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Whats GAF's favourite One Piece arc?

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YAWN

Ask me which Shakespeare novel is best
Being an immensely popular manga, Im guessing One Piece has more than its fair share of fans on GAF.
I've differing opinions on a number of forums, and was wondering the community thought here.

For me, it's a tie between Impel Down and Skypiea.

I believe the both encompass the soul and heart of One Piece; adventure. Impel Down has a lot more world building and important character introductions, as well as an incredible sense of danger with the unstoppable Magellan, whereas Skypiea was fun romp in a really imaginative land, with a heartwarming story thanks to Noland and Calgara, and even moreso if you count Jaya with Luffy's display of power and dreams against Bellamy.

While watching the series, I remember a lot of people recommended skipping Skypiea, and while I can understand its feeling of detachment from the rest of the series, again, I think it conveys the main point of One Piece. Battling against all odds and having fun. Not only that, but Enel as a villain was great. He felt different from the rest of Luffy's enemies, and the same with Magellan. Magellan himself was just doing his job, and in the end Luffy was the true bad guy, letting loose truly evil bastards for his own goal (though I can't blame him). Both Enel and Magellan had a sense of threat too, as if any of the main characters could be killed in an instant. The only reason Luffy defeated Enel was due to pure luck regarding his devil fruit, and Magellan himself wasn't even truly defeated despite all the big names battling him.

Marineford is a close number 2, and is easy to see why. Im expecting this to be the fan favourite, as it;s hard to argue against how epic it was, and how cool it was seeing all the big names going at each other.

I'm really enjoying Whole Cake Island at the mo too. I think we're approaching the part where shit is truly gonna go down thanks to the upcoming wedding, and seeing the Vinsmokes fight a Yonkou. As long as Big Mom doesn't go down, which should be the case, it'll rank among my favourites. Sanji is one of my favorite characters so it's been great seeing him get such attention. Just hoping for a power up due to all the shit he's been through.
 
Water 7/Enies Lobby arc. I absolutely love CP9 and the six styles. Luffy vs ussop was incredible and the farewell to Merry was some of the best stuff I've ever seen in anime. I actually shed a few tears
 

Laz-E-Boy

Member
Sabaody for me. Hands down. An arc introducing countless of intriguing and incredibly important characters that ends in a completely unexpected way. This arc took me by surprise. Was not expecting much initially and wound up being captivated the entire time.
 

Litan

Member
I've only just started Fishman Island, but, so far, Water7/Enie's Lobby are my favorites.

I get why people like Marineford, but a little pass halfway through, I was exhausted with all the super powered battles involving a whole lot of characters I wasn't really attached to since Luffy was the only Strawhat present.
 

Angel_DvA

Member
Too much to just give one, Enies Lobby is probably my favorite, or Arlong, or Arabasta or ... all of them besides Thriller Bark.
 
It's gotta be water 7/enies lobby

Dressrosa, Sabaody, impel down, war of the the best close seconds

Depending on how this arc plays out though I think it could come out on top tbh


All the arcs have their moments though
 

Lucumo

Member
Meh, that's impossible to say. Having grown up with the series and watched from the beginning when it was first released (switched to the manga at some point), I would like to go with the complete East Blue arc as it was simple fun back then, with the scales not being as high as well as it being more "innocent". What follows is mostly great, so the beginning of that adventure has a special place in my heart.
 

Samemind

Member
Gotta be Arabasta, it's such a great closure to a saga filled with emotional ups and downs and so many plot threads converging and emerging (poneglyphs plot, whitebeard plot, world govt and reverie, etc)

And it was one of the handful of times the anime made an 11/10 adaptation of the source material
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKZRqe0Iyww
 

Pein

Banned
Marineford. Sucks that the manga went to shit after.

Still that arc is some of the best Manga I've ever read.
 
Water 7/Enies Lobby arc. I absolutely love CP9 and the six styles. Luffy vs ussop was incredible and the farewell to Merry was some of the best stuff I've ever seen in anime. I actually shed a few tears

Yes!

Not only is this whole thing my favorite arc in One Piece, I think it's the best story arc in any manga/anime I've ever seen, and it's not likely to be surpassed. Tons of character development, great fights, a great storyline, the crew escaping impossible odds, Sogeking, and satisfying all the way through, especially the ending.

Just top notch.
 

Meffer

Member
Water 7/Enies Lobby arc. I absolutely love CP9 and the six styles. Luffy vs ussop was incredible and the farewell to Merry was some of the best stuff I've ever seen in anime. I actually shed a few tears

It was really good. The stakes kept raising and everyone brought their A-game. Didn't drag either surprisingly.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Skypiea for me probably. I really fell in love with the series there.
Yeah, same. Skypiea had the greatest sense of adventure for me and I loved the ancient tribal themes it had going on. Enel vs. the Shandians was such a good backdrop. Enel felt DANGEROUS, too - he seemed invincible for most of the arc. The flying ark, the legend of Fairy Vearth, the dangerous forests of Upper Yard, the revelation that
Norland wasn't a liar and was actually a badass
, the giant beanstalk and the high priests - everything was so whimsical and epic and awesome. I bet it'll be really important down the line, too.
 
Sabaody Archipelago, just for the sheer subversion and formula structure.

Not only were the Straw Hats outgunned and outmatched, but the ramifications of that arc still leave lasting ripples to the story. The Supernovae were introduced and became some of the biggest key players in the New World, which sets the stage for the Straw Hat/Heart Pirate Alliance and the conflict with the Yonko.
The arc is also important for introducing the Celestial Dragons, Silvers Rayleigh, foreshadowing the Voice of All Things, Luffy's actual reason for becoming PK, and Luffy showing signs of Conqueror's Haki.


Most of all, it's the domino that kicked off Luffy's biggest losing streak in the story.
 

Ogodei

Member
I have a soft-spot for Skypiea, as much as people seem to dislike it. Great fights (including the best Robin fight in the series!), and the most thrilling "adventure" aspect to the series until the trip down to Fishman Island.

Enies Lobby has the highest highs of the series, but was probably the first hint of the series starting to get overstuffed. We all remember CP9, the Galley-La company, the Usopp-Luffy fight, the confrontation with Franky, Sogeking, but what about the multi-headed judge, the criminal jury, the giants, the drama with Sodom and Gomorrah or the lesser members of the Franky Family, or the whole run with the Sea Train (Nero and Wanzei).

The arc meanders a bit, which is easily forgotten because of how powerful the good parts were (compared to, say, Dressrosa, where the highs weren't strong enough to fight the less memorable parts). Skypiea has very little fat and a *lot* of the weirder bits of it have strong links to the future of the series, whereas only a few things in Water 7 have broader implications (like the introduction of mermaids and the tieback to Little Garden).
 

Namikaze1

Member
Water 7/Enies Lobby

I never thought I would cry over a ship. Many tears were shed reading the chapter and even more when the anime got to Merry's farewell.

And again when the dub got there as well.
 

Anth0ny

Member
has to be Marineford. The entire first half of the story built up to that arc. I'll never forget following that arc weekly with the manga. Shit got real EVERY week. Every single final panel was INSANE. It was nuts.


Water 7 has some of the best moments in the entire story but I do think it went a little long and not everything was Luffy vs. Usopp or Merry's farewell caliber.

Arlong Park, Sabaody and Alabasta are right up there as well.
 

Toxi

Banned
I think I'll go with Jaya+Skypiea. The wonderful initial conflict of idealism vs cynicism with Luffy's awesome take down of Bellamy, and then the imaginative sky world with a wonderful backstory for Norland and Calgara. Not to mention that Enel, despite falling into the tired cliche of the god complex villain, is pretty great.
 
Sabaody and Enies Lobby. Sabaody for the characters it introduced (including the Celestial Dragons) and Enies Lobby for the... Well, everything.

More recently, Zou was a great arc and I'm really enjoying Totland so far. I want Big Moms hat.
 

Toxi

Banned
Too much to just give one, Enies Lobby is probably my favorite, or Arlong, or Arabasta or ... all of them besides Thriller Bark.
Thriller Bark is great. The crew's fight against Oars is probably my favorite fight in the entire series.

Honestly, the only arc I actively dislike is Fishman Island.
 

Moongazer

Member
Arlong Park.

The show was merely ok up to that point. It really felt like it took off once you got to Arlong Park. It was also the first arc that really hit you in the feels so I suppose that had a lot to with it at least for me.
 

Angel_DvA

Member
Arlong Park.

The show was merely ok up to that point. It really felt like it took off once you got to Arlong Park. It was also the first arc that really hit you in the feels so I suppose that had a lot to with it at least for me.

I agree with you, if with this one that I got hooked on One Piece.
 

LaNaranja

Member
Punk Hazard.

That story with the kids was fucking horrifying and it was great to see pissed off Chopper. The characters and humor were also all on point throughout and it is was the last full arc we got with all the Straw Hats together. Also it had Smoker who is always fantastic
even if he does end up being the biggest punk on Punk Hazard
.

Chopper/Law team up is the best.
595-cutie-chopper.png

Thriller Bark is a very close second, followed by the first trip to Sabaody.
 
Water 7/Enies Lobby was really where the series peaked for me. I loved Marineford too, very strong arc.

I think the only arcs I'm not crazy about are Skypiea and Fishman Island.
 
Alabasta. It had the most unique and interesting fights from all the crew members, actually managed to communicate the significance of the stakes really well, and, in the anime, had the best finale when Luffy finally won.

I don't read the manga, so that might influence my opinion. W7/Enies Lobby is great, but the anime just nailed the emotions, animation, and pace of Alabasta.
 

Entropia

No One Remembers
I'm so torn, I really like Jaya/Skypiea because it's all adventerous... but I also love Water 7/Enies Lobby.

I still read the manga, but I've more or less stopped watching the anime at this point, I barely remember much about Punk Hazard.
 
Enis Lobby hands down. The moment the crew got upgraded to world class threat. Luffy got his bounty that stuck forever until the events with the world noble.

Burning down the flag of the world government has yet to be topped.

A lot of people are saying Impel Down and Marineford but I personally hated those arcs. It was a focus on Luffy's journey alone and it showed with both arcs weakness.

Luffy didn't hold a candle to Magellen and in the end had to rush off to rescue Ace with Ivan with his tail between his legs after barely surviving the poisoning.

Then we get to the stupid Marineford battle. Epic in scale but missed the point of the entire thing which was to rescue Ace to focus on random stuff due to sheer amount of people introduced. Luffy rushed to the execution platform and kept getting smacked away because he was a kid in an adults battlefield with no Haki skills. The random betrayal of Whitebeard because of Akainu still makes me smack my face.

Luffy being alone in those 2 arcs just highlighted the weakness of his character and I feel that he didn't develop at all to compensate for the missing crew members.
 
Arlong Park was the only time I really felt like Luffy could loose badly. Arlong appeared to be absolutely terrifying and they really managed to make nami shine (she kinda fell flat after that unfortunately)

Alabastia was great because Crocodiles crew is absolutely great (Nico Robin and Bonkurei) and because Vivi is the best crewmember.

Barratie Arc because Mihawk and Gin.

Fish Island mainly because it was great to learn about the sun pirates, tiger fisher, jinbei and the tenryubito backstory.
 

Won

Member
One Piece peaked with Arlong Park, so that's an obvious answer.

Alabasta for the bigger arcs. Oda got that formula right on his first try.
 

venom473

Member
Gotta admit I don't remember all of the arcs but Arlong Park and Alabasta used to be my favourites in both manga and anime.
Currently rereading the manga and I really love everything happening prior to the Grand Line, especially after I found Dressrosa to be way too long and rather tiresome.
 
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