Will One Piece anime be on break between Wano and Egghead? Tentative episode schedule explored

Following the end of One Piece anime's Wano Country Saga, the series released a teaser for the upcoming Egg Head arc. However, as per the announcement, the next arc is set to start on Sunday, January 7, 2024. With a gap of over a month between the two arcs, is the One Piece anime going on a break?

After the end of the Wano Country Saga, the anime is finally heading towards its Final Saga. The upcoming saga will be started off with the Egg Head arc, also known as The Future Island arc. Up until now, the series has published around 40 chapters, meaning that the anime has started to catch up with the manga series.

Disclaimer: This article may contain spoilers from the One Piece manga.

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One Piece anime will likely go on a break before the Egg Head arc

Luffy as seen in One Piece episode 1085 (Image via Toei Animation)

Yes, One Piece anime will most likely be going on a break before Egg Head arc. However, nothing has been confirmed by Toei Animation so far. The upcoming break might not be a special break to commemorate the end of Wano Country Saga but Toei Animation's annual holiday break.

For the past two years, the anime has gone on a break for two weeks during the holidays, i.e., the final week of the year and the first week of the new year.

Considering that One Piece anime's episode 1085 ended by adapting the manga's chapter 1057, fans can expect the next episode, i.e., episode 1086 to adapt chapter 1058.

The episode will be aired on Sunday, December 3, 2023. It will be titled A New Emperor! Buggy the Star Clown!. Hence, the episode might likely focus and expand majorly on Buggy, Mihawk, and Crocodile.

Buggy as seen in One Piece episode 1086 preview (Image via Toei Animation)

Following that, there is still nearly a month-long time before the Egg Head arc begins on January 7. Thus, given the schedule, one can assume that One Piece anime will be taking its holiday breaks on December 24 and December 31. This means that the anime might likely release two more episodes, on December 10 and December 17, before taking a break.

Unfortunately, considering that One Piece Chapter 1061 starts the Egg Head arc means that there will be only two chapters worth of content for One Piece episodes 1087 and 1088. Hence, fans can expect the One Piece anime to expand the storylines for episodes 1059 and 1060 to fit into the two episodes.

Lilith as seen in One Piece's Egg Head Arc teaser (Image via Toei Animation)

The only other option for the anime would be to take additional weeks of breaks prior to the start of the Egg Head arc. However, if the anime were to be taking a break for so long, Toei Animation might have already announced it.

Therefore, fans may have to tune into One Piece episode 1086 to get clues about what the upcoming weeks of the anime are going to look like. Fans should also be on the lookout for some details released by the anime after the episode's release as there could also be announcements about the same.