It is time to grab some Devil Fruit and set sail because The One Piece is only a few months away. That’s right: the new anime from Netflix is almost here, and it will tell a fresh version of Monkey D. Luffy’s quest to become King of the Pirates.
However, if you are a longtime fan of the rubber-limbed captain, you may be wondering what The One Piece really is and how it affects the other One Piece series (aka one of the best anime of all time) as well. After all, the first One Piece anime has been around since 1999 and is still ongoing. Then, on top of Netflix’s new The One Piece series, the streaming service also has a live-action version of the iconic show, just to make life a little more complicated when it comes to keeping track of all the pirate-related shenanigans on the platform.
Basically, the wacky world of One Piece is pretty convoluted right now, which is why I’ve put together a handy guide here. Below, I answer all your questions about The One Piece as well as explain what it is and how it affects all the other One Piece shows currently airing. So, if you are ready to join the Straw Hat crew and get your bearings, read on, folks.
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What is The One Piece?
The One Piece is a brand new reboot of Eiichiro Oda’s manga One Piece that will be released sometime in February 2027 on the streaming service Netflix. That means it won’t be a one-to-one remake of the other, ongoing One Piece anime, which is over 1000 episodes at this point.
WIT Studio (from Spy x Family and Attack on Titan fame) is helming the upcoming anime, and president and CEO of the studio, George Wada, has made it clear that the choice to make The One Piece a reboot is that, from a modern audience perspective, the sprawling story of the manga can now be told in a more structured way.
“The original manga has advanced much further than it had when the TV anime first began,” Wada stated in an interview with Mantan Web . “And today we have a much clearer understanding of later developments and of the characters themselves. From that modern perspective, we’re rebuilding it again from Episode 1… We are taking on a reboot, not a remake.”
It should also be noted that The One Piece will not be replacing the original series but instead is serving as a separate adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s manga. So if you are still keeping up with the Elbaph arc release schedule, don’t worry, that series isn’t being abandoned. The One Piece is simply a new option for fans to experience the story from scratch, and probably avoid the pretty long list of One Piece filler episodes, and some multi-episode fight scenes that (let’s be honest) can drag down pacing quite a bit.
The reboot will also have seven episodes for its first season. That may seem like a relatively smaller episode count off the bat, considering the original anime’s first season had 61 episodes in total. However, The One Piece’s episodes will have a 40-minute runtime each in comparison to the original anime’s typical 24-minute runtime, so really we are going to be getting jam-packed episodes here.
Do I need to have seen the One Piece anime to watch The One Piece?
Good news folks, you don’t have to watch the original One Piece anime to make sense of the upcoming reboot.
The One Piece will be adapting Eiichiro Oda’s manga from the very beginning, meaning that there won’t be any major story details missing that will leave you confused or (excuse the pun) lost at sea. Of course, if you want to sail on ahead after season 1 of The One Piece, you can jump into the original anime to carry on with the story immediately. However, rest easy knowing that both follow the manga.
Also, none of the One Piece movies are strictly canon either. So you really don’t have to watch any other One Piece content if you don’t want to alongside or before the reboot comes our way.
However, if you do fancy checking out Luffy’s first foray to the Grand Line on our small screens, you can check out our guide on how to watch all of One Piece in order as well.
What chapters are being adapted in season 1 of The One Piece?
The One Piece will adapt the first 50 chapters of Eiichiro Oda’s manga for its first season. That means we will roughly be near the end of the Baratie Arc by the final episode.
Chapters 1-50 still put us firmly in the East Blue Saga; however, it doesn’t finish it. In fact, there will still be two complete arcs left for us to cover, and we will also need to wrap up the Baratie Arc as well in season 2. From the confirmed chapter count, though, we do know for sure what Arcs will be in the upcoming anime, and at least the season will be introducing us to most of the main players in terms of the Straw Hat crew.
In season 1, we will see the Romance Dawn Arc (chapters 1 to 7), where Luffy meets Zoro, the Orange Town Arc (chapters 8 to 21), where we meet Nami, and the Syrup Village Arc (chapters 22 to 41), where we meet Usopp. The Baratie Arc actually only ends at chapter 68, so season 1 of The One Piece, will admittedly be wrapping up at an awkward moment story-wise.
If you are unfamiliar with the Baratie Arc, this is where the Straw Hats go to the restaurant Baratie, in search of a cook to join their crew. So, this is the part of the story where we get to meet Sanji. Sanji and Luffy meet around chapter 43 in the manga, so at least we know for sure we will see the women-obsessed cook in season 1.
Chapter 50 of the manga also does set up the Arlong Park Arc pretty well. I won’t get into spoilers here in case you haven’t seen the original One Piece anime or Netflix live-action series yet, but the chapter involves a reveal of betrayal about one of the Straw Hats being connected with the evil pirate Arlong and his crew.
The season 1 ending will very likely leave us with a cliffhanger and probably salivating for season 2; however, it is going to be very different from the original One Piece anime, since that first season covered the entire East Blue Saga instead of breaking it up like this new reboot.
For more One Piece content, you can check out our guide to everything you need to know about Netflix’s One Piece season 3 live-action series. Or for animated recommendations, head over to our list of the best Netflix anime to watch right now.
