Every person who has made the plunge into One Piece will agree that the series is indeed worth sitting through all of its thousand episodes, but as the online discourse around the series grows, spoilers continue to become more and more unavoidable. However, as someone who watched the series knowing every major spoiler there was to know, I can vouch that One Piece always has surprises in store that make the long journey worth it.

As someone who’d watched primarily shoujo as a child, One Piece was one of the first big shōnen anime I watched. At the time, I had just begun delving into shōnen with anime popular at the time, like Jujutsu Kaisen, and while I had heard of One Piece, I knew close to nothing about the series. In came my first ever gig as a writer, and I was forced to learn as much as I could about the series seemingly overnight as part of the assignment.

Fortunately, every person who hasn’t seen One Piece has a friend in their lives who has and will jump at the thought of talking about it and that is exactly who I approached to brief me on the series that has spanned two decades in two hours. From the East Blue Saga to every single opponent Luffy faced in the Grand Line and every one of Luffy’s power-ups, I learned every single detail of the Straw Hats’ journey up until Wano, and even then, I still found myself surprisingly enjoying the series when I eventually sat down to watch it.

One Piece Is Still Enjoyable Even With Spoilers

One Piece‘s Emotional Core and World-building Always Exceed Expectations

While many that go into the series blind often fall in love with it after seeing Chouchou’s backstory or Luffy helping Nami at Arlong Park, I found myself waiting to simply get through the East Blue Saga, as I knew what grand adventures lay ahead. Still, the initial episodes hold the most nostalgia and I found myself defending the early 90s style animation and charming character designs.

That said, the first thing that truly made me fall in love with the series was Eiichiro Oda’s world-building. While it has been a couple of years since I first watched the Alabasta Arc, I can still remember the pure joy I felt seeing the adorable kungfu dugongs being trained by Luffy and the Supersonic Duck Squadron led by Karoo. Cute animals were the last thing I expected from an action-adventure series aimed at young boys, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Another thing that caught me off guard was just how emotional One Piece could get. The earliest instance I remember being brought to tears was during Chopper’s backstory and that would not be the last time the series would make me cry. Robin’s backstory was certainly the last straw, which combined with the entertaining chaos of the arc, meant I was completely hooked by the time Enies Lobby rolled around. Even though I had been spoiled, One Piece‘s backstories never failed to toy with my emotions, which only goes to show just how beautifully written they are.

One Piece Has Many Shocking Twists That Even Spoilers Can’t Ruin

While moments like the revelation of Luffy’s Gears and Ace’s tragic death certainly hold plenty of shock value, they are not fundamental to enjoying One Piece. Knowing what all of Luffy’s Gears were and how they worked did not make their eventual introduction any less exciting, even in the case of Gear Five.

The same goes for One Piece’s emotional twists. I knew all along Ace was going to die at Marineford, but that did not make it hurt any less, nor did it take away from seeing Luffy’s pain at the loss or how he rediscovered hope when he remembered he still had his friends to protect. Even the death of the Going Merry ended up being much more heartbreaking than I could’ve ever imagined.

Spoilers could never capture the gravity of the revelation that the Minks were indeed hiding Raizo all along, and there are simply too many similar examples throughout One Piece that are too long to list.

Overall, as cliché as it sounds, One Piece is indeed all about the journey, and what a roller coaster of a journey it was. I only wish I had discovered One Piece sooner and there is nothing in the world I wouldn’t give to be able to watch it again for the first time, even with spoilers.