 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything one piece. Today we are going to be looking back on the year of 2018 from the perspective of the ever-glorious series. 2018 has been quite an exciting year really spanning from chapter 890, which is the tail end of Hokei Kailand, then blasting straight through the reverie before finally landing in Wanowit style. Speaking of the land of the samurai, if you're wondering what this wonderful artwork is, well this is the new channel banner created by the phenomenally talented amber red draws and you can find a link to her tumbler in the description below. But before we get into this list I have to provide a bit of a warning because it's going to contain pretty much every important spoiler that the manga has concocted over the last year. So if you're an anime only watcher you can expect to see these events occurring in the coming year but if you don't want to be spoiled then well this is your warning. For those of you who wish to proceed we've got a fair bit to cover so let's get straight into it. Welcome to the top 10 best one piece moments of 2018. 10. Snake Man Continuing the expansion of Gear 4th 2018 provided us with the latest incarnation of Snake Man. It's a very compact and lean form and even though it took me a bit off guard at first like I guess every new use of Gear 4th has, to me Snake Man suits Luffy a lot more than Bound Man which has always seemed a bit clunky where Snake Man is refined and a pure aesthetic treat to see in action. I also quite enjoyed the idea of Luffy completely abandoning defense in favour of speed because once again that feels more akin to Luffy's personal style of combat. All in all it was a great event adding a new weapon to the ever-growing straw hat arsenal and I look forward to seeing more of it in the future. 9. The Giant Straw Hat A lot of weird things have happened in one piece over the course of my time with the series but this here is one of the biggest, strangest, non-comedic what the actual f moments I've ever come across. I had absolutely no idea what to make of this when I read the chapter, it really was quite a surreal experience like I was dreaming about reading the latest chapter and all of a sudden my strange mind just thought it would be a good idea to plonk a colossal straw hat in there simply to confuse me upon waking. But this actually happened and it shook the fanbase. The idea that Luffy does not possess the only straw hat of its kind in the world is endlessly intriguing as is the question of who this hat may have belonged to. I mean we do know that giants exist within the will of D so perhaps it was someone from the soul side of the family and of course there's always rampant speculation on if it could have belonged to Joyboy. Whatever the case this revelation did what One Piece so consistently does best and sparked a wildfire of intrigue amongst its fans that is likely to keep burning for the next few years. 8. Shanks Visits the Gorace Now every time Sir Red Hair pops up in the story it's fairly unexpected and Marineford taught us that Shanks will appear wherever he desires whenever he sees fit so during the Prevery Arc he decided to pay a casual visit to the Gorace no big deal they're just the figureheads of the world government and one of the ultimate enemies of pirates in general. So how does one of the Onko just stroll into Marijua? Well that along with the identity of the certain pirate Shanks wishes to discuss are the enduring questions that justice with the 10th place spot will keep the minds of fans racing for an awfully long time to come. But I'd like to give this moment some more credit because it was set up a bit in advance. To me the reason why Shanks appearing was such a mind blowing experience was because he already actually briefly featured a couple of chapters prior to this reacting to the news of Luffy. As readers were used to getting a vague appearance of Shanks every couple of years or so after major events but this was a double punch of red hair straight to the face and it was amazing. 7. Revolutionary Army Commanders Thankfully 2018 was able to deliver on something that had been long, long, long awaited which is any information whatsoever on the Revolutionary Army. They've been a background feature in the story for a truly absurd amount of time so seeing them finally stepping in and commanding some attention in the manga was fantastic and of course this was epitomized with the introduction of the army's commanders within which we found a full spectrum of colourful characters in very classic order style and not only did they help to flesh out the Revolutionary Army but in the case of Morley specifically he even provided an answer to the question of who exactly created level 5.5 of Impelt Down which was a very nice little connection and all in all these four made me very excited to see what's to come for the Revolutionary Army in the future. 6. Blackbeard's Reintroduction As a result of the newly adopted axe structure for Wano we appear to have been afforded opportunities to explore the great world within an ongoing major arc. Something that probably deserves mention all on its own but the grounding jewel of this first exploration is without a doubt the official reintroduction of Marshall D. Teach. This man made a glorious return to the series, clad in some of the finest attire that the New World fashion has to offer and with the largest bounty scene in the series to date at over 2 billion so he really does know how to make a decent entrance although I do think I'm going to need some time to adjust to the new aesthetic of the Blackbeard Pirates. But regardless this was absolutely massive when it occurred in the manga and it continues to build the figure of Teach into the potential final villain of the series. 5. The Defeat of Charlotte Cardicuri When reading this fight weekly I had a lot of mixed opinions. On the one hand from start to finish this conflict took an awfully large amount of chapters to conduct however at the same time every panel of this battle was illustrated so flawlessly that I wasn't sure I wanted it to end but when it did finally conclude it did not disappoint. Luffy's victory both physically and mentally against Cardicuri felt well earned and the panel where Cardicuri does finally collapse has become an image as iconic in my mind as some of the greatest moments in the series not to mention the phenomenal combat that took place in the chapter preceding it. I mean Oda really outdid himself on this fight as well as this antagonist in general earning the both of them a well-deserved spot on this list. 4. Time Traveling Samurai Of all of the non-priority things I never expected in one piece that would eventually go into happen such as zombies, cyborgs and secret agents, time travel was one that I maintained would never ever be thrown into the series. And 2018 sure did prove me wrong with the revelation that samurai we have known ever since Pankhaza are actually inhabitants of a world 20 years prior to modern day. Not only that but we have the ever mysterious figure of Toki who was rumored to be from much much further back and who may have been traveling forward thanks to the use of the Toki Toki no Mi which would surely be considered one of the most phenomenal devil fruits in existence although I suppose that the greater world wouldn't even be aware of it since it may not be reborn for hundreds perhaps thousands of years at a time because of the user making their way into the future. But the thought of time travel in one piece is just insane especially juxtaposed against an arc that is based in a very traditional historical Japan. Absolute madness and yet absolute brilliance. Number three Kaido is a dragon. Now this wasn't a huge surprise on its own because the potential of Kaido being a dragon had been theorized upon in great detail and hints like Momonosuke made it a very logical deduction. However I don't think anybody quite anticipated the scale of dragon that is Kaido. Reading this chapter was a bit like stepping into the realm of Dragon Ball only to realize that Shenron is your infinitely powerful enemy. Oh and he's a bit drunk. Well I say a bit a lot drunk. But despite that the level of terror is pretty damn high. I've been reading one piece for a long long time and I've seen Luffy do a lot of seemingly impossible things. But Kaido as represented here will not be beaten by Luffy alone. The power Oda has managed to evoke with this revelation takes the top tier combatants in the series to a whole new level and I can't help but continue to be 100% captivated. Number two The revelation of Eem. Stepping back into the reverie we have the introduction of a figure who for all intents and purposes may actually single-handedly rule the world as we know it. Eem's introduction was so powerful that it featured an entire collection of Gorasei bowing before him and asking for direction. And that really is all you need to turn the entire world as we know it upside down. What Eem's presence has accomplished is the addition of a foreboding sinister atmosphere sitting atop the Holy Land of Mary Joie. The likes of which did not exist when we assumed that the world government was controlled by a politically structured group of non-silhouette-to-cloud human beings. What Eem evokes is something ancient, something dangerous and something that may even surpass Blackbeard as the ultimate antagonist of the series. But with all of that said 2018 still managed to give us one moment that eclipsed even that. Number one The fifth emperor. So many moments on this list thus far have been about building up the great world of One Piece but this moment right here is all about Luffy for the very first time bursting into that greater world and announcing that he is here to stay. The acquisition of the unofficial fifth emperor title and a bounty of 1.5 billion berries is the end of One Piece as we know it and the beginning of Luffy's proper campaign to secure the title of Pirate King. After this moment there isn't going to be a single person in the world who asks themselves who is this straw hat brat. No we're done with that. This is a definitive event in the future legend of pirate king Monkey D. Luffy and reading this chapter gave me those powerful vibes after the initial wave of shock of course. But to me there was nothing that 2018 had to offer that was able to top this magnificent declaration to the world. But that pretty much does it for the top 10 best One Piece moments of 2018. I have to say that this year has been one hell of a journey that I have enjoyed immensely and I cannot wait for what 2019 has to bring us. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produces in general then please do consider donating to the Grand Line Review Patreon because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. Also do check out my Teespring store if you're interested in shirts, woodies and other miscellaneous items with proceeds going directly to support the channel as well. And if you'd like to join the fun at any time then please do head over to my Discord server where a wide array of shenanigan retakes place on a daily basis. And finally please do comment with your own favorite moments of 2018. This has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next year.