Eiichiro Oda's One Piece is one of the longest-running anime series out there. The series began airing in 1999 and, since then, has maintained its position as one of the very best anime around, if not the best. With so many years of work behind it, it's no surprise that One Piece has several arcs that make the story as good as it is.
While most of these arcs are standard length and are adapted from the manga very well, others are adapted in a manner where they end up being needlessly long and surpass even their length in the manga. Here are all the One Piece arcs that ended up being too long in the anime.
Updated on June 25, 2023, by Rei Penber: The One Piece anime is loved by fans all over the world, despite knowing that it is flawed in some aspects of its production. Since the anime is not seasonal, there are quite a few corners that it has to cut in order to keep producing the incredible episodes that it has been racking up for the past few years, especially since the Wano arc began. That said, some arcs in the story have been stretched a bit too much. While there have, for the most part, been reasons for this, it doesn't make it any less unbearable for the fans. Although this list already goes over some of the longest arcs in the One Piece anime, there are several others that deserve a mention as well. With that in mind, this list has now been updated.
10 Ice Hunter Arc - 11 Episodes
The Ice Hunter arc is an anime filler that places itself shortly after the post-Enies Lobby arc. This arc comes at an especially intense moment in the story since the end of the post-Enies Lobby arc shows fans Ace fighting against Blackbeard in Episode 325. Following that is an anime filler which is very weirdly placed and it spans over 11 episodes, which is a little too much for a very average filler arc.
This arc sees the Straw Hat Pirates leave Water 7 on their journey to the Florian Triangle, and while the premise for it is quite interesting, the story of the arc itself doesn't live up to the expectations. After such an intense arc, a shorter filler arc would have been better and even the story that fans got spanning the 11 episodes felt like it could have been wrapped up in fewer episodes. Nonetheless, some fans have come to love this story arc as well as it enhances the journey of the Straw Hat Pirates and the bond they share with each other.
9 Reverie Arc - 12 episodes
The Reverie arc is one of the shortest in the manga and consists of just 6 chapters. The arc follows after the events of Whole Cake Island and sees the most important world leaders hold a meeting to discuss the political events, along with the rising concern of piracy.
While the arc was perfect in the manga, the anime version of it was quite stretched out and delivered a total of 12 episodes. Most of the episodes were padded with flashbacks from earlier One Piece chapters and other relevant material. However, while the arc was certainly far less enjoyable in the anime and lacked quite a bit of the intensity that its manga counterpart carried, it was still quite interesting and adapted every bit of the manga faithfully.
8 Post-War Arc - 26 Episodes
Just like the Marineford arc, the Post-War arc of One Piece is also much longer in the anime than it is and the manga. This is partially due to the fact that this arc also has some filler woven into it which, although fun to see, given that a good portion of it focuses on the lives of Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, is still a bit too much. This arc also focuses on the remaining members of the Straw Hat Pirates and, at the same time, delivers a plan for them to get stronger over the course of time.
Luffy comes to grips with the fact that Ace is dead and that is precisely what leads to the flashback about his childhood with Ace and Sabo. In the manga, the Post-War arc spans over 17 chapters, while the anime stretches it to 26 episodes. Nonetheless, it must be said that the quality of this arc is phenomenal, and despite it being a bit too long an arc in the One Piece anime, fans thoroughly enjoyed it and didn't mind sitting through a few extra episodes. A perfect adaptation, however, would be shorter.
7 Zou Arc - 29 Episodes
Following the fight with Donquixote Doflamingo in Dressrosa and the fall of his empire, the Straw Hat Pirates traveled to the Phantom Island of Zou. With a Vivre Card, the crew managed to reach the island without too many problems. The arc played a very important role in the story moving forward as it established the Four Emperors Saga and the concept of the Road Poneglyphs.
In the manga, the arc was short and spanned 23 chapters. Its anime counterpart, however, wasn't nearly as good and had 29 episodes in total. Once again, the episodes were needlessly expanded upon with scenes such as the crew fighting the bees while going to meet Nekomamushi. While the highs of the arc were adapted perfectly, the extended parts weren't great.
6 Marineford Arc - 33 Episodes
While it is surprising to see Marineford on here, the fact is that the Marineford arc is actually 33 episodes long, while it is only 31 chapters in the manga. A perfect anime adaptation would see the arc be far less than 31 episodes or, at the very least close to it. The fact that Marineford was stretched to 33 episodes is proof that it is longer than it actually needed to be.
That is not to say that Marineford was not enjoyable in the anime. In fact, it is one of the most popular arcs in the anime and is loved by fans all over. However, it could have been even better had it stayed true to the manga and was paced much better. That said, it is understandable why the anime arc was longer than needed as the One Piece anime is not seasonal, and, as such, some corners need to be cut to make things work better in the long run.
5 Punk Hazard Arc – 46 Episodes
Punk Hazard was the first island that the Straw Hat Pirates visited in the New World. This arc forms the first half of the Dressrosa Saga and is pivotal in the story progressing towards the Wano Country arc. In the manga, Punk Hazard consists of 46 chapters and surprisingly, in the anime the count remains the same. This means that every single chapter of the Punk Hazard arc was made into an episode on its own. Given that One Piece wasn't nearly as dense as it is now, this pacing is a bit too slow.
Ideally, Punk Hazard's episode number should be close to 30. Sadly, the production of the anime wasn't at its best during this time. As such, the anime suffered quite a bit, as did its pacing. Nonetheless, Punk Hazard is an incredible arc that gave the fans some of the most iconic moments in the story and set up other important ones to come. As a set-up to Dressrosa, this arc did the job brilliantly in both the anime and the manga.
4 Fishman Island – 51 Episodes
Fishman Island was the last place that the Straw Hat Pirates visited before entering the New World. Following their return to Sabaody after the two-year timeskip, the crew set sail to the underwater island which lay 10,000 meters below the sea level. Fishman Island gave fans some of the most intriguing plot lines such as those concerning Queen Otohime, Fisher Tiger, and even the likes of current Straw Hats, such as Jinbe. The arc also did a brilliant job in showcasing how far the Straw Hat Pirates had come after their two years of training.
In the manga, Fishman Island consisted of 51 chapters. Just like Punk Hazard, the number stayed consistent in the anime version of the arc as well. For a decently paced anime, Fishman Island should have had close to 35 episodes, however, due to a plethora of reasons, such as the anime closing in on the manga, the pacing had to be slowed down. Despite that, Fishman Island remains to be a thoroughly enjoyable arc for every fan and it tackled some of the most important themes in Oda's story, such as racism and prejudice. To this day, fans hold Fishman Island close to their hearts.
3 Whole Cake Island Arc - 95 Episodes
One of the longest arcs in both anime and manga, Whole Cake Island followed shortly after Zou and saw Luffy, along with half of the crew, Pedro, Pekoms, and Carrot, travel to the territory of one of the Yonko, Big Mom. The goal of the arc was to rescue Sanji from her clutches and, at the same time, steal her Road Poneglyph. The arc was perfectly paced in the manga for the most part, except for the chase in the Seducing Woods.
In the anime, the arc is a bit too long and spans a monstrous 95 episodes. While some of the extensions are, simply put, bad filler, others are actually placed very well and only enhance the original material, such as the short fights in the Seducing Woods, or the fights concerning Germa. Overall, the anime version of the arc was still inferior to the manga, though some episodes, such as Episodes 870 and 877, stood out quite a lot.
2 Dressrosa Arc - 118 Episodes
One Piece's Dressrosa might well be one of the worst adapted arcs in the anime's history. Although the arc is quite long already in the manga at 102 chapters, the anime makes this already exhausting arc even longer. With 118 episodes, it almost feels as if some scenes are needlessly stretched and don't live up to the hype of its manga counterpart. The additional scenes often feel out of place and, thus, affect the interest of the fans in the arc greatly.
Dressrosa is still quite an incredible arc with some of the best villains and flashbacks, however, the anime certainly makes it a tad more exhausting. The actual episode time makes the arc even more unbearable in the anime, with some episodes having a total of 6 minutes of recap. On the bright side, the arc does have some good filler, such as Sabo's backstory, which was approved by Eiichiro Oda himself and is completely canon.
1 Wano Country Arc - Ongoing
The Wano arc of One Piece is still ongoing and has far surpassed the number of chapters that the entire arc had in the manga, despite not being close to its end even now, which makes it the longest One Piece arc. While the arc has been incredible in the anime in many ways and has delivered some of the best action sequences as well as the best-directed episodes so far, it's still frustrating at times due to the pacing issues.
At the same time, some of the filler that is added to extend the episodes simply doesn't make sense at times or goes against what the author shows in his own manga. That said, Wano is truly a masterpiece in the anime and it shouldn't be compared with its source material simply because they are two different mediums. The Wano arc might be way too long in the anime but it has also given the fans episodes of the quality of 1015, and, more recently, some other incredible episodes such as 1061, and 1062. The Wano arc in One Piece could have been even better if the episodes wouldn't have to be churned out weekly and there was less pressure on the staff working on it. Despite everything, the One Piece staff goes well and beyond to deliver phenomenal episodes every week and this must be appreciated by fans all over the world.