One Piece's Wano Country arc is close to wrapping up now and, without a doubt, it has been one of the most spectacular in the entire story so far. The arc saw the Straw Hat Pirates and their allies take on two Yonko in Big Mom and Kaido in what was described to be the biggest challenge for the heroes so far.
With the Worst Generation challenging the supremacy of the Emperors all tied to the incredible lore of Wano, the arc has very strongly established itself as one of the best storylines in One Piece and there are many reasons as to why.
9 Amazing Fights
When it comes to fights, very few sagas live up to what the Wano Country arc offers. The arc saw major clashes against two of the Yonko and their subordinates.
The vast majority of the Straw Hat Pirates ended up winning their fights, while secondary characters such as the Worst Generation members and even the Akazaya samurai got their big battles. Understandably, some fights were more rushed than others, however, the quality of most of them was incredible.
8 Years Of Careful Build-Up
The Wano Country arc has been expertly foreshadowed throughout One Piece. The land of samurai was first mentioned as a mysterious place during the Thriller Bark arc, and with time, more importance was attached to it.
The arc grew in importance after the timeskip when Trafalgar Law and Luffy joined hands. On its back, the arc carries a decade of build-up, if not more.
7 Deeply Tied To The One Piece
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Eiichiro Oda has made it clear time and again that One Piece is close to its end. As such, the arc was always going to drop some major reveals about the author's actual intentions with the story.
According to Oda, this arc would give fans a slight idea of what the end of One Piece could be, along with some information regarding the nature of the eponymous treasure. Given how much attention has already been focused on the One Piece in this arc, this stands fairly true.
6 Oden's Flashback
One Piece loves flashbacks, and Oda writes some of the most compelling ones in the entirety of fiction. In the Wano Country arc, he pushed this skill beyond all limits and delivered what could well be the best flashback in the entire story with Kozuki Oden.
Fans got to see Wano turn from a beautiful land to one of ruin, all the while Oden grew from a teen to a man who explored the world and found out its biggest secrets. On the way, he met legends such as Whitebeard and Roger and even went to the Final Island, Laugh Tale.
5 Fight Against Two Yonko
The Wano Country arc delivered what is easily the biggest battle in the story so far. With the team-up of two Yonko in Big Mom and Kaido, the alliance had to be at their very best to defeat them.
For that reason, the tension went through the roof and every major fight was incredible to experience. Eventually, fans saw the alliance emerge as the victors of the clash.
4 Straw Hat Crew Announce Themselves On The Big Stage
The Straw Hat Pirates are an incredibly powerful pirate crew and are led by one of the most notorious captains in Luffy. Although he has a massive bounty of 1.5 billion berries, it is only in Wano that Luffy established himself as a true equal of the Yonko.
At the same time, his crew also defeated the likes of the Yonko Commanders and officers, which is simply mind-blowing. For the Straw Hats, this is the biggest step in their pirate life so far, and the fall of a Yonko has officially led to them becoming one of the greatest and most feared crews in this universe.
3 Joy Boy Returns
The Wano Country arc delivered a lot of exposition on Joy Boy and the Sun God Nika. Kaido himself was deeply intrigued by Joy Boy, as was Kozuki Oden, who traveled to Laugh Tale and knew all about him. In the biggest clash of the arc that saw Luffy take Kaido on in battle, fans saw the return of Joy Boy after he died once and awakened his Devil Fruit later.
The lore of the Sun God Nika was properly explained to readers, as was the importance of Luffy's fruit, the Gomu Gomu no Mi, the real name of which was revealed to be Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.
2 Gear 5th
Fans love power-ups and incredible transformations, and the Wano Country arc certainly delivered when it came to that. In Wano, fans got to see Luffy tap into the power of Gear 5th after his Devil Fruit finally awakened.
This ability took him to his very peak as a fighter and even allowed him to fight the likes of Yonko Kaido at his very best. Eventually, Gear 5th proved to be immense enough to completely defeat the Yonko and send him crashing down into the depths of hell.
1 Post-War Revelations
The Wano Country arc has had some of the most incredible post-war revelations in One Piece. Although Oda hasn't dived deep into them just yet, fans already have a decent idea of what they could be about. The post-war chapters of Wano will likely deliver a lot of information on the Road Poneglyphs and the One Piece itself.
At the same time, there are other informative Poneglyphs that also need to be read and, given that the story is near its end, fans are likely going to be at the receiving end of quite a lot of lore. Furthermore, fans will also likely hear about the balance of power in the world, as well as the fate of the likes of Sabo, Hancock, and Vivi. Without a doubt, the Wano Country arc offered an incredible ride that few arcs in One Piece can match.