboon’, and he still wishes to reunite with the whale someday.
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In the anime, Brook formally joins Luffy’s crew in episode 381. That means Season 2 can reference Brook through flashbacks long before his proper live-action debut, using Laboon to plant emotional seeds for the future. But even manga, Laboon, and Brook still haven’t reunited.
Brook knows Laboon is alive. Laboon doesn’t know Brook survived. But because the Straw Hats must continue forward into the New World, there is no going back. To reach Laboon again, they would have to circumnavigate the entire globe. This means Laboon’s story will likely only conclude near the end of One Piece. Season 2 may break your heart, but it won’t heal it. Not yet. Maybe we will have to wait for Season 3 for the reunion.
