One Piece has hit fans with some bad news going into the rest of January as they have confirmed yet another delay. One Piece is going to have one of its biggest years in the franchise’s history in 2026, but it’s going to take some time to actually get there. The franchise has some new releases planned for later this Spring, but it’s going to be a far cry from the weekly doses of new materials that fans have been accustomed to through the franchise’s run thus far. It’s made waiting for new chapters of Eiichiro Oda’s manga tougher than ever.
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One Piece fans have been waiting for the next chapter of the series for quite some time thanks to the holiday breaks for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine that started last year, and thankfully a new chapter is coming later this week. But ahead of that next chapter’s debut (as spotted by @WSJ_manga on X), Shueisha has also confirmed that One Piece Chapter 1172 is going to be hit with a delay. Meaning that fans won’t be getting a follow up chapter until much later in the month.
One Piece Manga Hit By First Delay in 2026
One Piece Chapter 1171 is currently ready to hit Shonen Jump on Sunday, January 18th, but then the series will be going on a break before the release of its next chapter. It’s a pretty rough start for the new year as it means fans are only going to get one new chapter of the manga in January overall, and thus fans are going to be waiting even longer to see how the climax of the Elbaph Arc will be developing. This is an even tough hit now that there are no new episodes of the anime to enjoy either.
One Piece has kicked off the anime’s new schedule with the start of the year. One Piece will no longer be releasing new episodes on a weekly basis throughout the entire year, but instead will be moving to a seasonal release schedule. Planning to air 26 episodes a year and splitting the series into cour long seasonal schedules like many other anime franchises, One Piece will be kicking off its adaptation of the Elbaph Arc later this Spring with more adherence to the pace of Oda’s manga.
What’s New for One Piece in 2026?
One Piece: Elbaph Arc will be premiering in Japan on April 5th as part of the Spring 2026 anime schedule, and will be running for 26 episodes through the rest of the year. The team behind the series has confirmed that they will be adapting Oda’s manga in a much closer pace to the anime’s episodes, and will be featuring at least one chapter per episode heading into this new year and beyond. But there are other new projects on the way as well.
One Piece: Into the Grand Line will be premiering with Netflix on March 10th, and the second season of the live-action series will be tackling the Loguetown, Reverse Mountain, Whiskey Peak, Little Garden and Drum Island arcs. The live-action series is already in production on its third season as well, and with it will be capping off the Alabasta Saga. So while there’s a lot more on the way, this delay is going to make January tough to sit through.
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