10 One Piece episodes to watch to complement Netflix's live-action series

Now that Netflix's live-action show is officially coming back for a second season, here's a guide for getting started with the anime

By Jen Lennon  |  August 30, 2023 | 2:00pm
TV Lists One Piece
10 One Piece episodes to watch to complement Netflix's live-action series
One Piece (Screenshots: Crunchyroll) Graphic: Libby McGuire

There’s been a lot of praise for Netflix’s One Piece live-action series, which premiered August 31. But for the uninitiated, the conversation surrounding the series can be difficult to parse, and that’s because getting into One Piece is a daunting task. A long-running, massively popular manga and anime series in Japan (it’s actually the best-selling comic series in history), One Piece never achieved the same sort of cultural saturation with American audiences as, say, Naruto or Dragon Ball Z. So while the live-action series is hugely significant for some, it’s left a lot of others in the dark.

With One Piece, it’s not just that there’s 26 years’ worth of backstory to catch up on; it’s that the volume of content produced by series creator Eiichiro Oda in that time is staggering. Since the manga debuted in 1997, Eiichiro has written and drawn more than 1,000 chapters of One Piece. The anime, which has been running consistently since 1999, has a similar amount of episodes, too. Which could all leave a prospective fan to wonder: How can I tell if this is for me without overcommitting?

Especially for viewers who are discovering the world of One Piece for the first time with the new Netflix series (which was just renewed for a second season), there’s a lot to dive into. The anime’s first season alone is 61 episodes long and even though they’re less than 30 minutes each, that’s still roughly 30 hours of television—and it’s almost all table-setting. But that’s because the thing that makes One Piece so special is how deeply it cares about its world and its characters.

The series takes its time setting up protagonist Monkey D. Luffy’s motivations. He wants to be the King of the Pirates, to find the legendary pirate treasure known as the One Piece. And the series chronicles his entire journey, from his childhood to building his crew to becoming one of the most well-known pirates in the world. It’s worth getting into all of it if you’re positive One Piece is for you, but if you’re just looking for an easy entry point into the anime, we’ve picked 10 key episodes from the early parts of the show that serve as a good introduction to some of the main characters and arcs you’ll recognize from Netflix’s live-action series. (And we suggest watching them in this order.) It’s only a small taste of what One Piece has to offer, but it should be enough to help you decide if you want to invest more time in the show—or help prep before season two.

“Luffy’s Past! Enter Red-Haired Shanks!” (Season 1, Episode 4)
Shanks loses his arm - One Piece[EP.4]ENG SUB

Though the manga opens with Luffy’s backstory, we don’t actually get into it in the anime series until episode four, “Luffy’s Past! Enter Red-Haired Shanks!” When Luffy was a kid, he met the pirate captain Shanks and quickly befriended him. Luffy’s admiration for and bond with Shanks is clear from the start, so it’s not much of a surprise that Luffy wants to follow in his footsteps and become a pirate, too. We also see the origin of Luffy’s Devil Fruit powers, as he swallows the Gum-Gum Fruit and becomes able to stretch his body like rubber.Luffy clearly romanticizes the pirate life, but this episode also shows him the harsh realities of it, too. After Luffy swallows the Gum-Gum Fruit, mountain bandits kidnap him and leave him for dead in the ocean. (He can’t swim anymore, thanks to the side effects of the fruit.) Shanks eventually rescues Luffy, though Shanks loses his left arm in the process. But none of this deters Luffy from wanting to become a pirate. Even Shanks can see he’s more determined than before. That’s why Shanks gives Luffy his signature straw hat, which will eventually inspire the name of his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates.

“I’m Luffy! The Man Who’s Gonna Be King Of The Pirates!” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Luffy meets coby for the first time | I’m gonna be the king of pirates

Several years later, Luffy has finally set off on his journey to become King of the Pirates. It goes sideways pretty quickly, though, when his dinghy gets caught in a whirlpool, leaving him adrift in a barrel. The barrel gets picked up by a cruise ship, but then the ship is attacked by Alvida and her pirate crew. In a world where most of the pirates have gimmicks (see the show’s next pirate villain, Buggy the Clown), Alvida’s thing is that she’s the “female pirate,” which, well, let’s just say that hasn’t aged well.But “I’m Luffy! The Man Who’s Gonna Be King Of The Pirates!” introduces us to two characters who will become vital throughout the series: Coby, a chore boy on Alvida’s ship, and Nami, who mostly sneaks around in the background here. After defeating Alvida, Luffy and Coby set off on their own.

“Enter The Great Swordsman! Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro!” (Season 1, Episode 2)
Zoro’s first badass introduction Onepiece English subs

“Enter The Great Swordsman! Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro!” introduces a few more major characters, but it’s also notable for setting up the show’s main themes. In this episode, Luffy and Coby land in Shells Town, looking to recruit the notorious pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro for their crew. When they find him, he’s been captured and tied up on a cross by Helmeppo, the son of Marine Captain Morgan, who is the de facto ruler of the town. Zoro pissed off Helmeppo after defending the town’s citizens from his unhinged behavior.In the next episode, Zoro does eventually join Luffy’s crew, but only after he realizes that Luffy is the kind of pirate who’s more interested in overthrowing tyrants in order to protect the weak than terrorizing innocents. Which is to say, honestly, he’s probably not a very good pirate in the traditional sense, but a pretty stand-up guy overall. After Luffy and Zoro take down Captain Morgan, Coby stays behind to fulfill his dream of becoming a Marine.

“Try Hard, Coby! Coby And Helmeppo’s Struggles In The Marines!” (Season 2, Episode 7)
Garp hears name luffy in the navy, garp vs cobe (English Sub)

It seems like the Netflix series is going for a very linear narrative, whereas the anime and manga tend to jump around a bit in time. In the anime, after Coby stays behind in season one, episode two, we don’t see him again until the second season, when we get a full installment about what happened when he and Luffy parted ways. In “Try Hard, Coby! Coby And Helmeppo’s Struggles In The Marines!,” we see Coby’s journey in, yes, the Marines. Helmeppo’s there, too, after getting his ass handed to him by Zoro led him to do some soul-searching. The ep also introduces Vice Admiral Garp, a key figure in the Marines. Garp has a connection to Luffy, but we don’t learn about that until much later in the series.

“A Terrifying Mysterious Power! Captain Buggy, The Clown Pirate!” (Season 1, Episode 5)
Yonkou Buggy first appearance

Buggy the Clown is the first person we see Luffy meet who has also eaten a Devil Fruit. Unfortunately for Luffy, Buggy is less interested in trading stories about their weird powers and sharing tips on how to avoid drowning and more interested in killing Luffy for fun. Extra unfortunate is the fact that Buggy has the powers of the Chop-Chop Fruit, which allows him to sever different parts of his body and reattach them at will. It makes him pretty hard to injure, let alone kill.In “A Terrifying Mysterious Power! Captain Buggy, The Clown Pirate!,” we finally learn more about Nami, who is a thief that only steals from pirates. She also hates pirates in general but is willing to team up with Luffy when, like Zoro, she realizes he’s a pretty atypical pirate. A few episodes later, they defeat Buggy, too—at least, for the moment.

“The Honorable Liar? Captain Usopp!” (Season 1, Episode 9)
luffy meet usopp for the first time😍😍

It’s still early in Luffy’s pirate career, which means he doesn’t always have the luxury of recruiting top-tier pirating talent. Enter Usopp, who’s introduced in “The Honorable Liar? Captain Usopp!” as a local irritant who likes to lie about the town being attacked by pirates. He’s got a good heart, though, which Luffy can see in the way that he works hard to cheer up Kaya, a local girl whose parents died the year before.This is the beginning of the Syrup Village arc, which goes on for nine more episodes. Luffy and Usopp defend the town from actual pirates, who want to hypnotize Kaya into changing her will and then steal all her money. (Kaya is obscenely, stupidly rich.) Luckily for Kaya, Luffy and Usopp manage to defeat the pirates, and Kaya gives Luffy his first proper ship, the Going Merry, as a thank-you gift. Usopp joins Luffy, Nami, and Zoro as they set sail.

“Unwelcome Customer! Sanji’s Food And Ghin’s Debt!” (Season 1, Episode 21)
sanji meets nami for first time (one piece)

Luffy has landed himself in some hot water at the , where he accidentally redirected a cannonball into the head chef’s quarters. While he’s arguing with the head chef, Zeff, about working off his debt for the repairs, the sous chef, Sanji, is down in the restaurant kicking the crap out of a customer for insulting his food. (Sanji is a highly skilled fighter, and his fight style relies heavily on his legs.) Luffy wants Sanji to be the Going Merry’s cook, but Sanji doesn’t want to leave Baratie. “Unwelcome Customer! Sanji’s Food And Ghin’s Debt!” is the second episode of the Baratie arc, but it’s the one that best shows Sanji’s character: He’s hot-headed and impulsive, but at the end of the day, he just wants to give people good food.

“The Strongest Pirate Fleet! Commodore Don Krieg!” (Season 1, Episode 22)
[Eng] Don Krieg fires all his weapons | Baratie restaurant scene | One Piece

Sanji’s inability to deny anyone a meal gets the Baratie crew into trouble when Don Krieg, the most feared pirate in East Blue, shows up at the restaurant, claiming that he won’t attack them if they just feed him and his crew. Sanji agrees, despite the protests of the rest of the kitchen staff. It’s not much of a surprise when Don Krieg betrays them and attacks the ship anyway; he didn’t get the nickname Foul-Play Krieg for nothing.“The Strongest Pirate Fleet! Commodore Don Krieg!” isn’t hugely essential in terms of character development. Instead, this episode is important in establishing both the size and the scope of the show’s world. Krieg and his fleet of 50 ships might be the most feared in East Blue, but that’s just one-quarter of the world. This is also the first major battle in the series; Buggy and the pirates Luffy fought off with Usopp were a big deal, but this is the first big sea clash that really takes things to the next level.

“Witch Of Cocoyashi Village! Arlong’s Female Leader!” (Season 1, Episode 32)
Nami saves zoro (Arlong park ep 32)

Nami’s been with Luffy and the rest of the Going Merry crew since they defeated Buggy, but her backstory has remained pretty mysterious. We finally get some more answers in “Witch of Cocoyashi Village! Arlong’s Female Leader!,” which is the second episode in the Arlong Park arc. The arc as a whole is equally as concerned with Luffy defeating the fishman pirate Arlong as it is with Nami’s character development, which is pretty remarkable. The show is, at this point, many, many episodes away from even completing the core cast, but it still takes a 15-episode detour to make sure that Nami is a fully realized character first.

 
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