There's No Way Netflix's Live-Action One Piece Season 4 Can Skip Skypiea Now

After stunning new developments in the source material, Skypiea is no longer an arc Netflix's live-action One Piece can gloss over. One Piece quickly became Netflix's best live-action anime adaptation when it debuted in 2023, but the question of length has always cast a shadow over the show's success. Comprising over 1000 chapters and counting, the prospect of Netflix allowing One Piece to cover the entirety of Eiichiro Oda's manga has always looked out of reach. There is a very real possibility that live-action One Piece will not get a proper ending.

Naturally, thoughts turn to which chunks of the One Piece anime and manga Netflix's version could potentially skip, and Skypiea is one of the leading candidates. Taking place shortly after One Piece's Arabasta arc, Skypiea, if it happened, would likely form the basis of Netflix's season 4. It's a largely standalone adventure with minimal bearing on the overarching One Piece world, but any notion of skipping Skypiea has been dashed by fresh revelations from the One Piece manga.

Recent One Piece Manga Reveals Make Netflix Skipping Skypiea Impossible

Skypiea Has Gone From Insignificant To Indispensable

The Straw Hat Pirates on Skypiea with Luffy in the right corner hanging onto a palm tree — The Straw Hat Pirates in the Skpiea Arc.

As the name implies, One Piece's Skypiea arc takes place on an island in the clouds. The Going Merry shoots into the sky, the Straw Hat Pirates enjoy a self-contained narrative in which they liberate the people of Skypiea from tyranny, then Luffy and the gang crash back to the ocean below. Skypiea's main villain, Enel, is neither a marine nor a rival pirate, and Luffy does not gain any major power-ups. At face value, it is easy to see why Netflix would be tempted to omit Skypiea from its live-action schedule and dig straight into the meatier Water 7 saga.

Netflix's One Piece season 2 will adapt up to the end of Drum Kingdom.

Hiding within the Skypiea chapters, however, are some of One Piece's most spiritual and religious moments. One particular scene involves the people of Skypiea almost making a human sacrifice to the Gods. At this ceremonial altar, references are made to the Sun God, the God of the Forest, God of the Land, and God of the Rain. One Piece neglected to mention these gods again for a very long time, and it seemed they were simply part of Skypiea's local belief system, bearing no importance at all to the wider One Piece world.

Much later, during the Wano saga, Luffy's Devil Fruit was revealed to be secretly modeled on Nika the Sun God, immediately shining new light upon Skypiea's sacrifice scene and hinting at a deeper layer of importance. One Piece chapter #1138 goes even further, however. On Elbaph, land of the giants, the Straw Hats discover a hidden tale about the world that also mentions "Earth God," "Forest God," "Sea God," and "Sun God." The details remain obscured, but these four entities clearly played major roles in wars that took place long beforeLuffy's voyage began - wars that likely shaped the very landscape of One Piece.

Watching Skypiea In One Piece Season 4 Will Be Much More Meaningful Now

It's Finally Time To Appreciate Skypiea

Skypiea's gods scene initially seemed like the meaningless ramblings of zealots misguided by Enel. Now, however, it is obvious that Skypiea was laying the foundations for understanding the foundation of One Piece's lore. The final villain Luffy comes up against, the mysteries of the void century, the identity of Imu, the history of Luffy's Devil Fruit - everything important in One Piece revolves around the actions of these four gods in centuries past, and Skypiea is the only time these all-important characters are mentioned.

Authenticity was one of many reasons Netflix's One Piece earned a level of critical acclaim most anime adaptations can only dream of.

For Netflix's live-action One Piece, therefore, skipping Skypiea simply isn't an option. Even if the adaptation never gets around to answering the mysteries of the world and showing the gods who once inhabited it, ignoring such a fundamental piece of lore-building would be deeply unfaithful to the story's themes and meaning. Authenticity was one of many reasons Netflix's One Piece earned a level of critical acclaim most anime adaptations can only dream of, and season 1 boldly teased plot threads that will likely never pay off, such as Zoro's rematch with Mihawk and Luffy becoming the Pirate King. Similarly, live-action One Piece cannot drop Skypiea's exposition on history's four gods.

Skypiea Was Already Important To One Piece

There Are Many Reasons For Netflix To Adapt Skypiea

Nico Robin as Miss All Sunday looking back over her shoulder in One Piece — Nico Robin as Miss All Sunday looking back over her shoulder

While introducing One Piece's Four Gods makes Skypiea unskippable in live-action, the arc's value goes far deeper than a few simple lines of foreshadowing. The Skypiea story is fundamental in establishing Nico Robin as a true member of the Straw Hat Pirates. The technology discovered on Skypiea leads to power-ups for both Usopp and Nami, while the island's history teases what One Piece's landscape looked like in the ancient past. Enel may have not yet returned in the manga, but the villain gives Luffy one of his standout fights regardless, and it's a battle that would suit the live-action medium perfectly.

Haki Type	Description
Conqueror's	The power of aura possessed by a select few from birth
Armament	The power to create a hard coating on the body
Observation	The power of perception, even seeing the future.

The Skypiea chapters are instrumental in introducing the concept of haki to One Piece, although it goes by a different name. Haki becomes increasingly prominent as Oda's story progresses, and Skypiea would provide the perfect launching-off point for haki in Netflix's show. The Going Merry receives huge development in Skypiea too, with the ship being presented as a sentient crew member for the very first time. Not only is humanizing the Merry crucial to Usopp's future, it ultimately leads to one of One Piece's most emotionally devastating moments.