The Endgame Begins: Oda Confirms One Piece Will Reveal Laugh Tale in 2026

Eiichiro Oda took the stage at Jump Festa 2026 and dropped the kind of tease that makes the One Piece fandom collectively forget how to breathe: the story is finally steering straight toward Laugh Tale. Yes, that Laugh Tale.

What Oda actually said (and how we know)

One Piece closed out Shueisha's Jump Festa 2026, with Oda himself front and center. Amid the usual hype machine (more on the new season in a second), he delivered a short message in Japanese that was, in classic Oda fashion, coy. A rough fan translation on X captured the gist:

"We are heading to that island which only the Pirate King was ever able to reach! The man marked by flame will also appear. Characters who never had the chance to meet will finally encounter each other. Those two will meet, and those two will meet as well."

If you have even a passing familiarity with this series, "that island" is a neon sign pointing at Laugh Tale — the place only Gol D. Roger reached, a massive question mark for decades, and the resting place of the One Piece. Fans took this as the clearest signal yet that 2026 is the year we finally go there.

He also name-checked the "man marked by flame" — Hinokizu — a long-teased figure who, per Oda's hint, is set to actually show up in 2026. And he dangled another carrot: long-separated characters crossing paths for the first time. Translation: big meetings, big moves.

Meanwhile, the anime locked in its next stop

On the anime side, Toei confirmed the Elbaph Arc starts April 5, 2026, and rolled out a teaser video. So even before we get to that endgame island, the Straw Hats are sailing into a giant-sized arc (literally).

Why Laugh Tale is the whole ballgame

Laugh Tale is the finish line. It is the place where the One Piece treasure sits, the spark that kicked off the Great Pirate Era when Roger basically dared the world to find it at his execution. It's also the vault for the big lore locks — the Will of D, the Void Century, the Ancient Kingdom — the answers Oda has kept under glass since the 90s. Reaching that island is less a pit stop and more the moment everything comes into focus.

The quick stats (because I know some of you love them)

One Piece is produced by Toei Animation and falls squarely into shonen/action/fantasy/adventure. The anime premiered on October 20, 1999. Ratings-wise, it's sitting at 9/10 on IMDb and 8.73 on MyAnimeList. You can stream it on Crunchyroll and Netflix, and yes, all episodes are currently available there.