‘One Piece: Elbaph Island Arc’ Coming to Netflix in April 2026

Huge changes are coming to the One Piece anime in 2026! With a short break planned for Q1 2026, the One Piece anime will return in April 2026, which will kickstart the highly anticipated Elbaph Island Arc. However, huge changes are coming: fewer episodes will be released this year.

Except a six-month break between October 2024 and April 2025, Netflix has been airing weekly episodes of the Egghead Island Arc since January 2024. At the time of writing in late October 2025, Egghead Island has reached its climax, and there are only a handful of episodes left.

In a live video on YouTube, Nakano, the editor-in-chief of One Piece Media at Weekly Shonen Jump, and Koike, a producer of TOEI Animation for One Piece, delivered some huge news for the future of the One Piece anime.

In the announcement video, the pair revealed that, moving forward, One Piece will adopt a seasonal format and drop simulcasts. This is to prevent the anime from catching up with the manga, which is still in the middle of the next arc, Elbaph Island. The seasonal format means that One Piece will now be limited to a maximum of 26 episodes per year.

This change also means that TOEI Animation aims to adapt the manga at a 1:1 ratio with the anime, which means one manga chapter equals exactly one anime episode. The goal is not only to provide better pacing for audiences, but also to give TOEI the chance to add further context to the story and flesh out key moments and plot lines.

These changes will come into effect from 2026, with the Egghead Island Arc confirmed to end in December 2025. The anime will take a three-month break from January to March 2026, then return with the Elbaph Island Arc in April 2026.

Picture: Our first look at Luffy on Elbaph Island in One Piece

Are you looking forward to watching One Piece: Elbaph Island Arc on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!