Jump Festa 2026 somewhat felt like a return to the old days, with major announcements from Bleach and One Piece. Whereas the former announced the premiere of the fourth and final cour of the Thousand-Year Blood War anime, One Piece revealed when the anime would be returning from its planned hiatus.
As reported back in October, the One Piece anime will be concluding the Egghead arc in December before going on hiatus from January to March. The series then returns in the Spring and thanks to Jump Festa 2026, we now know that the premiere date for the start of the Elbaph arc is April 5th in Japan (April 6th in the U.S.).
Moving forward into 2026, Toei has confirmed that they will only release 26 new episodes of One Piece a year, opting for the series to go on hiatus instead of producing lengthy filler arcs.
The Jump Festa event also saw the release of a new trailer and key visual for the Elbaph arc, which you can check out below.
As of December 2025, One Piece has officially entered its Final Saga, a milestone confirmed by creator Eiichiro Oda.
The manga is currently immersed in the Elbaf Arc, while the anime adaptation (as mentioned above) is gearing up to begin that very same storyline in April 2026.
Taking into account Oda’s past comments and the traditionally deliberate pacing that long-running Japanese manga tend to adopt in their closing chapters, most industry watchers believe the series is likely to reach its conclusion sometime between 2028 and 2030. Based on that timeline and the new rule of only 26 new anime episodes per year, those same analysts are predicting that the One Piece anime will conclude between 2032 and 2035.
Manga chapters and new anime episodes are slowing down so that Oda can have the necessary prep time to "stick the landing."
Of course, Luffy and the Straw Hat crew still have major mysteries and conflicts ahead of them. The truth behind the One Piece itself and the long-lost Void Century has yet to be uncovered, and Eiichiro Oda has repeatedly hinted that an all-out “Final War” is looming on the horizon.
Many fans and analysts expect that massive clash to involve the World Government, the Revolutionary Army, and the Cross Guild.
The anime’s Egghead Arc is currently on track to wrap up on December 28, 2025.