One Piece has many beloved story arcs that are among the best shonen stories out there, but among committed and casual fans alike, one story arc catches more flak than the rest, and that’s Long Ring Long Land. Coming after the exciting Skypiea arc in the manga and the beloved filler arc G8 in the anime, this story features a noted lack of exciting battles and danger as the Straw Hats find themselves in a competition against Captain Foxy and his aptly named Foxy Pirates, lest one of their crew or their Jolly Roger be poached.

Fans tend to dislike it as the action is turned into relatively simple competitions and goes on for far longer than it should. But truthfully, more fans dislike it due to what the anime did to the arc, extending the three games into six and delaying the action even more, not to mention strange actions by Luffy that end up undermining the entire point of the arc early in the Davy Back Fight that exclusively happens in the anime.

Long Ring Long Land Suffers Significantly from One Piece Filler

One Piece’s Infamous Filler Problem Rears Its Head

The term ‘filler’ is often a divisive and derided one among fans of anime as a whole, referring to studios making up original content to pad for time. This lets the manga get ahead of the anime, and stops the anime from ‘catching up’ in the middle of an ongoing arc. One Piece in particular suffers from this problem, often introducing entire arcs that don’t happen in the manga. Long Ring Long Land took many liberties from the original storyline, essentially turning it into a hybrid of an arc from the manga and completely new content.

As mentioned, the original arc in the manga only featured three rounds of the Davy Back Fight. In the anime, there are six. Furthermore, Luffy makes a decision exclusive to the anime after Chopper is poached by the Foxy Pirates in the first round deciding to save a horse that Foxy had taken captive before his reindeer crew mate. This is a bad look for Luffy, who is supposed to be completely dedicated to his crew. That fact alone is what this arc is meant to represent in the manga, but is lost in the anime.

Luffy Would Do Anything For His Crew (in the Manga)

One Piece’s Anime Missed a Crucial Detail

Long Ring Long Land is an arc that is supposed to highlight the lengths that the Straw Hats would go to for one another, culminating in a comedic yet epic boxing match between Luffy and Foxy. In the manga, Luffy doesn’t think twice before bringing Chopper back to the Straw Hats side, the horse not even being a factor. While saving the horse is not necessarily out of character for Luffy, prioritizing her over Chopper in the anime is a baffling decision that makes the Straw Hat pirate look callous about his beloved crew.

Ultimately, the anime’s filler had a great hand in poisoning Long Ring Long Land’s legacy. What was supposed to be a light arc to fill the gap between the epic of Skypiea and the intensity of Water 7 had turned into an out-of-character nightmare that dragged on for far too long. The complete reshuffling of Long Ring Long Land likely has a good hand in its poor reception.

Chapter #1115 of One Piece sees the return of Foxy as he listens to Vegapunk’s worldwide broadcast, so perhaps the Davy Back Fight enthusiast will have a chance to get another appearance more in line with the manga. The announced remake of the series, simply titled The One Piece, will likely faithfully adapt Long Ring Long Land as well, and possibly shake off its status as the most detested arc, and let fans see why this arc is so important.