'One Piece's Creator Makes A Crazy Amount Of Money

Eiichiro Oda is an genuine icon in the manga industry. The artist is best-known for creating One Piece, and his hardworking reputation always proceeds him. Oda is famous for dedicating his life to the Straw Hat crew, and he seems to love every minute he spends with Monkey D. Luffy.

Oh, and it just so happens he's paid a lot to keep the gang sailing.

With over 800 chapters under his belt, Oda's work on One Piece is prolific to say at the least, and he's made lots of money making the series. The artist has never commented directly on his earnings, but Oda's lavish house clued fans into the kind of money he must make. And, a couple years back, one Japanese TV show did the math to figure out Oda's income.

According to Baka Furi, the show said Oda seems to make about 3.1 billion yen a year (via Kotaku). In USD, that figure translates to a whopping $26 million and figures in Oda's earnings through royalties, licensing, merchandise, and more.

Obviously, $26 million is a staggering income, and it only becomes more insane when you compare it to other popular writers. If you look at the publishing industry, there are plenty of vetted writers who earn under Oda. Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), JK Rowling (Harry Potter), Stephen King, EL James, and John Green all earned less than $20 million back in 2016.

As One Piece continues to grow, Oda's bank account is destined to do the same. The artist told fans not too long ago that his manga was only about 60% done, so the Straw Hat crew still has a lot to do before it sails off for good.

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has been collected into 87 volumes, with a few chapters yet to be included. It has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best selling manga series worldwide with 430 million copies sold worldwide.

Are you ready for the anime to get to Luffy and Katakuri's big battle? Hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to let me know and talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!