Warship Island Arc

The Warship Island arc, sometimes referred to as the Apis arc, is a story arc in the fictional anime One Piece. It is the first story arc of the series not to be based on any content from the manga by Eiichirō Oda. It is followed by the Laboon arc in the anime. It was left out of the American dub.

Episodes 54-61

Summary
This arc takes place just after Luffy receives his bounty of 30 million Berries at the end of the East Blue saga, and before the Straw Hat Pirates enter the Grand Line.

The Straw Hats find a young girl named Apis floating in the ocean. She has a Devil Fruit ability that allows her to talk to animals, and she's used it to befriend a dying Sennenryu, a type of dragon species thought to be extinct. She wants to return this Sennenryu to his homeland, but they run into two problems:
 * A Navy crew is after the dragon also, because it can be used to make a powerful, and valuable, medicine. Their commander (Commodore Nelson), has hired the mercenary Erik (A Devil Fruit user with claws so sharp, that he can cut the air) to help him get the Sennenryu, but Erik may have his own agenda.
 * They don't know where the Sennenryu's homeland is.

This arc chronicles the Straw Hats' efforts to return the Sennenryu to his home, make Apis happy, and stay out of Erik's way.

Controversy and Plot Holes
While filler is often hated by fans, many have mixed feelings of enjoyment and dislike about this particular arc. However, even with this distinction the Apis arc manages to create a plothole that comes to light later in the Alabasta portion of the Baroque Works Saga:
 * When the Straw Hats find themselves surrounded by a Marine Blockade connected by steel-chains, Roronoa Zoro says that he can "cut anything" and proceeds to slice through the steel chains. However, later in the canon Alabasta arc, Zoro reveals he cannot cut through steel.  This plothole greatly reduces the value of this arc in the eyes of many fans, but there are those who enjoy it simply for what it is.

In the English dub of the anime, produced by 4Kids Entertainment, these episodes were cut completely from the series. No explanation was given, and nothing (other than their irrelevance to the main plot of the series) would seem to be just cause for dropping them from the show entirely. Since their content is much more "kid-friendly" than the rest of the series, many fans actually expected 4Kids to heavily promote the arc, but the exact opposite happened. The precise reason for their deletion from the run of the English-dubbed anime remains unknown, but is generally associated with 4Kids seemingly removing as many episodes as possible to get to Tony Tony Chopper sooner than what was originally scheduled.

54. Foreboding of a New Adventure! The Puzzling Girl, Apis

55. The Holy Beast! Apis' Secret and the Legendary Island

56. Erik's Raid! Great Escape from Gunkan Island!

57. Lone Island in a Distant Sea! The Legendary Lost Island

58. Duel in the Ruins! Strained Zoro vs Erik

59. Luffy, Completely Surrounded! Admiral Nelson's Secret Plan

60. Those Who Soar in the Open Skies! Revival of the 1000 Year Legend

61. Angry Finale! Cross the Red Line! (Half filler)