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One Piece is such a long anime series that it’s old enough to order its own beer. The anime began airing on October 20, 1999, while the manga was first serialized in 1997, so forget the beer, One Piece as a franchise is old enough to pay its own mortgage. With such a long history, it’s no surprise that the anime now has over 1,000 episodes. What is surprising, though, is how few the filler episodes are. It’s commonly agreed that One Piece has 95 filler episodes, accounting for just 9% of the entire series – a drop in the bucket for a show this long.
That said, 95 episodes are a lot. It’s more episodes than many other anime shows have and with over 1,000 episodes to watch, it makes sense to not want to watch 95 episodes of fluff. So, here are all the One Piece filler arcs you can skip without missing anything important.
1. The Warship Island Arc (Episodes 54 to 61)
The Warship Island Arc is the first filler arc in One Piece. The arc is meant to take place between Luffy getting his 30 million bounty and the Straw Hat Pirates’ journey into the Grand Line ocean route.
Luffy gets bored of waiting to get to the Grand Line and has the party stop and catch fish surrounding a raft. It turns out that Apis, a girl fleeing from a mercenary, is on that raft. The Straw Hat pirates take Apis in and find themselves entangled in her escape as they all try to evade the mercenary and, later, save a dragon.
2. The Post-Arabasta Arc (Episodes 131 to 135)
The Post Arabasta Arc happens, drum roll please, after the Arabasta Arc. When the Straw Hats stop to look for food, they end up leaving Chopper behind to think about his past. This arc isn’t so much an arc as a string of character spotlights for each of the Straw Hat Pirates. While you might want to watch one of the episodes about your favorite character, it’s safe to say you can skip this One Piece filler arc.
3. The Goat Island Arc (Episodes 136 to 138)
The Goat Island Arc follows the Straw Hat Pirates as they try to escape from Marines. In their frantic escape, they end up sailing into a Class-One Danger Zone where they discover Goat Island and meet an old man who has only a few days left to live.
4. The Ruluka Island Arc (Episodes 139 to 143)
The Ruluka Island Arc is One Piece’s very own Groundhog Day. The Straw Hat Pirates sail to the titular island with the goal of meeting Professor Henzo, a researcher who is studying the Rainbow Mist that appears on the island. The mist is a location itself and is fabled to contain the entrance to a City of Gold. Strange things start happening to Henzo and the Straw Hat Pirates when they enter the mist, and they meet a group of children that aren’t all what they seem. While the Ruluka Island Arc is still a filler arc, the mindfuck plot of the story makes it a fun watch.
5. G-8 Arc (Episodes 196 to 206)
The G-8 Arc is the longest of the One Piece filler arcs so it’s a good thing that many One Piece fans love it. The arc shines a spotlight on the characters and develops their storyline and identities deeper while putting them in a situation that makes it hard for them to escape as they normally would in other episodes of the show. Add a compelling villain on top and the G-8 Arc becomes the best filler arc to watch in One Piece.
6. Ocean’s Dream Arc (Episodes 220 to 224)
The Ocean’s Dream Arc is a 5 episodes long filler arc that’s meant to tie in with the PlayStation game Ocean’s Dream (2003). In this arc, all the members of the Straw Hat Pirates lose their memories and try to split apart because they neither know or trust each other. The arc thus becomes an exploration of their relationships as they rediscover what brought them together and the feelings they had for each other before they lost their memories.
7. The Foxy’s Return Arc (Episodes 225 to 226)
The Foxy’s Return Arc follows the Ocean’s Dream Arc, both in order of the filler arcs and chronologically. In it, the Straw Hat Pirates find themselves trapped in a storm when they encounter Foxy, an enemy of theirs, who they bring aboard the ship to keep him from being swept away by the waves. The Straw Hats end up helping Foxy get his old ship and crew back, but it turns out about as well for them as you’d expect.
8. The Ice Hunter Arc (Episodes 326 to 335)
The Ice Hunter Arc is a 10 episode filler arc, making it one of the longest on this list. It centers on the Straw Hat Pirates being betrayed after they try to help the crew of a wrecked ship. They later discover that the crew they saved turned out to be working for the Accino family who then plot to make the Straw Hat Pirates crash into an iceberg. The Straw Hat Pirates later have to go on one-on-one fights against members of the Accino family.
9. The Spa Island Arc (Episodes 382 to 384)
A beach episode for a show that’s always at sea, the Spa Island Arc shows the Straw Hats unwinding at a spa complex on an artificial island where they meet the sisters Sayo and Lina whose father is a gem researcher on a quest to create a genuine gem. The sisters try to grapple with their complicated feelings about their father abandoning them for the sake of his work. Meanwhile, the Straw Hat Pirates try to help them.
10. The Little East Blue Arc (Episodes 426 to 429)
The Little East Blue Arc centers on the Straw Hat Pirates’ explore the titular Little East Blue, a town made to look like East Blue. They spend a significant part of the arc meeting members of the community who are fans of theirs and sharing a banquet with them. The peaceful, if a bit awkward, banquet is interrupted when Corto and the Amigo Pirates crash the party.
11. The Z’s Ambition Arc (Episodes 575 to 578)
The Z’s Ambition Arc takes place just before the events of the movie, One Piece Film: Z. The Straw Hats finally arrive at the New World but their arrival is far from smooth sailing as they enter the Maubeugemour Sea, an area known for bizarre weather conditions that can create raindrops the size of ships. They encounter a size-changing giant called Lily who becomes their companion for the rest of the arc.
12. The Caesar’s Retrieval Arc (Episodes 626 to 628)
The Caesar’s Retrieval Arc follows the Straw Hat Pirates on their quest to get back Caesar Clown after Punk Hazard, who they entrusted Caesar to, is attacked by a group of people who take Caesar away.
13. The Silver Mine Arc (Episodes 747 to 750)
Like the Z’s Ambition Arc, the Silver Mine Arc ties up with a movie, One Piece Film: Gold. Luffy and Bartolomeo wind up in the middle of a platoon of Battle Boats. They are then taken to the Silver Mine, a deserted island where the two are imprisoned and forced to mine for silver. The two have to figure out how to escape alone while waiting for their other friends to find them.
14. The Marine Rookie Arc (Episodes 780 to 782)
The Marine Rookie Arc follows the Sanji Retrieval Team as they try to sneak into a Marine base to steal food after they lose their supplies due to Luffy wasting it. The arc is mostly just the Straw Hat Pirates being really hungry and dressing up as Marines so they can eat covertly at the Marine base cafeteria.
15. The Cidre Guild Arc (Episodes 895 to 896)
The Cidre Guild Arc is a tie-up arc for One Piece: Stampede where Luffy and Boa go toe to toe with the Cidre Guild, a group of bounty hunters. The two now have to defeat the Cidre Guild while figuring out where they can get more soda to restock the Thousand Sunny’s pantry.
16. The Uta’s Past Arch (Episodes 1029 to 1030)
The Uta’s Past Arc is a tie-in for One Piece Film: Red that tells the backstory of the artist Uta before she was a famous singer. It’s shown that Uta and Luffy were once childhood friends who met in Foosha Village. Though they didn’t get along at first, the two realized they both dreamed of traveling the world except Luffy wants to do it as a pirate while Uta wants to do it as a singer.
The two are separated when Uta and the Red Hair Pirates leave the island. Fast forward to the future, Luffy and his crew are listening to Uta’s song on their ship so they decide to set course for Uta’s concert on the island of Elegia with neither of the two knowing they’re about to meet again.
