2024 was a phenomenal year for the One Piece fans, with the first act of the Egghead saga taking the world by storm. All the major battles, such as Shanks vs. Kid, Luffy vs. Lucci, and Garp vs. Blackbeard Pirates, had breathtaking animation, raising the bar for the upcoming episodes. Then, the One Piece anime went on a six-month break to further improve the animation quality. As promised, the One Piece anime made a stunning return in 2025, brilliantly adapting Kuma’s story and the final moments of the Egghead arc.
In a nutshell, Egghead arc Part 2 has been an absolute blast. Now that the Egghead incident has concluded in the anime, here are the five best One Piece episodes I watched in 2025.
Spoilers Warning:
This article contains spoilers about the Egghead arc Part 2 events. Proceed with caution.
5. Luffy vs. Kizaru Rematch
- Episode Number: 1127
- IMDb Rating: 9.6
When Admiral Kizaru made his debut in the Sabaody Archipelago arc, he was an absolute nightmare to the Straw Hats. Thankfully, Rayleigh interrupted him, and he seemed like an insurmountable threat at that time. Fast forward to now, Kizaru was ordered to eliminate Vegapunk at Egghead, and the admiral’s path crossed with Monkey D. Luffy once again. But this time, they are 100 times stronger than they were two years ago, as Luffy claimed.
Luffy’s rematch with Kizaru began with a haki-infused kick, and it marked the start of an exhilarating battle. Luffy, in his Gear 5 form, has become unstoppable lately, and even Kizaru was aware of this change. Although Kizaru came on a different mission, he went toe-to-toe against Luffy with his Pika Pika no Mi powers.
The anime staff brilliantly brought the light clone sequences, Luffy’s Gomu Gomu no Star Gun, to life with sparkling and quirky animations. Thus, the One Piece anime’s return in 2025 kicked off with a bang with the fantastically choreographed battle between Luffy and Kizaru.
4. Joy Boy’s Conqueror’s Haki Unleashed
- Episode Number: 1153
- IMDb Rating: 9.8
At the time of writing, this is the highest-rated One Piece episode of 2025, right up there on top along with Kuma’s Past episode. Joy Boy has been a mysterious legend for a long time in One Piece. All the fans continued to wonder what he looked like, what his devil fruit and haki powers were, and so on.
Joy Boy was revealed to be the previous user of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, Devil Fruit in this arc. So, naturally, we expected to see Joy Boy in action with his Devil Fruit powers for the first time. However, Oda twisted the narrative and unleashed Joy Boy’s Conqueror’s Haki stored within Emet to send the Five Elders back to the Holy Land.
Experiencing the greatest haki feat so far in the history of One Piece with top-tier animation made us feel the chills, just like how Luffy reacted to the insane Conqueror’s Haki of Joy Boy in this episode. At last, Oda offered us a glimpse into the past, where we saw a silhouette of Joy Boy in a brief yet beautiful conversation with Emet, the Iron Giant Robot.
3. Bonney Becomes Joy Girl
- Episode Numbers: 1151 & 1152
- IMDb Rating: 9.7 & 9.7
Bonney becoming the second Nika in the Egghead was not on everyone’s bingo cards. Despite this moment being thematically perfect, Bonney’s Joy Girl transformation was a controversial moment when it was first revealed in the manga. The One Piece fandom may have been split into two back then, but the One Piece anime ensured that every anime-only fan was in the same boat with its extraordinary adaptation.
The anime expanded Bonney’s Nika form with anime-original scenes that made us love this transformation even more. Toei Animation nailed both the transformation sequences and Bonney’s revenge against St. Saturn. It was absolutely joyful to see Bonney taking on the form of her and her father’s idol and put an end to the cursed spider that haunted her family since its origin.
Some of the fans who didn’t like the idea of Joy Girl in the manga were blown away by Bonney’s transformation in the anime. That is exactly how divinely Toei Animation recreated these moments for the fans.
2. The Five Elders’ Arrival on Egghead Island
- Episode Number: 1144
- IMDb Rating: 9.7
The Five Elders were introduced all the way back in the Skypiea arc. There was always a feeling of something sinister about them, but we couldn’t prove it at that time. Years passed, and we even reached the Final Saga without getting any information about them other than them being figureheads for Imu. Fortunately, St. Saturn, one of the Five Elders, came to take control of the Egghead incident. And finally, Oda decided to reveal the demonic powers of the Gorosei in the Egghead incident.
Everyone was shell-shocked when St. Saturn turned into a monster resembling the yokai, Ushi-Oni. And to top it off, St. Saturn summoned the rest of the Gorosei in order to stop Dr. Vegapunk’s broadcast. Manga readers knew that it was going to be herculean task for the animators to recreate this monstrosity in the anime. But little did we know that Toei Animation would effortlessly adapt this sequence and go on to surpass the experience when we watched it happen for the first time in the manga.
This is exactly the way one should introduce the endgame antagonists of the One Piece series. Following their arrival, the animators continued to deliver consistent and great anime quality for all the Five Elders, which made them even more terrifying in the One Piece anime.
1. Kuma’s Past
- Episode Numbers: 1136
- IMDb Ratings: 9.8
If someone told us that Bartholomew Kuma, the Tyrant, would go on to become a key and fan-favorite character in One Piece a year ago, no one would have believed it. However, auteur Eiichiro Oda turned the so-called adversary before into one of the best characters in the series’s story in the Egghead arc. Bonney and her father, Kuma’s stories took center stage in the second act of the Egghead arc, and we finally got to Kuma’s heartwrenching backstory for the first time.
Manga readers have been waiting for Kuma’s past to get animated so we could all sob together and get heartbroken once again. For around three months, Toei Animation meticulously covered every chapter of Kuma’s life with unprecedented quality. The final episode, in which the iconic Kuma run scene was crafted to perfection.
Kuma had every right to become a villain, but he chose kindness over anything, which cemented his character as the kindest soul in One Piece. Although all the action scenes were beyond great this year, I’m going with Kuma’s past episode as my pick for the best One Piece episode I watched this year. There will be neither another Kuma nor a brilliant adaptation of a heartrending and unforgettable flashback like this.
In line with the previous year, 33 One Piece episodes aired this year. This will be the last year where the One Piece anime featured 30+ episodes, as the series is becoming seasonal starting with the Elbaf arc next year. We will be back with the best One Piece episodes in the Elbaf arc next year. In the meantime, let us know your picks for the best One Piece episodes of 2025 in the comments below.
Aparna Ukil
