When it comes to pirate action-comedy, you can’t go wrong with One Piece. But after more than 1,000 anime episodes, new viewers may feel intimidated without a One Piece watch order guide.
Of course, you could watch all of One Piece from start to finish. But like Nami, we can navigate you through One Piece‘s vast ocean of episodes, and separate the vital story arcs from the skippable filler.
One Piece Basics
Eiichiro Oda started the One Piece manga in Shonen Jump in 1997. The anime began in 1999.
At the beginning of the series, Monkey D. Luffy recruits various people into his pirate crew. This small but loyal band becomes known as the Straw Hat (or “Mugiwara”) Pirates. Fans also call them the Japanese term “nakama,” which describes a close type of friendship.
Several members of the crew, including Luffy himself, ate a Devil Fruit which gives them special powers.
One Piece Plot
Luffy’s ultimate goal is to become king of the pirates, just like the legendary Gold Roger. Like all great pirates, Gold Roger hid a giant treasure hoard known as the One Piece. Luffy aims to find this treasure.
This search for treasure, fun, and adventure has taken the Straw Hat Pirates all over the world. As the Straw Hats travel around, most new story arcs take place in some new location with a new villain to defeat. Often, the nakama will pick up a new crewmate along the way. They’ve also had to rescue people quite often.
Despite their heroic status, they are pirates. The Marines (the world government’s navy) consider them to be criminals.
One Piece Story Arc Watch Order
Some series have given later (often post-time skip) seasons new names to reflect changes in the anime — Dragon Ball Z, or Naruto Shippuden, for example.
However, all the One Piece seasons are simply One Piece. Since the series is so long, fans divide the story into two halves.
Canon Story Arcs (Early Episodes)
- East Blue Saga includes:
- Romance Dawn – episodes 1-3
- Orange Town – 4-8
- Syrup Village – 9-18
- Baratie – 19-30
- Arlong Park – 31-44
- Loguetown – 45, 48-53
- Buggy’s Crew Adventure – 46-47 (* canon filler)
Note: Buggy’s Crew Adventure is included in the manga. But it can also be considered filler because it’s a side story which doesn’t advance the plot.
- Alabasta Saga:
- Reverse Mountain – 62-63
- Whiskey Peak – 64-67
- Diary of Koby-Meppo – 68-69 (* canon filler)
- Little Garden – 70-77
- Drum Island – 78-91
- Alabasta – 92-130
Note: Diary of Koby-Meppo is another side-story filler.
- Sky Island:
- Jaya – 144-152
- Skypiea – 153-195
- Water 7:
- Long Ring Long Land – 207-219
- Water 7 – 229-263
- Enies Lobby – 264-290; 293-302; 304-312
- Post-Enies Lobby – 313-325
- Thriller Bark – 337-381
- Summit War:
- Sabaody Archipelago – 385-405
- Amazon Lily – 408-417
- Straw Hat’s Separation – 418-421; 453-456 (* canon filler)
- Impel Down – 422-425; 430-452
- Marineford – 457-489
- Post-War – 490-491; 493-516
Note: Straw Hat’s Separation tells about what happens to the other crew members after Sabaody Archipelago. It’s another side-story.
Canon One Piece Watch Order (After The Time Skip)
This includes everything after the two-year time skip, leading up to the conclusion.
1. Fish-Man Island:
- Return to Sabaody – 517-522
- Fish-Man Island – 523-541; 543-574
2. Dressrosa:
- Punk Hazard – 579-589; 591-625
- Dressrosa – 629-746
3. Four Emperors:
- Zou – 751-779
- Whole Cake Island – 783-877
- Levely – 878-889
- Wano Country – 909-1028; 1031-present (as of February 2023)
Everything after Wano Country is manga-only so far.
Filler Arcs and Episodes
“Filler” consists of any story that is not considered canon to the manga. Because they’re not canon, filler stories shouldn’t permanently affect the main story in any way.
Filler can be entertaining — indeed, filler often breaks the rules in comical, amusing ways. But they can be skipped.
First half filler:
- Warship Island – 54-61
- Post-Alabasta – 131-135
- Goat Island – 136-138
- Ruluka Island – 139-143
- G-8 – 196-206
- Ocean’s Dream – 220-225
- Foxy’s Return – 225-228
- Boss Luffy Historical Special – 291-292, 303, 406-407
- Ice Hunter – 326-335
- Chopper Man – 336
- Spa Island – 382-384
- Little East Blue – 426-429
- Toriko Crossover (The Strongest Tag-Team) – 492
Second half filler:
- Toriko Crossover (Save Chopper) – 542
- Z’s Ambition – 575-578
- Toriko and Dragon Ball Crossover – 591
- Caesar Retrieval – 626-628
- Silver Mine – 747-750
- Marine Rookie – 780-782
- Cidre Guild – 895-896
- 20th Anniversary – 907
- Uta’s Past – 1029-1030
One Piece Movie Watch Order
Like most anime movies based on manga, most One Piece theatrical films are non-canon filler. Even the semi-canon ones aren’t required viewing:
- One Piece: The Movie (2000)
- Clockwork Island Adventure (2001)
- Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals (2002)
- Dead End Adventure (2003)
- The Cursed Holy Sword (2004)
- Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (2005)
- The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle (2006)
- The Desert Princess and the Pirates (2007, a retelling of Alabasta)
- The Miracle Winter Cherry Blossom (2008, based on Drum Island)
- Strong World (2009)
- 3D: Straw Hat Chase (2011)
- Z (2012)
- Gold (2016)
- Stampede (2019)
- Red (2022)
Best Places to Watch One Piece
1. Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll simulcasts every episode of One Piece the same day as it broadcasts in Japan. Plus the streaming service has a couple of special made-for-TV movies — Episode of Sabo (Dressrosa from Sabo’s POV), Adventure of Nebulandia (non-canon), Heart of Gold (intro to the movie Gold), Episode of East Blue (recap), and Episode of Skypiea (recap).
Episodes are in Japanese, with English, Portuguese, Latin American Spanish, and European Spanish subtitles.
Price: You can watch One Piece for free without an account, but you will have to deal with ads. Fan level: $7.99/ month. Mega Fan: $9.99/ month. Ultimate Fan: $14.99/ month. A free-trial period is also available.
2. Netflix
If you’re in the United States, Netflix has the first 325 episodes — i.e. from Romance Dawn to the end of Water 7. Episodes are available with English subtitles or dubbed into English.
Netflix also has several One Piece movies — The Desert Princess and the Pirates, The Miracle Winter Cherry Blossom, Strong World, and Z. It will also have a live-action One Piece series in 2023.
Price: Basic with ads, $6.99/ month. Basic: $9.99/ month. Standard: $15.49/ month. Premium: $19.99.
How to Watch One Piece on Netflix Anywhere in the World
This method works on both desktop PCs and mobile phones or tablets.
- Purchase (or start a free trial) of a VPN. I can confirm that NordVPN works for this purpose.
- In the settings, choose United States as your location.
- Fire up the VPN and wait for it to do its magic
- Once you’re connected, navigate to Netflix (browser or app)
- Search “One Piece” in the Netflix search bar and you should see the anime pop up.
Enjoy! Please note that if your Netflix library doesn’t update to reflect the country you selected in your VPN, you may have to clear the Netflix cache first and try again.
To do this on mobile, go to settings -> apps -> Netflix -> clear cache. To do this on PC, you have to clear the cache in your web browser.
I’ve had no trouble using this method and I still use NordVPN to watch anime from various Netflix country libraries daily.
One Piece Watch Order: Final Thoughts
I hope this helps you better understand One Piece.
If you want more streaming options, check out our list of the best places to watch One Piece. We also have a character guide, and a full-series review.
