One Piece Episode 1015 has taken the fandom by storm, and for good reason. It marks the official start of the Worst Generation's fight with the Emperors and, more importantly, Luffy's fight with Kaidō. In order to live up to the anticipation, the episode was animated and directed with movie-level quality. It was good enough to get #ONEPIECE trending on Twitter. Many tweets on the matter also had #ONEPIECE1015 and #RoofPiece attached to them.
It's likely that as the battle with Kaidō ramps up, the term "Roof Piece" will get thrown around more often. It will be everywhere; commenters will leave it in comment sections and on message boards; YouTubers will regularly use it in their reviews of episodes; fans will talk to each other about One Piece but then quickly correct themselves and call it Roof Piece. For the uninitiated, this term might seem a little odd. In order to keep everybody up to speed, here's everything there is to know about the term Roof Piece.
The official starting point of Roof Piece is debatable. One point would be when Luffy reached the roof. This would be Chapter 1000 of the manga and Episode 1015 of the anime.
While the aforementioned starting point makes sense, Roof Piece arguably dates back a little further. The real start of Roof Piece came with the start of the raid on Onigashima in Chapter 987 of the manga, or Episode 997 of the anime. This was when Kaidō flew to the top of the Skull Dome to begin his fight with the Akazaya Nine. Since this is where the roof first became a battleground, it's also a valid starting point for Roof Piece.
The term Roof Piece is mainly used to poke fun at how long and drawn out the battle on the roof has been. The fact that it took Luffy 13 chapters, or 18 anime episodes, just to reach the roof himself should illustrate how long Kaidō has been up there. Again, this is still only the start of the battle between these two.
As of Chapter 1047, "The Sky Over the Capital," the battle on the rooftop has yet to reach its conclusion. In fairness, it seems like it will reach its conclusion within the next few chapters. Regardless, starting from when Kaidō first ascended to the roof in August 2020, this battle has lasted approximately 21 months in real-time. Even if one started from Chapter 1000 in January 2021, that's still over 16 months on top of the Skull Dome.
Roof Piece can also be used with a more positive connotation. It can refer to quality One Piece content, which would put the series at its "peak" or "roof." It's like the One Piece equivalent of calling something goated. In this sense, even when the battle on the roof ends, Roof Piece could still be used to speak well of the series.
In any case, Roof Piece is here to stay. Anime fans should expect this informal arc to last well over a year in real-time. Depending on how one chooses to define Roof Piece, this can either be really good, really long or a little of both.
Roof Piece is now available for streaming on Crunchyroll.