One Piece is one of the most popular anime ever made, amassing hundreds of millions of fans and viewers over the last 25 years. Despite having well over 1000 episodes available, the series is surprisingly accessible, with almost the entire series available entirely for free on Crunchyroll. Unfortunately, that's set to change soon.

Three years after buying Crunchyroll for over $1 billion, Sony plans to capitalize on its purchase (and piss off countless anime fans) by shutting free users out of one of its most popular series. The company said that starting soon,

Crunchyroll is moving most of One Piece to its premium subscriber tier, with episodes of the popular anime beginning the move this month.

Crunchyroll confirmed on Twitter: "Heads up, One Piece fans! Starting soon, some One Piece arcs will require a Premium Membership. But the first 206 episodes (East Blue to Sky Island) will stay free, so new fans can still start Luffy’s journey at no cost."

Crunchyroll is gearing up to move hundreds of One Piece episodes from its free, ad-supported tier to its paid premium tier, IGN can exclusively reveal — but it won't happen all at once, and it also won't be every episode.

Crunchyroll has announced that it will be walling off the majority of One Piece behind a Premium membership. The streaming platform has announced a phased approach to the walling off, starting on 23rd December. The first 206 episodes of the world’s most popular anime will remain free to access, however.

Crunchyroll announced on Monday that it will soon require a Premium Membership for users to view the majority of episodes for the One Piece anime. The shift to subscription-only will occur in three phases.