One Piece has a lot of characters to balance… that much goes without saying. Over the years, Eiichiro Oda has made up more characters than most people ever could, so fans understand when their favs aren’t able to interact on a regular basis. However, when it comes to a certain pair, fans can’t help but wish they would be reunited.
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After all, it has been a long time since One Piece brought Zoro and Sanji together, and it is starting to show.
Over on Twitter, a One Piece fanpage brought up a new record set by the manga, but it wasn’t an exciting one. As it stands, a whopping 219 chapters of the manga have gone by without Zoro and Sanji interacting, and fans are feeling shocked.
It’s been 219 chapters without a Zoro and Sanji interaction (723-current). That’s 23.2% of One Piece’s entire publication time! pic.twitter.com/W0icqvz0Eb
โ One Piece (@OPfandom) May 17, 2019
It isn’t hard to imagine why readers are feeling upset; Zoro and Sanji are two major members of the Straw Hat crew, and they had a rather unique relationship. As two of the first men added to the pirate gang, Sanji and Zoro rarely got along thanks to their warring personalities. Sanji’s goofy womanizing ways did not sit well with Zoro’s serious demeanor, but fans think it is a bit extreme the pair haven’t met up in so long.
Thankfully, fans believe that separation will end with the manga’s latest saga. One Piece finally entered the mysterious island nation of Wano, and it is there Sanji and Zoro came close to reuniting. The two shipmates are at least in the same country now, so there is hope the pair will bump into one another before long. And as far as fans are concerned, the sooner that happens the better.
So, are you surprised by this record? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and 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 over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.