Crunchyroll’s “2023 Was the Year of One Piece” article, released on Dec. 26, references the massive wave of attention that One Piece Episode 1071 garnered upon airing. “The anime, riding off the acclaim of the Wano Arc,” Crunchyroll says, “finished the storyline with a bang with multiple long-awaited moments. Gear 5, a power-up that turned Episode 1071 into a Crunchyroll-crashing event, had been a curiosity for the audience ever since it was first unveiled in the manga.” The episode’s debut was a seismic event; fans the world over, regardless of their timezone, wanted to tune in to see the episode as it happened. Many of those same fans have come back to revel in the achievement, viewing the affair as a source of validation of One Piece‘s global reach.

In many senses, 2023 was indeed One Piece‘s year. The debut of the critically acclaimed Netflix TV series pushed back against a narrative that live-action adaptations were not viable overseas. The Gear 5 episode enshrined the form among the best anime transformations of all time, with a CBR feature going as far as to argue that Gear 5 is the best transformation in shonen history. The anime series capped off the long-running “Wano” arc earlier this month with the bombshell reveal that the One Piece anime would be remade from the very beginning.

At the time, One Piece Episode 1071 breaking the internet was a matter of little debate, crashing Crunchyroll, Funimation and several major unofficial anime streaming websites. However, with Crunchyroll’s validation of the fact, Luffy can now ‘stretch’ his legs a little wider alongside other popular anime to have achieved the feat. This includes the recent Attack on Titan finale and the Ultra Instinct episodes from Dragon Ball Super.

The internet has since recovered from the Gear 5 episodes, which are available to stream with the rest of the anime on Crunchyroll. The streamer describes the series: “Monkey. D. Luffy refuses to let anyone or anything stand in the way of his quest to become the king of all pirates. With a course charted for the treacherous waters of the Grand Line and beyond, this is one captain who’ll never give up until he’s claimed the greatest treasure on Earth: the Legendary One Piece!”