Best One Piece Arcs Ranked by Impact

Ranking One Piece arcs is anime’s favorite blood sport. With the Final Saga underway and the anime moving to seasons, here is where we plant our flag.

The rankings

1. Enies Lobby. The declaration of war, the flag burning, Robin’s scream. The series’ beating heart.

2. Marineford. The war that changed everything and the loss that defined Luffy’s generation.

3. Water 7. The quiet masterpiece: a breakup story about a boat and the family around it.

4. Wano Country. The samurai epic that pushed the anime’s production to film quality weekly.

5. Whole Cake Island. Sanji’s arc and Big Mom’s madness, the series at its most gothic.

6. Alabasta. The first great war and the template every later arc builds from.

7. Egghead. The Final Saga’s opening statement, already rewriting the board.

The remarkable thing is what did not fit: Dressrosa, Sabaody, Impel Down, Zou. Any other series would kill for the arcs left off this list.

My take: Enies Lobby over Marineford is the hill I die on. Marineford is the bigger battle, but Enies Lobby is the moment One Piece explained what it believes: no one gets left behind.