One Piece's Latest Arc Is The Best In The Series' History, & Here Is Why

Summary Egghead Island takes the best of past One Piece arcs and weaves them into an epic, satisfying saga.

Highly anticipated characters like Dr. Vegapunk and Rob Lucci make impactful returns in this arc.

The final antagonists, the Five Elders, make a terrifying debut, setting the stage for an intense showdown.

One Piece is a series known for having excellent action, impressive power-ups, and iconic character moments. Throughout its twenty-seven-year (and counting) run, there have been many story arcs that became fan favorites. From the fantastic Alabasta saga, the thrilling Water 7 and Enies Lobby arcs, and the bombast of Wano, there are a lot of excellent parts of One Piece out there.

Yet Eiichiro Oda seems dedicated to trumping all of One Piece's previous sagas with its latest arc - Egghead Island. There are characters showing up that have been teased for decades, plot points from years ago are being explained now, and characters returning for grudge matches and to fight alongside the Pirate King to be. Egghead Island is already one of the best arcs of the series, and it's still racing towards its climax.

It might be a bold claim to make before the arc has concluded, but Egghead has all the makings of an all-time great story arc. Not just for One Piece, but for Shōnen manga as a whole. With the stakes never being higher than they are now for Luffy and the Straw Hat pirates, Egghead's the first taste of what's to come for the aspiring Pirate King and his crew.

Related One Piece's Anime Delivers On Its Epic Rematch In A Way The Manga Never Could One Piece episode #1100 finally adapted the rematch between Luffy and Lucci, and its depiction of things is leagues above the original manga.

What Makes an Excellent One Piece Arc

Figuring Out What Makes Monkey D. Luffy's Adventures So Memorable

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To understand what makes Egghead Island into the powerful arc it's shaped into, it's important to know what other arcs have that makes them compelling. One example is the Alabasta arc - here, the Straw Hats find themselves up against Baroque Works, who are far stronger than them at first. Best exemplified when Luffy faces off against Sir Crocodile, their leader and one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and loses. However, the Straw Hats still continue to fight, and their strong sense of justice is what motivates them to overcome Baroque Works and save the day.

A similar case can be seen in the Water 7 saga. The Straw Hats seem like they're on the verge of collapse, with Usopp and Robin leaving seeming like a genuine possibility. The pirates then find themselves against the secretive and powerful agents of Cipher Pol. Yet once again, Luffy leads the Straw Hats to victory against impossible odds, even after an initial harsh loss. These arcs show the reader about the world of One Piece, and also highlight the depths Luffy and the Straw Hats would go to for one another, something highlighted to great effect in Egghead.

Egghead Island Has Highly Anticipated Characters Finally Appear

Dr. Vegapunk and Rob Lucci's Return Has Been a Long Time Coming

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Egghead Island begins when the Straw Hats encounter Jewelery Bonney out at sea. After saving her from a robot shark, they're escorted to Egghead Island - the futuristic homebase of Dr. Vegapunk. Dr. Vegapunk had been first been alluded to all the way back in Chapter #433, and the Straw Hats had repeatedly run into his old allies and coworkers, such as Judge Vinsmoke and Queen of the Beast Pirates. But this is the first meeting with him in the flesh proper.

Dr. Vegapunk has no real issue with the Straw Hats being there, but they chose a terrible time to arrive, as the Marines are coming to execute him due to his studying of the Void Century. Leading the charge and arriving just after the Straw Hats is Cipher Pol, being led by Rob Lucci. He soon engages Luffy in combat, and while Lucci has gotten much stronger over the two years since he and Luffy last fought, he is no match for Gear 5.

Bartholomew Kuma's Backstory Is Finally Revealed

The Warlord's Heartbreaking Life is One of the Series' Best

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Things quickly deteriorate for everyone, though, even as when they successfully retreat from Cipher Pol. Bonney had come to Egghead to avenge her father, Bartholomew Kuma, whom Dr. Vegapunk turned into an emotionless cyborg. Kuma had long been one of the biggest mysteries of One Piece, a quiet Warlord of the Sea who also seemed impossibly strong. But this arc reveals Kuma's heartbreaking backstory in one of One Piece's best flashbacks - revealing the love he had for his child, and the regret of Vegapunk for what he had done to the so-called 'tyrant.'

Egghead's strongest aspect is how it ties things together for One Piece as a series. It's an arc that seeks to bring up plot points from hundreds of chapters before and tie them up neatly. Lucci's return was first teased in Dressrosa, Vegapunk had been mentioned all the way back in Enies Lobby, and Kuma had been a huge mystery ever since Thriller Bark and Sabaody. Yet all three of these plot threads are resolved in this one arc in incredibly satisfying ways, and that's before the real threat shows up.

One Piece's True Final Antagonists Make Their Debut

The Five Elders Terrifying Might is Revealed

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The Egghead Island arc doesn't launch into overdrive until Marine Admiral Kizaru approaches to execute Vegapunk - and when Kizaru's assault is repelled by the Straw Hats, Saint Jaygarcia Saturn of the Five Elders appears to take things into his own hands, transforming into a massive spider creature with immeasurable Haki. He seems too powerful to be stopped, and announces a Buster Call on Egghead, beginning an unstoppable Marine attack. However, it's then Kuma makes his return to land one of the most satisfying punches in all of One Piece, obliterating Saint Saturn in a bid to save his daughter.

While Saturn's exceptional regeneration means he doesn't stay down, it's undeniably another incredibly cathartic moment for the series. Things only get more intense as the Giant Pirates begin to land, led by none other than Dorry and Broggy. Egghead Island once again brings back anticipated characters to pay off in awesome ways. The battle intensifies, Saturn summoning the rest of the Five Elders to fight alongside him and stop the Straw Hats and Giants from escaping, along with stopping a worldwide broadcast that Vegapunk prepared in the event of his death.

Egghead Island is far from over, but its easily one of the best ways One Piece could have started its final saga. It seems the Straw Hats will be heading to Elbaf next, another location that's been built up since Little Garden with the first appearance of the giants, making a perfect compliment to Egghead. Whatever Eiichiro Oda has planned, fans are doubtlessly going to have high expectations, and if it's half as good as Egghead, it'll just be another reason why One Piece is one of the greatest manga of all time.