One Piece Creator Marks My Hero Academia Finale With Special Sketch

It is hard to see a good series end, but My Hero Academia has earned its flowers. Creator Kohei Horikoshi brought the superhero series to life a decade ago, and it has risen the ranks like few before it. These days, My Hero Academia is considered an industry icon, so all eyes are on Shonen Jump as the series just dropped its final chapter. And to mark the occasion, the creator of One Piece has released an incredibly touching tribute.

The piece of work comes from Eiichiro Oda himself. The creator of One Piece put out a new chapter this week, and it is prefaced with a sketch of Smoker. You may think the cover art is random, but if you know Horikoshi, you may remember that he submitted a drawing of Smoker to Oda way back in 2015.

The artwork inked by Horikoshi was published in an issue of SBS as Oda thanked the newcomer for their gift. At that time, My Hero Academia was just a year old and not even at a fraction of its current popularity. Horikoshi sent in the Smoker artwork as he’s a well-known fan of One Piece. Since submitting this sketch, Horikoshi and Oda have become good friends given their shared love of things like Pokemon Go. So now that My Hero Academia has ended, Oda decided to dig into the past and recreate the artwork that Horikoshi made for him.

And come on, I mean – talk about friend goals. Oda is going to make everyone cry over this tribute, you know?

The special tribute shows just how much Oda values Horikoshi, and this exact honor is rather rare. The creator of One Piece last marked the end of a Shonen Jump series with a chapter cover in 2014. After all, Naruto marked the final chapter of its original run in November of that year, leaving Oda to thank creator Masashi Kishimoto for all their hard work. Now, the creator of One Piece has given Horikoshi the same tribute, so netizens are a little weepy over the honor.

Not caught up with My Hero Academia? No problem. You can read the series from start to finish on the Shonen Jump app. So for more info on the series, you can read the official synopsis of My Hero Academia below:

“Izuku has dreamt of being a hero all his life-a lofty goal for anyone, but especially challenging for a kid with no superpowers. That’s right, in a world where eighty percent of the population has some kind of super-powered “quirk,” Izuku was unlucky enough to be born completely normal. But that’s not enough to stop him from enrolling in one of the world’s most prestigious hero academies.”

What do you think about this My Hero Academia tribute? Let us know what you think over on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!