One Piece Sails to a Brand-New Era in 2026

A brand-new era is on the horizon for One Piece. The One Piece anime TV series by Toei Animation is about to undergo a significant change for its 2026 broadcast.

One Piece revealed its massive new release schedule during a special livestream event on Oct. 28, 2025. Effective immediately, the One Piece anime TV series will release a maximum of 26 episodes per year. Additionally, the One Piece anime will take a brief hiatus from January 2026 to March 2026. The sudden break is for the animators and the rest of the production crew. However, a new teaser of the upcoming “Elbaph Arc,” set to premiere in April 2026, was revealed during the official stream. The surprise announcement was accompanied by an official release date for Netflix’s One Piece Season 2, also known as One Piece: Into the Grand Line.

One Piece: New 2026 Anime Release Schedule & First Elbaf Arc Teaser

The One Piece special livestream also revealed that the anime adaptation of the “Egghead Island” arc is nearly 1:1, with 68 anime episodes to the manga’s 67 chapters. However, the upcoming anime adaptation of One Piece: Elbaf will be a one-to-one adaptation.

In September, Toei Animation teased the highly anticipated anime arc of “Elbaf” at the New York Comic-Con 2025. Similar to the current arc, “Elbaf” looks to the past by bringing back the Giants from the “Little Garden Arc,” as it moves forward to the future with shocking new revelations that fans have been waiting to hear for years. These significant story developments are all stepping stones to One Piece‘s grand finale in the near future, building towards the shocking reveal of the fabled treasure of Gol D. Roger.

One Piece anime series director Wataru Matsumi spoke to CBR about the level of freedom he has as a director, as well as the level of freedom he wants to give to animators, whether they’re domestic or overseas. “So, basically, as a rule of thumb, you know, we want for animators and every staff member to feel like they can do what they want to do,” he said, “and we don’t want to limit their abilities and imagination.”

“We get to work with animators from outside of Japan, and they bring in this new creativity and sensitivity that we may not necessarily have. So, especially with, you know, something like Nika’s actions and stuff, we’re able to create a much more interesting picture than before, but we try not to go overboard — you know, we do need to rein it in. I need to see the balance, but it’s been very exciting.”

The One Piece anime by Toei Animation is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix. Currently, the “Egghead Island” arc is nearing its epic finale, setting the stage for the next exciting saga: Elbaf.

“Monkey D. Luffy refuses to let anyone or anything stand in the way of his quest to become King of the Pirates, the series’ official description reads. “With his rubber-like stretching powers granted by the supernatural Devil Fruit, the spirited young pirate seeks the legendary treasure known as the One Piece. He’ll chart a course for the treacherous waters of the Grand Line and recruit a motley crew to build his Straw Hat Pirates one bond at a time. This is one captain who’ll never drop anchor until he and his friends all reach their dreams!”

New and previous chapters of the One Piece manga can be read digitally on the Viz Media and Manga Plus apps.