One Piece: Elbaph Arc Gets April 5 Premiere Date, New Visual and Trailer Drop at Jump Festa 2026

The long-anticipated Elbaph Arc for the ONE PIECE anime has been officially dated. The new major chapter for Luffy and the Straw Hats will begin airing on April 5, 2026. This confirmation arrived during the franchise’s stage presentation at Jump Festa 2026, where Toei Animation also debuted a new key visual and a teaser trailer.

The announcement also confirmed a significant shift in the production strategy for the long-running series. Starting in 2026, Toei Animation is moving to a reduced annual output, targeting a maximum of 26 episodes per year. This change is intended to improve episode pacing and more closely align the anime’s tempo with Eiichiro Oda’s original manga chapters.

The Elbaph Arc will serve as the opening cour for the 2026 broadcast block, picking up after the conclusion of the Egghead arc earlier this year. The promotional materials shown at Jump Festa featured Luffy in his Elbaph attire and hinted at the massive scale Toei is aiming for, describing it as one of the biggest arcs yet. The TV anime, which first started airing back in 1999, is charting a new course for its adaptation of the ongoing story.