set start=-1

Author: jbrockmendel

pandas/core/arrays/arrow/array.py

@@ -2396,12 +2396,12 @@ def _str_rpartition(self, sep: str, expand: bool) -> Self:
     def _str_slice(
         self, start: int | None = None, stop: int | None = None, step: int | None = None
     ) -> Self:
-        if step is not None and step < 0:
-            # GH#59710
-            result = self._apply_elementwise(lambda x: x[start:stop:step])
-            return type(self)(pa.chunked_array(result))
         if start is None:
-            start = 0
+            if step is not None and step < 0:
+                # GH#59710
+                start = -1
+            else:
+                start = 0
         if step is None:
             step = 1
         return type(self)(